Help / Frequently Asked Questions

If your question isn't answered here, pop on over to the Ning FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).

Joining

Promotion

Members

Friends

Email

My Page

Photos

Video

Blogs

Chat

Music

Miscellaneous


Joining


Is CrimeSpace invite only?

Not at all, it's open to anyone, as long as you're into crime fiction. Otherwise, why are you here?

Can I have multiple memberships?

In general, no. Especially if you come on board as an author and as a fictional character in one of your own books. Read the section on promotion for clarification of this. For now, I am allowing organisations, but if this goes down the same road of blatant self promotion, I'll reconsider my position.


How do I remove my profile?

To remove your membership from CrimeSpace, click on My Settings, then Leave CrimeSpace. If you wish to cancel your Ning account, click here.


Promotion


How do I add myself to the Author Directory?

For published crime fiction authors only: Edit your Profile and put your bio in the Author Profile section at the bottom. Then hit Save and you'll be automatically added to the list.

Can I promote my book / crime fiction site / publishing company?

That's what the member pages are for. Feel free to use your blog to keep us up to date, but you'll have to use your judgement here. Are you on CrimeSpace to contribute to the community or just sell stuff? If you're pushing porn or Viagra pills, I'll boot you off without a warning. Otherwise, not a problem.

Where can I promote my product?

Not on the main forum, on anyone's chat wall, or through CrimeSpace emails. Especially the forum, as that is for discussion only. Please keep any promotional items confined to your blog, member page, or the Events section. Email signatures, videos and photos are fine too. You will receive a warning or have your membership removed, depending on how you step outside these boundaries. As the site grows, I imagine my tolerance for this will decrease.

Can I promote my own Ning network?

No. I haven't spent many hours and months of my time building the community on CrimeSpace so you can come on board and spam my members.

What about ...?

To clarify this further, CrimeSpace is a social network. Getting to know each other is what it's all about, not spamming each other. Chances are if you seem like a nice person, people will drop by your member page. That's when they can see what books or products you have to offer.

For a more in-depth treatise of this subject, please read The Final Word On Promotion.

Do you have a press release I can use to help promote CrimeSpace?

I sure do. Click here.

Copy & paste the code below into your blog's template or website html file. Feel free to edit to taste.

<a href="http://crimespace.ning.com/"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/153/425108624_17f98d0c4e_m.jpg"/></a><br/><a href="http://crimespace.ning.com/">CrimeSpace</a>: A place for readers and writers of crime fiction to schmooze, booze and draw up plans for the heist to end all heists.


Why don't the CrimeSpace badges work on my blog/website?

CrimeSpace badges do not work on the free version of Wordpress blogs. The simpler version above is an alternative that should work almost anywhere.

Members


How do I find a particular member on CrimeSpace?

Click on the Members tab at the top of the screen, then type any part of their name or Ning ID into the Search Members text box.


Friends


What are friends?

Click here for Ning's take on the subject.

How do I accept friend requests?

If you look up at the top, right next to the letter icon, you'll see a little person. Click on that icon and your friends list should pop down. Then just hit Accept or Reject and you're done.

Do I have to accept friend requests?

No. Some people want to be friends with everyone, some just want a select group they know well. How you approach this is totally up to you.

How do I remove a member from my friends list?

Click on the little person icon at the top left of the screen, then find the friend and click on 'Remove' underneath them. You can also block all messages from them by clicking on their profile picture or going to their page, then clicking on 'Block Messages'.

What happens when I reject a friend request?

It disappears from the Sent section in the member's friends dropdown. They don't receive an email notification of this.

What is this whole friendship thing anyway?

Friends on CrimeSpace and other social networks work differently to friends in real life. A friend on here can be thought of as a bookmark for someone you find interesting or happen to know. It is possible to restrict photos, videos and blog posts to be viewable by Friends Only, so you may want to consider this when requesting or accepting friend requests.


Email


How do I stop receiving all those pesky emails?

Click on My Settings (top right of screen), then the Privacy tab. Uncheck appropriate settings at bottom of page.

Do I get an email address when I join?

No. The CrimeSpace email system only works within CrimeSpace and other Ning networks.

Why can't I send a message to a particular member?

A member needs to be your friend if you want to be able to send them a message. You can either request them to be your friend, or leave a message on their chat wall. And yes, I prefer 'them' and 'they' as non-gender specific terms, regardless of what Strunk & White might say.


My Page


If you click on My Page, it should show up in your browser's address bar in this format: http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/YOURNAME


Photos


How do I add a member photo?

Under your name, at the top right of the screen you can see Change My Profile Photo. Click on this, then click on Browse. Find the photo on your computer, click on it, then click on Open. Wait a little while for it to update.

Do I have to put my photo on my member profile?

What photo you use for your member profile is up to you. It's a good idea to have something up there, just so we can tell you apart from all the other members. Use your favourite movie star if you like. They won't mind.

I've changed my member photo. Why hasn't it been updated?

It takes about ten minutes for the update to take effect. Just wait a little while longer.

Why doesn't the whole of the member photo show on screen?

You have to make it perfectly square (width=height).

How do I delete a photo?

Go to your member page (the My Page tab up top). Scroll down and click on the Photos link that appears on the left hand side. Trawl through your photos and click on the one you want to delete. Hit the Delete Photo link that appears underneath the photo to the right. Click on Ok.


Video


How do I add a YouTube video to CrimeSpace?

First, find the YouTube video you want, then copy the code from the "Embed" box—you can find it in the "About This Video" box when you're watching the video. From the main page, your member page, or the videos tab, click on Add Videos, then at the bottom right underneath the YouTube logo, click on Add Video. Now paste the code from YouTube in the big text box and click on Add Video.


Blogs


How do I get my blog posts from an external blog onto my CrimeSpace blog?

Right now, either using the RSS feed on your member page, or copying & pasting to your CrimeSpace blog is the only way. Ning is supposed to be adding a function to import from other blogs, but it's going to be at least a month or more before they implement it.

What's with all the different sized fonts on blog posts?

The blog post editor allows members to choose a wide range of font sizes, some of which are too small for most people to read, and others that take over the whole page. I'm going to suggest that everyone stick to posts at size 2 (10pt), the smallest size that's clearly readable. In the future, Ning will implement a different blog editor that will allow for more standardisation.

Should I post on the blog or the forum?

In terms of that good old bar metaphor, posting on the forum is like getting up on a table and yelling your question out to everyone. Unlike the real world, you shouldn't feel afraid to do this. It's what makes the place so much fun. Posting on your blog is closer to passing a letter and pen around your table.

Are you highlighting some text before you try to enter the link? i.e, highlight 'latest blog entry', then click on the 'Insert a link button'.


Chat


What's the chatter wall for?

Back to the bar metaphor. The chatter wall is like the loud, drunken talk that goes on with your friends around the table. Talking on someone else's chatter wall is like going over to their table and saying hi. You'll find most folks around here to be pretty welcoming. Don't be shy now.

How do I directly reply to a comment on my chatterwall?

The chat wall is pretty much the same as comments on a blog. One thing that people have been doing is to go to the other person's chat wall to reply. Sometimes they do it on their own wall. There aren't really any rules, but sometimes switching to personal email makes better sense.


Music


How do I add music to my member page?

This function was added recently. You can read all about it at the Ning blog.


Miscellaneous


What are the X's on comments for?

Clicking on the red X will delete a comment. Be careful here, it's easy to do and horribly addictive.

How do I get my face up in the Popular Member's section on the main page?

The Popular Members section is all based on activity. If a number of people are looking at a member page, or if that member is busy on CrimeSpace, the member is more likely to show up.

What's with all the funny spelling?

I'm Australian.

Is that why the times are all wrong?

Yes, currently the times displayed are based on the network creator's time zone. In the near future, this will be fixed so that times displayed are based on each member's location.

What can I do if my browser is saying that a Flash script is unresponsive?

If on screen elements appear corrupted or unresponsive, try updating to the latest version of the Adobe Flash Player.


Daniel Hatadi
Creator Of CrimeSpace

CrimeSpace Google Search

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