There are two ways you can receive automatic notification when a new message is added to a forum or thread.

“Watch” Feature
Activating the message board "watch" feature will send you an e-mail whenever a new message has been added to a forum, category or thread you have selected.

To activate a watch, login, then click on the "Watch Forum" link at the top of the forum you want to watch. You can also click the "Watch Category" link from a category home page, or "Watch Thread" at the top of a thread you are interested in. You can choose to watch as many forums, categories or threads as you like.

To delete a "watch", simply click "Stop Watching Forum" from the top of the watched forum, "Stop Watching Category" from the top of a watched category, or "Stop Watching Thread" from the top of a watched thread. You can also manage your watches by clicking "Watch Options" from any page that contains a watch.

In addition, you can add watches to individual members.

RSS Feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds are a new, fast-growing way to read and distribute Web content. Message board content can be set up as an RSS feed. Simply click on the orange RSS icon which appears at the bottom of the list of message boards. You will then be able to select a forum or thread that you would like to have added as an RSS feed. Simply add this feed to your reader.

You can view and subscribe to RSS feeds using the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape, or Safari. You can also read and subscribe to RSS feeds using an RSS reader (aggregator). There are many RSS readers available on the Internet; some are Web-based that you can access by going to their Web sites; some are browser plug-ins; while others are separate software programs you install on your computer.

To subscribe to a Lutherans Online message board RSS feed:

1. Click the orange RSS button at the bottom of the page you'd like to receive the feed from.
2. Right click on the "Get requested feed" link.
3. Select "copy shortcut".
4. Paste into your RSS reader.

Note: You can also right-click on the announcements, threads, popular threads or messages icons, select "copy shortcut", and paste into your RSS reader to subscribe to these feeds.