The FISH! Philosophy Network

Help/Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) is a work-in-progress, designed to supplement the Ning FAQ. (A tip-of-the-Ning hat to Daniel Hatadi who authored most of this FAQ for his Crimespace network FAQ).

Basics

Joining

Promotion

Friends

My Page

Photos

Video

Blogs

Chat

Music

Miscellaneous

Basics

What/who is Ning and what do they have to do with the FISH! Philosophy Network?

Ning is the name of the company that hosts the FISH! Philosophy Network on its specially-constructed 'Ning platform.'

Joining

Is the FISH! Philosophy Network invite only?

Not at all, it's open to anyone, as long as you're interested in FISH! philosophy.

Can I have multiple memberships?

No. You need to be the person who you really are here.

Promotion

Can I promote my own products/services?

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 judgment here. Are you on the FISH! Philosophy Network to contribute to the community or just sell stuff? If you're pushing stuff that's not related to personal or organizational developement, we'll probabaly boot you off without a warning.

Where can I promote my product?

Not on the main forum, on anyone's chat wall, or through FISH! Philosophy Network emails. Especially not the forum, as that is for discussion only. Please keep any promotional items confined to your blog, member page. Email signatures, videos and photos are fine too.

Can I promote my own Ning network?

No. We didn't create the FISH! Philosophy Network so that you can 'spam' the members.

What about ...?

To clarify this further, the FISH! Philosophy Network 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.

Do you have a press release I can use to help promote the FISH! Philosophy Network?

Not yet! Just use http://fishphilosophynetwork.com for now. We'll have some fancier code for you soon.

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.

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.

Why am I receiving friend requests from non-FISH! Philosophy Network members?

Chances are that they're finding their way here through members that have joined multiple networks on Ning. At the moment, the service allows friend requests between networks, but there will be a privacy option to control this in the future. For now you'll just have to Reject requests you're not interested in.

What is this whole friendship thing anyway?

Friends on FISH! Philosophy Network and other social networks work differently than 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.

My Page

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

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 View 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. Click on Go.

Video

How do I add a YouTube video to FISH! Philosophy Network?

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 FISH! Philosophy Network blog?

Right now, either using the RSS feed on your member page, or copying & pasting to your FISH! Philosophy Network 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 standardization.

Should I post on the blog or the forum?

Launching a new discussion in the forum is like a hosting conversation salon where everyone's input is pretty much equal to everyone else's. Posting to your own blog is like publishing an article in your own newsletter, which has you as the sole author, though you sometimes allow 'letters to the editor' in the form of attached comments. Another way to help you clarify it: For what you want to accomplish, do you picture yourself sitting in a collegial circle, with the comments coming from everyone including you? Or do you picture yourself at podium giving a speech and maybe taking questions afterwards? The latter is a blog; the former, a discussion in the forum.

Why isn't my blog post on the main page?

The way it works now is that I go through all the blogs regularly and choose to feature various posts myself. There will soon be a lot of blogs on here, and if I only show the most recent posts, they will only stay up for a short time. Think of it this way: The blog posts on the main page are like juicy stories from the front page of a newspaper. And I'm the editor. If you want to browse through every single blog post, click on the ALL BLOGS link at the top of the main page.

Chat

What's the chatter wall for?

The chatter wall is like the loud, spontaneous talk that goes on with your friends around a table at a pub. Talking on someone else's chatter wall is like going over to their table and saying hi.

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

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 FISH! Philosophy Network, the member is more likely to show up.

- The FISH! Philosophy Network

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