Starting this week we'll be posting a Quick Tip every week in order to help you get the most out of your Twoshirts.org experience. This week: category filtering.

You may have noticed that about 2 weeks ago it became too difficult to look through the item listings page-by-page. There are now several pages of free items here on Twoshirts and reading them all one at a time just isn't realistic.

That's why we created Categories.

Whatever you're looking for, just click on the drop-down menu at the top of the items page. You'll see a list of categories from Accessories, to Household Items, to Toys, and even Training Workshops (more on those in the future). Just select the category that best matches what type of items you need, and click the "submit" button. You will now see only the items in that category.

Here's what it looks like:

This week's Quick Tip covers the Twoshirts Invitation system. You probably know that this month we're conducting a challenge to see who can send the most successfully received invitations (as of this writing Brian Stevenson is in the lead!), so we thought we'd take this opportunity to cover this feature of the website.

It's simple:

First, make sure you're logged-in. When you're logged-in your My Twoshirts Menu will appear on the right hand side. This is your main way of navigating the member functions of the website like posting items, starting forum topics, and (drum roll please) sending invitations!

You'll see the link for invitations is the seventh link down. Click on that link to go to the invitations page.

Second, once you're at the invitations page you can send all the e-mail invitations you want by simply typing (or copying and pasting) e-mail addresses into the field provided. You need to separate the e-mail addresses by either a comma or a line break (hit return or enter). There's also a field provided for you to add your own message to the pre-written invitation if you'd like.

This week's "Quick Tip" covers how to close out an item after you've given it away (or a need that has been filled by someone else). I've had lots of questions about assigning giveaways to the right person, so let's clear that up, shall we?

It's very important to be sure close out your items for several reasons.

• You don't want items remaining in the listings after they've been given away, otherwise you'll continue to get requests for them.

  Proper credit needs to be given to everyone who received and gave in order for the twoshirts system to work. This is how everyone knows who's using the system properly and who's abusing the system.

So let's get started.

1. Once someone has claimed an item and picked it up from you, go into the item's editing panel by clicking "Edit Item" towards the top of the page.

This week's Quick Tip covers some of the features of searching you may not have been aware of. Searching is actually a great way to find content and users, especially if you narrow your search in meaningful ways to avoid the clutter.

In order to take advantage of these features, start first by entering your search term in the search box at the very top of the right hand column. This is a comprehensive search, meaning it will return all content with the key word in it.

For example, say you're searching for a bike. Enter the word "Bike" into the search box and click "Go." You'll notice several results return, including some items being given away, some items needed, and even a user profile with the word "bike in it."

Many of you may not have had a chance yet to explore the "Groups" feature of Twoshirts yet, so in this week's "Quick Tip" we cover how groups work and what you can use them for.

Basically, groups are simply a blog or message board that any number of Twoshirts users can subscribe to. This creates an opportunity for all kinds of cool things.

1. You and some of your friends can create a group around a cause or purpose.
Let's say some of your friends are into helping out at a local men's shelter, or you like to plant trees as a way to renew the environment. You could create a Twoshirts group called "Columbus Men's Shelter Vols" or "Tree Huggers" (why not?). Then use your group site to communicate and plan your outings and projects. Post pictures, and even a link to your website. Have discussions about your gatherings. Everyone who is subscribed to the group can comment and will receive e-mail updates on all your posts.

2. Churches and other non-profits can create a group for rallying around projects and outreaches.

Many of you have probably received e-mails this week from Twoshirts telling you that some of your items have expired. You may not know that when you post an item at Twoshirts it is automatically assigned a term of 2 months, after which it will be set to "inactive" and removed from the active listings (although, it will still appear in your "My Items" list).

We've established a timer so things won't sit here in the listings forever. We want Twoshirts to be a fresh and active place to give and receive gifts to each other. But, that means you'll have to decide what to do about the items that expire.

If you still want to make it available to the Twoshirts community, you'll need to make it active again. To do so, just click on the link provided in the e-mail. Below you can see how it appears in my inbox "(edit Kids Snow Pants"):

Now that the Forums are getting busier and with all kinds of conversations I thought it would be good to visit a few tips for navigating around them a little quicker. If you haven't had a chance to join in, click here to go to the Forums.

Once you go to the Forums page you'll notice three separate forums for different types of interaction: Instructions, Members Cafe, and Website Support Issues. Click on the forum you're interested in. We'll use "Conversations" since that's the busiest one.

Once you're there, you'll notice a few helpful tools:

1. At the top of the page there's a "breadcrumb trail" of links that tell you exactly where you are in the forums. If you're in the Conversations discussion board, you'll see a trail at the top that says "Home>>Forums>>Members Cafe." Any of these can be clicked in order to return to that portions of the forum.

2. By default, all topics are listed according to most recent activity. So whatever topic appears at the top should be the one with the most recent comment.

We want to hear from you about your Twoshirts experience! I hear little stories from you guys all the time through e-mail and in person, but why not share it with the whole Twoshirts community? We've even placed a link in your twoshirts menu on the right for writing it out and sending it along.

Look over on the right hand side (once you're logged-in) and you'll see a list of links under the heading "My Twoshirts Menu." Six links form the top you'll see "Share a Twoshirts Story." Click on this link.

Once you do, you'll be taken to a simple form that provides space to tell us your story. Have you met someone cool through Twoshirts? Did you get something cool? How has this community of generosity helped you or helped change your perspective? Has your Twoshirts Group done something cool and unique in the community? Share it with us!

We'd also really love a picture. Use the "User story photo" box to upload a picture of you, or an item you received from another member, or a picture of your group event. Make it a good quality photo so it will look good on the site.

You may not have noticed, but we recently made a very small but incredibly helpful change to the My Twoshirts Menu over in the right sidebar.

Until now, when you clicked the "My Items" link you were presented with a list of all your items, active and inactive alike. The problem was you couldn't tell what had expired without going into each item one at a time and looking at the control panel. Frankly, that sucked.

So, we've split that link into two new links: "My Active Items" and "My Inactive Items." Now you can simply click each one to quickly and easily manage your Twoshirts stuff!