Frequently Asked Questions
Compiled by YouThink member Matt2006, with assistance from Joe0810Zep, DaWeirdo and YoSassy.

Version 4.0 (2.11.04)

Please familiarise yourself with the FAQ and pay particular attention to the first few questions/rules.

Getting Started

What is YouThink.com?
Who owns this site?
Do you have any general advice to give?
What would be too inappropriate to post as an avatar?

Login Problems

Login problems? Can't log in? Can't log out? Having problems posting a picture? Is YouThink crashing on you? Are you having any of these problems? Yes? Delete your cookies! No? Delete your cookies anyway.

Everything else

How can I get a picture (avatar) next to my name?
How can I tell if someone is online?
How come my Question/Joke/Movie wasn't accepted? Is there a way to improve the chances of acceptance?
How do you add questions?
How do I add Jokes?
How do I add Movies?
How do I add a Quiz?
How do I delete my Cookies?
How do I find pictures to add to a Question/Joke/Movie? How do I add them to a post?
How do I make a profile theme?
How do I subscribe to the Newsletter?
How does voting work?
How often are Questions, Jokes, and Movies accepted? How do I know if it has been accepted?
How often is the YouThink Newsletter published?
I've read all my PMs, but my alert won't go away. How do I fix this?
I logged out, but when I went back to the home page, it says I'm logged in. How do I log out?
I need more help than what is listed here. Where do I go for this?
I saw terms I'm unfamiliar with. What do they mean?
I see stars underneath people's names. What do they mean? How can I get them?
I want to be a Key Member, but I don't use dollars as currency. What do I do?
Is there a way to send multiple PMs?
Should I be offended that I was called a newbie? When do I stop being a newbie?
What is a Key Member?
What is the difference between the forums? What do I post where?
What is the personal attack rule for?
What is with the hazing rituals?
When I made a journal, it made two. What happened?
Who are the YT moderators (mods)?
Why can't I log out and log in on another name?
Why does YouThink have bots? What do all of them do?
Why does YouThink have a swear filter?
YouThink keeps crashing on me. What gives?

 

What is YouThink.com?
YouThink is an online community that lets users vote and talk about questions, movies, TV, books, games and music, play trivia, keep a personal journal (and get comments from other members!) and interact in the very active forums. They can also talk to each other directly using private messages. For more about YouThink, check the New Member Information article written by travbowman or the About YouThink page.

Who owns this site?
The owner of this site is Ted Johnson. His member name on here is buddy. Buddy is a computer programmer extraordinaire. He has, with some help from the moderators, made this site what it is today.

Do you have any general advice to give?
Don’t spam the forums, meaning that when you're posting, don't just say "Hi" or "sup?". This tends to annoy other members. Unless you have something to say that is significant to the thread, it's best not to say it. Don’t be too proud when you first use YT. Don't make an "I'm finally Old Skool!" thread. If you haven't seen the movie that you are rating, click the 'not interested' option. Stay calm. Don't get angry just because someone has a different opinion than you. They aren't trying to force anything on you, and after all, this site is a site of opinions. If you don't like that, then go away. A good way to learn your way around YT is to talk to someone that seems to know their way around it already, or in other words, someone that has a lot of posts and appears often. If you have a question that isn't addressed on this FAQ page, make a thread and ask the question in the Newbie forum.

What would be too inappropriate to post as an avatar?
The following is not allowed in avatars or photos posted on youthink.com:
1. Exposed genitalia or full frontal nudity (pubic hair included)
2. Female breasts with visible nipples (airbrushing out nipples will no longer be acceptable)
3. No graphic depiction of a sexual act
4. Depiction of male sexual arousal
5. A person giving the bird/middle finger
6. Bypass the swear filter with alternative characters
7. Depiction of drug use (paraphernalia is okay, pictures of your stash and/or using it is not)
8. Photographs showing extreme violence or injuries likely to offend

The Youthink.com staff reserves the right to delete images they deem inappropriate. If you continue to post material that has been removed by the Youthink.com staff your account will be subject to removal.

How can I get a picture (avatar) next to my name?
Simply go to Edit Profile. Once you get there, next to the change picture option they have a browse button. Click that, and search for the picture you want. Make sure that the file extension ends with a lowercase .gif or .jpg. When you have everything set the way you want it, click the continue button. And there you go! You have a brand spanking new avatar!

How can I tell if someone is online?
There are three different ways.

1. Go to the Who's Online page.
2 If you are looking at someone's post, look around by their avatar (the picture by their name). They either have a dot () or a sun () next to their name. If it's a sun, they're online. If it's a dot, they're offline.
3 Go look at their profile. Underneath their avatar they have a sun there, too. It says offline or online, depending on which one they are.

How come my Question/Joke/Movie wasn't accepted? Is there a way to improve the chances of acceptance?
Questions: There are many questions on this site, and a lot of times a question that you'll try to add will already be on here. It could also be retired, which means it's a question that's been added too much. There are many other reasons, but if your question gets rejected, you'll get a message from mailbot explain the reason it wasn't accepted. A few ways to make sure that your question will get approved are: perform a search with a few keywords to make sure the question you want to add isn't already in the database. Adding pictures to your question can help sometimes. Check the retired questions list to make sure the question you want to add isn't retired. Don't add a bunch of questions about the same subject all at once. Make sure the question you're asking is a poll-like question, and not a trivia question.

Jokes: Mods will usually approve just about any joke, so long as it makes sense. If your joke is rejected, it's most likely it was because of grammar and spelling mistakes, the joke didn't seem appealing, or the joke is already on the site.

Movies: Movies, like jokes, are usually always accepted. Make sure that the movie you're trying to add isn't already on the site, and also check to be sure you have all the right actors and actresses listed for the movie. If you check all of that and make sure everything is accurate, you're good to go.

How do I add Questions?
Select the Add Question option. Then type the question in the appropriate box. Choose the two options most appropriate for the question under Option A and Option B. Adding a picture or two sometimes increases the question’s chances of being accepted.

How do I add Jokes?
Select the Add Joke option. Note that you can only add 1 picture to a joke, and that few jokes have pictures attached to them.

How do I add Movies?
Select the Add Movie option. Similar to adding questions, you fill in the appropriate areas. IMDB.com is the stated preference of YT’s movie section, but you can use Google search as well. Adding a picture may increase the possibility of acceptance.

How do I add a Quiz?
Select the Add Quiz option. The steps are pretty much straight forward. Don't spam the quizzes. Try to keep the quality of your quiz as high as possible. Make sure your quiz doesn't have any spelling errors. It is preferred that you add photos, although not required. Do a quick browse through the quizzes before adding your quiz, to make sure that it or something like it hasn't already been added.

How do I delete my Cookies?
This depends on which browser you have, so follow the instructions for the appropriate browser.

If you have Internet Explorer 6: once you have Internet Explorer 6 open, go to the Tools menu, followed by selecting Internet Options. There, they have one button to Delete Cookies, and one button to Delete Files. Select both. It's as simple as that!

If you use Netscape: In the menu, follow this: Tools > Cookie Manger > Manage Stored Cookies. From there you'll see a way to delete your cookies.

To delete them manually: In Windows XP: Open up My Computer (the program). Copy this to the address bar: C:\Documents and Settings\Default User. Change Default User to your username on your computer, if you have one. Otherwise, keep it as it is. From here, go to the Cookies folder. Delete everything in this folder. Now click the back button, and go to the Temporary Internet Files folder. They have a few different folders in here, so just delete everything in each folder.
In Windows 98: Open up My Computer, and then type C:\Windows\cookies. Delete all of the files in there, except for the index file. Then go to C:\Windows\Temporary Internet Files. They have more than one folder in here, so just go through each folder and subfolder to delete everything in them.

If you need more instructions than I have provided, PM me and I'll take you through it step by step.

How do I find pictures to add to a Question/Joke/Movie? How do I add them to a post?
To add a picture to a question, select the browse button on the Add Questions page. Search your computer for the picture that you want to go with your question. To get the perfect picture for your question, use Google Image Search. You may add up to two picture to per question. This works the same way for jokes and movies. Note that you can only add one picture to a joke.

To add a picture to a post, click the image button (). This button is next to all text area boxes that you use to post. Keep in mind that any picture you add to a post must be in .jpg or .gif form.

First way to add pictures to a post is available to key members only. This way, you can browse your computer searching for the picture you want to add, and then upload it to YouThink so that it'll show up in your post. The second way, available to all members, is to link to a picture on another site. To do this to a picture found on the web, simply right click over the desired picture, followed by going to properties to copy and paste the URL in the photo link box on YT. If the picture you wish to post is on your computer you will need to get it hosted on a different site and then follow the previous directions. Some sites that users like to use for picture hosting are yahoo photos, geocities, angelfire, and tripod.

How do I make a profile theme?
Making a profile is pretty straight forward. But here are the basic steps, in case they are needed.

1. Go to your profile page.
2. Click on the "Edit Your Theme" button.
3. Scroll down to step 3 on the page.
4. You can make the profile in any way you want, but I usually do it this way:
   

• Left area BG tile. Click on this button, and select the photo you want to be on the left area of your profile by browsing the files on your computer. The photo you upload may be used and repeated on your profile, or it can just be on the left of your profile and you can have another picture/background on the right/main area.
• Main Area BG tile. Click on this button to select the photo you want on the right/main area of your profile.
• Select the colors, fonts, and transparency for your description and main text box.
• Apply changes.
• Type out a theme name, and click "create theme".

How do I subscribe to the Newsletter?
To subscribe to the YouThink.com Newsletter, simply go on the home page. In the bottom left you will see a box labeled "Newsletter." Type your e-mail address in the white box. Or, if you already have your e-mail address listed in your profile, you can go to "Edit Profile" and click the box that says "Send me the newsletter!" and it should come to you.

How does voting work?
Just decide from the two options the one that you prefer. In questions, for most cases it will be yes or no, but if you rather not pick either, choose the Skip option. Jokes work the same way as Questions. In movies, click either "See It" or "Skip It." If you've never seen the movie, click "Not Interested" or "I Want To See It", which is at the bottom of the other two options. This will be in link form rather than button form. If you are rating movies and come across one you haven't seen, it would be a good idea to click the "Not Interested" link instead of the "Skip It" button. This way it won't count towards the rating of the movie, and would give the viewers a more accurate rating.

How often are Questions, Jokes, and Movies accepted? How do I know if it has been accepted? Normally, Questions and Jokes are reviewed within an hour or two of you adding them. In some cases it'll take longer. There have been times that it will take as long as a week or two for questions to be reviewed, but for the most part the moderators (the ones that do the reviewing) are on top of things. You'll know when your question has been reviewed by getting a PM from mailbot. He'll tell you if your question was approved or rejected, and the reason why it was. Jokes, on the other hand, don't have this. You'll just have to watch Your Jokes to see whether or not your joke gets approved. If you check it in a few days and the joke you tried to add isn't there anymore, then it was probably deleted. If it was approved, it'll turn into a link instead of being normal text like it was before. You'll know if your movie was approved the same way.

Movies are a little different as far as how often they get reviewed. There's only one movie moderator, but he usually approves (or rejects) movies daily, so it shouldn't take any more than 24 hours for your movie to get reviewed.

How often is the YouThink Newsletter published?
The newsletter SHOULD come out weekly, but due to buddy or the author of the newsletter sometimes having lives, it may take longer. To get the newsletter in your email, make sure your email is in your profile and the newsletter option is clicked. See Putterer's YT Page for info on past newsletters.

I've read all my PMs, but my alert won't go away. How do I fix this?
Simply go to your Private Message list and click the Clear Alert link.

I logged out, but when I went back to the home page, it says I'm logged in. How do I log out?
Close your browser window and open a new one. Go to YouThink on the new browser and log out from there. This could also be a cookie problem, so make sure you delete your cookies!

I need more help than what is listed here. Where do I go for this?
If you still have questions after you have read this all the way through, the best thing to do would be to make a thread and ask any remaining questions in the Newbie Forum.

I saw terms I'm unfamiliar with. What do they mean?
Here are some popular terms, and what they mean.

<----- ______: This means that the thread you made belongs in _____ (where this is the forum that it belongs in). Example: <----- Journals means that this thread should be in journals.
Alter: short for alter ego, it’s a second YT ID someone has established. They have many different cases of why people create an alter. They have a wide variety of celebrity alters, which can be really funny, but they also have a few people that create alters to attack other members in disguise, but I like to call those people cowards.
Avy: Avatar, the picture beside one's name.
Journalite: Someone acting like a drama queen in the Journals forum.
Numbers: If you keep seeing random numbers in posts, search as "#16!" or "#4", Etc. these numbers stand for something. View what these numbers mean by clicking here. They also have a number button by each comment box. You can click this at anytime.
Mailbot: An automated program that sends messages to people explaining why question mods did not accept their questions.
Mods or modbot: Moderators.
MOTW: Member of the Week
O.S.: Old Skool
PM: Private Message.
Roostery: Cocky (One of YouThink’s swear blocks)
YT: YouThink.com

There are as well a few member created clubs on YouThink you may see.

OYTSFC: Official YouThink Sublime Fan Club. It's just a group of YT users who love the band Sublime enough to start a club about it.
YTCP: YouThink Canadian Pride. A club for YouThink members of Canadian heritage. Run by JayY.
YT-WAG: YouThink Writers and Artists Guild. A club of writers, artists, musicians, and other patrons of the arts. Run by Warrick1830.
RUFU: Radford University and of course the FU should be obvious. Members can quite often be identified by an RUFU logo on their avatar. These are students at Radford University in Virginia and are also active members at YouThink.
YT Nor Cal: YT Nor Cal is a group of YTers that basically live in Northern California. They have been known to meet occasionally and watch movies. Leader is NewAgedDudeS because he usually suggests the meetings.

I see stars underneath people's names. What do they mean? How can I get them?
Making posts and submitting questions/jokes gain stars. To gain a 2nd star in posts, you must get over 1,000 posts. After that, you need 50% of what the 20th ranked person has for the third, and then 75% for 4 stars. For questions, you must have 25% of the total amount of questions the 20th ranked person has. The 3rd star is gained by having at least 50% of that total, and 75% gains you the 4th star. For example:

20th ranked person in posts has almost 30,000 posts to his credit:
1,000+ posts = 2 Stars
16,034+ posts = 3 Stars
24,051+ posts = 4 stars

20th ranked person in questions has 718 questions to her credit:
180+ questions = 2 Stars
368+ questions = 3 Stars
552+ questions = 4 Stars

Go to the YT Leaders board to see who ranks where. Note that spamming up forums to get more stars and a higher post count is frowned upon, and that your posts may be deleted if they are insignificant to the thread(s).

I want to be a Key Member, but I don't use dollars as currency. What do I do?
Paypal will automatically convert from foreign currencies. Just click the "Donate with Credit Card" button on the Key Member page. If you don't have a credit card, please convert your cash to US currency before mailing it.

multiplepms">Is there a way to send multiple PMs?

Is there a way to send multiple PMs?
If you'd like to send a PM to more than one person, you have to put semicolons between each name. Make sure you don't put any spaces unless necessary. Here's an example:

pmreceiver1;pmreceiver2;pmreceiver3;pmreceiver4;etc.

Note: This will not be a conversation between you and all senders, but this would merely be like forwarding an email to more than one recipient.

Should I be offended that I was called a newbie? When do I stop being a newbie?
Not at all! Newbie is a term that is used all around the internet, and all it means is that you're new to this site. It's not really a derogatory term in anyway, and you shouldn't take offense at it if you're called a newbie.

As far as when you stop being a newbie, there's a few things to this. Here's a what it'll take: 1) When you stop wondering if you're still a newbie. 2) When you know your way around the site. 3) When you realize post and question count don't matter. 4) When you become familiar with most members that have been here for awhile. When you aren't a newbie anymore, you'll know.

What is a Key Member?
Key Members paid a special fee to Buddy in exchange for certain boons. Key members can have prettier, custom-made profiles. They can have their own photo section with up to 12 photographs or pictures of anything they desire. Their questions do not become archived after 90 days. They can select a priority question, which users will see before other questions. They can make a non-approved question a priority question, and have it be seen by others before it gets approved, but that question must still go through final approval. Key members are able to upload pictures from their computer to post in threads. The white envelopes next to a thread are blue & yellow for them, and will appear as a while open envelope after the have read the most recent posts on that thread, as soon as a new post is made the envelope returns to being closed and it’s original colour, this is called thread tracking. Buddy, the owner of this site, continues to make advantages for key members. I have found it a great privilege to have. It's only $12 a year, or $20 for a lifetime key. For the hours and probably days that you will spend at this site, that's a great deal!

What is the difference between the forums? What do I post where?
Each forum is designated for something. Here's an outline of what goes where:

Questions: All this forum has is comments on Questions. If you comment on a question, it will show up here.
Journals: This is where member's journals are. Most of it is about their personal life. You can start a journal as well. If you want to start a not-so serious thread, and just want to goof-off, this would be the best place to go.
General: The majority of what's in here is discussion about current events, politics, and other debatable issues. Probably the most serious forum out of all of them.
Links: When you post links, a thread will automatically be made for it. This is where it will go.
TV Talk: Want to talk about TV? This is the place to do it.
Music: Talk about your favorite artists, songs, your own music, and anything else having to do with music here.
Movies: Comments on movies go here. Give your opinion about any movie that's in the Movies section here.
Games: Talk about your favorite video games, computer games, board games, or even sports in this forum.
Suggestions: Have an idea that you think would make this website a better place? Post it here.
Newbie Hangout: Want to introduce yourself? Have a question that this FAQ page doesn't answer? Post it here.
Old Skool Hangout (O.S.): A forum for the older members to hangout in. You must be a member for at least 3 months before you can access this forum.
Book Club: The place to go if you want to discuss your favorite authors and books. Any form of literature discussion should go here.

There you have it! Most of this info can be accessed by simply going to the main Forum page.

What is the personal attack rule for?
This rule was implemented to keep members from picking on or singling out another member of YT. This includes dedicating a profile theme, thread, or avatar to the hate of a specific person. Breaking this rule will result in warnings and, in severe cases, banishment from YouThink. It is still permissible to tell off an annoying or obnoxious member. The mods made a post awhile back with slightly more specific rules about personal attacks. The following is a condensed version.

If you are seen to do any of the following by the site admin, you WILL receive a warning from modbot telling you that we will not stand for it and continued abuse will, in worst case scenarios, result in your profile being banned.

1. Creating a Profile/Avatar/Thread for the sole purpose of insulting a member.
2. Threatening behaviour, including threats of violence.
3. Stalking people from thread to thread for the sole purpose of insulting them.
4. Creation of an alter that parodies or libels another member of the site.
5. Attacks on a member based on their gender/race or sexuality.

It should not be the responsibility of the mods to sort out petty arguments between members, and we will not be interjecting in these instances unless we believe the line has been seriously crossed. It is also not our job to step in and help you out if you start an argument and you receive a backlash from it. You reap what you sow, unless people break the site rules in anyway, we will not warn members for reacting on comments you have made.

If you as a member feel that someone is guilty of making excessive personal attacks that violate these rules, you should notify modbot to have a mod investigate the situation and make a decision. Just because a complaint is made, that does not mean a warning will be sent, but you will receive a reply as promptly as possible. Please remember to include a link to the appropriate thread and/or a screenshot of the comments made.

What is with the hazing rituals?
A few members of YT aren't too welcoming of new members. This results in blood baths for newbies. You can prevent this from happening by using proper grammar & spelling, not starting a topic that has been done over and over again (evolution vs. creation, abortion, was the war on Iraq wrong, etc.), and in general just not getting to bent out of shape in arguments and debates. Some newbies get bashed no matter what they do right, so you'll just have to deal with it. Don't take anything on this site too personal.

When I made a journal, it made two. What happened?
You either double clicked the submit button, or it was just an error. Either way, just delete one of the journals, and problem fixed!

Who are the YT moderators (mods)?
The mods are members of YouThink that have dedicated part of their time to helping buddy run this site. Their jobs involve deleting inappropriate posts and avatars, banning members that won't listen to the rules, and reviewing questions, trivia, jokes, and movies. While most mods are discreet and don't let the YouThink public know who they are, there are a few "out of the closet" mods.

Why can't I log out and log in on another name?
Once again, the cookies on your computer are the problem. Delete your cookies!

Why does YouThink have bots? What do all of them do?
Most of the bots are there for mods to use to message people without having to identify themselves. Here's a list of bots and their jobs:

Mailbot: Mailbot is the one that sends out messages telling you your question was approved, or why your question wasn't approved. Most of his messages are automated.
Modbot: Modbot is controlled by moderators. These moderators use modbot as a tool to message members warning them to take down inappropriate avatars and profiles. Modbot is also used to warn members to stop attacking other members, spamming, and anything other inappropriate behavior. Modbot IS in a position of authority, so it is suggested that you listen to any warning you get.
QuestionBot: QuestionBot is also controlled by moderators. QuestionBot was created so that members could message the moderators of YouThink.com to let them know of errors in questions, trivia, jokes, and movies. If you find any errors, you can PM QuestionBot.

Why does YouThink have a swear filter?
Many people were abusing the privilege of not having one, and this site is PG-13, so buddy had to put one on. You might of noticed that the swear filter replaces many words with humorous words. This might crack you up, or it might get you angry. Either way, that's just the way things are at YouThink.com, so you'll just have to live with it.

YouThink keeps crashing on me. What gives?
Often, an abundance of cookies on your computer will cause YT to crash. I'll have to say it one more time... Delete your cookies! If this doesn't work, and you still get error messages, it is best to copy the technical information on it and bring it to buddy’s attention so that he can solve the problem. The best way to do this is to post a thread in the General forum with the subject ‘Error information for buddy.’

Errors?

If you see any errors in this FAQ, please alert me by sending a PM, or you can email me using this address: matt@flamingbunny.com. Thanks!