This part of my 팬팝 User Guide describes some of the basics of using the site, and was last substantively edited on 19 December 2007.

Covered in this article:
Finding spots
Fans of spots and users
Ratings
Favorites
Sharing
Reporting

Finding a spot
There are three primary ways to find spots that fit your interests, which is really the whole point of the site. The first (examples are marked with "1" in the illustration) is 의해 읽기 the lists on the main page of the site ('fanpop home'): it's entirely possible that some content displayed there is of interest to you, whether it be a spotlit spot, a question, an image, a video, a forum, 또는 even a spot associated with one of the 팬 featured on the main page. In general, every time a spot name is listed anywhere on the site, it is a clickable link which will take 당신 to that spot. A slight exception is the name of a spot in the "recent images" section, which will take 당신 to that image in the spot, rather than to the main page for that spot (just as if you'd clicked on the thumbnail of the picture).

The 초 way to find a spot (marked with a "2" in the illustration) is 의해 using the 검색 function. On every page of the site there is a box in which 당신 can type key words and then click a 검색 button to look for content that matches those words. The 검색 will try to find spots which match the words 당신 enter. Note: when we talk about any content on the site other than the spots themselves (soapbox 기사 like this one, images, 질문 & picks, fora, et cetera), we refer to them generically as 'links'. When 당신 use the 검색 function, 당신 may also find 링그 that match your 검색 terms. 검색 results are divided into those two categories: spots, and links, so if you're looking for a spot, you'll find that listed first. The 링그 are listed in the 검색 results below the first five spots listed. The list of link results have 아이콘 that represent the type of link: images, videos, et cetera, but they are all grouped in the same section. 검색 results can take 더 많이 than one page, so if 당신 don't see the spot 또는 link 당신 want, 당신 may click the 'more results' link (if available) to list another page of 검색 results of that type (spots 또는 links).

Note that the 검색 is a simple search, however, and does not recognize boolean expressions. That means that +”Kaiju Godzilla” +”cat monster” +video will get the same results as Kaiju cat monster video Kaiju Godzilla, as an example. In addition, the 검색 will look for each of the words 당신 type separately, so the 검색 results would be the same for cat video Godzilla Kaiju monster. This means that, for our example 검색 above, in addition to getting Godzilla in the results, 당신 might also get results of 'Some 랜덤 plant on a pole', 'Cat says a-ha!' and 'monster truck rally video'. The results are organized in order of accuracy of match, however, so a video of Godzilla fighting a cat monster (if there is one) would come first. If there isn't one, you'll see a message "We couldn't find any exact matches", followed 의해 a list of partial matches.

The third way to find spots that match your interests (marked with a "3" in the illustration, above) is to use the 'Browse spots' feature on the main page of the site. This is currently found in the bottom right of that page. 당신 can click a channel 제목 (for instance, 'Pets & Animals') and then scroll through the different spots in that channel, 또는 당신 can get a list of the most 인기 spots, 또는 당신 can list just the pending spots.

Fan of a spot
Once 당신 find a spot that matches your interest, 당신 can add yourself as a 팬 of that spot. To do so, click the link at the upper right of the page, below the link to your 프로필 and above the 'banner' for that spot. The page will refresh immediately with 당신 as a 팬 of that spot. Now if 당신 click the 'my profile' link, 당신 will see your profile, which will include that spot, as well as a running list of recent 업데이트 made to 'your' spots (the spots for which 당신 are a fan).

Fan of another user
As 당신 browse the site, 당신 will either find 프렌즈 and family 당신 know, 또는 you'll just notice other users who are posting 링그 that match your interests. 당신 may say that 당신 are a 팬 of another user. To do so, click on the user's name 또는 portrait picture. This will take 당신 to that user's profile. If 당신 want to explore a little 더 많이 of what this user has done on the site, 당신 can select 'activity' in the 상단, 맨 위로 navigation bar. The module on the right will refresh with a list of the 링그 that the user has added to the site, with the ability to also list the videos, images, comments, posts to fora, 질문 and soapbox 기사 that user has entered/created. Once you've satisfied yourself that 당신 want to add yourself as a fan, find the box labeled 'about me' on the left side of the user's 프로필 page, which contains the user's portrait picture, whatever biographical information the user has decided to include and a number of quick links. One of these is 'Add to 팬 List'. Click this link to list yourself as a 팬 of the user.

Ratings
Please rate content whenever 당신 have a reaction to it, positive 또는 negative. At the moment, 당신 can rate videos, links, soapbox 기사 and 이미지 (remember, when we speak of content in general, we refer to all of these types of content as 'links'). When 당신 look at any of these things, you'll see a row of five grey circles with “rate this link” written across them. Click on these to rate the link in question, on a five 별, 스타 scale of 1 ('garbage') to 5 ('awesome!'), moving from left to right. It cannot be stressed enough how important ratings are, since many lists of links, et cetera use ratings as a major part of the algorithm to determine how they are displayed. In addition, the system of medals is completely based on ratings. If 당신 want your content to be recognized 또는 if 당신 want to appreciate the content that others have posted, the best thing 당신 can do it rate that content!

Favorites
As 당신 find 링그 that 당신 particularly enjoy, 또는 that 당신 want to be able to find again quickly, 당신 can save them to your list of 가장 좋아하는 links. To add a link to your favorites, simply click the 'save' button right under the ratings circles. To look up your list of favorites, go to your 프로필 page. Your favorites are listed in the left, right under the 'about me' box. 의해 default, the favorites are organized in reverse chronological order, with the link 당신 added to your favorites list most recently listed at the top. If 당신 click the link 'more favorites', 당신 can choose to list your favorites alphabetically 의해 제목 as an alternative.

Sharing
If 당신 find some content that 당신 think someone else will really like, there are two handy ways to send them a link to that content in e-mail. In each spot, in the upper right (just under the long horizontal image (called the spot's 'banner'), you'll see a link labeled 'invite friend'. Click that to fill out a form that will send an e-mail message to your friend inviting them to use that particular spot. Note: since this 기사 was originally written, this feature has been expanded to track the number of new users who have registered on 팬팝 from your invitations. So while the invitation is primarily a way to get others to see a spot 당신 like, it is also serving double-duty as a way to track how 당신 have contributed to the increase of Fanpop's registered users.

The 초 way to share 팬팝 content is to click the link labeled “Share this Link” (or 'Share Video' in the case of videos). This will also bring up a form, which is identical to the 이전 form except that the message sent to your friend will contain the 주소 to the link, rather than to the spot.

Report
Sometimes, even on a wonderful site like this one, there can be problems. There are two ways to 신고 such problems. First, if there is a problem with a spot (it's obscene, it violates fanpop's terms of use, 또는 it duplicates an existing spot), click the 'report' link in the upper right of the spot (a little red flag just under the spot's banner). 당신 then are given a number of choices for what to report: the spot is either inappropriate, offensive, miscategorized (for example, if the Pirates of the Caribbean spot was listed in the 텔레비전 channel – it's not TV, so it shouldn't be there), 또는 duplicates a 이전 spot. If, on the other hand, a link is not working, 당신 should 신고 that link. The way to 신고 a problem with a link is to click the grey flag just under the ratings circles, and then select which type of problem it is: spam, outdated (if the link is to some event that has come and gone), broken (if the link doesn't work), miscategorized (the link was put in the wrong spot) 또는 inappropriate. In either case, 당신 may instead choose to select 'Don't Report' to 취소하기 the problem report.

Here's 링그 to other parts of the guide for your quick reference:

* link

* 1: link

* 2: link.

* 3: link

* 4: Picks: this is the generic name both for the 투표 질문 that 당신 see on the site and for the 답변 당신 can pick to that question. Papa has created a link.

* 5: link

* 6:
link

* 7: link

당신 may also want to see:

* link feature

* link