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A D V E R T I S E M E N T |
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HEARTFAILURECHAT.COM PAGE
What is HeartFailureChat?
HeartFailureChat is the internet's best community
for people with heart failure, coronary artery disease (CAD),
or arrhythmias, as well as specialists in the field.
To get started, you can
use the search form on our homepage to look up articles
that may be on interest to you.
Then, when you've found what
you're looking for, you can discuss it with other members.
HeartFailureChat's many features include:
- The easiest to use discussion forums in the world.
- An enormous database of articles.
- User preferences: customize the site as you need.
- User profile pages: your own personal space on HeartFailureChat.
- Videos and photos can be shared with other users, or located with the search engine.
How do I get started?
If you want to participate in the discussions, or use some of
the more advanced features, you'll want to register. Registration is
quick, confidential, and 100% free. To start your HeartFailureChat account,
please visit our Registration Page.
How do I post questions or messages?
To help preserve the focus of the site, there are four main topics which are
linked to from every page. These topics serve as the starting points for all other topics and replies.
- Heart Failure - For discussing heart failure (an inability of the heart to pump enough blood to meet the needs of the body's other organs).
- Arrhythmias - For discussing arrhythmias (problems that affect the electrical system of the heart muscle.)
- Coronary Artery Disease - For discussing coronary artery disease (a condition in which plaque builds up inside the coronary arteries.)
- The Waiting Room - For discussing the site itself, asking questions, introducing yourself to other members, telling jokes, or whatever you want.
There are two ways to post messages at Heart Failure Chat:
- Posting a topic. This is the starting point for a discussion on
a certain subject. It could be a news item, an informative article, a question
that you have, or even a YouTube video. Once a topic has been posted, members are encouraged to
reply to it.
- Posting a reply. This is a comment which you make
about an existing topic. One topic can have any number of replies.
To post a topic:
- First, go to a page related to the subject you want to post your topic on. For example, if you want to post a topic on
the subject of Coronary Artery Disease, first go to the Coronary Artery Disease page (or any other page that
is already related to Coronary Artery Disease).
- Click on the link in the upper-right corner next to the pencil
that reads "Post a new topic."
- You can then type your article, preview it, and click on the button Post.
Once the article is posted, other people will be able to post replies to it.
To post a reply:
- Go to the topic page that you want to reply to, and at the bottom
there is an area which reads Leave a comment! Type in your
reply, and press the Preview button to check it for typos.
When you are satisfied, press Post.
What is Latest Posts? What is Related Posts?
Latest Posts - When you are on the homepage (and some other pages), you will find a list of recent discussions labelled
LATEST POSTS in the column on the left side of the page.
In this way, you can stay abreast of the HeartFailureChat website as a whole.
Related Posts - When you browse one of the major areas of the site (e.g. the Arrhythmias area)
the LATEST POSTS area will be replaced with a column which shows you only
the discussions related to the area that you are in. For example, in the Arrhythmias areas this
will read "ARRHYTHMIAS RELATED". In this way, you can stay abreast of the current ongoing discussion of any topic
that interests you.
Latest Topics - If you would like to see a summary of the most recent topics posted, there is a link called
latest found in the upper-right corner of every page. It will give you a
summary of every topic, starting with the most recent ones.
Search Engine - If you are interested in searching through the entire database of discussion,
including very old discussions, there is a link called search
found in the upper-right corner of every page.
What is a Profile?
Every member of HeartFailureChat has a special page on the site called their Profile Page.
The diagram on the right is an example of a user's profile.
The main purpose of this page is to let other HeartFailureChat members know a little more about yourself,
but it does several other handy things:
Screen Name & Other Info - At the very top you'll see the
user's name, when they first registered, and when they signed-in last.
Bio - Here's the area where you can tell other HeartFailureChat users who you
are, where you live, what your interests are, or anything else you can think of.
To change your bio, go to your preferences page
and edit the area at the top.
News & Articles - These are the most recent articles
that the user has posted.
Favorites - Other users can see your favorites list here.
Replies - These are the most recent replies that the user has made.
To see another user's profile, just click on their name anywhere on the
site that you see it. To get to your own profile, you can click on the
link labelled profile at the bottom of each page.
HOT TIP - You can customize your profile page
by inluding photos, videos,
colored text, links, and other neat tricks in your bio area. See our section
on posting tricks for more information.
HOT TIP - In the upper left corner
of the homepage, there is the "Welcome Area", which contains links
straight to your profile and also your
preferences page.
How do I upload a personal photo, or get an avatar?
A popular way of customizing your account at HeartFailureChat is to get an avatar
and/or upload a personal photo. These are different but related features handled
through a single page, Personal Photo/Avatar Upload Page.
Avatar - This is a small graphic which appears to the left of messages
that you post on HeartFailureChat. Other users will come to recognize you by this graphic.
There are two ways to get an avatar: either you can upload
your avatar (details below), or you can simply
pick a premade avatar from our Avatar Shop.
Here are some sample avatars from the shop:
Personal Photo - With the personal photo feature you can upload a photograph of
yourself, to show other people what you look like--or you can use your personal photo space
to upload artwork, your team colors, or anything you like. Once you upload your personal
photo it will be visible from your profile page.
Uploading your own images - If you have an image file on your computer
that you want to use, either for a personal photo or for an avatar, HeartFailureChat
makes it easy. Simply visit our
Personal Photo/Avatar Upload Page and you
will be asked to locate the image file from your computer. This file
will be uploaded to the HeartFailureChat server. You will be given to choice to
(1) use your image as both a personal photo and an avatar, (2) use
the image as a personal photo only, (3) use the image as an avatar only.
If you select the first option, a smaller version of your photo will
be automatically created and used as the avatar for your account.
How to pick a premade avatar - Many users don't want to bother with uploading
graphics. For them, HeartFailureChat created the "Avatar Shop". Simply visit our Avatar Shop and find an avatar that best suits your style. There
are many to choose from, it's 100% free, and whichever one you pick will be yours
exclusively. Nobody else will be able to use this avatar unless you decide to change
it.
REMOVING UPLOADS - You can remove
an avatar or personal photo by visiting our Photo/Avatar Removal Page.
Or, you can simply upload a new one over the old one.
GRAPHIC ARTISTS -
Do you have an avatar that you would like to donate to the public avatar
collection? You can do this at our Avatar Shop Upload Page.
You will be expected to provide a graphic to exact specifications.
How do send a private message? (Heart-to-Heart Mail)
For private communication, HeartFailureChat has a very easy
yet powerful mail system called Heart-to-Heart.
With it, you can communicate confidentially with other users.
You have two boxes: your Inbox (where new messages appear)
and your Saved Folder (where you can store important messages).
To access your Mail Center, click on the link in the upper left corner that reads "Mail".
From there, you can perform the following key operations, by using one of the buttons at the
top of the console.
New Message - This allows you to compose a new
Heart-to-Heart Mail and send it to another member. When
composing a message, you may enter up to 10 HeartFailureChat
members by separating their names with commas.
Reply to Message - This feature only activates
while you are reading a message. If you click it,
it will automatically start a new message back to
the person who sent you the message.
Moved to Saved - This will transfer all
checked messages to your saved folder.
Delete Message(s) - This will delete all
checked messages. WARNING: Once you delete a
message you cannot get it back! Use with
caution!
Next Message - If you have a number
of Heart-to-Heart Mails waiting in your inbox, this
will take you to the next unread messages.
Both your Inbox and your Saved Folder are limited
to 100 mails each. It is your reponsibility to
keep some spare room in your boxes by periodically
deleting unwanted mails. If your boxes are
full, you will be unable to receive Heart-to-Heart Mail.
You can configure various mail settings on your Preferences
Page, including "ringtones" (sound-effects for new mail), and whether or not
you want mail to pop-up in a separate window.
HOT TIP - Like
everywhere on HeartFailureChat, you can use
all of the posting tricks
in your mail: graphics, videos, links, etc.
HOT TIP - You can forward
a Heart-to-Heart Mail by pressing Reply to Message then changing
the recipient.
What are Favorites?
Most pages on HeartFailureChat have a link on the right side of
the page which says "Add ____ to favorites." This link has
a  heart next to it. If you click
on this link, you will add the topic to
your Favorites List.
Since you Favorites List appears on virtually every page
of the site, this allows you to quickly visit the pages on HeartFailureChat
which interest you the most.
Other users can see your favorites, and you can see theirs.
In this way, it's easy to find people who share the same
interests or problems as you.
Once you have added a favorite, the link will be replaced
with a new link, "Remove ____ from favorites" with a
 broken heart icon.
Clicking this will remove the item from your favorites list.
Please note that this feature only works for registered users
of HeartFailureChat. If you don't have an account yet,
register now!
Privacy warning: Your favorites list is not confidential information; other users can
very easily see your favorites when they visit your profile page. The reason
why we share this information, is because it helps make HeartFailureChat a more enjoyable
and cohesive site for everybody.
HOT TIP - You can always remove something
from your favorites by clicking on it, then looking for the "broken heart" icon
on that page.
What are Friends? What's a Fans List?
Your Fans List (or Favorites List) is a list of HeartFailureChat members that you
take special interest in. When you become a fan of another member, you will see their posts
highlighted and have access to other special features. When two people are fans of each
other, they are said to be friends.
There are two ways to add somebody to your Fans List. First, if you visit their profile page,
you will see a graphic (shown on right). Simply click it, and they will go onto your Fans List.
(You must be signed into your HeartFailureChat account in order to use this feature. If you
are not signed-in, please use our sign-in page. If
you don't have a HeartFailureChat account, then you'll have to visit our Registration Page first.)
The other way is to visit your Favorites Page; this is a page
that shows you all of the users that you are a fan of, and it lets you remove people from
your list, and add people to your list. You can access your Favorites Page anytime by
following a link on the homepage, labeled "friends" (see graphic to right).
When two users are fans of each other (e.g. you are a fan of them, and they are a fan of you
as well) those two members are said to be "friends".
Privacy warning: Your fans list is not confidential information; other users can very
easily see who you are a fan of, and who your friends are, when they visit your profile
page. The reason why we share this information is because it helps make HeartFailureChat a more
enjoyable and cohesive site for everybody.
What are Fans?
At the top of some pages, you will see a list of usernames under the heading of "Fans."
These are people who are fans of that topic that you are looking at,
based on their favorites. You can use this area to find other people on our site who share your interests.
HOT TIP - This list is recomputed once per day, therefore if you add
something to your favorites
you won't see yourself in the fans list until tomorrow.
How do I post fancy messages with colored text, photos, videos, etc.?
HeartFailureChat allows you to include in your messages
photos, videos, colored text,
links to websites, and other advanced features. We have a special
help file just on this subject.
Please see our Forum Help Page.
What are Related Topics and Related Links?
When you post a new article, a box appears at the bottom of
the page that says Related Topics. The purpose of this area
is to allow you to tell us what topics your creation is related to.
This is very important, because it allows us to correctly categorize your
article and make sure it shows up on the correct "recent posts" lists.
The easiest way to correctly set your related links is to simply
go to a page that is related to the subject you want to post about.
Then, when you click on the  pencil icon,
it will automatically make that topic related.
HeartFailureChat will look for other possible subjects that you might
want to relate your article to. These are only suggestions--it's up to you
to tell us what the article is about. You can choose these by checking the
box to their left.
HeartFailureChat is very intelligent when it comes to relationships.
If you have an article related to the New York Yankees
you don't need to tell us that it's also related to Major League Baseball,
as we already know that.
For advanced users, you can also manually paste HeartFailureChat links to this area.
HOT TIP - You don't actually have to paste the entire
HeartFailureChat URL into the Related Links area, if you just put the ID number, it will work.
The ID number is the number that you see in the web address, for example
in the case of Tiger Woods (http://www.heartfailurechat.com/perl/individual.pl?id=27372)
the ID number would be 27372.
HOT TIP - Don't relate your article
to subjects that it isn't really related to, just so that more people
read it. The administrators don't like this and in extreme cases will
suspend a user's posting privileges.
What is the Waiting Room?
Most pages on HeartFailureChat are dedicated to a specific topic, e.g. if you
want to discuss Arrhythmias, we have a page dedicated to exactly that.
But what if you want to discuss HeartFailureChat itself, or tell a joke, or just
say "Hello"? For that we made a general purpose discussion forum called
The Waiting Room. To get to it, follow the link that says
Waiting Room at the bottom of any page.
New users: Feel free to stop by The Waiting Room
just to introduce yourself to the group, and get a feel for how to post messages.
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