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| Signing In |
| #1:Is this Social Network free? |
| #2: How do I get started? |
| #3: I can't sign on! What do I do? |
| #4: I forgot my password. What do I do? |
| #5: I registered on one partner site and cannot log in through another partner site. Isn't this all the same network? |
| #6: Can I change my userid? |
| The Basics |
| #7: What are Reciprocating Friends? Why are some photos outlined in red? |
| #8: Does someone need to approve me to make them a friend? |
| #9: What is a friend cluster? |
| #10: Can I prevent people from knowing I'm online? What are my privacy options? |
| Features |
| #11: How do I make the information in the "Your Messages" section of my home page disappear? |
| #12: Can I delete comments I left on someone's board? |
| #13: How do I delete comments someone left on my message or blog? |
| #14: Can I delete a tribute I wrote to someone? |
| #15: Can I delete a tribute I already approved? |
| #16: I submitted a tribute and it doesn't show up on my friends' page. |
| #17: How do I include pictures in my blog or in message board threads? |
| #18: How do I delete a blog entry? |
| #19: How do I edit a blog entry? |
| #20: Who owns the copyright to my blog entries? |
| #21: Can I control who reads my entire blog? |
| #22: Can I control who reads a specific entry in my blog? |
| #23: How do I create a custom friends' list for my blog entries? |
| #24: I linked to a URL in my blog/message and the URL didn't work. How do I correct this? |
| Premium |
| #25: How do I upgrade to premium? |
| #26: Are premium memberships automatically renewed? |
| #27: How Does Instant Messaging Work? |
| #28: How do I cancel my free account? |
| #29: How do I cancel my premium account? |
| #30: How do I get rid of the text & link ads on my blog pages? |
| #31: I have more questions about the Social Network! |
| #1:Is this Social Network free? |
On Backwash, you get all the basic features FREE, including profiles, basic search, personal message boards, private messaging, blogs, original content and more! When you upgrade to a Premium Membership, you get access to a host of advanced features.
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| #2: How do I get started? |
| It's easy! Register and write your profile. Invite friends to join Backwash, and voila! You've created your Friend Cluster! Don't forget to Wishlist your favorite links as you surf the net!
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| #3: I can't sign on! What do I do? |
| Make sure you are trying to sign in through the website where you originally registered. If you cannot login due to an issue other than wrong access point or wrong userid/ password, then usually the problem is either wrong time/day/date/time zone settings on your computer or not having cookies enabled. 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 \#), userid, URL you are trying to register through, and any other info you may have that can help us troubleshoot. We will respond to your request as quickly as possible.
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| #4: I forgot my password. What do I do? |
| From the 'sign on' page, click "Forgot Password". We will send it to your email address. If it still doesn't work or you cannot remember your userid, 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.
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| #5: I registered on one partner site and cannot log in through another partner site. Isn't this all the same network? |
| Even though the Sparta Social Network is comprised of multiple partner websites, you may only sign in through the website you originally registered from. The only exception is if the partner website leaves our network. At that point, we will change your access point and notify you accordingly.
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| #6: Can I change my userid? |
| Unfortunately, no. Due to programming restraints, you may not change your userid once your account is established. The only option is for you to create an entirely new free account.
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| #7: 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, free private messaging 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 blogs. Choose friends accordingly.
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| #8: 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, free private messaging, access to their friends' only profiles and blog 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 else,upgrade to premium for the ability to contact them directly. (Please note that everyone has the ability to only allow friends to contact them or block private and instant messages altogether.)
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| #9: What is a friend cluster? |
| It is your circle of friends. Whenever you read anyone's profile, you can see if and how you are connected to them, by up to four degrees of separation. The more friends you add, the bigger your cluster becomes and the more content and features you have available to you.
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| #10: 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. First, we never provide your real name or email address to anyone. You control what information you make available in your profile. You may set your profile as public, friends only or secret at any time. You can do the same with your Wishlist. With your blog entries, you can make each entry public, secret, friends only or for premium users, 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 'edit profile' section via the link on your home page.
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| #11: How do I make the information in the "Your Messages" section of my home page disappear? |
| Because email is no longer reliable due to spam filters, we provide you online notification of recent actions involving your account (in addition to sending you email alerts). 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.
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| #12: Can I delete comments I left on someone's board? |
| Unfortunately no. Only the person who owns that message board may delete comments, and then, only if they are a premium member. Before you post any comment, be sure to preview it first before publishing. If you feel something must be deleted, contact the message board owner.
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| #13: How do I delete comments someone left on my message or blog? |
| Next to every comment on your blog 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. This a premium feature. Upgrade to a premium account for this capability.
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| #14: 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.
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| #15: 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".
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| #16: I submitted a tribute and it doesn't show up on my friends' page. |
| Your friend must approve the tribute before it appears on their page. When they approve it, you will receive an email to that effect. 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. Send them a private message to remind them.
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| #17: How do I include pictures in my blog or in message board threads? |
| When you post your blog or comment, be sure to check off the box that you are using html. For pictures, you need to have them stored on a website or service that allows outside linking. To link to a photo, use the following html: "<IMG SRC="URL of graphic">". A good source for html help is http://www.cwru.edu/help/introHTML/TCh7.html
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| #18: How do I delete a blog entry? |
| You may find & delete a specific blog entry via your 'Blog Settings' 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 "Secret" so no one but you may view it.
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| #19: How do I edit a blog entry? |
| Go to your "My Blog" page and find the appropriate blog 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 blog entry via your 'Blog 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.
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| #20: Who owns the copyright to my blog entries? |
| As long as your blog entry 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 blog entries, be sure to set your blog privacy settings accordingly.
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| #21: Can I control who reads my entire blog? |
| 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 blog secret with the click of one button.
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| #22: Can I control who reads a specific entry in my blog? |
| Yes. Whenever you post an entry, you may choose whether that entry is public or secret. If you upgrade to a premium membership, 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 BLog Entry" form under the title "Visible to:"
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| #23: How do I create a custom friends' list for my blog entries? |
| This is a feature only available to Premium Members. If you are a premium member, from "My Blog Settings", click the link "Create and 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 blog entry form in the "Visible to:" drop-down box. To use a custom friends' list, write your blog entry and then in the drop-down box, select 'Custom'. This will make your blog 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 one and then post (or preview) your blog entry accordingly.
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| #24: I linked to a URL in my blog/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 blog 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.
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#25: How do I upgrade to premium?
BUY IT!!!
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| Sign in and then visit our premium upgrade page for more details. Not only will you be getting a ton of great additional features, but you'll be supporting this site as well so we can continue to bring you this great service!
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| #26: Are premium memberships automatically renewed? |
| No, we do not automatically renew your membership. When your premium membership is near expiring, you will be notified via email and messages on your account. If you do not renew your membership, you will lose access to the premium features until you do renew. Your account will stay active however, just without any added functionality that a premium membership offers.
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| #27: How Does Instant Messaging Work? |
| Instant Messaging is a premium feature. For the ability to send instant messages,upgrade to premium Anyone can REPLY to an instant message, but only premium members can INITIATE an instant message. For this feature to work you need to allow popups on your system. To send an instant message, click on the lightbulb you see next to the thumbnails. This alerts you to when someone is online. Through your privacy settings on your "Edit Profile" screen you can prevent anyone from instant messaging (and knowing you are online) or else only allow your friends to instant message you.
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| #28: How do I cancel my free account? |
| Currently, the only method is to manually delete the content on your account, including your profile information, your friends list, your blog entries and your Wishlist. Another option is to set your profile to 'secret' and 'send no email notifications' via the 'Edit Profile' screen. In the near future, we will be adding a feature which will allow you to cancel and delete your account with one click.
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| #29: How do I cancel my premium account? |
| You would cancel a premium account just as you would a free account. We do not issue pro-rated refunds so if you have any months remaining on your premium membership, you will be voluntarily relinquishing the time. Premium Memberships are NOT auto-renewed so no additional action is required on your part.
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| #30: How do I get rid of the text & link ads on my blog pages? |
| Upgrade to a premium account to prevent ads from appearing on your blog pages. Text and link ads only appear on the blog pages of users with free accounts.
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| #31: I have more questions about the Social Network! |
| When you signed up, you received a welcome message from the host of this service and were automatically befriended by them. If you haven't unfriended them, we recommend you write to them for the quickest reply. The host is on the Social Network 24-7. Otherwise, contact us via the link at the bottom of the social network section.
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