Recently I struggled with trying to upload a family to the Sims 3 Exchange, so that other players could download my creations.  The booklet that came with the DVD was not terribly helpful.  It instructs you to click the[thingie] to upload your family.  The [thingie] looks like an asterisk sitting atop a triangle, sort of like a windmill, if you squint your eyes.  The problem is that it doesn't tell you where to find the [thingie].  I checked the documentation on the Sims 3 website, but they don't have any articles on how to do this.  Frustrating!

After some floundering about, I was finally able to work it out.  Here's how to upload your Sims household to the exchange:

1.    Start playing your family.  Click on either Build or Buy mode.
2.    Click the menu button (I don't actually know what this is called.  It says, "…" so maybe we should just call it the "ellipsis button.")
3.    Click Edit Town.
4.    Click on the family that you want to upload.  In the pop-up window that appears for the family, you will see the windmill thingie.
5.    Click the windmill, and into the family name and the description into the Share box that pops up.
6.    Save everything and start the Launcher.  (If your computer struggles with playing Sims 3, I recommend exiting the game before you open the Launcher.)
7.    And the launcher, click the Uploads button on the left side of the panel.
8.    Tick the check box to select your family, then click the Upload button at the bottom of the screen.

One frustration with this process is that when you log into thesims3.com it seems that there isn't a place where you can click to view your uploads. 

This is a little bit puzzling, because for Spore they made it easy for you to find your own uploaded content.  When you log into the Spore website and click to view your page, your uploads are shown right below your personal information.  The system even posts little messages on your page about what happens with your uploads in other people's games.  (Although I have to admit, I was a little heartbroken the first time I logged into the Spore website and saw that my creatures had been completely destroyed by some other Spore player.)

Instead, you have to search the Sims 3 exchange for your own Sims just like anyone else would.  Unfortunately the advanced search options don't even give you the ability to limit your searches by username.  Maybe it's just because the site is busy, but it took several hours before the search engine index my updates, so that I could see my own family and verify that they were uploaded correctly. 

Correction: I later went back to My Page and found that my uploaded family was listed there.  After you upload your family, the My Studio widget appears on your page.  All of your uploads to the exchange are listed there.

Now that I have finally bought a copy of The Sims 3, I have to admit that my first impression is a bit chaotic.  There's so much going on in the game, and the documentation is so new that it's really hard to find answers.