guest@dotshare [/pages] $ cat about.md

What we're all about and how it came to be.

What?

DotShare is the attempted solution to all of the sporadic "Post your X configs!" threads on various distro's forums. Moving all of those threads to one central location, people can follow and get updates from users who often post configs they like or share their tastes in setups. In the end making it much easier to find what interests them and the new cool things people are coming up with.

How?

To begin sharing dots and following users quickly register.

After logging in, if you already know people on DotShare that you'd like to follow, head over to their profile (http://dotshare.it/~username/) and click the follow link. You will now get updates whenever that user creates or edits a dot, likes a dot, or comments on a dot. You are also automatically updated whenever someone likes or comments on one of your own dots.

When viewing a user's profile, you can find various information. Whatever profile information they've elected to share, who they are following and being followed by, their recent dot submissions (if any), and their recent activity on the site (if any). You can view a complete listing of a user's followees, followers, and dots by following the links in parenthesis.

On to the dots! There are 3 main ways to browse dots. By category, by user, or all of them. When browsing dots in each of those ways you can then sort them by title, date, likes, and comments. If at least one dot on the current page has a scrot attached, you can click the image icon next to it to view the scrot. The lightbox that displays the scrot is also a gallery containing the scrots of any other dot on the page that has one. If you find one you want to view you can click the title in the upper left corner of the lightbox.

When viewing a dot there are a few key features I'd like to point out. First, you can click the dot area to expand it to view it in it's entirety. You can then click the header again to collapse it. If the dot has a scrot you can left click on the scrot area to view it in a lightbox or middle click to open it in a new tab. If the dot has any likes, further on the right will be a link to view all the users that have liked it. Lastly, if the dot isn't your own, next will be a link to like or dislike a dot. You can only dislike a dot that you had previously liked.

Lastly, a quick note on categories. If there is a category that doesn't exist that you'd like to see, please come into IRC (#dotshare on freenode) and let us know! We will be adding new categories based on user demand.

That should about do it. I hope everyone enjoys the site and if you have any feedback or questions please join us in IRC (#dotshare on freenode) and let us know!

Where?

As seen by the strong focus on the various social features, we really want to create a thriving community. Whether it's just to idle in support, chat with some likeminded folks, give us feedback, or ask a question, we would love to see you in our IRC channel! (#dotshare on freenode)

We're also on Twitter where you can follow us for updates (e.g. new categories). Also feel free to tweet us your feedback and category requests.

Who?

  • Founder, Conceptualizer
  • Founder, Programmer
  • Founder
  • Contributors
    • Christian Brassat (crshd)
  • Beta Testers