Help/FAQ

A:Log in for the first time using your email address and by creating a new password unique to you. You will need to enter your email address here and click the "Send Password Link" button. 

A: First of all, welcome to The Hub! The Hub is a community platform and a collaborative tool for the Textile Exchange community, designed to help stakeholders connect, collaborate and accelerate towards achieving their climate goals. We're very excited to have you here. 

Here are a few things that you can do to get started on The Hub:

1. Update your profile by adding your profile picture and a Bio. This will make it easier for you to establish meaningful connections within the platform. For more guidance on this, please visit 9:37 in our The Hub Orientation Video.

2. Watch our introductory video, "The Hub Orientation," to familiarize yourself with the platform's key features.

3. Familiarize yourself with our Rules & Etiquette guidelines. This will provide you with a clear understanding of what is permissible and what is not on our platform, empowering you to fully utilize its capabilities.

4. Join a Community that aligns with your interests. We offer a range of communities dedicated to various impact areas. Feel free to join those that resonate with your goals.

5. Expand your network by adding at least three new contacts. You can discover other users by visiting the 'Members' section within any of your chosen communities. If you are a Textile Exchange member, you can also access the Member Directory from the navigation bar. To add someone as a contact, simply visit their profile and click the 'Add as Contact' button located beneath their profile picture.

Please reach out to your member representative or any of our community admins if you have any questions. We can't wait for you to start utilizing The Hub!

A: If you need to update your contact details on your profile page, please contact your member representative

A: Please follow these steps to manage your privacy settings effectively:

1. Navigate to your profile page.
2. Select the "My Account" tab.
3. Choose "Privacy Settings" from the drop-down menu.
   
   

These settings allow you to control the visibility of your information. While you can tailor them to your preferences, we recommend enhancing your networking opportunities on The Hub by selecting at least "Members only" for the following categories: My Networks, Company Information, Job Title and Department, Website, Email Address, Send Message, Add as Contact, and Bio.

Additionally, it's advisable to set the toggle to "Yes" for:

'I would like to be included in the member directory and community rosters,' as this will increase your profile's visibility among fellow community members.

After you’ve made changes, click the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page.

A: To craft a strong profile, focus on elements that enhance your credibility and facilitate connections for collaborations and knowledge sharing. Here's a concise guide:

1. Profile Picture: Choose a professional headshot instead of a company logo. A personal photo creates a relatable identity and encourages more engaging interactions.

2. Bio: Briefly convey your professional journey, passions, and expertise. This helps others quickly understand your background and interests, fostering relevant connections.

3. Education and Job History: Include industry-relevant educational and professional experiences. This adds depth to your interactions and enhances your credibility.

4. Professional Associations: Highlight your involvement in industry associations or groups. It aids in networking with like-minded professionals and encourages collaborative opportunities.

5. Honors and Awards: Showcase your industry achievements to establish yourself as a thought leader and inspire others within the community.

A: Due to the high volume of email generated from a typical community, some Email Service Providers (ESPs) incorrectly identify messages from The Hub as spam.

If you stopped receiving email from your Hub community, please ask your IT department or vendor to add the following domain to your organization’s allowlist.

• connectedcommunity.org

Alternatively, they can allowlist by IP address. Our community platform senses emails from 12 dedicated IP addresses. 

• 54.240.14.78
• 54.240.14.79
• 54.240.14.80
• 54.240.14.31
• 54.240.14.32
• 54.240.14.106
• 54.240.14.216 

• 54.240.14.217 
• 54.240.14.218
• 54.240.14.219
• 54.240.14.220 
• 54.240.14.221 

To learn more about allowlists and why there are needed, click here.

A: If you have suggestions for The Hub or any of our our communities, we would greatly appreciate it if you could take a moment to click on and submit your feedback via our Feedback button in the bottom left-hand side of your screen. For more guidance on this, please visit 3:44 in our The Hub Orientation Video. Your feedback is valuable to us, and we look forward to hearing from you. 

A:You can find our Abbreviations / Glossary here. 

A: Click the “Network" or "Directory” link found in the main navigation bar. The Directory lets you search for other users based on:

• First and/or last name
• Company/Institution name
• Email address

For more guidance on using the Directory, visit 11:29 in our The Hub Orientation Video.

Switch to the “Advanced Search” tab to refine your search results by:

• City
• State
• Country 
• Fiber Categories
• Product Categories & more 

A: There are several ways to add contacts. When you perform a search in the Directory, you will see an “Add as contact” button to the right of each person in your search results. Just click this button to send a contact request. For more guidance on this, visit 12:11 in our The Hub Orientation Video. If you click through and view an individual’s profile, you can click the contact request link to the right of their profile picture.

A: Creating this virtual address book makes it easy to send your contacts messages through the community site to stay in touch, ask questions or even build a referral network. Additionally, when you view another member’s profile, you’ll be able to see any contacts you have in common. You can also choose to let your contacts view certain demographics in your profile that others can't.

A: The Hub is open to all interested members of your team - there is no limit! We streamlined our system to use a subscription form for members to gain access to The Hub.  

Please pass this subscription form link to interested colleagues who do not yet have access. Within 1-3 business days, subscriptions will be added to our database, and they will receive login instructions. (Because we are GDPR compliant, interested participants must opt-in to all of our communications to access The Hub.)  

A: Communities allow you to participate in discussions and share resources with other members. 

A: Go to “Communities” in the main navigation bar. Select “My Communities” to view the communities you currently belong to.

A:  Click on “Communities” in the main navigation and click on “Join a Community” to see the communities that you can join. You can click on the 'Sign-Up' button for the communities that you would like to join.

A: Navigate to your profile and click on the "My Account" tab. Choose "Community Notifications" from the drop-down menu.  Here, there are three discussion subscription options: Real Time, Daily Digest, No Email and two Consolidated Digest options: Consolidated Daily Digest and Consolidated Weekly Digest. We suggest that users select the "No Email" option for the Discussion Email and check the Consolidated Daily Digest box for each of their communities. By doing so, users will receive only a single email each day that includes updates from all of their chosen communities.

For more guidance on this, please visit 12:21 in our The Hub Orientation Video.

Recommended Community Notification settings:
 
 
If you wish to customize your Community Notifications differently, you have the following options:

For Discussion Emails, you can choose from:

• Real Time: sends an email every time a new message is posted.
• Daily Digest: sends one email to you each day, consolidating all of the posts from the previous day.
• No Email: allows you to be part of the group without having emails sent to you. You can still post and read others’ messages by logging into the community site.

For Consolidated Digests, you can choose from: 

• Consolidated Daily Digest: contains all the new discussion threads, events, announcements, and library entries for the day, based on the communities you have checked in the Consolidated Daily Digest column of your Community Notification settings. 
• Consolidated Weekly Digest: contains all the new discussion threads, events, announcements, and library entries for the day, based on the communities you have checked in the Consolidated Weekly Digest column of your Community Notification settings. 

A:  To update your email preferences, navigate to your profile and click on the "My Account" tab. From the drop-down menu, select "Email Preferences". In this section, you will find toggles to manage your Community and Participation email settings. If both toggles are set to 'NO,' it means you will not receive important updates from your Community Admins (Community Emails), as well as emails notifying you of replies to your Discussion Threads, comments on your Library Entries, and updates to the content that you follow (Participation Emails). To ensure that you are kept up-to-date with the community, we recommend that both your Community Emails and Participation Emails toggles are set to 'YES'.


Recommended Email Preferences settings: 

 

A:  Go to your profile and click on the "My Account" tab. Choose "Community Notifications" from the drop-down menu. Here, you will see a list of available communities and those to which you’ve subscribed. Select "Leave Community” under the Actions column for the discussions you wish to leave.

A: To respond to a discussion post, please navigate to the discussion post and click “Reply to Discussion” to send your message to the entire community.  To send a message to the only author of the post, please select “Reply to Sender” (located in the "Reply to Discussion" drop-down).  We recommend replying to the sender for simple comments like “me, too” that add little value to the overall discussion; and replying to the entire community when you are sharing knowledge, experience or resources that others could benefit from.

A: Go to “Participate" > “Post a message.” From an email (HTML version) for a particular discussion forum, you can use the “Post Message” link located at the top of the discussion email.

A: Use the following tips to help structure your Discussion Thread:

• Subject Line: Use a clear and concise subject line to describe your topic.
• Greeting: Start with a friendly "Hi, everyone!" to warm up your readers.
• Make it personal: Don't just ask a question. Share why you're asking the question. Other members will be more likely to respond when they have context and a way to relate to you and your story.
• What You Know and Don't Know: Share what you already know about the subject and what you need help with. This helps others help you better. If you explain what you've already tried, others won't waste time suggesting it to you! 
• Encourage Interaction: Ask for others' opinions or experiences related to the topic.
• Closing Question: Conclude with a well-framed question to prompt engagement.
• Use @ Mentions: Mention specific individuals with @ to involve them in the discussion. 

Bonus Tip: Complete your profile (if you haven't already) with a photo and relevant information. You're much more likely to get a reply if other users can see and better understand who they are talking to. 

Reminder: Remember to respect the purpose of the community. Use it to share successes, challenges, constructive feedback, questions, and goals rather than promoting your products or services. If you've found a product or service helpful, please share your experience with the group in a respectful way. For more information on our community Rules & Etiquette, visit here. 

A: If images are not appearing, it is likely that your email client is set to suppress images. This should be something you can change in your security or viewing options. If you would rather receive text-based email, go to your profile page and click on the "My Account" tab. Choose "Community Notifications" from the drop-down menu. Select the “Plain Text” format option for each of the discussions you are subscribed to. 

A: Yes, please enter a keyword in the search bar located in the main navigation. To refine your search results, please select "Show Advanced Search". For more guidance on using the search function on the platform, visit 8:23 in our The Hub Orientation Video.

A: Locate the community you are interested in viewing from the appropriate communities page. Click through the community's landing page, then click on the “Discussions” tab. If you see a post you’re interested in, click the subject line which will take you to the entire thread. “Show Original Message” at the bottom of all of the posts in a thread will display the original message that started that discussion.

A: Our communities operate on a self-moderating system. This means that any member has the ability to identify and report any content they consider as marketing, inappropriate, or in violation of our Rules & Etiquette. If you come across any content that violates these rules, please choose the 'Mark As Inappropriate' option from the dropdown menu beside the Discussion Post, Discussion Post Reply, or Library Entry in question. Our Community Admins will then review the reported content. Although such incidents are infrequent, we place great importance on addressing them to uphold the high standards of our community. 

A: If you know which library the resource might be located in, find the affiliated community via the All Communities page. Click through the community's landing page, then click on the “Library” tab . If you do not know where the resource might be, enter search terms in the main search box the same way you might enter search terms into Google or another search engine.  

A: Yes. Enter your desired keyword in the main search box. From the search results page, click "Show Advanced Search."  Then click on “Search for Specific File Types.” This gives you the option to specify file type: Document, Image, Spreadsheet, etc. 

A: The libraries are populated in two ways:

1.  When you include an attachment in a discussion post, the system automatically places it in the affiliated library.

2.  You can also upload documents directly to a library by using the “Share a File” link found under “Participate” in the main navigation or "Create New Library Entry" button on any community's library page. Library resources are not required to be associated with a discussion thread. 

A: Select the “Share a File” link found under “Participate” in the main navigation or "Create New Library Entry" on any community landing page. Please note that uploading a document is accomplished by completing a few steps, and each step must be completed before you can move on to the next: 

• Choose a title for your document, and include a description (optional). Select the library to which you’d like to upload it, and select a folder to which you’d like to upload it (optional).  Then, choose an Entry Type (most will be Standard Files, but be cognizant of any copyright licensed material). Once you have completed these steps, please click “Next.” 
• Upload your file.  
• Select “Next” if you want to further describe your files and/or add tags to your file.  Otherwise, please click “Finish” to post your library entry. 

A: The system supports dozens of file types including hyperlinks, standard files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), webinars, images and YouTube videos. 

A: We encourage our community members to share any external content such as reports, resources, and webinars on The Hub. When sharing content, please upload the resource exclusively to one community only, selected based on the report's relevance. If there are other communities that could gain value from this resource, we kindly ask that you contact the respective community admin. The admin will subsequently share insights from your resource from that community's distinctive viewpoint within the community and guide individuals to the primary or 'home' community for complete access to the resource. This approach helps us guarantee that the content shared in each of our communities remains pertinent to its intended audience. 

A: Tags are great way to organize and categorize content on your site. Tags can be applied to blogs, library entries, events, and glossary terms.  Tagged items are prioritized in the search results.