There are several facets to ARTnudesNetwork. First we have the blogging feature, a networking feature where you can search for members and add them as friends, a forum where you can create groups and manage them yourself, and each user can also upload their own photos in an online portfolio connected to their profile. A lot of stuff to manage! So to alleviate the growing pains we added a help page here, plus the “Website Support Group” so other members can help answer questions they know the answers to.

Setting up your account

FIRST – If you aren’t going to blog, you don’t have to in order to participate. So, DO NOT start one if you do not want to blog. It is a log of busy work to run through and delete unused blogs. And we don’t want the site to look sloppy with a bunch of HELLO WORLD subject lines on all the blogs.

At the very top of the window, you should see “LOG IN” and “SIGN UP”, click on sign up and follow the prompts and answer the questions. (alternatively there is a very large SIGN UP link on the top left side of the window that you can click)  -

Profile Picture Avatar – you can upload a photograph of yourself here that will follow you around the site next to your user name. select a file from your hard drive by clicking on “choose file.”

If you do not intend on blogging, just set up a user name. You will still be able to add friends and network, you just won’t have a blog. If you decide you want to blog later, you can set it up at a later date. We don’t want a ton of empty pages floating around as it makes the site look terrible.

Click “NEXT”

You will be sent an email with a link to confirm your email address. Click on that link. It may take a moment to arrive. Sit tight. When you click on the link you’ll be sent another email with a temporary password so you can log in. Copy the password and paste it into the password field. The site will walk you through all necessary steps to procure an identity here.

NETWORKING

First – you need to fill out your profile. It is a requirement for all users to have their profile filled out. Especially if they are trying to work with each other. There is a toolbar at the very top of the frame. You will see: ArtNudes, My Account, My Blogs, Notifications – point your mouse over “My Account” and a drop box will come down so you can click on edit profile and fill all that out. In order for anyone to find you who would do a search for any of the members, it’s critical that you have this information filled out. Your profiles “ABOUT YOU” text box is critical to fill out if you want people to find you to work with. Our search engine in the MEMBERS area picks up any search word someone would type into the search directly from this ABOUT YOU field. If you only fill out the Profile fields and not the ABOUT YOU section no one will find you.

If you look to the right of this page at the top; you will see “Useful Links to Connect.” Click around those, join groups, add friends, visit blogs. You have to be a member of some groups in order to read anything posted there, and some groups are open so you can read them, but you have to join the group and be a member before you can contribute to any discussions.

If you click on your “PROFILE” after you’ve added friends or joined groups and created a blog, you can click the links inside your profile to see where you are connected. If you click on groups – all the groups you belong to will show up. If you belong to “hidden” groups (groups that don’t show up for anyone else except the people who belong to them) then they will show up for YOU but when other users who visit your profile click on your “groups” link to see what groups you belong to, they won’t be able to see those hidden groups. Your friends will be listed as well as your blogs.

Each time you post a new blog or comment in PUBLIC groups those posts are broadcasted automatically on the front page of the website. This gives others the opportunity to see if they want to join a particular group or add a particular user to their list of friends. It will also drive more traffic to your work. The more you are active the more people see what you do.

Member Search in the links to the top right gives you the ability to find people to work with. There is a box with the text, “search anything…”, and if all member’s have their profiles filled out with everything they could possibly be available for then it will be easy to search. For instance, you could search for “model, sienna, italy, fashion, fine art nudes, and dark hair” If that model has filled out everything about her self in the profile fields and the allotted text box in the ABOUT YOU field then that model will show up in your search. The member search will only work if all members fill out their profiles accordingly.

Blogtorial!