Frequently Asked Questions

To update your profile click the button with your name on the top right of any page and select "View [your name] Profile. This will go to your Member Profile. 
Here you will see boxes where you can update phone number and email (kept private), "About Me," and "My Interests." Just click on any of the “[edit]” links.  Or, scroll down to "CCL Info" box on left side and click “[edit]” link.  Here, you can conveniently edit all your profile details in one screen, with tabs for each item.  Street address, if you choose to provide one, is only available to add or update through the CCL info box edit link. 

Note: Moving from one tab to another doesn’t save your updates. You must click "Save" at the bottom of each section before leaving that tab.

However, to change your name and password, go to Account Settings. Click the button with your name on the top right side of any page and select “Account Settings.” to get there.  Also go to Account Settings to revise your e-mail address and site signature. 

The “My Interests” tab is where you can tell us what you’re interested in doing within CCL.  By sharing interests, we can recommend content and connect you with others who are also interested in your area(s).  Your group leaders will also be able to recommend specific actions tailored to your interests.

To change your CCL chapter or congressional district, follow the link in the "CCL Info" tab. 

To add or change your profile photo, see the FAQ below.  

Regarding privacy: Only logged-in CCL members can view your profile. Your contact information including your mailing address, email address and phone numbers are never displayed on your profile. The general public and logged out users can not view user profiles. Logged in CCL members can view your profile but not any personally identifiable information other than your name, city, and state, by default. You can change the default privacy options at any time. Your contact information is only shared with local and regional leaders so that they can contact you.

 

To add or change your profile photo, click the button with your name on the top right of any page and select "View [your name] Profile. This will bring up your Member Profile.

On the upper right left side of your Member Profile page, select the camera icon. A list of actions will be displayed. Choose “Add Profile Photo.” 

Then in the resulting dialogue box, browse to the desired photo on your computer or device, select it, and click “open.”  Next, the photo will be displayed in a box. You can drag the image to adjust the cropping.  Select “Save” to make it your profile photo. 

For best results, crop a copy of the photo on your computer or device to the portion of the image you want and in a square format.

The acceptable file types are JPG, PNG, TIFF, GIF,  or BMP and the maximum size allowed is 20 MB. 

If you want to change your profile photo, follow the directions above for adding a photo. Browse to the new photo, select, crop and save, and the old photo will be replaced. 

If you want to re-crop your profile photo, click on the camera icon and select “Crop Profile Photo.”

Members have the option of adding a photo or other image to their Member Profile in the large blue area at the top of the page. To upload a photo or image, first go to your Member Profile by clicking the button with your name on the top right of any page and selecting "View [your name] Profile.
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Then click the camera icon in the top right corner of the large blue area and then choose  “Add Profile Cover Photo” from the menu.

Browse to the desired image file on your computer or device, and click “open.”  The image will appear in a box showing how it will look when cropped to fit in the blue area. Drag the image to desired cropping and click ‘Save.” 

Note: The format of the cover photo area is a long horizontal, so select an image that can be successfully cropped to fit. 

To update or add  information such as your background or reasons for joining CCL, click the button with your name on the top right of any page and select "View [your name] Profile. This will take you to your Member Profile. Either click on “Edit Profile” on the left side, or on the “[edit]” link on top right.  Then select the “About Me” tab to enter or update information. Information that you enter here will appear under the "About Me" block  when people view your profile.

Our badges program celebrates the many actions that online members take to help achieve CCL’s goals.

As you complete actions such as contacting Congress, tabling, or attending CCL chapter meetings and enter them in the Action Tracker, badges will appear in your profile page below your name.

For your first action in a category, you are awarded a green badge. Then as you complete more actions in that category, you are awarded a bronze, silver, and ultimately gold, depending on the number of actions.

If you have already earned badges, hover over any of them to see how many actions are needed to earn the next level. Also, look at any friend or fellow group member's profile page to see what accomplishment badges they've earned.

For a list of actions that earn accomplishment badges, see the the list in the badge glossary page.

In addition to accomplishment badges, role-based badges may appear next to members’ names to indicate roles they play in CCL Community, such as Group Leader (GL) or Congressional Liaison (L). See the badge glossary page for a list.

To get credit for your actions to build political will for climate action, make sure to log each of them in CCL's Action Tracker (the data will sync overnight).

To view messages that you’ve sent to or received from other CCL Community members, and notifications from CCL staff or group leaders, click on the notification envelope icon on the top right of any page.

To view your CCL Community friends, click on "Connect" on the top menu of any page and select "My Friends" on the right side of the dropdown. 

To view files that you’ve uploaded to a group, action team, or to your personal files folder, click the button with your name on the top right of any page and select "View [your name] Profile.. This will open your profile page. On the lower left side, you’ll see the “My Files” block. Click on “Manage My Files.” Or just click on this link.

In addition to uploading documents and media to a CCL chapter or group page, members can upload files, photos, or videos to their personal My Files, My Photos, or My Videos pages.  To access these pages, first click the button with your name on the top right of any page and select "View [your name] Profile. Scroll down the left hand side of your profile to the “My Files” block and select “Manage My Files.”

You will then see the My Files page where you can upload many types of files, including PDF, word processing, or spreadsheet documents. Click the link “Add File” in the blue bar or right side to display a box where you can browse to files to upload. 

If you wish to upload a photo or a video, click on the “My Photos” or “My Videos” link in block on right side of page. 

On the My Photos page, select the blue button “+Photo”  and follow instructions to select and upload the desired image.

On the My Videos page select the blue button “+Video” and follow instructions to "embed" a video. For detailed instructions on embedding videos, see this FAQ. The FAQ is for group pages but the same instructions apply to My Videos. 

For photos and videos, you have the option to select “share sitewide” when uploading. This means that those files becomes public and any member can view them.  It is necessary to do this if you want to share a photo or video with another CCL member, for example.

To delete a file, photo, or video that you’ve uploaded to CCL Community, go to your Member Profile. Scroll down to the “Manage My Files” link on bottom left of profile page. 

Deleting Files

Click on the link to go to the My Files page. Files that you have uploaded to your profile page, your chapter, or other groups will appear in bars with the file name and type, such as .pdf or .docx. 

To delete a file, click on the bar for the file you wish to delete. Then click on the "..." link in the upper right to display a pop-up menu. Select the delete option. Click “OK” to confirm. 

Deleting Photos

First, follow instructions above to go to the My Files page. Then, on the right side and bottom of instructions, select the “My Photos” link. You will see thumbnails of all the photos you have uploaded to CCL Community. 

To delete a photo, click on the thumbnail of the photo you wish to delete. Then at the bottom of the popup window click on the blue “Delete” button.  Click “OK” to confirm. 

Deleting Videos

First, follow instructions above to go to the My Files page. Then, on the right side and bottom of instructions, select the “My Videos” link. You will see thumbnails of all the videos you have linked to CCL Community. 

To delete a video, click on the thumbnail of the video you wish to delete. Then at the bottom of the popup window click on the blue “Delete” button.  Click “OK” to confirm. 

Note: video files are not hosted on CCL Community. They are linked from streaming services and embedded. 

If you've changed your address, phone number, or email here is how to update your contact information.  

1. Click the button with your name on the top right of any page and select "View [your name] Profile. This will take you to the Member Profile page.

2. Click on any of the "[edit]" links to open an editing view with multiple tabs. 

3. Select any of these tabs to update your contact information: "Address," "Phone Number," or "Email."  For email,  you will be directed to update that in Account Settings. You can update your phone number and address in the edit view. 

Any changes made to your mailing address, phone number or email will be saved to CCL’s database. 

After making changes, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Save” before exiting the tab.

Please always use the Member Profile page to update contact information. Do not email CCL requesting changes. Your mailing address, phone numbers, and email will never be displayed publicly or to another CCL Community member. 

For more information regarding CCL's Privacy Policy and the protection of your personally-Identifying information visit our full policy here.

Members may want to revise their name on CCL Community due to change in martial status, legal change of name, misspelling, or personal preference (replacing a first name with a nickname, for example).

To do this, click the button with your name on the top right side of any page and select “Account Settings.”  Select the “Settings” tab (it should default to that). Make desired changes in the “First Name” and/or “Last Name” text fields. 

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page and click the blue “Save Changes” button. 

To change your CCL Community login password, click the button with your name on the top right side of any page and select “Account Settings.” Select the “Settings” tab (it should default to that).

Scroll down to the “Change Password” text fields. You will need to enter your current password as well as your new password (twice).  Be sure to make a note of your new password for future logins.  

Then, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the blue “Save Changes” button.

Note: Your password must have a minimum of 6 characters, at least 1 uppercase letter, and at least one number or special character.

If you don’t remember your current password, click the "Forgot password?" link from the login page and have a new password sent to your email address.

To change the email address associated with your CCL account click the button with your name on the top right side of any page and select “Account Settings.”
Then  scroll down to the "Email Address" section, enter your new email address twice, and then scroll to the bottom and click the blue "Save changes" button to confirm. 

Note: Since CCL Community is integrated  with the CCL database, updating your name and/or email address on the Account Settings page means your name and email address will change everywhere within CCL’s database (your CCL Chapter Roster, Action Team Rosters (if you have joined any Action Teams), CCL emails, conference registrations, etc.). 

As members participate in many of the features of CCL Community, they may receive email notifications about new content, updates, actions and reminders. These can include notifications about events, newsletters and forums you have subscribed to, messages from other members, alerts, and group activities.

While all notifications about the CCL Community events and actions are sent to your CCL Community Inbox, some of these notifications are also forwarded by default to your email address registered with CCL.  Members can easily control what they are notified about and in many cases how frequently they are notified.

To view and manage all your email notifications and subscriptions, click on “Account Settings” in the dropdown menu below your name at top right of any page.

Select the “Notifications” tab to see a list of actions and events that you are being notified about. Many of these notifications were enabled by default when you joined CCL Community. Uncheck those that you do not wish to be notified about in your personal email. You can also select “All Communication” to receive all notifications or “Unsubscribe from Community notifications” to receive none.  

For all checked actions or events you will be notified instantly. Unlike forum subscriptions, there isn’t a digest option for notifications. When finished, be sure to click the blue “Save” button on bottom right. 

Select the “Subscriptions” to see a list of Sitewide Forums. Here you can see if you have subscribed to receive email notifications about new postings and replies to any of the forums. Check or uncheck any to manage your subscriptions.  With forums, you can select the frequency of notifications. 

Also under the “Subscriptions” tab is a list of all the groups you are a member of, such as your CCL chapter. Select any link to go to the group forums settings page. Here, you can manage the forum subscriptions for that specific group.

For more details and instructions about managing notifications and subscriptions, consult these FAQs:

Make sure CCL newsletter is in your inbox
Staying Updated with Community Bulletin
Manage Sitewide Forum Subscription & Notifications
Update Forum email settings
Managing Group Subscription and Notification Preferences
How to Make Sure You Receive Emails From Your Group Leader

To change your CCL chapter or electoral district, please use the form at this link.

Note: members in state At Large Groups can switch to a local CCL chapter using this method, if desired.

Using this form will move you to another CCL chapter and add you to the new CCL Chapter's Roster. You will also be added to the new CCL chapter's group on CCL Community during the nightly data sync (i.e., it won’t happen instantly). 
Note: You can be a member of only one CCL chapter, but you can, however, join as many Action Teams as you wish.

Sometimes, a CCL chapter may span several electoral districts. Be sure to check that the electoral district listed for you is correct, using your address, and update if necessary. 

To create a "site signature" (similar to an email signature - a few lines that will appear at the bottom of your posts on CCL Community), go to your Account Settings page.

Scroll down to the bottom of the "Settings" tab to the Site Signature block and enter text for your desired  signature. Click the blue "Save changes" button (see below). The site signature input box accepts carriage returns and/or <br> tags for line breaks and you can use <a href> to embed a link.  (Follow links for <br> and <a href> for instructions.)

Note: The site signature will display within private messages and forum posts, but does not currently work for emails sent via CCL Community's group email interface. 

You can contact CCL Community members with our built-in message system from the My Messages page. To get to the My Messages page click the notification envelope icon on the top right of any page and select "Messages."    


To send a message select the “Compose" tab. Fill in the subject and the message text. Use the editing toolbar to format text, add links, or add images. Click paper clip icon at bottom to add document attachments.

Select the green “Click to select recipients” button to search for and select your message’s recipients. Friends will be shown by default, but you can type names into the recipients text field to search for other CCL Community members.  

Your message will be sent to the member’s email address associated with the CCL account, unless they have message notifications turned off in their email. It will also appear in their My Messages page

In the My Messages screen, select “Inbox” on left side  to see messages you have received (default view). Click on any message to reply.  Select “Sent” to view messages you have sent.

Note: The message feature is an internal communication system for CCL Community members, but most members choose to receive message notifications in the personal email platform they provided when joining CCL. This is the default setup when members join. However, to send a message to another member’s My Messages page, you must compose and send it from your My Messages page. 

If you would like to upload and share a file with a forum post or a message you're sending in CCL Community, click on the paper clip icon in the editing tools above the post or message text.

Once you've clicked the icon, select a file to upload by clicking on the "Choose File" button, or select a file you've already uploaded.

 

If uploading, type in a title name for the file (required) and then click "Post" on the bottom to upload.  Your file(s) will then appear at the bottom of the body of your text field with the provided name and the ability to click the "x" to un-attach it.

Finally, finish composing the rest of your post or message and click "Post" or "Send Message" to share.

You can add (embed) photos in messages you send to individuals or to groups, if you are a Group Leader or have been given permissions to send messages to a CCL chapter or group.

When composing the message, first add text. Place the cursor where you want the photo to appear. Then click on the image icon in the editing toolbar (see below). 

This will bring up a dialog box that displays all photos that you have previously uploaded to CCLCommunity, as well as a box to browse to other photos on your computer. Select a photo from your photo gallery or select “choose file” to upload a new photo, which can be any of these file types: BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG,  or PNG.  If you are uploading a new photo, add a name (required). Then click “Post” at the bottom of the dialog box. This will add the photo to your gallery and also to your message. 

The photo will appear in the message text where you have positioned it. Depending on the size of the original photo, you may want to resize it. Right-click on the image to see a pop-up menu. Select “image properties.”  

In the “Image Info” default tab you can set the width and height of the photo, as well as add a border or specify horizontal or vertical space around the image. Just enter numbers - they represent pixel dimensions. The preview pane will display the image with text to give you an idea of what it will look like and help size the image. You can also choose left side or right side alignment. 

In the “Link” tab you can enter a URL if you want to image to link to a web page or an item in CCL Community. 

For instructions on adding photos to forum posts or replies, see this FAQ.

If you’re pasting text from a web page, an e-mail, or a document into a message or forum post on CCL Community, the formatting can get messed up. That’s because the formatting from the copied source text gets transported into the forum post or message, and can result in the wrong size font, unneeded spacing, or extra bolding and italics.

You can avoid this with a few simple tricks. Instead of the normal paste commands, use these techniques.

For PCs

Whether you are using Chrome or the Microsoft Edge browser to view CCL Community, copy the text you wish to paste from the source, click inside the body text area of the forum post or message, and press "CTRL - Shift - V" on your keyboard.

Or, paste the source text into the plain text Notepad app. This will strip formatting. Then copy that text from Notepad and use the basic "CTRL-V" keyboard shortcut to paste into the forum post or message. This method will work no matter what combination of source and browser you are using.

For Macs

If you are viewing CCL Community in Chrome or Safari, you will find a command in the Edit dropdown menu: “Paste and Match Style.” After copying your source text, click in the body text area of the forum post or message, and select “Paste and Match Style” in the browser edit menu. This will strip source formatting. The Firefox browser does not have the “Paste and Match Style” edit command, so use the Mac keyboard shortcut “Shift - Option - Command - V” to strip source formatting.

You can also use the keyboard shortcut from Chrome or Safari, if convenient.

Another way to strip source text formatting is to paste the source text into the Mac Notes app. Then copy it from Notes and paste into your forum post or message using the browser edit menu “Paste” command or keyboard “Command - V.”

Tip: Using the Notes app has the advantage of preserving hyperlinks, bold formatting and bulleted lists from your source text.

CCL’s IT team has received reports of members not receiving messages from CCL Community in spite of having their email notifications properly set up.  If you have this problem, check your spam or junk folder and mark any CCL message you find there as "not spam" or “not junk.” Also, check other folders such as "Promotional" in Gmail.  Add cclcommunity@citizensclimate.org to your safe sender list, safe contact list, or whitelist (depending on your email system).

Taking these steps will help you stay connected with CCL and help us reach other volunteers inboxes as well (part of some spam filters are based on feedback from other users that such messages are considered “not spam.”)

If you use Gmail and have the promotions tab, move one of our emails from the promotions tab to your primary tab to make sure you don’t miss them.

Instructions for primary tab move For Gmail Users

1. Open Gmail in your browser.
2. Click on your promotions tab
3. Find CCL’s Newsletter or Weekly Briefing.
4. Click and drag the message into your primary tab.
5. When asked “Do this for future messages from newsletter@citizensclimate.org?” click Yes.

If this is occurring for you after trying out the suggestions above please submit a support request at cclusa.org/help so that we can determine  what the problem is.

By joining Citizens' Climate Lobby you will be automatically subscribed to our weekly briefings and monthly newsletter. 

To make sure our emails land in your inbox please add newsletter@citizensclimate.org to your contacts.

Also check your spam or junk folder to make sure our messages are not routed there. If you find one, mark it as “not spam” or “not junk” to move it to your inbox.

Want to stay current on all that’s happening in CCL and on CCL Community online?  Make sure to subscribe to the CCL Community Bulletin.

Find the bulletin by scrolling down on your Dashboard and clicking on the CCL Community Bulletin link (you can also find it by clicking on the “Community Bulletin” link in the green footer of any page in Community).

The CCL Community  Bulletin provides CCL members three important features:

1. Quick updates about new items and other CCL related activity.
2. Archive of CCL’s Weekly Briefing and Monthly Newsletter updates and actions.
3. Every other month, CCL Community releases software updates to improve users’ experiences, including new features and resolution of any issues (click here for an example).

Publishing the software release notes in one location helps CCL group leaders and CCL Community users stay updated and track platform improvements and fixes. To subscribe to the bulletin, click on the green “Subscribe” button in the upper right box and select your level of frequency (instant, daily, or weekly). You will then receive an email with the bulletin updates at that level of frequency selected automatically (more on subscriptions here).

You can also search Bulletin archives by category, author, or month posted to find  specific content you’re looking for. 

One way anyone can notify another Community user about a forum  conversation, or comments elsewhere on Community is to  use  "@mention." To do this type the "@" symbol followed by the Community member's name as displayed in the Member Directory. 

Type the name exactly as displayed (i.e. no underscores, etc.). For example:  @Testy Testerson. 

After you type the first three letters, CCL Community will start recommending names that match in a drop-down menu - keep typing your target's full name until you see it appear on the drop-down and then click that profile name. The @ symbol should disappear and  be replaced by their full name with a hyperlink to their profile (see below).

Any CCL Community user mentioned this way will receive a notification that they've been @ mentioned (some call this “being tagged”) if they have the checkbox marked for "Email me when someone @ mentions me" in their Account Settings (click the button with your name on the top right side of any page and select “Account Settings.” to access).

The “Resources and Training”  and "Tools" top menu buttons provide quick access to our Training Topics, CCL Resources and CCL Community Tools pages, as well as direct links to the most popular pages for each category and links to helpful pages for new volunteers. 

New Volunteers. If you are a new member, the New Volunteer page describes the most important training resources to get you up to speed as a CCL member, including how to register for an information session and Climate Advocate Training, how to connect with your CCL chapter, and links to information about our focus, methods, and values. The CCL Community FAQs provides answers to questions about the site, guidelines, and step-by-step instructions. CCL Community Tours explores CCL Community’s features with a guided tour.

Trainings. To access the Training Topics page click on the “All Training Topics” link in the the dropdown menu shown above. At the top you will see featured, recent, and upcoming training topics, and then below that other topics organized by category. 

Resources. The CCL Resources page is where you can find access to materials such as handouts, images, and reports to print or share digitally. Examples include brochures, banners, constituent letters, business cards, and the CCL style guide. Select the link “All Resources” in the dropdown menu to go there. 

Tools. CCL has developed a number of tools to help members record activities, report results, track relationships, engage with members of congress or potential supporters, research CCL statistics, and view and manage group members.

To view the CCL Community Tools page, select the top menu "Tools" link and then select the link “All Tools” in the dropdown menu. 

To access the Training Topics page, first click on the “Resources and Training” in the top menu of any page. Then select the “All Training Topics” link in the dropdown menu.

At the top of the Training Topics page you will see featured, recent, and upcoming training topics, and then below that other topics organized by category.

The broad categories of topics include “Lobbying Congress,” “Media Relations,” “Grassroots Outreach,” and several others. Click on a topic category to see a group of related topics. In the case of “Grassroots Outreach,” this includes topics such as “Tabling and Clipboarding” and “Presentations.”

Select an individual topic to see all of the trainings available under that topic, as well key resources and links. So, for example, under the topic “Tabling and Clipboarding” is a training on “How To Table An Event.” 

Click the Start Training” link under the training description to open the the training page.  You will find a description of the training subject and tabs to access text, video, and audio training materials, as well as additional resources. 

The training materials offer step-by-step instructions as well as an introduction to the subject, tips, and benefits. 

Note: Not all training subjects have training materials in every mode (text, video, or audio). 

 

On the left side of the topic page (such as "Tabling and Clipboarding"), you can explore related topics with a menu for that topic category, such as this one for “Grassroots Outreach.”

CCL Community’s extensive library of video trainings are a key tool for volunteer development, and along with chapter development, the fifth level of political will.

You can now log trainings you have completed using a convenient button that links directly to the Action Tracker.  Logging your trainings will help you keep track of your personal development, as well as helping your group leader understand your interests and progress.

To log a completed training, scroll to the bottom of any training page to find a green button labeled “Log your training.”

Clicking that button will take you to the Action Tracker and display an Edit Your Action page. 

It will indicate that you are logging a training as a personal development action. The name of the training is displayed (check to be sure it’s the one you completed) and the current date. If you completed the training at an earlier date, you can change the date by clicking on the date or the pencil icon. Click again in the date field to get a popup calendar and navigate to the date you want to enter. If you don’t remember the exact date, just enter an estimate.

Another way to log a completed training is to go to the Action Tracker,  click on “Log an Action” on the left side and then select the "Chapter and Volunteer Development" category. Scroll down and click “Next” to see more choices. Choose "Trainings" and select a training from a dropdown menu along with the date (estimated) you took it.

The number of trainings you log will be displayed in the badges in your Member Profile.

We suggest you visit all the trainings you have completed prior to October, 2021 and log them. This will help your group leader understand your interests and will also help the Education Team track which trainings are the most useful.

Note: Training opportunities that are offered by local chapters, Action Teams or other organizations should be logged within the "Chapter and Volunteer Development" category, but then by selecting the "Other" option.

The CCL Resources page is where you can find access to materials such as handouts, images, and reports to print or share digitally. Examples include brochures, banners, constituent letters, business cards, and the CCL style guide.

To access the CCL Resources page, first click on the “Resources and Training” in the top menu of any page. Then select the “All Resources ” link in the the dropdown menu. 

At the top of the resources page are featured resources, which spotlight the newest, most important, or most popular items. Below the featured resources are all the other resources, grouped by categories. Select any of the categories to view a list of associated resources, such as resources related to the Energy Innovation Act shown below. Click on any of the items to go to a page with information and download links for that resource. 

On each individual resource page, such as the Energy Innovation Act fact sheet shown below, you’ll see a brief description of the resource at the top. Next there are usage instructions as well links to download the resource.  Often there are choices to download various versions of the item such as color,  black and white, or Spanish. At the bottom are links to related training topic page(s) if you are interested in finding out more about the context for this resource or detailed advice on where and how to use it. On the left side is a menu of all the other resources in the same category. 

Tip: if you are uncertain what category a resource you are looking for may be in, use the main site search and filter your results by selecting the type of item in the checkbox on the left side. 

CCL has developed a number of tools to help members record activities, report results, track relationships, engage with members of congress or potential supporters, research CCL statistics, and view and manage group members.

Examples are field reports, meeting plan templates, CCL Chapter Rosters, and a personal carbon dividend calculator. 

To access the CCL Community Tools page, click on the “Tools” top menu button. Then select the “All Tools" link in the the dropdown menu.

At the top of the tools page are featured tools. Below that all the CCL tools are listed and divided into categories such as “Lobbying Tools.”

Each tool is linked to an informational or instructional page on CCL Community. 

One of the biggest advantages of CCL Community is the prominent role that forums play. If you have a question, want to share an important idea or resource, or are curious about how others are handling a certain challenge, we encourage all CCL Community members to post in the forums.

There are both Sitewide Forums and group forums. To access the Sitewide Forums go to "Connect" in the top menu of any page and select Sitewide Forums. Sitewide Forums are organized in broad areas such as "General Discussion" or "Lobbying Congress."  Members post questions or useful information. On the Sitewide Forum page below the list of forums is a box displaying recent activity (topics and posts) from all the forums. On the right side is a “Search Forums” field, guidelines, and forum help.

For your CCL chapter and action team forums, go to their home page and click on “Forums” in the left-side menu. 

Whether in the Sitewide Forums or your group's forums, once you've selected a forum category you will see various topics that members have posted about. You can view topics by selecting the topic text from the post, or post your own topics by selecting the "Start a New Topic" button on the bottom of the page.

Once you've clicked on a topic you can see the full post, along with any replies that other members of the CCL Community have posted.

If you find a particular topic, or even an individual post particularly useful, you can bookmark the topic or post so that you can get to it later. You can also subscribe to a forum category to be notified about future posts and discussions. Follow the instructions below to set up subscriptions.  In this way, forums function like Google Groups.

 

• Topics - A topic is a post within a forum. You can subscribe to updates and replies to a specific topic. You can also bookmark a topic in order to navigate to it from your Dashboard.
• Categories - A forum category is a group of  topics within the forum. In a broad forum it may be useful to group similar topics - for example, the category “Working With Editorial Boards” in the Media Relations Sitewide Forum. You can bookmark categories to get to them from your Dashboard.
• Replies - Members can reply to topic posts in order to contribute to the discussion.

If the Sitewide Forum has no categories, select the "Add Topic" button at the top of topics window. If the forum has categories, when you click on "Add Topic," a dropdown list of the categories appears. Select the desired category and then "Add Topic." In either case this brings up a page to enter both the topic subject and text.

See the FAQs in the Communications category for instructions on attaching documents to a post, embedding photos in a post, as well as tips on the best way to paste text into a post.

View a group forum by going to the group home page and selecting "Forum" from the left side menu. From there select the "Start New Topic" button. On the "Start New Topic" page enter the subject of your new topic, as well as topic text. 

See the FAQs in the Communications category for instructions on attaching documents to a post, embedding photos in a post, as well as tips on the best way to paste text into a post.

Note: The default notification setting for all members of a group is to be notified of new forum posts from the general discussion forum, but not from any additional forum categories you customize and add. Therefore if you want to post an important update in the forums that all group members see, start a new topic on your group's general discussion forum.

If you have questions or wish to add comments on a posted forum topic, open the post and click the blue “Add Reply” button at top. You can also click on the “Reply” link at the bottom of the original topic posting.

This opens a text box. Add your reply. You can also add documents by dragging a file into the text box. Click “Post” at the bottom of the reply window This will add your reply to other replies (if there are any), sorted by oldest on top. 

If, however, you want to reply directly to someone else’s reply, click on the “Reply” link at the bottom of their reply. 

When replying to a topic post or a topic reply it may be helpful to quote the original text, or the part that your reply is referring to. To quote a topic or reply, click on the "Quote" link at bottom of post. 

When you do this the full text of either the post or reply will be pulled into a reply text box. If desired, you can remove parts of the quoted text in order to get the portion you are interested in quoting.

You can add (embed) photos in forum posts or replies.

When composing the message, first add text. Place the cursor where you want the photo to appear. Then click on the image icon in the editing toolbar (see below). 

This will bring up a dialog box that displays all photos that you have previously uploaded to CCLCommunity, as well as a box to browse to other photos on your computer. Select a photo from your photo gallery or select “choose file” to upload a new photo, which can be any of these file types: BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG,  or PNG.  If you are uploading a new photo, add a name (required). Then click “Post” at the bottom of the dialog box. This will add the photo to your gallery and also to your forum post or reply. 

The photo will appear in the post text where you have positioned it. Depending on the size of the original photo, you may want to resize it. Right-click on the image to see a pop-up menu. Select “image properties.”  

In the “Image Info” default tab you can set the width and height of the photo, as well as add a border or specify horizontal or vertical space around the image. Just enter numbers - they represent pixel dimensions. The preview pane will display the image with text to give you an idea of what it will look like and help size the image. You can also choose left side or right side alignment. 

In the “Link” tab you can enter a URL if you want to image to link to a web page or an item in CCL Community. 

For instructions on adding photos to CCL Community messages, see this FAQ.

If you see a topic post or reply that interests you or that you like, you can like the topic by clicking on the “Like” icon at the bottom of the topic post or reply. This lets the poster know that the topic was helpful. It also contributes to the topic’s popularity, which influences where it is listed in the "Popular" forum tab.

There are also additional reactions available for members to use. Mouseover the "Like" icon to choose one of these options: Love, Clap, Celebrate, Insightful, or Interesting.

While the main CCL Community site search engine does search topics and posts in the Sitewide Forums, it may be more useful to search the forums using the “Search Forums” box on the top right of the Sitewide Forums page, due to the availability of forum-specific filters. 

After entering search terms and clicking on the search icon, you will be taken to the Forum Search Results page, where the results of your search are displayed. On the left side of the page you can refine the search results with filters.

“By Category” lists all the Sitewide Forums and associated categories. By default all forums and categories are included (colored blue). If you want to focus your search by excluding forums or categories, click on them to make inactive (gray color). The search results will update instantly.

Use the “Time Frame” filter at bottom of left side to narrow the range of dates of postings included in the search results.

At the top you can order the resulting list of topics and posts by “Most Recent,” “Top Rated,” “Most Commented,” or “Relevance.

If desired, you can change the search terms and search again at the top of the page.

CCL Community members can subscribe to any of the Sitewide Forums. To subscribe, select the green “Subscribe” button at the top of the forum. Click on dropdown arrow to select frequency of notification.

Subscription options are:

• Instant: sends an email each time there is new content. This is the only option that allows the reply by email feature (see this FAQ). 
• Daily (recommended): aggregates all content in one daily email
• Weekly: aggregates all content in one weekly email

If you are already subscribed, the button will display “Unsubscribe.”  Select it to unsubscribe or select the dropdown arrow to modify frequency of notification. 

To manage subscription and notification preferences for all Sitewide Forums in one place, click the button with your name on the top right side of any page and select “Account Settings.” Then, click the “Subscription” tab. 

To change whether or how often you are notified by email about postings, review the list of Forums at top of the “Subscription” tab. The default setting is “none.” 

 Click “Save” at bottom of page when finished.

Note: If you subscribe to a Sitewide Forum, such as "Media Relations" that has categories (such as "LTEs and Op-Eds"), you will also be subscribed to all the categories. If you wish to subscribe to only one or more of the categories, unsubscribe to the parent forum and subscribe individually to desired categories.

While you can't subscribe to a topic, you can bookmark it. Also, if you post a new topic or reply to a topic you will be subscribed to that thread for instant updates if anyone else that responds to that topic. However, if you are already subscribed to the parent category of that forum, this topic inherits the frequency settings you've chosen for all topics in that forum. 

To change when and how often you are notified by email about events, actions, and updates to forums in CCL Community, go to your Account Settings (get there by clicking the button with your name on the top right side of any page and selecting “Account Settings.”).  In the "Subscriptions" tab you can select the frequency for which you are notified about forum updates for both Sitewide Forums and Group/CCL chapter forums.  

Watch this tutorial on updating your Account Settings on Community (4:27 min).

When you subscribe to receive updates to a forum topic instantly, you can reply to individual posts directly from your email by clicking on the "Reply by Email" button. Doing so will bring up a new email. Type your response in the email body and click send. Your reply will be added to the topic discussion just as if you'd replied on site. This feature isn't currently available for daily or weekly digests.

However, in the cases listed below a "Reply By Email" post will be filtered out and not posted to the forums. 

1. If you reply within 15 seconds of it hitting your inbox (auto-replies are filtered out).
2. If you reply from a different address or with a different subject line than the Forum post notification (i.e. no email forwarding - then replying).
3. If you reply more than once. After you've replied (or even attempted to reply) all other replies will be filtered out.

Besides your CCL chapter's group page (e.g. CCL NY New York City), CCL Community provides three additional types of groups that users can join. 

Action Teams:  Unlike CCL Chapters, Action Teams are organized around specific topics or areas of focus. Most teams meet regularly by group calls and communicate within their team's group page on CCL Community. To find out about CCL's 50+ Action Teams visit the Action Team Directory.

CCL Chapter Teams: CCL Chapter Leaders can create group pages for local teams to collaborate on a particular area (such as an outreach team or a media team). If you would like your CCL chapter to support a CCL Chapter Team, contact your CCL Chapter Leader.

Custom Groups: CCL Community allows State and Regional Coordinators to create group pages for Custom Groups of CCL members to collaborate (such as a CA Liaison Group or a DFW Media Group).  If you have an idea for a Custom Group and are not a State or Regional Coordinator, you can find your coordinator in the Regional Coordinators directory and request they consider creating a Custom Group for your state or region. 

Even though you can only be a member of  one CCL chapter, you may join as many Action Teams as you like. When you visit an Action Team home page  you will see a “Join” button at the top under the Action Team name. Select that button to join. For public Action Team groups, you will be added immediately, but for a private Action Team group a request will be sent to the group leader. They will  either add you immediately  or contact you for more information.

To leave an Action Team group, click on “Settings” on the left side of the team home page, and then select  “Leave Group” at the top.

You can leave a group that you are a member of by clicking on “Settings” in the left side menu on the group's homepage.

A green "Leave Group" button will appear beneath the Group name at the top of the screen. Click that button in order to leave the group.

Note: This applies to Action Teams, Custom Groups, and role-based groups (i.e. Group Leaders, Liaisons, etc.) If you need to change your CCL chapter, go to Changing Your CCL Chapter Membership.

From an Action Team, Custom Group, or CCL chapter homepage you may see "Files" and "Photos" links in the menu on the left side of the page. Also, there may be a "Videos" link. Instructions for uploading videos are in the FAQ on videos below. 

Note: Group Admins can remove any or all of these links. If you don’t see the media type you want to upload, contact your Group Admin to determine why it was disabled. 

Clicking on either the file or photo links will take you to a page where previously uploaded documents or photos (if any) are displayed. There will also be a dialogue box to upload. If uploading a file such as a word processing document or spreadsheet, either drag and drop your files or select the "click to upload” link. If uploading a photo, click the "Add Photos" button in the middle of the page. You can also create folders of files and photos, if desired. 

To upload (embed) a video to a group, see the FAQ on videos below.

The Files / Photos / Video pages allows CCL chapter members to view files you and other CCL chapter members have uploaded onto your group page.  There is also an optional checkbox to allow your file to be shared sitewide, if desired. If you choose to check the "Share Sitewide" checkbox when uploading, your documents, photos, and videos will be marked as public and will be available for any CCL Community member outside of your group to find when searching on the main CCL Community search page. By not checking the "Share Sitewide" checkbox you will restrict access to your file/photo/video and it will be available only through your group's page.  

You can also upload personal files to your My Files page.   While none of the files uploaded here will be visible from a group page, you can follow the same "Share Sitewide" checkbox to set the desired  level of privacy as described above. The link to your My Files page is also located on your profile page. On the lower left side, you’ll see the “My Files” block. Click on “Manage My Files.”

Videos can’t be directly uploaded or stored on CCL Community. Instead, if the video is hosted on a video streaming site such as YouTube or Vimeo, you can use a video’s URL (web address) to “embed” the video on a CCL Community group page or on your personal My Videos page. 

When you click on an embedded video thumbnail, it launches a player on that page and links the player to the video on its hosting service. 

To embed a video, first launch the video from the hosting service site in a web browser. Then, copy the URL from the address bar (the text field at the top of the browser). 

On a CCL chapter or group page, click “Videos” on the left hand side. This will open the video gallery page for that group. Select the blue bar:  “Add Videos.” This then opens a dialogue box with instructions and a text field. Paste the URL into the text field. Next, click the blue “Embed” button. This establishes the link to the video on the hosting service. Now you will see a title field (required) and options for a description, tags, and a checkbox to “share sitewide.”  

Both title and description will help members find the video in search. Choose “share sitewide” if you want to video to be public and available to members outside of the group. 

Click “Post” when completed.  A video thumbnail and the title will appear in the Video Gallery.  Members can click on the thumbnail or title to view the video in a player on that page.  

Note: If you wish to embed a video you have personally created, you need to create an account on a compatible hosting service such as YouTube, upload it, and then proceed as described above. 

For your My Videos page, follow the instructions outlined above. 

CCL Community members may choose to join any Action Team, or may belong to a Custom Group. All members belong to their CCL chapter group. 

By default, you will be notified about two things from group(s) you belong to: new group forum posts (in a daily digest) and email messages sent by your group's leaders.

You can set the types of group notifications and subscriptions that you want to be notified about by clicking on "Settings" in your group's home page left side menu. The default view will show the “Notifications” tab and below that you'll be able to toggle the various notifications on and off. To adjust the settings for forums in your group, click on the "Subscriptions" tab in “Settings” and select the level of frequency you prefer.

Note: To manage subscription and notification preferences for all groups you are a member of, as well as group forums, click the button with your name on the top right side of any page and select “Account Settings.” Then, click the “Subscription” tab. 

Scroll down to see a listing of the Action Teams and other groups you have joined or belong to. To manage subscriptions and notifications for a group, click on the group name. This will take you to the group home page and the “My Individual Group Settings” box. As described above, select the “Notifications” tab to determine what types of events you want to be alerted to. Select the ‘Subscriptions” tab to set the frequency of notifications for the group and group forums, if any.