Before you dive in, take a moment to set up your profile. It makes a real difference.

Add a profile picture, a banner and a few words about yourself so other members get a sense of who they’re talking to. Choosing your Role and Instruments also makes it easier for people with similar interests to find and connect with you.

You’ll find everything under Edit Profile on your profile page.

And once your profile is ready, posting a short introduction in Introduce Yourself is highly encouraged. It’s an easy way to say hello, tell people what you play and become part of the community.

SlideCity is built around two things: the Feed and Spaces.

The Feed brings posts from across the community together in one place, so you can see what’s happening without having to visit every Space individually.

Spaces are where conversations actually live. Some are built around specific instruments — Bottleneck, Lap Steel, Pedal Steel, Resonator and Weissenborn — while others are built around what you want to share or explore, such as Original Songs, Covers & Arrangements, Music We Love, Jams & Practice, Tablature and Video Tutorials.

You can join or leave Spaces whenever you like, so you’re free to shape SlideCity around the parts of the slide world that interest you most.

You decide what you want your Feed to show.

Under Show, you choose two things — 

Who:

• All — posts from everyone on SlideCity.
• Following — only posts from the members you follow.

Instruments:
Tick one or more instruments to see only posts about them: Bottleneck, Lap Steel, Pedal Steel, Squareneck or Weissenborn. This includes posts in the instrument's own space, plus songs, covers and videos tagged with that instrument. Leave them all unticked to see every instrument.

You can combine the two. For example, Following + Weissenborn shows Weissenborn posts from the people you follow. News & Announcements always stay in your Feed, so you never miss an update.

You can then use Sort to decide how those posts are ordered:

• New Activity brings posts with the most recent activity to the top.
• Latest shows the newest posts first.
• Oldest starts with the earliest posts.
• Popular highlights posts getting the most engagement.

Your choices are remembered, so the Feed looks the way you set it every time you come back.

When you create a post, choose the Space that best fits what you’re sharing.

A gear question might belong in one of the instrument Spaces. A recording of your own music belongs in Original Songs. A practice clip might make more sense in Jams & Practice.

You can also add a Topic to your post when one applies. Topics make it easier to organize conversations within a Space and help other members find the kind of content they’re looking for. You don’t have to choose one, but if your post clearly fits an existing Topic, it’s helpful to use it.

Once posted, other members can like, comment, reply and bookmark your post.

You can follow other members whose music, playing or contributions you enjoy.

Following someone gives you the option to view a Feed made up specifically of posts from the people you follow, making it easy to keep up with members you’re particularly interested in.

You’re always free to unfollow someone again if you change your mind.

Notifications help you keep track of conversations you’re involved in.

You’ll see notifications when other members interact with you — for example when someone likes your post, leaves a comment, replies to you or mentions you.

They’re there to help you return to conversations when something new happens without having to constantly check the Feed.

Not every conversation needs to happen in a post.

SlideCity also has private messaging, so members can send one-to-one messages or create group conversations. This is useful when you want to continue a discussion privately, collaborate with someone or simply have a conversation away from the public Feed. FluentCommunity supports both direct messaging and group chat.

There are also live Chat Rooms for more casual, real-time conversation. SlideCity has a general chat room as well as dedicated rooms for the different instruments, so you can drop in and talk with other members who are online.

Posts are better for conversations and information that should remain easy to find. Chat is there for the more immediate back-and-forth.

You should be able to shape your own experience on SlideCity.

If there’s a member whose posts you would rather not see, you can block them from the community. They won’t be notified, and their posts will no longer appear for you. FluentCommunity’s community blocking works silently in this way.

There is also a separate blocking option inside Chat. Blocking someone there prevents private messaging between you and that member, and the other person is not notified.

The two blocking systems are separate: blocking someone from your community Feed does not automatically block them from Chat, and blocking them in Chat does not automatically remove their posts from the community.