FAQ
General
Why is Neuronline only for members?
Where can I read the Community guidelines, Terms of Use, and Copyright Notice?
Privacy
Who can see my profile and/or postings?
Profile/Contacts
How can I update my contact information?
How do I know that my profile is complete?
Discussion Forums
How do I change my discourse username to use a pseudonym?
How were the categories on Neuronline determined?
Will there be other categories added in the future?
How can I manage my forum digests?
How often will I get the email notifications?
Are discussions on Neuronline moderated? Why can't I see something that I posted?
Something inappropriate, off-topic, or offensive was posted in a topic. What should I do?
Why am I not receiving e-mails?
Can I respond to Neuronline discussion posts via e-mail?
Posting Files/Links/etc
What kinds of files can I post in the forums?
Can I post copyrighted articles and other materials?
General
What is Neuronline?
Neuronline is a members-only home for learning and discussion. It's an online community where you can share great science, network, forge collaborations, and keep in touch — anytime, anywhere — within a trusted forum. While Neuronline's articles, videos, and other media content are based on SfN programming to serve member needs, Neuronline's discussions will be generated by members, for members, as with the annual meeting and The Journal of Neuroscience — making your involvement the key to its success.
Why is Neuronline only for members?
Limiting Neuronline access to SfN members offers SfN members the benefit of learning-focused content as a part of their membership. It also ensures members can communicate and collaborate in a private space with colleagues and peers. At any point in time, three articles are open to the public for general viewing. Additionally, all users get a preview of all articles, allowing them to see the first few lines to better understand the content available on Neuronline. In the discussion forums, two areas are open to the general public: all the annual meeting related discussions and "Neurobiology of Disease Workshop." These topics are open to non-SfN members in order to facilitate communications with key constituencies such as meeting attendees who may not be members. In addition, non-SfN members who have participated in specific SfN-supported programs like the Neuroscience Scholars Program and the Latin America Training Program are also able to participate in related communities.
Where can I read the Community Guidelines, Terms of Use, and Copyright Notice?
You can find all this information on the Community Guidelines page.
Privacy
Who can see my profile and/or postings?
Only registered members of Neuronline can view discussion postings and access the full entry in the Enhanced Member Directory. Neuronline members include SfN members and non-SfN members; non-SfN members are restricted in the content they can view. In the vast majority of communities, only SfN members can see your postings. There are a few communities that include non-SfN members and these members are able to view postings within these communities; these are the Annual Meeting related discussions and "Neurobiology of Disease Workshop" which are open to the public, and a few communities which include alumni of SfN programs who may no longer be SfN members (e.g., "Neuroscience Scholars").
I had my privacy setting already established in my SfN member account and my Neuronline profile. Do I need to change my privacy settings when I complete my profile on the new Enhanced Member Directory?
Yes. Previous privacy settings applied to Neuronline enhanced profile. For the new member directory, privacy settings must be established. As a starting point, member profiles are shared with other members unless settings are changed. Members can determine which information they would like to make visible and to whom, from fully private and visible to only yourself to making things visible to the public.
Profile / Contacts
How can I update my profile and contact information?
To update information within your profile, including your contact information, visit your My SfN. From there, you can edit any piece of your profile as you choose, including your privacy settings on each. Please note that making edits here will dynamically change your information as reflected within the main SfN database. You may add a middle name; however if you must make changes to your first or last name as it appears in the member database, or your credentials, contact membership@sfn.org for assistance.
How do I know that my profile is complete?
If the profile completeness bar at the top right of your profile page is full, then your profile is complete. You must add a photo to have a complete profile, but just like all the other pieces of your profile you can choose to whom your photo is visible. To add a photo, select "Add" below the photo space on your profile.
Discussion Forums
How do I change my discourse username or use a pseudonym?
To change your username, visit your profile on the discussion forums and go to your preferences page. There you can edit your username to be something other than the given one. You will receive a warning about the effects of changing your username, you then choose OK. You should also delete your full name as it appears under your username on your profile if you wish to post pseudonymously.
What is a Champion?
Neuronline's champions are those engaged members and experts in particular research fields who volunteered their time and efforts to test the forum in its earliest phases. Champions have a knowledge and understanding of Neuronline to help facilitate the best quality discussion. This also helps to improve the quality of the discussion by helping to foster a culture of, and facilitate, members monitoring within the categories.
How were the categories on Neuronline determined?
For initial launch Neuronline categories were established based on broad categories and topics addressed within the field and SfN's mission. These categories are envisioned to have many threads and topics that might be addressed within the broader community. Neuronline has a scientific research category, eight career-related communities and three public outreach-related communities. The careers categories have been created for members interested in discussing issues related to professional development, career advice, and program development among other topics. The outreach categories focus on issues related to public outreach, animals in research, and brain awareness and teaching.
Will there be other categories added in the future?
The menu of Neuronline categories has been carefully considered and crafted to meet member needs and interests most effectively based off previous site usage — trying to find a balance between establishing too few/broad or too many/narrow communities. Changes may be made in the future based on member feedback/experience using the site. Feel free to reach out to SfN's Community Coordinator at Neuronline@sfn.org with your feedback about the communities.
How can I manage my email notifications?
Users can receive updates about both new content posted to the site by SfN as well as forum postings by all users. Manage your SfN notifications on your My Communications page and your forum notifications on your the forums by navigating to your My Preferences page under Email, Other, and Categories sections.
How often will I get the email notifications?
The updates from SfN with new content from the site is sent every week on Mondays. Simply choose which areas you are interested in on your My Communications Page and you will receive updates on those topics weekly whenever something new is available.
On the open forums you can choose to get emails daily, every three days, weekly, or every two weeks. The default is set to daily emails to ensure you stay abreast of the latest discussions in all the areas you are interested in. In the Categories section of your My Preferences page in the forums you can choose which categories you would like notifications of, otherwise your emails will include all new topics posted in the time frame you choose.
Are discussions on Neuronline moderated? Why can't I see something that I posted?
Neuronline discussions are self-moderated by members. This means members can post a message and it will appear in the category immediately. If a member posts a message that is inappropriate (off-topic or in violation of the Neuronline Community Guidelines), other members may flag the post as inappropriate and the SfN Community Coordinator will review the message and delete it as needed.
Something inappropriate, off-topic, or offensive was posted in the forums. What should I do?
We encourage you to flag posts you consider inappropriate by clicking on the flag below the post. This will generate a message to the SfN Online Community Coordinator who will review the post and take appropriate action. If a post gets enough flags it will be hidden automatically, even before the Coordinator has taken action.
How do I delete a post?
As a user of Neuronline, you can choose to withdraw your post by clicking the trash icon underneath it. It will be hidden and then deleted after 96 hours if the Community Coordinator does not undelete it. If you wish to have it removed immediately or have chosen to delete a post by accident, contact the Online Community Coordinator at Neuronline@sfn.org. You can also edit your post at any time be choosing the pencil icon from beneath your post.
Why am I not receiving e-mails?
To ensure you receive valuable content from Neuronline, add noreply@sfn.org and/or the "sfn.org" domain name to your "Safe Sender's List."
Can I respond to Neuronline discussion posts via e-mail?
To contribute to discussions within the Neuronline forums, you must log in to the Neuronline website. While e-mail notifications are available to help ensure you are kept in the loop on the latest discussions, you cannot respond to Neuronline discussion threads by e-mail. The e-mail notifications do, however, include a link back to the site so that you can easily respond to the post online.
Resource Libraries
What kinds of files can I post in the community resource libraries?
Members can post most types of documents and multimedia files that are relevant to the topic of the community. Most common file formats are allowed, including: DOC, DOCX, GIF, HTM, HTML, JPEG, JPG, M4A, M4V, MOV, MP3, MP4, MP4V, PDF, PNG, PPT, PPTX, TIF, WMV, ZIP.
If a member wishes to post a file of an unsupported file type to a resource library, contact Neuronline@sfn.org for assistance.
Can I post copyrighted articles and other materials?
Members should have or obtain permission to post any copyrighted material before posting to Neuronline. For research articles, it is recommended you post a link rather than post the full-text or an abstract of an article since this will allow members who have legitimate access to that article to view it without violating copyright laws. Please refer to the Copyright Notice.
