Self-Storage Talk, the official online forum of Inside Self-Storage, is a wonderful tool that's no longer a secret among industry professionals. More than 3,600 members use the forum, and more are joining every day. What few people realize, though, is that there are several shortcuts, tips and tricks that can make using the forum easier, more fun and more productive.

Shortcut to SST from Your Desktop

Wouldn't it be great if you could click straight to the forum instead of having to open your browser and click on a bookmark or type in the URL? In fact, you can set-up a one-click shortcut to SST right from your desktop. Forum member and facility owner John Roser volunteered to explain the process (for Windows users) on this thread.

Basically, the process consists of copying and pasting the Self-Storage Talk URL to your desktop and right-clicking to set up a command for your browser to open the page automatically. It will take you a minute or two to set up initially, and then you'll be able to save time every time you log on to the forum.

Posting Photos, Images and Attachments

Not long ago, I blogged about the multiple ways to upload and share photos on the forum. If you haven't read up on this yet, make sure to check out this explanatory thread. The directions in Step One (how to upload directly from your computer) can also apply to documents other than images, such as PDFs, spreadsheets or other resources you might want to share with the community. Remember, there is an official Self-Storage Talk Photo Thread that's hot at the moment, so chip in and post to it if you can.

New Posts

Most of the forum veterans live by the "new posts" feature, which automatically displays for you the threads that have been updated since your last visitwhen you're logged in, of course. New Posts is useful because it doesn't limit itself to one area of the forumfor example, Day-to-Day Managementbut shows every new post from every area. You can access it easily by clicking on the New Posts link in the navigation bar at the top of any page.

If you're already an SST member, then this all probably makes sense. But If you're confused and are a late-arriver to the SST party, don't worry: You're still invited to join us. You can start posting as soon as you register. It's free to join and takes only a few minutes.