User profile
Wiki ▸ Documentation ▸ User Documentation ▸ User profile
- Released in version: 0.1
- Also called: "Buoy profile," "Buoy preferences"
Every Buoy user has a user profile that provides a familiar way to update your account options, such as updating your email address, password, profile picture (avatar) and so on. In addition to these standard settings provided by WordPress core, your user profile page is also where you update your Buoy preferences. All of these settings are optional (so you can safely ignore them), but some Buoy features like free group txt messages will not work if you have not entered correct or complete information in your profile.
To access your user profile page where you can update your Buoy preferences, first login to your account if you are not already logged in. (This process may differ slightly from one Buoy-enabled website to another.) Then, do this:
- Tap on or hover your mouse cursor over your profile picture in the upper-right corner of the window.
- Tap on or click the "Edit My Profile" link that appears.
From this link you can access all your account profile settings, including some preferences and options unrelated to Buoy. The settings specific to Buoy will be grouped under a "Buoy preferences" heading, described next.
The following screenshot shows an example of a complete Buoy preferences section in a user profile. (This is a sample. Please use your own information when completing your own profile.)
You can tell Buoy what gender pronoun to use when speaking about you to your Teammates and other users. If you do not enter a gender pronoun here, a gender-neutral default will be used.
To use any of Buoy's SMS/txt message features, you need to provide your mobile phone number here. Most formats will work. For example, (555) 123-4567, 555-123-4567, and 5551234567 are all treated the same way.
In addition to a phone number, Buoy needs to know which telephone service provider your number is currently subscribed to. If you change your mobile phone plan in the future, you will need to return to Buoy to update this setting, even if you keep the same number.
When you use Buoy's one-touch emergency button to activate an Alert without providing any further context, the crisis message that you entered here will be delivered to the members of your Crisis Response Teams. If you leave this blank, a generic message (like Please help!) will be sent, instead. It's a good idea to make this as short and generically useful as possible.
In the example above, the Buoy user entered the phone number of their primary emergency contact person, and instructions to contact them if communicating through Buoy has failed. Depending on your situation and your specific use of Buoy, you may want to enter the number of your lawyer, the National Lawyer Guild's jail support hotline, or even a short link to a web page you've set up ahead of time that has more specific information.
By default, creating an account on a Buoy does not let anyone else know that you have joined. This lets you use a "public" Buoy in relative obscurity. Other users will have to know your personal username or email address to add you to their Team(s).
However, if you would like to make it easier for other Buoy users to invite you to join their Team(s), make sure the Crisis response checkbox is checked. This will advertise your presence to other users, who will then be able to invite you to their teams without having to know your username or your email address ahead of time.
When you have finished making changes to any parts of your user profile or Buoy preferences, press the Update Profile button at the bottom of the page to save your changes.