Pull Up a Chair: Your No-Fuss Guide to the Society

1. Come on in: finding your way around

Let me say this first: I am not a techy person. If I can find my way around here, so can you, I promise.

Once you’re logged in, everything happens from the menu bar along the top of the community section. Think of it as the hallway of the house, with a door into every room:

Activity is the kitchen table, where everyone’s posts appear as they come in.

Members – where you’ll find everyone else who’s pulled up a chair.

Groups are smaller rooms for chatting about more focussed topics, from Lifestyle & Aspirations to Travel & Adventures.

Photos – where all the lovely pictures live.

Your little round photo takes you to your own profile.

On the right you’ll see a few small icons. Friend requests, messages and notifications all show up there, with a little orange number when something’s waiting for you. That’s it. That’s the whole map.

Try this today: click each menu item once, just to peek in. You can’t break anything, I’ve tried.

2. Put a face to the name: setting up your profile

A dinner party is so much nicer when you know who’s sitting next to you. Your profile is your name card at the table, and it takes about three minutes.

 

1. Click your little round photo in the menu bar to open your profile.
2. Hover over your profile photo and click the camera icon marked Avatar.
3. Click Change cover in the top right of the wide picture and pick something that feels like you: your kitchen, your garden, last Sunday’s roast. Once you have uploaded your cover image, click on the Change cover text again to reveal a drop down list of options allowing you to replace it, drag the image to reposition it, rotate it or remove it completely.
4. Tell us a bit about yourself. Click Update Info on your cover, then fill in the About section. Where you’re from and what you love to cook is plenty.

A little reassurance: each detail has a privacy setting next to it, so you choose who sees what. More on that in article 10.

3. Say hello: writing your first post

The first post is always the hardest. So let’s make it easy: just tell us what you had for dinner last night. Honestly, that’s how most of my conversations start.

 

1. Go to Activity. At the top you’ll see a box that says “What’s on your mind?”. That’s the postbox.
2. Click in it and type away.
3. Want to add a photo? Click the picture button, the first in the row of grey buttons, and choose one (or several) from your device.
4. Feeling fancy? Click Emoji to add a smiley or two.
5. Choose who can see it. The little Public button under your name sets the privacy. Leave it as it is to share with everyone.
6. Click Publish. Done. You’re officially part of the furniture.

Made a typo? Me too, constantly. Click the three little dots at the top right of your post and choose Edit.

Try this today: post a photo of whatever’s on your plate, and tell us one thing about it.

4. Join the conversation: reacting, commenting and saving

You don’t have to post to be part of things. Some of my favourite people here mostly cheer everyone else on, and that matters just as much.

 

• React. Under every post there’s a Like button. Hover over it (or press and hold on your phone) and you get a little row of reactions to choose from.
• Comment. Type in the box under the post and click Post. You can reply to someone else’s comment too, so conversations stay together.
• Save a post for later. Spotted a recipe tip you want to find again? Click the little bookmark icon under the post. Your saved posts live in the filter at the top of the Activity page.
• Follow a conversation. The little tick next to the bookmark means you’re following that post, so you’ll hear when anyone replies. Click it to stop the notifications, and click it again if you change your mind.
• Find something again. Use the search box at the top of the Activity page to look for a word, like sourdough or gravy.

Try this today: find one post that made you smile and leave a comment. It’ll make someone’s day, I promise.

5. Make some friends (the easy way)

This is my favourite bit. The Society is full of lovely people, and adding them as friends means you’ll see more of what they share.

1. Find someone. Click Members and type a name in the search box, or just browse. You can also click anyone’s name on a post.
2. Add them. On their profile or member card, click Add Friend. They’ll get a little notification.
3. Say yes to requests. When someone asks to be your friend, the friends icon at the top right shows a little number. Click it, then the orange tick to say yes (or the cross if not, no hard feelings).
4. The message button. You can also start a chat from anyone’s member card with the little speech-bubble button.

Friend or follow? Following is the lighter option. You’ll see someone’s posts in your Following feed without needing to be friends. When you become friends, you automatically follow each other, and you can unfollow any time without unfriending. To follow someone, click Not following on their card.

Tidy feed tip: at the top of the Activity page you can switch between Activity (everything) and Following (just the people and groups you follow). Lovely when you only have five minutes and a cup of tea.

6. Find your people: joining groups

Groups are the smaller rooms off the main kitchen, each one for a single topic. If the main feed feels busy, this is where the cosy conversations happen.

 

1. Click the Groups icon in the menu bar.
2. Browse by category. Click Categories, then the little arrows next to any category to open it and see the groups inside, from Lifestyle & Aspirations to Travel & Adventures.
3. Join. Click Join at the bottom of any group card. Click More first if you’d like to read about the group. Some groups are private, so you’ll see Request to join instead, and the group’s host will let you in shortly.
4. Post in the group. Once you’ve joined, use the postbox at the top of the group page. Your post goes to that group’s members.

Too many notifications from a busy group? On the group page, click the button that shows you’re a member and turn off notifications or following for that group. You’ll still be a member; it just goes quiet.

Try this today: join one group that matches something you love cooking, and say hello.

7. Show us your table: sharing photos and albums

We eat with our eyes first, so please share your photos, wonky bakes and all. Some of my most popular posts are the disasters.

Photos in a post. Click the picture icon in the postbox, choose your photos, add a line about them and click Publish. You can add several at once.

Make an album. Albums are lovely for a whole occasion, like a birthday supper or a week of Christmas baking.

 

 

1. Go to your profile and click the Photos tab, then Albums. You’ll already have three albums waiting. We already file your post photos, cover and profile pictures in them for you.
2. Click the orange + button in the top right.
3. Give your album a name, and add a description if you like.
4. Choose who can see it under Album privacy.
5. Click Upload photos to album to add your pictures, then Create.

See everyone’s photos. The Photos item in the menu bar shows the latest pictures from across the Society. Warning: it will make you hungry.

Try this today: start an album of your favourite dishes to cook for friends.

8. A quiet word: chat and private messages

Sometimes you want to swap a recipe or say thank you without the whole table listening. That’s what messages are for.

 

 

1. Start a chat. Click the little speech-bubble button on anyone’s member card or profile, or open Messages and click the speech bubble with the +. A chat window pops up in the bottom corner of your screen.
2. Type and send. Write in the “Write a message…” box, just like a text message. You can add emoji, a photo or a GIF too.
3. Find your messages. The Messages icon (the two speech bubbles) at the top right shows a little number when you have a new message. Click it to see your conversations, or click View all for the full messages page.
4. Tidy up. The little dash at the top of the chat window tucks it away, and the cross closes it. Your conversation is saved either way.

Only want to hear from friends? Go to your profile, click Update Info, open the Preferences tab and tick Allow new messages only from friends. It works straight away.

9. Peace and quiet: taming notifications and emails

I love hearing from you all, but nobody wants their phone buzzing through dinner. You’re in charge of how much we get in touch.

 

1. Click your little round photo to open your profile.
2. Click Update Info on your cover, then open the Notifications tab.
3. Fewer emails, please. Use Email notification intensity at the top to get emails less often, bundled together, instead of one at a time.
4. Pick and choose. Further down, each type of update has two tick boxes: the bell is for alerts here on the site, and the envelope is for emails. Untick whatever you don’t need.
5. In a hurry? The Shortcuts buttons change everything at once. Disable emails is my favourite.

Just one busy post? Click the little tick under that post and you’ll stop hearing about new comments on it. For a whole group, see article 6.

10. Keeping the table friendly: privacy and reporting

This is a kind, welcoming place, and I want it to feel safe for everyone. Here’s how you stay in control.

Choose who sees your profile. On your profile, click Update Info and open the Preferences tab. You can choose who can see your profile and who can post on it. You can also hide yourself from the Members list, or stop others seeing when you’re online. Each change takes effect straight away.

Choose who sees each post. Before you click Publish, use the little Public button under your name. You can share with everyone, just Society members, just your friends, or only yourself. You can change it afterwards from the three dots on the post.

Choose who sees your details. On your profile, click Update Info. Each detail in the About section has its own little privacy setting.

 

Spot something that isn’t right? Click the three dots at the top right of the post and choose Report. It comes straight to me and the team, quietly and privately. You’ll never get anyone in trouble for asking us to take a look.