HELP
DASHBOARD
The dashboard is a portal that gives you a quick access to the ideas/projects you have created and those you choose to follow or favorite; and the ideas of which you are invited to join in a private discussion, or the projects of which you are a team member. Also on the dashboard you can share anything you have learned with your friends and followers and see the updates from them in "Share what you have learned lately".
The dashboard is a portal that gives you a quick access to the ideas/projects you have created and those you choose to follow or favorite; and the ideas of which you are invited to join in a private discussion, or the projects of which you are a team member. Also on the dashboard you can share anything you have learned with your friends and followers and see the updates from them in "Share what you have learned lately".
IDEAS
To create an idea, go to the "My ideas/projects"section of dashboard, click "Create now", Or click "Create new idea"under the Ideas tab.
First, select the status of your idea, your idea can either be an active or a dormant idea. An active idea can be seen and commented by others. A dormant idea cannot be seen by any members of GoTotheMars except yourself. This is useful when you are in the process of creating an idea but not ready to show it to other people.
Second, use a few key words to explain what your idea is looking for (e.g. co-developers, investors, web developers, animators, Java programmers etc.).
Third, give a title to your idea. The title is required and should be such that it describes the idea with enough information for other users to understand what your idea is all about. Usually the more specific, the better. The search function will search the title.
Fourth, select or create a main category that best fits your ideas (e.g. suppose you have an idea that helps the environment, you can create a category "environment protection"or select one from existing categories). Please carefully review what are already available in the system before you create new categories. Since we depend on the community to develop the categories, you are encouraged to create appropriate categories for your ideas. Under the main category, you will see two levels of sub categories that are supposed to be nested under the main category if you wish to do so. The sub category 2 is nested under sub category 1. Although these are optional, you are encouraged to select or create appropriate sub categories for your ideas, which will help your ideas to be found by other users.
Fifth, describe your ideas in details. We offer two levels of description: the general description and detailed description. The content in general description is always publicly visible to all users. The content in detailed description, which supports text, images and video, is set to be publicly visible by default, and if you wish you can set it to be privately visible to the users you select. There are also options to allow user comments or not and to set if you are looking for funding.
Last, select a stage for your idea (evaluation, development etc.).
You can also upload an appropriate cover image (optional).
Once an idea has been created and set to be active, before any comment is made by other users, you can always go back to edit the content of the idea. If any comment is made to your idea, you won't be able to edit the original content but only to add revisions to the idea. This is for the purpose of keeping an appropriate development trail of your idea.
To create an idea, go to the "My ideas/projects"section of dashboard, click "Create now", Or click "Create new idea"under the Ideas tab.
First, select the status of your idea, your idea can either be an active or a dormant idea. An active idea can be seen and commented by others. A dormant idea cannot be seen by any members of GoTotheMars except yourself. This is useful when you are in the process of creating an idea but not ready to show it to other people.
Second, use a few key words to explain what your idea is looking for (e.g. co-developers, investors, web developers, animators, Java programmers etc.).
Third, give a title to your idea. The title is required and should be such that it describes the idea with enough information for other users to understand what your idea is all about. Usually the more specific, the better. The search function will search the title.
Fourth, select or create a main category that best fits your ideas (e.g. suppose you have an idea that helps the environment, you can create a category "environment protection"or select one from existing categories). Please carefully review what are already available in the system before you create new categories. Since we depend on the community to develop the categories, you are encouraged to create appropriate categories for your ideas. Under the main category, you will see two levels of sub categories that are supposed to be nested under the main category if you wish to do so. The sub category 2 is nested under sub category 1. Although these are optional, you are encouraged to select or create appropriate sub categories for your ideas, which will help your ideas to be found by other users.
Fifth, describe your ideas in details. We offer two levels of description: the general description and detailed description. The content in general description is always publicly visible to all users. The content in detailed description, which supports text, images and video, is set to be publicly visible by default, and if you wish you can set it to be privately visible to the users you select. There are also options to allow user comments or not and to set if you are looking for funding.
Last, select a stage for your idea (evaluation, development etc.).
You can also upload an appropriate cover image (optional).
Once an idea has been created and set to be active, before any comment is made by other users, you can always go back to edit the content of the idea. If any comment is made to your idea, you won't be able to edit the original content but only to add revisions to the idea. This is for the purpose of keeping an appropriate development trail of your idea.
PROJECTS
Currently a project can only be created from an idea by changing the stage of an idea to "Move to project"or "Move to project and keep developing the idea". The difference between the two options is "Move to project"will create a project and leave a locked copy of the idea that cannot be further revised or commented. "Move to project and keep developing the idea" will create a project and leave the idea for further development.
When you choose to make a project for private discussion by selecting "private"option of Detailed Description Visibility, A pop-up window will appear in which you have to select the team members you want to make the project available to, only those members you select can view the project details and make comment.
A project log can be added to record milestone project activities. All the project members can update the log. The log will be visible to all the users of GoTotheMars. To view the log of a project, click on the "Project log"button in the team members section.
SEARCH
We offer a search facility through which you can search for users and ideas/projects.
To search for users, go to the search box on the upper left part of the page and select "user"from the drop box, type in keywords or the name of the user and click search. To search an Idea/Project select "Idea/Project"from the drop box, type in the key word or the name of the idea and click search. Check the advanced search option if you wish to search by more options.
PROFILE
Your profile page contains all the necessary personal and professional information about you.
By clicking the "Edit Profile"option you can edit the personal and geographical information you have added while creating your account. You can add and change more information by clicking the "Add/Edit Other Info" under Profile Tab. Information like your skills, achievement, education, experience and the areas you are interested to explore. You are encouraged to provide as much and as accurate information as you would like in your profile as such information will help other users find you. You can also add web links of your social profiles from other sites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.) and you can also switch your primary status between "looking for help"and "looking to help".
Tips: A simple search on users will search the fields including "First Name", "Last Name" and "Highlights". An informative description in Highlights will help other users find you.
FRIENDS
You can send and accept/reject friend requests.
When you review a profile of another user, you will be able to send a friend request by clicking the "make friend"button. That user can either accept or reject your request. Once a user becomes your friend, you will be able to view more information of that user depending on his/her settings. Under the Friends Tab, you can see all the friend requests you have received and all the friends you have made. You can unfriend any of your friends if you wish to by going to the "Friends List" , select those you want to unfriend and click "Unfriend Selected".
GROUPS
Groups can be formed in two ways.
When you send a "friend request"associated with one of your ideas/projects to another user, a group will be automatically formed. More group members will be added to that group in the same manner when you send more friend requests. If some other user sends you a "friend request"associated with one of your ideas/projects, a group under the name of that idea/project will also be created if it hasn't been created by you yet. In either case, the owner of the idea/project will be the owner of that group. The group owner can edit the group member list under the Group Tab. All other group members can only view the members and send messages to them.
Or you can create a group manually by clicking "Create New Group"icon then adding users to it. The "Group List"option will show you all the groups you have created. This feature is to help you organize the people you would like to keep in touch with.
SETTINGS
Under the settings tab, you can manage your account for things like
" Do you want to receive updates when user post comment on your idea?"
"Personal information visibility?"
"Allow other users to search me?"
FORUM
The forum is the place where you can create/participate discussions with other users on some general issues.
MESSAGES
Under the Message Tab, you can check the messages you receive from other users, send messages and block/unblock users to send you messages if you wish to.