First question is "Why would I want to add buddies?" Well, you may want to add buddies if you want to keep track of other community members that interest you without having to check what everyone is up to. So you will more than likely start by reading a post that interests you and you think that you would like to keep tabs on the person which posted it. You then go to the top right hand side of the browser window and click on the posters picture or the link "View full user profile." Then, about halfway down it will say "add to buddy list." Click on the appropriate spot, it will ask you to confirm it and then they will be added to your buddy list.

Once you add buddies to your buddy list, you will get a new menu item called "my buddylist." This menu item links to http://www.artmetal.com/buddylist which shows not only links and pictures of your buddies, but also all the recent posts from your buddies by buddy name. In addition you can create your own grouping of buddies based on what ever type of groups you want to group your buddies in. For instance, you may want to create groupings based on the type of metalwork your buddies do. ie; blacksmith, whitesmith, fabricator, jeweler, etc. When you create a grouping for your buddies you will see a check box along side each of your buddies with the applicable groupings. Simply check one or more applicable boxes for each of your buddies and you will have them automatically grouped into the categories you created. Note that these groupings have nothing to do with the groups/forums which you post to.

Now you can go to your newly created "my buddylist" and see what your buddies have posted recently on the artmetal site. This is also an easy way to contact your buddies if you by chance loose their email address and want to send them an email. Note that every member of the artmetal community has a "contact" tab in their profiles. But also realize that members have to turn on the ability for folks to contact them via their profile for this to work.