indieWIRE SOCIAL NETWORK - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Signing In & Signing Up

#1.1: Is this social network free?

#1.2: How do I get started?

#1.3: I can't sign on! What do I do?

#1.4: I forgot my password! What do I do?

#1.5: Can I change my userID?

The Basics: Profiles & Friends

#2.1: How do I fill out or change my profile?

#2.2: What are reciprocating friends? Why are some photos outlined in red?

#2.3: Does someone need to approve me to make them a friend?

#2.4: What is a friend cluster?

#2.5: Who can see my profile details? Who can see my "Contact" information?

#2.6: Can I prevent people from knowing I'm online? What are my privacy options?

#2.7: How do I make the information in the "Your Messages" section of my home page disappear?

#2.8: What is a tribute?

#2.9: I submitted a tribute and it doesn't show up on my friends' page. What gives?

#2.10: Can I delete a tribute I wrote to someone?

#2.11: Can I delete a tribute I already approved?

Express Yourself: Journal, Forums & Albums

#3.1: What are journals, forums and albums for?

#3.2: Who can read my journals, forums and albums?

#3.3: How do I contribute to group journal/forum/album?

#3.4: Can I delete comments I left on someone's board?

#3.5: How do I delete comments someone left on my forum or journal?

#3.6: How do I include pictures in my journal or in message board threads?

#3.7: How do I delete a journal entry?

#3.8: How do I edit a journal entry?

#3.9: Can I control who reads my entire journal?

#3.10: Can I control who reads a specific entry in my journal?

#3.11: How do I create a custom friends' list for my journal entries?

#3.12: I linked to a URL in my journal/message and the URL didn't work. How do I correct this?

#3.13: Who owns the copyright to my journal entries and album submissions?

#3.14: How do I know how many people are reading my journal?

Share With Others: Bookmark, Events & Listing Features

#4.1: How do I share bookmarks publicly?

#4.2: How do I announce a public event? How do I announce an event to a public group?

#4.3: How do I announce a private event to my friends?

#4.4: How do I manage RSVPs for my event? How do I RSVP for an event I'm invited to?

#4.5: Who can see what events I've RSVPed to?

#4.6: How do I find out about events in my area?

#4.7: How do I place a classified listing?

#4.8: How long does my listing stay up?

Socializing Together: Groups & Running a Group

#5.1: How do I find groups to join?

#5.2: What is the difference between a public, private and semi-private group?

#5.3: How do assign moderation of a group to someone else?

#5.4: How do I invite members into a private group?

#5.5: How do I announce a group event to a private group?

#5.6: How do I start a group?

#5.7: How do I manage the members and content in a group?

#5.8: How do I change my group from private to public (or vice versa)?

Other Questions

#6.1: Where do I find more help in using the social network?

#6.2: Why am I friends with indieWIRE? Why am in a group called indieWIRE?

#6.3: How does instant messaging work?

#6.4: Why can't I get instant messages?

Signing In & Signing Up

#1.1: Is this social network free?

When you sign up for a free membership with indieWIRE (or one of our sister publications, like SF360.org), that membership includes everything in the social network -- profiles, search, personal message boards, private messaging, journals, groups, classifieds and more. Later in the year, indieWIRE will be launching a premium membership service that will include additional professional content and services, but members will never be asked to pay to continue the benefits they have grown accustomed to having as part of their free membership. [top]

#1.2: How do I get started?

It's easy! Just click the "Join" link in the upper right of any page of indieWIRE. As part of that sign-up, you'll have an opportunity to fill out a profile -- fill out as much of it as you want to start, you can always expand it or change it later. [top]

#1.3: I can't sign on! What do I do?

You should be able to sign-on to the site and the social network from any page on indieWIRE or SF360.org with your email address or handle and the password you chose on signing up. If you're experiencing problems, then usually that problem is either wrong time/day/date/time zone settings on your computer, not having cookies enabled or not having Javascript enabled in your browser. If you have multiple accounts on our network, it may be that you need to clear out your cache or your cookies.

If you still cannot login, please contact us with the following information: operating system, browser (name and version #), email address or handle, and any other info you may have that can help us troubleshoot. We will respond to your request as quickly as possible. [top]

#1.4: I forgot my password! What do I do?

If you try to login but get your password wrong, you'll be provided an opportunity answer a "challenge question" you chose when you signed up -- answering that question correctly, you'll be shown your password. You also have the option to click "Forgot Password" on the login screen, which will send you an email with your password. If it still doesn't work or you cannot remember the email address you signed up with, you will need to write to us. Please provide as much info as possible to help us track it down. We will only send the info to the email address used when you registered originally. [top]

#1.5: Can I change my userID?

While you can change the "handle" that people see for your membership, you unfortunately can't change your userID after it is created. If you really dislike your handle and want to get rid of it, the only option is for you to create an entirely new free membership account. [top] 

The Basics: Profiles & Friends

#2.1: How do I fill out or change my profile?

The "Edit Profile" link on your homepage will step you through the screens again to edit or expand the information in your profile: if you don't fill out an item, it won't appear in profile. That edit screen also gives you access to tools to edit your friends list, your photo album and your tributes. Advanced HTML users can also adjust the way their profile looks through cascading style sheets (CSS) from the "Customize My Profile" screen (and we'll be adding more customization options in the future.) [top]

#2.2: What are reciprocating friends? Why are some photos outlined in red?

Our social network allows you to select anyone as your friend, without their approval. We do this so that you don't have to worry about potential rejection. If the person whom you add as a friend then selects you as their friend, the two of you become "Reciprocating Friends", and will both have access to a host of special features including birthday reminders, private messaging, event sharing and more. You can identify your reciprocating friends by the red boxes that surround their thumbnail photos. Please remember that if you save your privacy settings to 'friends only', then anyone you select as a friend will be able to view your profile and/or journals: choose friends accordingly. [top]

#2.3: Does someone need to approve me to make them a friend?

No, you can add whomever you choose as a friend. However, to gain access to special features like birthday reminders, private messaging, access to their friends' only profiles and journal entries, and more, they will need to add you as a friend as well. When you add someone as a friend, they receive a notification on their home page. If someone has not added you back as friend, you may contact them via their personal message board or private message. Please note that everyone, including you, has the ability to only allow friends to contact them or block private and instant messages altogether. [top]

#2.4: What is a friend cluster?

It is your circle of friends, with whom you are able to share more intimate information without the public also having access. For example, you have the opportunity to share contact information in your profile but, by default, that "Contact" page is only viewable by friends in your cluster.

Whenever you read anyone's profile, you can see if and how you are connected to them, by up to four degrees of separation. However, only your direct circle of friends count as your friend cluster (and thus show up in places like "My Friend's Events" or "My Friend's Journals".) [top]

#2.5: Who can see my profile details? Who can see my "Contact" information?

You have control over who sees details of your profile. By default, the "Vitals & Professional" and "Personal" pages of your profile are available to the general public, but the "Contact"page is available only to your friends. In "My Account," you can over-ride these defaults for your profile, your bookmarks, who can instant message you and other features. For example, if you set your profile to "Friends Only" than only people in your friend cluster will be able to see your profile, and if you set your profile to "Private" than no one but you will be able to see it. [top]

#2.6: Can I prevent people from knowing I'm online? What are my privacy options?

Your privacy is important to us. We offer a variety of options for you to protect your privacy inside the social network. You control what information you make available in your profile. From the "My Account" panel, you may set your profile as public, friends only or private at any time. You can do the same with your Wishlist. With your journal entries, you can make each entry public, private, friends only or create custom friend clusters for each entry. Even if you choose to have your profile public, you can prevent people from instant messaging you and knowing you are online. To control your privacy, visit your "My Account" section via the link on your home page. [top]

#2.7: How do I make the information in the "Your Messages" section of my home page disappear?

To help reduce the amount of email you receive from the social network (which you can control from "My Account"), we provide you online notification of recent actions involving your account that are stored in "Your Messages". These include notice that someone has sent you a private message or ecard, written you a tribute or added you as a friend. To make notification of private messages, ecards or tributes disappear, you must view the item sent to you. To make notification of a friend addition disappear, you must view that individuals profile. Click the links in your message center and then refresh your home page and you will notice the notifications no longer appear. [top]

#2.8: What is a tribute?

A tribute is a note or testimonial that someone leaves about you on your profile (or that you leave for a friend on theirs.) Say something nice about friend, encourage them to say something nice about you. [top]

#2.9: I submitted a tribute and it doesn't show up on my friends' page. What gives?

Your friend must approve the tribute before it appears on their page. When they approve it, you will receive an email notifying you. If they ignore it or deny it, you will not be notified. Before jumping to conclusions that your friend didn't like your tribute, check on their home page the date they last visited the social network. It could be they haven't visited recently. Another reason may be they haven't gotten around to reading their pending tributes: you could send them a private message to remind them. [top]

#2.10: Can I delete a tribute I wrote to someone?

Only the person to whom you wrote a tribute may delete the tribute. Tributes appear with the time and date you submitted it and reflect your state of mind only at that time. If you have a falling out with the individual, your only course of action is to request they remove the tribute. [top]

#2.11: Can I delete a tribute I already approved?

Yes, you must approve a tribute before it appears in your tribute section. Additionally, you can delete an already approved tribute at any time. Click the "Edit Profile" link on your home page, and then in the left hand column of that page, click "Edit Tributes". [top]

Express Yourself: Journal, Forums & Albums

#3.1: What are journals, forums and albums for?

Your profile (and the groups you might participate in) each have a number of tools for communicating with other members. Your Journal is like a blog -- a place to post about what you're up to and what you're musing on. Your Forum is like a discussion board -- a place to have conversations with others in a more free-form basis. Your Album is like a photoblog -- you can share your photos with others while organizing them into "photo albums". You have alot of flexibility on how you use these tools -- they can be open to the public, available to just your friends, or private just for your own use. [top]

#3.2: Who can read my journals and albums?

When you create a new journal entry, you can decide if that particular entry is viewable by the public, your reciprocating friends, just a specific list of friends, or private (that only you can see.) When you create a new photo album, you can also decide if that album is public, friends-only or private. [top]

#3.3: How do I contribute to group journals/forums/albums?

If your permissions (and membership in the group) allow, when you are viewing a group you should see links to "Add Journal to Group," "Add Bookmark to Group," and "Group Album" in left-hand sidebar labeled "What Can I Do Next". In addition, the group's "Recent Threads" section should include links to contribute replies or start new topics in the group forums. [top]

#3.4: Can I delete comments I left on someone's forum or a group's forum?

No. Only the person who owns that message board may delete comments. Before you post any comment, be sure to preview it first before publishing. If you feel something must be deleted, contact that forum's moderator. [top]

#3.5: How do I delete comments someone left on my forum or journal?

Next to every comment on your journal and message board, you will see an X icon. Click it to delete that message. Deleting a message deletes the message and all replies to that message. [top]

#3.6: How do I include pictures in my journal or in message board threads?

There are two ways to do this. When you post your journal or comment, you can press the "Image" icon to pull up an interactive tool to upload, label and scale an image. Alternately, if you know some HTML you can press the "Source" button to view the HTML source of your post and link to images stored on your outside website or service that allows outside linking. A good source for html help is http://www.cwru.edu/help/introHTML/TCh7.html [top]

#3.7: How do I delete a journal entry?

You may find and delete a specific journal entry via your "Edit Journals" link from your "My Journals" page. Find your entry by title or date, click the box to the left of the title and hit the delete button. Once you delete an entry, the content CANNOT be recovered so be sure you wish to delete that entry before doing so. Remember that you can just as easily EDIT your entry and change the privacy settings to "Private" so no one but you may view it. [top]

#3.8: How do I edit a journal entry?

Go to your "My Journal" page and find the appropriate journal entry. Click the link 'Edit' that appears at the bottom left of that entry. Make appropriate changes and hit 'Save'. You can also find & edit a specific journal entry via your 'Journal Settings' page. Find your entry by title or date, click the hyperlinked title and make the appropriate changes and hit 'Save'. The edit feature allows you to change text, the associated thumbnail image or your privacy settings. [top]

#3.9: Can I control who reads my entire journal?

Currently you can only do this on an entry by entry basis. In the near future, we expect to add a privacy feature that lets you make your entire journal private with the click of one button. [top]

#3.10: Can I control who reads a specific entry in my journal?

Yes. Whenever you post an entry, you may choose whether that entry is public or private, or you may also select friends only or create customized friends' lists so that only certain friends can read that specific entry. You will see the privacy settings drop-down box on the "Write New Journal Entry" form under the title "Visible to:" [top]

#3.11: How do I create a custom friends' list for my journal entries?

From "My Journal" page, click the link "Edit Custom Friends' Lists". Detailed instructions appear on that page. Once you have created and titled your custom friends' list, the title will appear on your journal entry form in the "Visible to:" drop-down box. To use a custom friends' list, write your journal entry and then in the drop-down box, select 'Custom'. This will make your journal entry page reload (with all your content still populated) and an additional drop-down menu will appear which will list all of your custom friends' lists. Select the appropriate list and then post (or preview) your journal entry accordingly. [top]

#3.12: I linked to a URL in my journal/message and the URL didn't work. How do I correct this?

Currently, our social network requires that there be a space every 50 characters or so on every message or journal entry, including inside html statements. Do not just copy and paste html. Carefully insert spaces into the html tags in places where they won't hurt anything. Just before or after " (end quote) characters is often good. Just after '?' characters often works. Before or after '=' characters is another option. Be sure to preview and test the link before you post it. We hope to program a solution for this in the near future which will prevent this problem from occurring. [top]

#3.13: Who owns the copyright to my journal entries and album submissions?

As long as your journal entry or photo is an original work by you, you own the copyright. By using our social network, you grant us free limited use rights to display your work on our network. Please view our Terms of Service for more details. If you do not want anyone on our social network to be able to view your journal entries, be sure to set your journal privacy settings accordingly. [top]

#3.14: How do I know how many people are reading my journal?

On your "My Journal" page, look for the link to "View Traffic" in the "What Can I Do Now" box. That link will take you to a panel showing you clicks and unique visitors to your journal entries. [top]