Registering lets you take full advantage of the community, enabling you to:
Post new messages and reply to other members' posts
Receive email when someone responds to a specific post or topic
Exchange private messages with other members
Personalize your community experience
Post comments on blogs that don't allow anonymous comments
Post ideas, vote on the ideas you like best, and post comments
If you don't register, you can only browse, search for information, and read posts. You won't be able to give kudos, vote on ideas, interact with other community members, or set customization preferences.
When joining please note that usernames containing the word Forti, or any word such as Administrator, or that implies management of the Community is not allowed. This is to ensure you have the best Community experience and that other users are not confused about who to contact for help.
For the best Fortinet Community experience please be advised that Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge are the supported browsers, other browsers may not work as efficiently.
Changing your avatar is an easy way to personalize your community identity.
You can change your avatar as often as you like. Your current avatar appears at the top of the Avatar page.
To change your avatar:
Sign in to your community account.
Go to My Settings > Avatars.
Choose a new avatar in one of these ways:
Choose an avatar from the Community collection. (Choose an avatar collection and click the avatar your want.)
Use an image from your Image Gallery. (Click From Image Gallery and click the image you want.) You can only use this option if you have uploaded images that have been approved.
If you have been granted permission, use your Facebook profile photo as your avatar. (Click From Facebook and click Set Avatar.
If you have been granted permission, use an image from the web. (Click From the Web and enter the URL for the image. Then, click Set Avatar.
You can tell other community members as much or as little about yourself as you want.
You can enter a short biography, your location, your interests, or anything else (within community guidelines, of course).
To tell other community members about yourself:
Sign in to your community account.
Go to My Settings > Personal Profile > Personal Information.
Enter information about yourself in the Biography field. You can also enter your name, location, company info, and any other information you want to share.
Click Save.
By default, all community users can see this information.
To display your info only to people on your Friends List:
Click Preferences > Privacy.
Set show private information in profile to to friends only.
Your profile card displays information about yourself and your community achievements.
You can include your avatar, kudos count, community rank, post count, and latest post. You can also create badges for Blogger and Wordpress.
To create a profile card:
Sign in to your community account.
Go to My Settings > Personal > Profile Cards.
Click Display your profile card on your posts.
Choose one of the themes provided or, if you can upload images without moderator approval, click Browse to choose a background image.
Click the items you want to display on your card.
The Preview shows you what your card will look like.
Click Save.
To create a Blogger card:
Sign in to your community account.
Go to My Settings > Personal > Profile Cards > Blogger Profile Card.
Choose one of the themes provided or, if you can upload images without moderator approval, click Browse to choose a background image.
Click the items you want to display on your badge.
The Preview shows you what your badge will look like.
Click Upload to Blogger.
Follow Blogger's instructions for incorporating the card.
To create a Wordpress or web site card:
Sign in to your community account.
Go to My Settings > Personal > Profile Cards.
Click Wordpress Profile Card or Website Profile Card.
Choose one of the themes provided or, if you can upload images without moderator approval, click Browse to choose a background image.
Click the items you want to display on your card.
The Preview shows you what your card will look like.
Copy the URL (for Wordpress) or code (for website) at the bottom of the page and paste it on your Wordpress or web site page.
Your Friends List is a way to create your own community within a community.
Depending on your privacy settings, the people on your Friends List can see your biography, other personal information, or online status.
If you send private messages, you can choose friends from a list instead of typing their user names.
Note: Your Friends List is available only if your community supports private messages.
To add people to your Friends List:
Sign in to the community.
Click the user name of a friend to see the friend's About user name page.
Click Add user name to Friends.
Note: You can remove a person from your Friend's List by clicking "Remove from Friends". Additionally, you can click "Ignore" to prevent specific users from contacting you.
You can customize the look and behavior of the community in many ways, including time zone and language preference, text size, menu behavior, message order, and privacy settings.
To set your viewing preferences:
Sign in to the community.
Go to My Settings > Preferences.
Click through the various preference tabs and make the changes you want.
Communities provide a place for members or participants to search for information, read and post about topics of interest, and learn from each other. Depending on how the community is set up, you'll find:
boards where you can post questions and answers
blogs where you can read and comment on articles
idea exchanges where you can suggest ways to improve products and vote for ideas that other community members have posted
and more...
Guests (unregistered visitors) can browse or search the community for information.
Members (registered users) can post messages or comments, track discussions, and get email notifications on posting activity and other community actions.
You are essential to the community, even if all you ever do is read messages or articles that someone else has posted.
The Fortinet Community offers all kinds of options to be involved: posting questions and sharing answers, leaving comments on blog articles or ideas,
voting for ideas you like, or just searching for answers to your questions.
We encourage you to visit often and participate. Ask your toughest questions.
Chances are someone has a solution or can point you in the right direction. If you find a solution that works,
let others know and pass on your own tips and insights. You might just have the answer someone else needs.
Remember to thank community members who have helped you. Show your appreciation by giving kudos to helpful posts,
accepting a solution that answers your question, or posting thank-you replies.
We want the community to be appropriate, friendly, informative, and fun for everyone.
To search the Community, enter your search in the search field and click Search.
A page of search results is displayed. Browse the search results in the same manner you would a message board.
To perform a more in-depth search, click the Advanced Search box next to the Search button. Here, you can limit your query specific words or phrases. You can also use the filter option to narrow your search down by source, board or label.
You can refine your search using one or more filters (sources, categories, labels etc).
Want to limit your search results to accepted solutions? Click the Solved check box under the Metadata filter.
Want only the most recent results? Use one for the date filters to see results for a day or a week ago.
Most search filters work together to narrow the possible results. For example, you can search for accepted solutions in the last month. However, the filters for the type of post work a little differently. If you choose Forums and Blogs, you see results from either forums or blogs (not results that are both forum and blog posts).
Active filters appear at the top of the results list. To turn off a filter, click the X to the right of the filter.
You can search for posts and knowledge base articles at any level of the community.
When you type a search term, the system automatically searches at the current level.
For example, if you're on the community front page, the system searches the entire community. If you're looking at a forum or blog page, the
system searches that forum (and the associated knowledge base, if any) or blog.
Tip: Searches for posts always include relevant knowledge bases. However, you can also search just in knowledge bases.
To search for posts:
Choose the scope of the search in the drop-down list to the left of the Search button.
You can search at the current level and above in the community.
Start typing the search term.
Auto-suggest shows the topics that match the term you're typing.
Tip: You can enter the full search term, or use an asterisk as a wildcard in your search.
If you don't see the term you're looking for in the auto-suggest list, click Search to see the full search results.
When you get your search results, use the filters on the left side of the page to refine your results.
In the Subject field, enter your message title.
Tip: Make your subject clear and concise, as it's the only part of the message that shows up on the message-listing page.
In the Body field, type your message. Be sure to include all necessary details, especially for technical topics.
Bookmarks enable you to list community content (boards, articles, ideas, topics, or individual posts) on a special page so you can easily find it again.
To bookmark a piece of content:
Go to the item you want to bookmark.
To bookmark a location, choose (Location) Options > Bookmark.
To bookmark a specific post, go to the post and choose (Post) Options > Bookmark.
To view and manage your bookmarks:
Go to My Settings > Subscriptions & Notifications.
Click My Bookmarks.
You can click a bookmark to go to the item.
To delete a bookmark, click the check box for the bookmark and click Bookmark Options > Delete Selected Bookmarks.
Subscriptions let you get email updates whenever new content appears in an area of the community that you're interested in.
You can subscribe to a board, a blog article, an idea exchange, or any other location in the community.
You can also subscribe to a specific post.
To subscribe a piece of content:
Go to the item you want to subscribe to.
To subscribe to a location, click (Location) Options > Subscribe.
To subscribe to a specific post, go to the post and click (Post) Options > Subscribe
To view and manage your subscriptions:
Go to My Settings > Subscriptions & Notifications.
Click My Subscriptions to see a list of the items you've subscribed to.
You can click a subscription to go to the item.
To delete a subscription, click the check box for the subscription and click Email Subscription Options > Delete Selected Subscriptions.
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." It is a way for you to get the latest content from this community, along with many other sites that you visit, all in one place. With an RSS feed reader, you subscribe to web sites, and those sites feed you new content so you can stay up to date.
To use RSS, you need a feed reader, such as Google Reader, MyYahoo, or the Live Bookmarks feature of Firefox. There are many free options. After you have your feed reader set up, you can find RSS feeds in the community by going to a board, blog, thread, or message and selecting Subscribe to RSS Feed from the options menu. There you will see a preview of the feed. Most RSS readers give you a button to click at this point. After you click it, the RSS feed appears in your reader as well as new content from that section of the community whenever it becomes available
A knowledge base (also called a tribal knowledge base) is a collection of articles that captures and organizes helpful community information.
Knowledge bases are great community resources for several reasons:
You can search for knowledge base articles or use special navigation links that let you browse through the community's knowledge bases.
After you find an article, you can add your comments and maybe even edit the article (if you have the right permission). If the article's publisher incorporates your comment into a later version of the article, you'll get credit as a contributor.
Articles can contain some of the same rich media as other posts, including images and attachments.
Each article contains lists of contributors and related links.
Contributors could be community members whose posts or comments are used in the article, authors who put the article together, or editors who reviewed or refined it.
Related links take you to posts that were used in the article or other posts that the authors thought you might find helpful or interesting, including forum messages, blog articles, and ideas
You can view a knowledge base article in a number of ways.
To go to the knowledge base for a board or forum, click the book icon next to the forum name on the community page. Then, you can browse the list of articles and choose one to read.
To search for a knowledge base article, enter a search keyword and choose Knowledge Base in the list to the left of the Search button. Then, you can use search results filters to zero in on the article you want.
To go to an article related to a post, click the Knowledge Base links at the top of the article. You might find links to articles based on the post, links to articles related to the post, or both
If you find great community material (helpful questions and answers or just plain useful information), you can nominate it as a knowledge base article.
The people responsible for your community's knowledge base evaluate your nomination, and if it's accepted, knowledge base authors can use it as the basis for a knowledge base article.
Writing good answers to questions posted in the community.
Accepting good solutions to your questions (this automatically nominates the post to the knowledge base).
Nominating good posts you find in the community.
Reviewing or editing articles (if you have the right permission)
Commenting on published articles.
Every time you contribute to an article (by adding more information, providing clarification, or just helping to keep published articles up to date), you receive credit for your contributions.
Note: You only see the Edit button if you have permission to edit the article.
Click in the section you want to edit and make your changes.
You can edit text, add text, or drag content from the clipping area on the right side of the Editor.
To search for additional material, enter a search term and click Search.
To find tagged material, click the Tags tab and click a related tag.
Format text, spell check the content, and add contributors or related links as needed.
Add a revision note that explains your changes.
Click a save option: Save, Save & Request Review, or Save & Request Publication.
An image gallery is a collection of images that you or other community members have uploaded.
Each community member who has permission to upload images has an image gallery.
You can view your own image gallery as well as the image galleries of other community members.
When you look at another user's gallery, you see the approved images that the user has chosen to share
To view your image gallery:
Go to your profile page.
A preview of your image gallery appears on the right.
Click View Image Gallery.
To view another user's image gallery:
Click the community member's user name to go to that user's profile page.
A preview of that user's shared images appears on the right.
Starting from your image gallery, you choose the image and name it.
There are size limitations, of course, and a community moderator must approve your image before it appears in your gallery or you can insert it in a post
To upload an image to your image gallery:
Go to your profile page.
Click View Image Gallery.
Click Browse and select an image file to be uploaded.
A preview of the image.
Type a title for the image.
Click Hide in Gallery (Private) to make this image private.
Private images never appear when other community members view your image gallery. They only appear if you insert the image in a post.
You can insert images from your computer (this uploads the image to your gallery), from your image gallery (if the image has been approved), or from another location on the web.
To insert an image in a post:
Start a new post.
Click Photo in the editor’s toolbar.
Choose one of the image source options and follow the on-screen instructions.
For your protection, your community requires a moderator to approve all uploaded images before they can be displayed.
Although you can see your uploaded images that are awaiting approval or flagged for review, other community members who view your images can only see the ones that have been approved.
A private image is one that only you can see. Each time you upload an image, you can decide whether you want that image to appear in your image gallery.
If you choose no, the image is private. Remember, a moderator must approve all uploaded images before your can use them in a post or display them in your gallery.
To change the privacy setting for an image:
In your gallery page, click the check box below the image you want to change.
Click Image Options > Make All Checked Images Public or Private.
An Accepted Solutions is a way for you to choose the reply that best answers a question that you've posted. When you accept a solution, both the question and the solution get special icons and links that take you directly from the question to the answer.
An Accepted Solutions icon also appears on boards and in search results so you can see which messages have solutions.
You can mark a solution as accepted only for questions that you've posted (you started the thread). Community moderators can also mark one of the replies to a message as an accepted solution
Kudos is a content rating system that lets you vote for the messages you think are the most useful or important.
When you give kudos to a message, you are giving a thumbs-up for good content and a pat on the back to its author. Your kudos help to boost the value of certain messages and enhance the reputation of their authors.
Giving kudos is as easy as a single click, but the impact of kudos ripples across the community.
Want to know who thinks a message is good? It's easy to find out which regular community members and community experts have given kudos to a message. Kudos from community experts can carry more weight than those from brand new members. (Community administrators can choose to have kudos granted by experts carry more weight than kudos granted by regular members.)
To see who's given you kudos:
Go to the message page.
Click the Kudos total.
The Who Kudoed this Message page shows you all the community members who've given kudos to the message.
Click Experts to see kudos given by high-ranking members of the community.
Experts are usually moderators and other users who had a kudos weight of more than 1 when they gave the message kudos.
Click the Date Kudoed, User ID, or or kudos link to sort this page by the date the kudos were given, the name of the user who gave kudos or by the kudos count.
There are usually two kudos leaderboards on the community's front page -- one for authors and another for messages. The author's leaderboard shows who has received the most kudos.
The message leaderboard showcases the most kudoed messages. Links from the front-page leaderboards take you to the full leaderboard pages.
To view the Top Kudoed Messages leaderboard, click view all from the front page module.
To view the Top Kudoed Authors leaderboard, click view all from the front page module.
Go to you profile page.
Your Profile pages shows the names of community members who have given you kudos, the messages they kudoed, your top kudoed messages, and the kudos you've given.
To see all of your recent kudos activity in an area, click view all.
Click the tabs to see more info about your kudos activity.
Your kudos weight is the number of kudos you give each time you click Kudos!.
If you're new to the community, your kudos weight is probably 1 (each kudo counts as 1). More experienced community members might have a higher kudos weight, so they could give two kudos, ten kudos, or more each time they click.
Sometimes a message gets so many kudos that we run out of space to show the number. When that happens, you'll see a Hot Kudos symbol or icon instead of the kudos count on the kudos badge.
Labels are used within a community to help categorize articles in a variety of discussion styles; forums, blogs, Q&A, ideas, TKBs. Labels enable you to categorize the content you write based on the themes or content in the article. For example, in a support Q&A for troubleshooting connectivity issues with your smart phone, you might apply labels like "iPhone", "Galaxy", "AT&T", or "Verizon".
Unlike tags, labels are created by the Community Admin and typically controlled for consistency and need. Authors must choose/apply labels from a pre-defined list for the node in which the article appears. Tags are more freeform and can be created by authors.
Typically, only administrators or permissioned members can create new labels or edit the label list. When the use of labels is enforced, members must apply a label when submitting posts. Labels can be optionally predefined, giving administrators complete control over exactly which labels are used in their community.
Labels are applied at node (board) level, so different settings can be applied at different boards. One board might be mandatory with a predefined pool of labels, while another can be completely optional and enable users to create their own labels.
When you subscribe to a label, you will be notified by email when a new post is created with the label.
To subscribe to a label:
From a particular post with a label, click on the label to filter by that label. (You can also do this from the labels component.)
Click Subscribe.
Note:Your community users can configure their own subscription settings under My Settings > Subscriptions and Notifications > My Subscriptions and My Settings > Subscriptions and Notifications > Notification Settings.
One thing to note about labels is that they are applied at node level. Thus, predefined labels and subscriptions to labels exist only at the node at which they are applied. For example, if you subscribe to a label named 'contest' at board 1, it will not automatically subscribe you to an identically named label at board 2. You will have to subscribe twice, once at each board. This also applies if you add a labels component to your page to display the most popular labels, these are also designed to work at node level.
Private Messenger enables you to send private notes to other community members. Private Messenger has two big advantages over email:
You don't have to know the other member's email address to send the note. (Also, you don't have to reveal yours.)
You can read and send private messages without leaving the community, making it easy to a quick conversation with another community member.
To use the Private Messenger, you must be registered and signed in. You'll see a Private Message icon at the top of your page. If you have any new messages, you'll see the number of unread messages next to the envelope icon.
Click the message count or envelope icon to go to your Private Messages Inbox.
Click the message count or envelope icon to go to your Private Messages Inbox.
Click Compose New Message.
Enter the recipient's name in the Send to area.
Note: Depending on your role in the community, you might be able to send a message to a group of users based on their role or rank in the community.
If so, you can choose a role or a rank.
Enter the subject for the message in the Message Subject area.
Type the reply in the Message Body editor.
Click Send Message.
You can look for the messages you've sent in the Sent tab.
Your Friends List is a way to create your own community within a community.
Depending on your privacy settings, the people on your Friends List can see your biography, other personal information, or online status.
If you send private messages, you can choose friends from a list instead of typing their user names.
Note: Your Friends List is available only if your community supports private messages.
To add people to your Friends List:
Sign in to the community.
Click the user name of a friend to see the friend's About user name page.
Click Add user name to Friends.
Note: You can remove a person from your Friend's List by clicking "Remove from Friends". Additionally, you can click "Ignore" to prevent specific users from contacting you.
Most users in an online community get along very well. Sometimes, however, you might encounter someone you consider a nuisance.
If you are receiving messages that you'd prefer not to receive, you can add the sender to your Ignored Users list.
The system blocks all messages from users on your Ignored Users list.
To add someone to your Ignored Users list:
Sign in to the community.
Click the message count or envelope icon to go to your Private Messages Inbox.
Click a message from the user you want to ignore and click Ignore user name.
To remove someone from your Ignored Users list:
Sign in to the community.
Click Ignored Users to see the list.
Click Remove from Ignored list to begin receiving messages from this user again.
You can also search for community members and add them to your Ignored Users list.
