Help!

[Jill Lamede, The Tintagel Storyteller]

How does this site work? I am a complete novice... and can't find any instructions...

There are 3 requests to be friends... I try to 'accept' but nothing happens. My photos are rejected even though they are jpg.
And when I click on 'sign out' it keeps me 'signed in'.... does it just hate me?

[Patricia Kjolhede]

Welcome to this fabulous site!!

I got taken into this glorious new addiction by first logging on to Dianne de Las Cassas' website www.thestoryconnection.net. I had no trouble at all, so I hope that you are able to find some assistance. There are some wonderful, incredible technology people who seem to know a whole lot more than I do about this sort of thing so I am certain that victory will be yours in the end. There is sooo much information and friendship here!! Welcome welcome welcome!!
Tricia
P.S. There is no "hate" here:)

[Lois Sprengnether Keel (LoiS)]

Hi Jill,
I'm still feeling at times like a Newbie, so before I forgot all the things that puzzled me I wrote a list & sent it to Dianne & asked that she create a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to answer problems when people start here.

She made it a Group. You only need to join a Group if you want to post there, but she does say "accept or reject the friend request by clicking on the appropriate link in the email. " I know I was 1 of the 3 requesting you as a friend, so I checked my Friends & see you haven't succeeded yet. Maybe you are doing it & then accidentally undoing it. There's a feature that lets you drop somebody as a Friend. Try clicking once & then wait. If I remember correctly, the Friend won't instantly appear in your list of Friends.

You may wonder if it's worth accepting Friends. Here's the benefit besides possibly not wanting to look "friendless." You can email your Friends on PS without having to post it publicly for all to see. Since you may not always want everything you say to be viewed by all, that can be a help. Also I believe you can email all your Friends at once. Haven't tried that yet.

Folks who are more familiar with how PS works really need to look at the existing unanswered FAQs & tell how to solve the questions Newbies have. Probably they figure they're past that stage & don't need to join when they are precisely the ones needing to join so they can post.

If your problem continues, maybe later I can reinvite you, but at the moment it says my request to you is already made. Guess eventually it will fade & I can do it again.

Can't tell you what the problem is with the jpg, but Dianne or somebody else may know. The closest to that question on the FAQ is about how the pics may be chopped off at the top.
LoiS(o hang in there, check the FAQ, &, if unsolved, email Dianne although she's probably swamped)

[Rachel Hedman]

Dear Jill:

As Lois already mentioned, you will want to go the the "Groups" tab and click on "Professional Storyteller FAQ".

Your photo situation could be for a few reasons:
1. You have dial-up so it takes even longer than usual to upload (this could even happen with High Speed Internet--be patient and be willing to walk away from the computer while loading)
2. Your picture is over 10MG in size

As for signing out, some computers have certain memories so as long as the window is up showing "Professional Storyteller" then it will appear that you are signed in even though you clicked "sign out". However, if you sign out and then "x" out of the window, then other people on the Professional Storyteller site will not see you labeled as "online".

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

[Tom A.B. Taylor]

Hey, Jill -

I sent you a request some 17 hrs ago, and it still shows "Request sent" - so, maybe it's gonna work in its own sweet time. I know it's frustrating - I'm sorry I'm not enough of a 'techie' to be of much help...other than to say, "I'm pullin' for ya!"

If, however, I suddenly discover the answer to the problem, I'll be right back!

Tom

[Dianne de Las Casas, Author, Award-Winning Storyteller]

Jill:

You should receive an email that says you have a friend request. Click on the link and then click "approve."

As far as the pictures go, .jpgs will not be accepted if they are over 10MG in size. Try reducing the size to 300 dpi. That usually works.

I hope this helps.

Warmly,
Dianne

[Jill Lamede, The Tintagel Storyteller]

``When I click on 'approve' nothing happens.
My picture is only 12kb jpg

[Jill Lamede, The Tintagel Storyteller]

Oh dear... I am obviously not seeing the same sort of page as you, Dianne. There is only a blank space beside Ning at the top of any page. I can't find any link to my Profile page and nowhere can I find a button saying 'approve' - just one saying 'add as a friend' , which does not work. There is no little envelope for messages.... something is wrong.....

[Tim E]

IF you don't see your name, the envelope, or the little person, you are not signed in.
Head over to the right side of the screen to find the "Sign Up or Sign In" links, and click on "Sign In."

[Tim E]

Sorry that you are having so many problems Jill.
First, please let me know what kind of operating system you're using. Are you a Windows user? Mac? Linux?
Second, what is your web Browser? Internet Explorer? Firefox? Safari? Netscape? something else?

For the photo...
after you Browse, you should see text in the box indicating that Ning knows which directory to pull the photo from.
Then click "Done."

But you're not Done.
You have to click "Save."
On my screen, you can't even see the Save button unless you scroll down the screen.

Does that help?


---
And the accept friend thing is very hard to find. I'll get back to you on that.

[Tim E]

Jill, let's try this.
When you sign in, the upper left corner of the screen should look something like this:



Only, instead of "Tim E" you should see "Jill LaMede" or some version of your name.
To the right of your name you should see a tiny envelope, and a tiny person (without legs or a face).
Click on that tiny person, and it should:
1. Push the page down to reveal all your pending requests from other users here on the site who have sent you an invitation to be a friend.
2. Once you've "accepted" each of their invitations, this area will show you your Professional Storyteller friends.
3. Click on the tiny person icon again to close this screen and bring the main page back up to the top of your browser window.

===
I can't believe Ning doesn't have these instructions handy anywhere.
This is my best guess, based on me pretending that the site isn't working for me.
Hope this helps.

[Jill Lamede, The Tintagel Storyteller]

Thanks Tim... I finally sought help from Ning direct... and they gave good advice. So, after cleaning out all spyware, checking for viruses, emptying temp and cache folders - at last I am really here and most things seem to be working (as far as is to be expected on a dialup connection)