Where To Find Things On Gather

Hi All!  I hope that you'll find this post helpful as a summary of where essential features, tools, and other pages are on Gather.com.  Since this will cover most of the site, it may be lacking in some specific details, so feel free to ask questions on our Daily Help Forum or via our online Contact Support form.

Gather's Homepage

There are really two different "homepages" that you might see if you enter www.gather.com into your browser.  If you are not a Gather member, or if you are a member but not presently logged into your account, the homepage is a fairly basic call to join up (or log in).  You won't find any content there, but you can still use the search box or any of the links (like "Explore") at the top of the page to take a peek around the site.

If you are a member and you are logged in, going to www.gather.com will redirect you to your "My Gather" page.

"My Gather"

Your "My Gather" page is your account's home base when you are logged in.  You can always access My Gather by clicking the orange "gather" logo found at the top left corner of every page.  My Gather will connect you to all the pages that relate to YOU on Gather, including:

• your inbox (private messages)
• your Gather Points
• your Account Settings (and Email Preferences)
• your profile
• your published content (posts, photos, videos, and comments)
• your groups (the ones you've joined, and the ones you own)
• your friends (the people you are connected with)
• your pending group invitations and friend requests
• your new group tasks (pending content or members in groups that you own/moderate)
• your accepted invitations (people who joined Gather after you invited them)

My Gather is also home to some helpful feeds.  "Content For Me" will keep you updated on new posts, photos, and videos - and you can adjust the feed to display content relating to either your interests, your friends on Gather, or your groups.  "Comments By My Friends" and "Friend Updates" will tell you what your friends are up to.

The Profile

Your profile is your personal page that you display to others on Gather.  Whether or not you are logged in, you can always reach your profile by inserting your real username in the URL http://username.gather.com.  For example, my username is "chuck," and my profile is located at http://chuck.gather.com.  Usually you can reach any member's profile by clicking on their icon or display name if you see them next to a comment or on a post, photo, or video they published.

The profile is divided into two columns.  The left column (the skinnier of the two), features the member icon, display name, basic information, and the member's friends, groups, and most-used tags.  The fat central column will show the member's status, spotlighted (featured) content, activity feed, more personal information, and Pings.  The bottom of the profile is where you post Pings for other members.

Sharing posts, photos, and video

All Gather members can share their thoughts and express themselves by publishing posts, photos, and video to Gather.  A post is a written piece, and can be many things, including a news article, opinion, personal experience, political manifesto, poem, short story, recipe, photo essay, or anything else you'd like.  And of course we all know the power of photos and videos to tell a story or just capture something beautiful or interesting.  Photos can be organized into albums for easier public viewing.  Remember to join some groups before you start sharing, so that you can publish your work to those groups.

To begin the sharing process, click on or hover your mouse over the Explore link at the top of any Gather page, and then click the "share" link that appears right beneath it.  You'll also find "share" links on the main Explore page, and on your My Gather page.

Searching for content, groups, and people

There is a search bar located at the very top of every Gather page.  It will turn up separate results for posts, photos, videos, people, and groups.  After you sort by one of those five options, click the "advanced search" link to expand some additional search options.  Also note the "refine options" in the left hand column of any search results page.

You can also make use of the People, Groups, and Explore links also found at the top of any Gather page.  On the People page, you can view updated lists of the most viewed and most recently updated member profiles on Gather, as well as the people with the most viewed, most discussed, and highest rated content.  The Groups and Explore pages feature "Gather Picks," which are groups or content featured daily by Gather staff.  The Explore page will show you the posts, photos, and videos that are the most viewed, most discussed, highest rated, and most recent on Gather.  The Groups page also provides quick access to the 12 "Gather Essentials" groups.

Gather Essentials groups

There are 12 groups on Gather known as "Gather Essentials."  Owned and managed by Gather staff, these groups are meant to act as hubs of information on particular categories, and to feature the cream of the crop of member content within these topics.  All the Gather Essentials are content-moderated, meaning that your work will not show up until specifically accepted into the group.  These are meant to be quick go-to spots for relevant and timely news and discussion.  We strongly encourage all members to submit their own content to any of the Gather Essentials groups, as long as that content fits the topic.  Here are the 12 Gather Essentials groups:

• Books.gather.com
• Entertainment.gather.com
• Family.gather.com
• Food.gather.com
• Health.gather.com
• Money.gather.com
• Movies.gather.com
• Music.gather.com
• News.gather.com
• Politics.gather.com
• Travel.gather.com
• Writing.gather.com

Links to these Essentials groups can always be found on the main Groups page, and also at the very bottom of any page on Gather.

Finding Help

If you have a question about using Gather, you have three options for official help from Team Gather:

• The "Help" link located at the top right corner of every page will bring you to our extensive Frequently Asked Questions page.
• Visit and join The Gather Help Desk, the official group of Gather's Member Support team, and post a question on the Daily Help Forum post there.
• Contact Gather Support directly and privately via our online Contact Support form, and MaryAnne or Chuck will respond to you as quickly as possible.  There are links to this form both on the FAQ's page and at The Gather Help Desk (help.gather.com).

Also, don't underestimate the power of asking other members who have been here awhile.  Most of our veterans are quite knowledgeable about how Gather works and can at least point you in the right direction for getting the answers you need.