Frequently asked questions:

1
This document is meant to answer many of the
questions you might have about Refstripes.com and
its discussion board. Most of these are based
around questions we have gotten from members and
guests since its inception.

• Frequently asked questions
• How do I register on Refstripes.com?
• What do the member titles (high school, NCAA D1,
  NFL, etc.) and Supervisor Reports under each
  members profile mean?
• As a member, how do I change my profile?
• What are personal messages and how do they work?
• How do I start a new thread?
• How do I post a reply in a current thread?

2
First, here are some basics about the website and
discussion board.
When you go to www.refstripes.com, you will see
this
From this page, you can get to any of the other
parts of www.refstripes.com. The other parts
include the Discussion Board, Zebra Times (new
articles on officiating and officials), a page
with many different links for officials, and a
page for persons who are interested in becoming a
football official. Zebra Times also has a page
for members to submit articles. If you have an
officiating article, please send it in. The
articles in the Zebra Times will first show up in
the News Box at the top right of the Discussion
Board.
3
Refstripes.com Discussion Board
The discussion board is the main part of
Refstripes.com. This is where officials
communicate with each other in an open forum.
This is what the discussion board will look like
the first time you see it. If you are a member,
simply put your username and password into the
boxes in the middle of the screen. If you are a
guest, you can browse the forum by selecting one
of the boards (General Discussion, NCAA
Discussion, etc.), but you cant post unless you
are a member. Each section is dedicated to a
different set of rules or topic.
4
How do I register?

• Registering at Refstripes.com is very easy. All
  you have to do is click on the Register button
  just below the search button.

5
How do I register?

• After you click the Register button, you will
  move to the registration page. Choose a username
  and password and enter the e-mail address you
  want to use with the discussion board. Just read
  the agreement, click I Agree and click
  Register at the bottom of the page. You will
  then be logged into the discussion board with the
  username you just chose.

6
What do the titles and Supervisor Reports under
the member names mean?

• The titles under the members names are a feature
  of this software that is strictly
• a representation of how many posts that member
  has made. It has nothing to do
• with what level that official is at or has been
  at in his officiating. The best way to
• identify yourself and the level you work is with
  an Avatar. This will be discussed in
• a later slide. Here are the titles and what they
  mean
• High School 0-49 posts on the discussion board
• Supplemental NCAA 51-99 posts on the discussion
  board.
• NCAA D-III 100-249 posts on the discussion
  board.
• NCAA D-II 250-499 posts on the discussion
  board.
• NCAA D-I 500-999 posts on the discussion board.
• NFL 1000 posts on the discussion board.

The titles discusses above is a feature of the
board that we decided to modify to relate to
football officiating. This is similar to the
Supervisors Report you will also see under a
members username in a post. Any member can
affect any other members Supervisors report.
If you agree with something another member posts
or think its great information, you can click on
Ataboy to increase the positive report by one.
Or you can increase the negative report by
clicking on Downgraded if you disagree.
7
How do I change my profile?
As a registered member, you have a profile page.
To get to it click on Profile
8
How do I change my profile?
After you click on Profile, you will go to your
profile page. It will look like this. The
section with the red circle around it is where
you can change your settings.
9
How do I change my profile?
The part circled in red in the previous slide
will be how you can change your profile settings.

• Account related settings This will allow you to
  change the way your name is displayed, change
  your e-mail address, specify whether or not your
  e-mail address is public, change your password,
  or specify a secret question to help you retrieve
  your password if forgotten.
• Forum Profile Information In this section, you
  can add a personalized picture (Avatar). This is
  the best way to identify yourself and at what
  level you are working. I believe all of the
  current NCAA conference logos are listed. If you
  have a picture or logo you would like to add,
  send it to grant_at_refstripes.com and it will be
  added to the list of pictures or logos available.
  In this section, you can also change your birth
  date, location, ways to contact you, your
  website, or your signature. Your signature will
  be placed at the bottom of each post you make on
  the board.
• Look and layout preferences This section will
  allow you to change the way the discussion board
  looks when logged in.
• Notifications and e-mail You can receive e-mail
  notifications from your posts if you would like.
  This is specified here.
• Personal Message options This allows you to
  ignore certain users or set some rules around
  your personal messages. We will go into more
  detail in the next slide.

10
Personal Messages
Personal messages are basically e-mail between
members through the discussion board. If you
have a personal message, you will see the
following. Click on the part that is underlined
(8 messages) and it will take you to your
personal messages.
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Personal Messages

• If you would like to send a personal message to
  another member of the discussion board, all you
  have to do is click on their name to view their
  profile.
• At the very bottom of the page, you will see a
  line that says, Send this member a personal
  message.
• When you click on that, another screen will come
  up that will look very similar to an e-mail
  message. It will have a To line, a Bcc line,
  and a subject line.
• Type your subject in and then type the body of
  your note in the open box at the bottom. After
  you are finished writing the note, you can
  preview it with the Preview button to send it
  with Send Message.

12
How do I start a new thread?
A thread is nothing more than a topic on the
discussion board. In order to start a new
thread, go into the board you would like to put
the thread in (General Discussion, NCAA
Discussion, etc.) and then click on the following.
13
How do I reply to a current thread?

• There are two ways to reply to a current thread.
• Reply quoting a previous post.
• Reply without quoting a previous post

14
Reply using Quote feature

• If you would like to reply by quoting a previous
  post, go to that post and click on Quote.
  Using this will let other readers know what you
  are referring to.
• When you do this, the post you quoted will be in
  the body of your note like the following example.
  Type your message after /quote.

15
Reply without quoting previous post.

• If you would like to reply without quoting a
  previous post, click on Reply.
• This will bring up a blank body section like
  below. Type your message.

Type your message here
16
Replying to a thread.

• After you have finished your post, you can click
  on Post or Preview at the bottom.
• Post will do just that, post it to the
  discussion board.
• Preview will let you see it just as it will
  look when you post it. This will allow you to
  see the formatting and check for spelling or
  grammatical errors more easily. After you have
  proofed it, click Post to post it to the board.

17
Summary of Refstripes.com

• As you can see, there are many features of the
  Refstripes.com Discussion Board. There are also
  many that werent even mentioned in this
  presentation.
• One major advantage of this board and software is
  security. If you are a member of a college
  conference or have a large association and would
  use it, we can set up a secure board that will
  only be visible to members of your conference.
• If you ever have any questions, there are
  numerous ways to get your answers.
• E-mail the admins at grant_at_refstripes.com or
  bigdon_at_refstripes.com.
• Send a personal message to Grant ARs or BIG
  DON.
• Or post the question on the discussion board and
  someone will be able to answer your question.
• Towards the bottom of the discussion board, there
  is a Test Board for members to play around with.
  You can use this section to make sure you
  understand how everything works.
• The goal of Refstripes.com is to increase the
  level of officiating across the country and
  around the world. Come join us and share your
  knowledge.