How to use Shtum
We think you’ll find Shtum really easy and useful, but appreciate you will have questions and may need some help getting started. We’ve tried to make the experience as uncluttered and straightforward as possible and whilst this article should go a long way to explaining — if you’re still stuck, please do get in touch.
Boards
A board is the nucleus of Shtum. Think of it as a fenced-off room to discuss whatever you like with whoever you like. You can own as many boards as you like — for example you may have one to talk to colleagues about a specific project as well as one for your local sports team. They are more useful versions of WhatsApp groups, or sub-reddits. The fundamental advantage being Shtum is tuned to make conversation better.
Do I need to own a board?
Not at all. You can join another board, provided you receive an invite.
How do I create a board?
Once you are on Shtum, creating a board is a doddle. Simply go to your list of boards on the left hand side and hit the + symbol. We will ask you for the name of your board and the alias (username) you would like to display on this board. Once you’ve completed that stage, you’re good to go. All you need to do is post a message and invite some people to read it.
Invites
A Shtum board is a lonely place without someone to talk to! Luckily, it’s a doddle.
The invite button (a paper aeroplane) is situated on the dark green nav bar on the right hand side. Once pressed, the invite window appears. There are two ways of inviting someone (we are working on allowing you to invite via other social platforms).
- Invite via email address. If the person is not already a member of Shtum, just pop their address in the box. You can add multiple emails by hitting enter once you’ve completed an address. Once you’ve added your message, the invites will be sent immediately and people will receive instructions on how to get involved.
- You may want to invite some Shtum friends onto your new board. Simply select which board they are a member of on the dropdown and a list will appear next to it. Again, you can select multiple users.
Once you have entered contact details for invites, you can also personalise the message they receive. Let them know who you are (especially if you are using an alias!) and what your board is about.
Aliases
At Shtum we appreciate that people have different online relationships with different people in their lives. Your friends may well call you something completely different than your family and your old school nickname may be confusing to your team at work! Thankfully you can have a different alias for each board.
Your alias will be unique to that particular board, but may be used by someone else on a different board.
We do not recommend using any alias that reveals any personal information unless you are absolutely sure you wish to do so. Be aware, at present, Shtum boards are not encrypted.
Posting on a board
The crux of Shtum. The conversation.
To begin a new conversation, just hit the giant + sign on the bottom right of the page. This opens up the relevant panel.
There are two text areas that allow you to set out your conversation. You can choose which you use, they are not compulsory — but we suggest using a title if you are starting a new conversation. A quick reply doesn’t really need it.
The subject is highlighted in bold, whilst the main body of the conversation is lighter and easier to read. Play around — you’ll get it.
Underneath the text boxes are two icons. The left hand side one allows you to attach a picture to your post. The lightning bolt allows you to control your notification settings for any replies you may get (more about that later).
If you want to @ another board member, simply do as you would do on other social platforms. They will receive a notification that you have mentioned them.
Once you’re happy — hit post and wait for your replies to roll in!
Layout, likes and notifications
Conversations can get quite busy. Imagine ten people sat at the dinner table all talking at once — it can get confusing who is talking to who. We think Shtum is perfect for these situations. You will notice that each reply sits slightly to the right of it’s predecessor, allowing your eyes to naturally follow the conversation.
The longer a conversation goes on, the noisier it can become, so if you would like to simplify what you see, simply minimise irrelevant chatter by hitting the minus sign next to the start of the conversation.
Underneath each post you’ll see an info row showing you a number of things. You will see different options depending on whether it is your post or whether you are a moderator.
User info. You’ll see the username and the time the post was made.
Edit. If this is your post you will be able to edit the post. Moderators also have access to this.
Delete. Both you and moderators will be able to delete your post entirely. This will not delete any replies the post may already have got.
Reply. Self explanatory. Reply!
Likes. Sometimes people will not want to reply, but may want to like it instead. Just tapping the heart icon does this. The number of likes will be alongside the heart.
New/Edited. This lets other users know if you’ve edited your post or if it’s a brand new post since their last visit.
Notifications are helpful for people that can’t spend much time on Shtum, but don’t want to miss any of the conversation. We will email you when someone replies to your post or starts a new conversation depending on your notification settings.
When you start a new conversation you can deselect notifications by hitting the lightning bolt.
On the board you will see the same icon to the right of each conversation. If you don’t want to be notified, simply hit the icon.
Simple!
Moderation
As a board owner, it’s important people treat your board with respect and vice versa.
Aside from some very obvious no-nos (pornography, abuse, trolling, revealing private information), the boundaries will be down to you as an owner to decide. You will have the ability to remove users and assign moderation powers to other users.
To do this, select the info symbol next to the invite paper aeroplane. This opens up your moderation panel. You will see a list of all the members of your board. You can make another member a Moderator or an Admin.
A moderator can delete and edit other member’s posts.
An Admin can do all of that, plus invite and remove people to and from your board.
That’s pretty much it. It’s designed to be as simple as possible — allowing your conversation to be the most important thing about Shtum. There are bound to be questions, so please do get in touch.
We have lots of exciting plans for Shtum and are working hard to continually improve. Thanks for getting on board.
Unfollow, defriend but keep Shtum.
