How To Use RecWave

Using RecWave is easy.  Here are some different features of the site and how to get the most out of our community. 


Interact with Other Recreation Professionals - "CATCH A WAVE!" (http://recwave.com/forum)

  • Looking to meet other recreation professionals, give advice or have a chat?
  • You can go to our Forum section (http://recwave.com/forum) where you will find topics broken down from Aquatics to Sports.  In order to Catch a Wave, all you have to do is click on the section of interest to you and you will see a list of relevant discussions.  You can reply, comment, quote, or stumble any topic where you have something to share.
  • Can't find what you are looking for?  Feel free to try our search (http://recwave.com/search/node)

Creating a New Discussion - "MAKE A WAVE!" (http://recwave.com/node/add/wave)

  • When you click "Make a Wave" you can title your discussion or question, then select what Program Area, what Process and what Life Stages are relevant. (Note:  if you hold down the "CTRL" key you can select multiple life-stages if more than one is relevant.)
  • To upload an image, click the browse button and select the file on your computer
  • To attach a file to share with your group or other professionals, click on "File attachments", select the document you would like to attach and click the "Attach" button


Starting or Finding a Group

  • You can start a new group easily here: http://recwave.com/node/add/group-home
    • The group can be open to the whole community, moderated where membership requests must be approved by the group creator, or by invite only
  • The find a group to join you can click on the Groups button or go here:  http://recwave.com/og
  • Groups are a good way for regional or town offices to stay organized and to share files that you don't want to share in the general forums
    • Groups allow an office to discuss a specific project and upload files related to that project to one central area where everyone can check back. No more 2-way e-mail...Groups makes coordination of events and programs even easier!


Make Friends

  • Want to connect with other Recreation Professionals? 
  • In order to tag other users as your friend and connect them to your profile for easy reference later, all you have to do is click on their username and click on "Add friend"



What is "StumbleUpon" and how does it work?

StumbleUpon ("SU") is one of the latest and most revolutionary online tools that helps improve internet browsing by helping users "stumble upon" high quality content that is relevant to them.

With millions of registered users submitting content from thousands of blogs, Stumble Upon has created a community dedicated to pointing out hidden gems on the web. With an unobtrusive toolbar, users can give content on the web a thumbs up or a thumbs down. What makes SU so useful is that fact that it actually LEARNS your preferences. That's right...over time, the toolbar is able to suggest new online content you would enjoy based simply on your voting patterns. This revolutionary tool is able to make accurate suggestions because it leverages the preferences and voting patterns of its enormous userbase. Not surprisingly, when many members give a thumbs up to a piece of content, SU passes that information to users with similar preferences.

Why does this matter for Recreation Professionals?

For decades, Recreation Professionals and the valuable programs they create have not gotten the proper recognition even though they touch the lives of almost every American. RecWave.com's goal is to bring the recreation community together and strengthen their collective voice. One of the most powerful tools to accomplish this goal is by promoting the high quality content generated on RecWave.com. While e-mailing the content to your colleagues is very helpful, StumbleUpon helps internet users outside the Recreation Community see what we are working on and get a glimpse at the most important issues facing the community today. This is why under each and every piece of content on RecWave.com, we have made it so you can "Stumble" the content if you feel that a particular issue and/or discussion should have a wider audience.

Questions? Don't hesitate to drop Patrick an e-mail at Patrick@recwave.com.


Many More Features to Come!

  • Make sure to stay tuned as we release new features to help Recreation professionals interact
  • Remember, you can always e-mail Patrick or Sean at Patrick@recwave.com or Sean@recwave.com with any questions.