The Katy.com Forum is a place for neighbors in the greater Katy area
to chat with each other, get to know each other, meet new people, and share local news & information.
On the forums you can discuss local local news, local events,
recommend a restaurant, ask for local business suggestions,
chat about the weather, etc. New members are encouraged to introduce themselves to the group. You can review the full Community Agreement for a complete
list of forum rules, but generally if you keep things PG and good spirited, you'll probably do well here. :)
Katy.com runs contests on the website 2x every week,
giving away a $25 gift card to one lucky winner each contest.
Contests typically start around 12:00pm noon on Mondays and Thursdays and the winner is announced 24 hours later also around 12:00pm noon.
When a contest
is running there will also be a large blue bar at the top of every page of the website announcing that a contest is in progress.
These contests only last for 24 hours, so keep an eye out and don't miss your chance to win!
How To Win:
Every message and/or reply you make on the Katy.com Forums acts as an "entry" into the Contest (kind of like a raffle).
Post more to increase your "entries" and your chance of winning!
What kind of messages should I post during a contest?:
Just post as you normally would on the forums. Take the opportunity to chat with and get to know your neighbors on this web site, meet new people, and share local info.
Please avoid discussion about the Restaurant or the Contest itself -- we tend to get flooded with those already on contest days. :)
Civil and productive political discussion can be particularly difficult in an anonymous online forum setting like this one.
People who post political discussions here have a variety of opinions and beliefs that span the political spectrum, and
keeping the discussion civil can be tricky.
Currently we do not allow politics-related discussions in General Chat.
However, once your account is at least 100 days old, and you've posted at least 100 messages on the forums,
you will gain access to the "Fastlane" category, which is a chat area that is much less moderated, where you can
discuss all things political. Read more about the Fastlane here »
Members earn credits by participating on the Forums. Whenever you post a message or a reply on the forums
you earn credits. Also, whenever other people chat with you directly (@mention you)
or other people give you a "Thumbs Up" or "Heart" reaction to your posts you can also earn credits.
Credits:
When you have enough credits you can redeem them for gift card prizes on The Exchange to places like Starbucks!
You can read more details about the credits system, here: Read more about Katy.com Credits »
Tips:
The "Tips" button, located below every Forum message, can be clicked to give some of the credits you've earned to another Katy.com member.
You can do this to show your appreciation for that person's posts, and help them get closer to earning their own gift card.
The number inside the "Tips" button indicates how many credits the person has earned from that message.
The tip counter not only shows credits given by other members, but also includes credits given automatically to
the person by the Katy website, including credits for posting new discussions, as well as credits for thumbs up reactions from other members.
When you build up enough credits by participating on this website you can redeem those credits for gift card prizes on The Exchange to places like Starbucks!
When you post a message on the forums and include the @ symbol before a person's username, it will send that person a notification about your message, alerting them that they have been "mentioned".
Example:
If you write a message on the forums like this:
Hey @john123, what's up?
The message will post publicly on the forums as normal, and it will also send a private notification to user "john123" telling him he was mentioned by you, and will provide john123 a direct link to your message.
Use the @mention feature any time you want to make sure a particular member sees one of your posts.
Typically you will use @mention many times while posting on the forums. As a shortcut, if you click the "Reply" or "Quote" buttons below
someone's message it will automatically include the correct @mention text to mention that person in your text.
The "Block List" is a feature to block messages from certain people and to prevent them from seeing your posts.
Sometimes it can make your forum experience better by blocking people you may have a personality clash with,
or turning off discussions you find annoying or objectionable.
Alternatively, you can use the "Hide" function, which only hides a discussion from your view.
How do I add something to my Block List?
To block a person, click on their profile name next to a message they've posted on the forums. This will display the member's profile menu. Then
choose the "Block this Person" option.
To hide a discussion, click on the gray "down" arrow to the right of the first message in the discussion, and click the "Hide this Discussion" option.
To edit your Block List, including removing someone from the list, use the "Block List option under the main "Forum Menu" at
the top right of the forum home page.
What happens when you Block someone?
When you block a person, you will no longer see that person's posts, and that person will no longer see your posts.
It's important to realize that the "Block" is two-way: they don't see your stuff and you don't see theirs.
It also will prevent the two of from sending each other private messages, and seeing certain
profile information.
The blocked person is not notified when they are put on Block.
If someone has you on Block, you will not see discussions they have started. You will also not see their replies
and instead will see a message telling you that the reply is not visible.
Generally, it's a good idea to use the Block List when needed to reduce conflict and improve your experience on the forums.
Alternatively, you can use the "Hide" option, which only hides their posts from your view.
Getting too many emails? We can fix that! You have a lot of control over which emails you receive from the website on your Email Subscriptions Settings page.
By participating on the site you can sometimes earn a "Box Game Credit" to play our online "Box Game".
This is a game where you pick 5 boxes, and if you pick enough boxes correctly, you win a prize!
How do I earn a Box Game Credit?
Earn a box game by posting messages on the forums that others appreciate! Each day there is a number
of Likes/Hearts/Laughs you can earn that will give you a Box Game Credit. You can see your progress
toward earning a credit in the green box on the Box Game main page.
Where do I find the Box Game?
You can find a link to the Box Game under the "Forum Menu" located at the top right of the Forums home page.
Before posting a message to the forums, click the photo icon to the bottom left
of the textbox to select a photo from your computer and attach it to your message.
Instead of choosing a photo from your computer, you can attach a photo from a link that is already online if you know the image's web address.
First, click the "Insert" button located below the main textbox, then choose "External Image", and then paste the web address of the image in the textbox.
This will insert the code necessary into your message to display the image once it's been posted.
/*
Adding Video:
Currently this website can only embed videos from YouTube in your messages.
To embed a YouTube video:
Visit the YouTube page where the video is located.
Copy the "Share" link provided by YouTube ( it will look something like this: https://youtu.be/gqNEqIsRdnE ).
Go back to the Katy.com Forums and click the "Insert" button below the textbox where you are writing your message.
Choose the "YouTube Video" button option and enter the "Share" link provided by YouTube earlier.
This will add the proper code so that the video will be embedded and visible once the message has been posted.
"PM" stands for "Private Message", and is a way to communicate with other Katy.com members individually and privately, rather
than using the public forums.
On Mobile Phones:
Click the "gear" icon at the top right of any page, then click the "Mail" option.
On Desktops / Tablets:
Click the letter / mail icon in the black bar at the very top right of any page of the website.
If you see a message that is potentially breaking the website's Community Agreement, you can
Flag it to bring it to the attention of a moderator.
To flag a message:
At the top right of a forum message, click the gray "down" arrow to show the message menu, then click the "Flag / Report" option.
Flagging will send an alert to the moderator. It does not notify the person you're flagging that their message was flagged -- this info is kept private.
Flagging a message will guarantee a moderator will take a look at the message and make a moderator decision about whether it's allowed or not.
Please feel free to flag something even if you're not sure a message is violating rules or not. Flagging something is preferred over
@mentioning or PM'ing a moderator because it is connected to internal moderator controls that helps us keep track of the issue and make
sure it's handled in a timely way.
With so many messages posted on a regular basis, we do rely on reports from members to keep the forums an inviting community for everyone!
Members earn credits by participating on the Forums. Whenever you post a message or a reply on the forums
you earn credits. Also, whenever other people chat with you directly (
photo icon to the bottom left
of the textbox to select a photo from your computer and attach it to your message.