Frequently Asked Questions
The Basics
Get recommendations Train Babbledog about your interests by browsing through Babbledog, posting, commenting, searching, supporting causes, and voting. It fetches content tailored to your interests. Read Dig through Babbledog's vast heap of threads. Vote Vote up stuff you like and down stuff you don't like. Post Share cool content with the world. Support Causes Find or create a cause you like and support it. What is Babbledog? Babbledog is a personalized, social, news site. You can find and share content of interest, interact with folks through live chat, support causes, and get recommendations about what else you might like. The more you teach Babbeldog about what you like, the better the recommendations get. Why should I use Babbledog? Use Babbledog because you are interested in what's new, chatting with others, supporting causes, and browsing a website that tailors itself to your likes. What are Babbledog's major components? People, stories, and causes are Babbledog's major components. At the core of any site like this one is its community. Babbledog includes user-created and fetched content from thousands of sources. Members can support causes and link causes and threads together. How can I keep up with Babbledog's developments? Besides reading posts in Babbledog about Babbledog, you can visit our blog or subscribe to its feed to learn what we're doing with Babbledog. We also have accounts on Twitter, where we share interesting Babbledog threads and announcements, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and flickr.Front Page
What's all the stuff on the first page? The landing page gives you a glimpse of all the good things inside of Babbledog. When you are signed in, threads from your recommendations populate a column on the left. When you are not signed in, posts of general interest are there. Below these suggested items is a Post button you can click to create your own story. The right column contains popular causes and below it, a button so you can start your own cause. Use the numbers and arrows at the bottom of either column to navigate to other items. In the top right corner are links to sign in and register and your score. The bubble bar at the top center of the page provides a snippet of recent actions. A search box is below that. Beneath the Babbledog logo are links to Causes and Stories. Causes will take you to a list of all of the causes. Stories will take you to the list of popular threads. You can click on most of the items to go deeper into Babbledog.Bubble Bar and Wall
What's the list of stuff in the margin of some pages that scrolls stuff? That list is the bubble wall. It shows what's currently happening in Babbledog, from new messages to what people are reading. Click on an item on the wall to go to it. Bubble wall? Are you serious? Is doesn't look like bubbles at all. What kind of a name is that? We call it the bubble wall because it bubbles what's happening into a column where you can easily view it and because it bubbles the most recent items to the top. And the bubble bar?
The bubble bar, as you might guess, shows recent activity, like the bubble wall, but is a bar at the top of some pages.
Registering
Why register? Registering for a full account saves your preferences, the choices you make, your score, and your progress on the site overall. It also means you can participate fully in Babbledog, since we reserve access to some features, like writing stories and creating causes, for registered users only. You will be able to edit your profile and preferences. If you're likely to use Babbledog regularly—and especially if you've spent a lot of time browsing or want to post—you should register in order to take advantage of Babbledog's customization. If you're afraid to commit fully, you can create a temporary account that will exist until you log out. Signing up is free. Why don't you allow anonymous users? We think an online community is better when its participants have the option of establishing identities for themselves instead of just being anonymous. Because of certain regulations, like the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), we need to know people using Babbledog are at least 13 years of age. Registered users must declare they are old enough to legally use the site. How can I register? On the registration page, fill out the form to register. Choose a screenname, agree to our Terms of Service, and, if you are at least 13 years old, check the box indicating that. You will need to complete the reCAPTCHA to prove to us you are a real human. (While reading this page counts as proof enough, since we don't actually know that you've been here, you will have to do the reCAPTCHA.) If you would like a full account, so you can return later and participate fully in Babbledog, please choose a password and give us an email address, too. Otherwise, you will not be able to reuse that account after you log out. If you are not yet 13, please return when you're old enough. Are there restrictions on screennames? Usernames should have fewer than 20 characters consisting of a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _, -, or spaces. What's a good screenname? Your username will appear publicly on your posts, causes, and comments, so you should pick one with which you are comfortable. Whether you pick one that easily identifies you is up to you. Screennames are unique. If someone else has already chosen one you would like, please choose another one. We ask that you do not deliberately choose a name people might commonly consider to be offensive or in order to represent someone else falsely. For example, don't pick Louis Gossett, Jr., unless you are Louis Gossett, Jr. Why do I need to give you an email address? We ask for one unique email address per account because you will log in with an email address and if you forget your password, we will send you an email so you can regain access to your Babbledog account. We also offer you the option of receiving important information and news via email about Babbledog. Why use an email address for a login? Since many other Babbledog users will know your username, using it as a login for your account does not make your account secure. Sure, people might know your email address, but it is less likely someone will be able to guess the email address you use for Babbledog. What's a secure password? While you may not want to keep your Babbledog account as secure as you would like to keep your bank account, you should still choose a good password to prevent someone from using your account without your consent. Strong passwords usually contain a mix of letters, numbers, and punctuation marks. Using a password that might be obvious for someone else to guess, like your birthdate or street address, is risky. We encrypt passwords. Not even those of us working on Babbledog see anyone's password. I forgot my password. Now what? Request a password reset. We'll send you an email with a link you can follow to reset your password. The link expires in about 60 minutes. Make sure emails from aren't getting filtered out as spam in your email account. The link to request a password reset is also in the sign in box. Why can't people younger than 13 use Babbledog? Because of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the United States, we cannot legally collect any personal information from people younger than 13 years of age. Thus, we cannot allow them to register on Babbledog. I didn't supply an email address and password when I registered. Is it too late to switch to a full account? If you have not yet logged out, you can easily establish a full account by either going to your profile or settings page or log out and follow the instructions to upgrade your account. You can provide an email address and password in order to sign into your account later. If you have already signed out, we might not be able to help you recover your account, but you are welcome to ask us for assistance by writing to . Tell me more about reCAPTCHA. We use a CAPTCHA (Completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart) to prevent non-human entities, like bots, from generating fake, spam, or malicious Babbledog accounts. We chose reCAPTCHA, which came out of Carnegie Mellon University, because we like the idea of being able to contribute productively to book digitization instead of just forcing people to waste time and energy jumping through another registration hoop. Also, it has an audio component for sight-impaired members of the Babbledog community. Besides, another great approach we considered had not been completely programmed yet. I'm a bot. Why don't you want me to use Babbledog? Although we realize that actively discriminating against bots is wrong in certain circles, since they're computer programs frequently used for malicious purposes, we don't think their activity in Babbledog would be conducive to the kind of community we hope to build.Profile
What information should I put in my profile? Once you have registered, you can edit your profile. You should include information to let other Babbledog users know a little bit about you, but not information you wouldn't want the world to know. Do I need to provide my full name? No, you do not need to give the Babbledog community your full name. How can I add an icon to my profile? You can add a picture to your profile by uploading a photo or getting an image from another website. Upload by browsing for an image on your computer and clicking Upload. To use an image from a website, put the URL of the image in the Image URL box and click Fetch Image. You might need to right click or control click on an image in order to copy the image's URL. Babbledog should be able to handle a number of file types, including bmp, gif, jpg, png, and tiff. To comply with copyright and licenses, we ask that you only choose photos to which you own the rights, are using with the permission of the rights owner, or which use one of many licenses allowing people to freely use the images, like a Creative Commons arrangement or GNU Free Document License. Can I remove my profile image? Of course! Check the box next to "Remove profile image" in the "change image" options and then click "ok." What is the "other profiles" box? We give you the option to share the URLs of websites or profiles you might have elsewhere, like a blog, del.icio.us account, or Facebook profile. Click "edit links," enter a URL in the box, and click "Add URL." To remove a URL, click remove next to the URL when they appear above the submission box. You can enter several URLs. Be sure to save your changes. What are the Recent Responses? The Recent Responses list shows comments you have made in Babbledog. Other people can view this list. The "Posted by" list shows my posts, right? Yes. Other people can view this list, too. What URL should I give people for my profile page? URLs for profile pages follow the pattern of http://babbledog.com/user/screenname. If you want to visit Babbledog's profile, you should go to: http://babbledog.com/user/babbledog/.Causes
What are causes? Causes are a way for you to visually indicate some of your interests and easily follow those topics in Babbledog. Where can I view causes? You can view causes on Babbledog's front page, on Causes, in the causes section of your profile, on other user's profiles, on individual cause pages, and in search results. What's on a cause page? Each cause has its own individual page where you can learn more about a cause, view cause supporters, read threads related to that cause, and find related causes. In the top left corner of the page is the image associated with the cause. Next to that are the cause's title, URL (if there is one), and description. Below those items are buttons allowing you to perform various actions related to causes, like support or drop the cause, invite a friend to the cause, get the code for the widget to put on a website, and post a story. If you created the cause and no one is supporting it, you will also see edit and delete buttons. To the right of the basic information about the cause are the icons for the cause's founder and supporters. Click on one of these images to visit someone's profile. Next to the supporters and founder are the tags, the words describing the cause.The next horizontal area of the page is reserved for stories related to the cause. The ones with a blue background are ones people shared with the cause. Below that, Babbledog lists threads it thinks are related to the cause. To the right of these items are a list of related causes, information about the page, and a link for you to start your own cause. You might notice different info boxes appear on the page at different times and in different positions.
| Sections of Individual Cause Pages | |
|---|---|
 The above image is the top of the Blue Star Service Banner cause Jessica sees as the cause's founder before anyone else joins the cause. Note the Edit and Delete buttons. | |
 Members shared these stories with the Coffee cause. Notice the dark blue background and the icons to vote the stories up and down, share them with other people, and flag them. |  Chuck, Jessica, and Colby discuss Lego bricks on the Lego cause. |
 Babbledog selected the stories under the See Also heading pictured above. | |
Is it possible to edit or delete a cause?
If you created the cause, before anyone else supports it, you have the option to edit or delete it. On the cause's page, you should see the buttons Edit and Delete below the area where the founder and supporter appear (pictured at right). Clicking edit will take you to a page similar to create a cause where you can edit the cause. Make and post your changes. Clicking Delete will bring up a confirmation dialog to make sure you really want to delete the cause.
How can I support a cause?
To support a cause, anytime you see one you aren't supporting, click Support, which appears below the cause. While you are creating a cause, you can support it by checking the box just above the Post button.
How can I stop supporting a cause?
To remove a cause, simply click Drop below the cause.
What's the bar at the top of Causes that shows me what happening elsewhere on the site?
We call the bar at the top of Causes the bubble bar. Like the bubble wall, it shows you snippets of actions on Babbledog to let you know what's happening.
Can I make a cause?
Absolutely! Via the create a cause page, you can upload an image to turn into a cause. To look their best, images should be 1.0234 inches high by 1.302 inches wide with .04 centimeter clearance on the aft with 1 millimeter tolerances. Babbledog should be able to handle a number of file types, including bmp, gif, jpg, png, and tiff. Be sure to complete the text fields on that page because that will help other people find and support your cause. The first box shows you how the image you have chosen will look as a cause. Blanks to upload an image from your computer or fetch an image from a URL are below that box. If you change your mind about the image, simply click Clear after the image appears in the Image box. The next box requires you to title your cause. Titles should be fewer than 32 characters long. You can link your cause to a website. Explaining your cause in the description box will help people decide whether to support it or not. Tags allow you to attach keywords to your cause. Babbledog's search engine uses the text fields to retrieve your cause when people search for particular words. Check the box above the Post button to support your cause upon its creation. When you are finished completing the form, click Post to create your cause.
How can I encourage other people to support my cause?
By publicizing your cause, you can encourage other people to support it. Tag posts with your cause. Support your cause to add it to your profile page. Invite folks to support it by emailing them via the Invite a friend link on a cause's page. Tell other Babbledog users about it. Display the widget found on a cause's page on your website or weblog.
There's a cause widget I can display on my website or blog?
Yes! To get it, click Get the widget on a cause's page. A popup box will open showing what the widget looks like for that specific cause and giving you the code you need to copy and paste into the code of your website or weblog in order to display the widget. The widget provides an image and link to the cause in Babbledog. Visitors to your website or blog can click the widget to go to the cause's page in Babbledog.
What does the Invite a friend button on a cause's page do?
The Invite a friend button on a cause's page gives you the option of emailing people to tell them about any cause in Babbledog you think might interest them. Babbledog does nothing with the email addresses. We won't spam them.
How can I label posts with a cause?
Through the Share link on a thread or the Share dialog box when posting, you can add the thread to a cause you are supporting. More specifics about that are in the Posting section.
How do you select the causes for the front page?
Babbledog displays the most popular causes on its front page.
If I create a cause, does that make me by default the community manager for that cause?
At this point in time, cause founders are just the people who create a cause. We do not require them to have any duties beyond creation.
What are my responsibilities as a cause founder?
When you create a cause, you are only responsible for creating that cause. How much you want to popularize the cause, how many threads you what to link to it at creation, etc., are up to you. Before anyone begins supporting your cause, you have the option of editing or deleting it.
Do I need to find everything in Babbledog related to the cause I created and share the threads with that cause?
It is entirely up to you whether you seek posts in Babbledog to share them with your cause.
Many cause images use logos. Does that mean those organizations are endorsing Babbledog?
Many people who create causes use images easily recognizable as being associated with that cause. In many cases, that might be a logo, like an official company shield. The use of those graphics for a cause does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of Babbledog by that organization.
Settings
Why can't I change my screenname? In order to keep contributions by users consistent, we do not allow people to change their usernames. Do I need to provide my full name? No, you do not need to give the Babbledog community your full name. Why do you want my birthdate? United States laws require us to confirm that all of our users are at least 13 years of age and anyone viewing mature content is at least 18 years of age. Your birthdate is one way we confirm your age. Why do I need to give you an email address? We ask for an email address because you will log in with an email address and so that you can reset your account's password if you ever forget it. We also offer you the option of receiving important information and news via email about Babbledog. What is Email Opt-In? Checking Email Opt-In means you agree to receive general announcements and news about Babbledog. Some important email we will send to all users, regardless of whether they have opted in or not. What is Mature Opt-In? To the best of our ability, we try to filter out pornographic and other adult content to prevent people younger than 18 from viewing it. If you would like to see content we consider to be for mature users, check the box indicating you're at least 18 years of age, then opt-in for mature content. I saw something I consider to be mature content, yet I don't want to see it. What can I do? If you find content you consider to be for adult eyes only, especially if it is pornographic, please look at the Mature Opt-In setting in your profile. If you have checked the box, uncheck the box. If you have not opted in for mature content, please write to with information about what you saw. It would be helpful for us if you could include the URLs of the page you were viewing as well as the URL of the entry with adult content. Click Flag to hide the post from your view or vote it down. I found objectionable content on another website. Can you do anything about that? Babbledog and its creators are not responsible for content on websites outside of Babbledog's domain.Posting
How can I post something? Click the post button near the top of most pages to go to create a story. What kinds of things should I post? Did you read an interesting news article? Would you like to discuss the video you watched? Has the latest journal issue inspired some deep thinking? Want to recommend that hilarious comic strip you read? What about that beautiful photo? Have a funny story? Do you have a question you'd like someone else to answer? Would you like advice? Those are all examples of things you could share via Babbledog. Do I need to fill in all of the blanks on the posting page? You do not need to complete all of the blanks on the posting page. A title is required for each post. If you're linking to something on the Web, please include a URL. The description gives you the opportunity to write about what it is you're sharing. Use the tags box to add some keywords or categories to your submission. What are tags? Tags are used by a number of websites, like photo sharing, video, and social bookmarking sites, as a way for people to add some keywords or categories to the content. These extra words will help others within Babbledog and through search engines find what you write. You can choose important words from your description, text from the item to which you're linking, or use words not in the article. For example, if you're writing about job trends, you might want to use employment and job trends as tags. You could use astronomy as a tag for news about the discovery of a new star. How can I add an image? There are two ways to add images: by uploading one or fetching one from another website. Upload a photo by browsing for an image on your computer and clicking Upload. To use an image from a website, put the URL of the image in the Image URL box and click Fetch Image. You might need to right click or control click on an image in order to copy the image's URL. Babbledog should be able to handle a number of file types, including bmp, gif, jpg, png, and tiff. To comply with copyright and licenses, we ask that you only choose photos to which you own the rights, are using with the permission of the rights owner, or which use one of many licenses allowing people to freely use the images, like a Creative Commons agreement or GNU Free Document License. If you change your mind about using an image, click Clear in the Images box. You can add multiple images to a thread. What's the preview? The preview gives you an opportunity to see what your story might look like once it is live. It's a good idea to proofread what you wrote before clicking post. How can I link a thread and a cause? After you finish posting, Babbledog gives you the option to immediately connect your story to a cause. You will see a popup box showing causes you support you can click on to link it to the post. Babbledog will show the cause or causes it thinks fit best first. To view more causes, click the link "show all," which appears above the box showing the causes. Babbledog will show all causes if it makes no specific recommendations. Click on as many causes as you think are appropriate to the thread. How long do threads last? Posts users make should remain in the system indefinitely, unless they violate the Terms of Service. Is there some place I can view the threads I've written? Such a list is on your profile page.Bookmarklet
What if I'm browsing the web and find something I'd like to post on Babbledog. Is there a shortcut to do that? Certainly! The bookmarklet is a shortcut to creating a new thread in Babbledog. Drag this link post to babbledog to your browser's bookmark toolbar, like if you're using Safari or Firefox, or right click on it to install it, especially if you're using Internet Explorer. The special kind of bookmark will take you to the Babbledog create a story page and pre-fill the title, link, and description text based on the page you're viewing and any text you've selected. How do I use it? After you install it, click on it from any website and Babbledog will magically fill in the title and link boxes and put any text you've selected into the description. You might need to sign into Babbledog before completing your post.Reading
How can I read threads? You can read posts by browsing through Babbledog. Where is the link in a story? On Babbledog's homepage and on individual cause pages, the links in the story boxes take you to the discussion page for the thread. On the discussion page and in many lists, like recommendations or search results, the title of a thread is where the link to another site would be. Not all stories link to other sites. In those cases, the title links to the thread page in Babbledog. How can I read the comments in a thread? Click the Discuss or comments or add a comment link to go to the post's page and read the comments. If many people have commented, you might need to click Older Comments to read them all. What's the column In pictures ... ? The column In pictures ... highlights some images from items in Babbledog. What's the More like this ... column? Babbledog magically gathers items similar to the one you are viewing and displays them in a column on the thread page. What are the links Recommended, Popular, and New? The list of threads via the Recommended link are posts Babbledog thinks you might want to read based on your activity on the site. The items under Popular are stories which other people have been reading and on which they have been commenting. New features entries people have recently put in Babbledog.Comments
How can I comment on a story? To comment, click the Discuss, comments, or add a comment link. On the post's individual page, there is a form into which you can type your comment. Press enter or Submit when you are finished. How long do comments last? Comments should remain in the system indefinitely, unless they violate the Terms of Service. How can I get back to comments I've made? A list of the comments you've made is available on your profile page.HTML Tags
What HTML tags can I use in a comment or post? The HTML code we allow in post descriptions, comments, and profile paragraphs is as follows:| Tag | Meaning |
|---|---|
| a | anchor, as in <a href=""> |
| b | bold |
| blockquote | indents text to be a blockquote |
| br | break |
| center | centers text |
| code | indicates the following text is computer code |
| del | for revision control, it indicates text that has been deleted |
| em | italics |
| href | paired with a, it comprises the rest of the code for a link |
| i | italics |
| li | list item |
| ol | ordered/numbered list |
| p | paragraph |
| pre | pre-formatted text |
| strong | bold |
| tt | teletype |
| ul | unordered list |
Emoticons
Can I put smileys in Babbledog? Yes! Here's how to do it:| Name | Characters | Emoticons |
|---|---|---|
| angry | :-@ :@ @-: @: |  |
| confused | :-S S-: :s |  |
| crying | :'( )': |  |
| devil | >=) (=< >:) (:< |  |
| disappointed | :-| :| |: |-: |  |
| don't tell | :-X :x |  |
| eye roll | 8-) (-8 |  |
| embarrassed | :-$ :$ $: $-: |  |
| hot | B-) (-B (H) (h) |  |
| I don't know | :^) (^: |  |
| kiss | :-* *-: :* *: (k) |  |
| love | (L) <3 |  |
| open mouth | :-D :D |  |
| sad | :-( :( ): )-: |  |
| sleepy | |-) (-| |  |
| smile | :-) :) (: (-: =] [= |  |
| surprised | :-O :o o: O-: |  |
| thinking | *-) (-* |  |
| tongue out | :-P :p :P :-P |  |
| wink | ;-) (-; ;) (; |  |
