Questions & Answers On RainForest Procedures
Question: What are liaisons?
Answer: Early in 1997, GeoCities was experiencing phenomenal growth in their Community Leader program. As a result, GC staff was being overwhelmed by email from the many community leaders in the various neighborhoods. In an effort to handle this growing communication problem more efficiently, GeoCities established community liaisons. Initially, the "GC Leaders' Leader" appointed liaisons for each community, or allowed the group to choose who they wanted to serve as their "delegate", if you will. That selection process is still practiced in some communities today, however community elections have become quite popular. Most communities place a great deal of trust in, and responsibility with their liaison(s), as does GeoCities....after all, liaisons are community delegates elected to represent the group to GeoCities, and vice versa. There are instances where liaisons who have been appointed by GC tend to have a substantial amount of freedom to do what they feel is best for their respective community while other communities have kept the selection of liaison(s) part of their internal election process, and continue to view the role as primary communicator.
Question: What role do liaisons play in the RainForest?
Answer: The RainForest CL majority has voted to elect four liaisons to represent their group, each sharing equal responsibilities however they wish to divide them among themselves. The liaisons serve as our primary communicators, and handle other responsibilities, such as block assignments, overseeing the voting booth, helping with content violations using the liaison tool, overseeing GC Mentor/Training activities, and acting as mediators in the event of a disagreement or dispute. They are trusted individuals who have been elected by the majority of our community leaders based on their experience as CLs, communication skills, generosity and diplomacy, respect for RF traditions and established policies, an unselfish desire to serve the RF Community, and the amount of time they can devote to this very demanding role. The liaisons of the RainForest are highly respected, and very important to the success of the RainForest, as are each and every one of our Community Leaders and the Project Teams upon which they serve.
Question: Who are the RF liaisons? (alphabetically by geoname)
Earthwave - (Betty) - betwills@airmail.net
Garden Angel - (Janie) - savage@voicenet.com
Tigers'_Lady - (Amber) - tigers_lady@oocities.com
Toreadorbotanist - (Philippe) - botanist@iname.com
DUTIES:
Earthwave - liaison tool for RainForest/Vines - oversees the community website, RF Community Mentor Liaison delegate who helps oversee GC Mentor activities in the RF, co-chair of the RF/GC Mentor Team, and helps send Welcome/Congratulation letters to new graduates. She is one of the RF "elders", and has been a CL since the program first began back in June, 1996.
Garden Angel - liaison tool for RainForest/Jungle - RF Community Mentor Liaison delegate who helps oversee GC Mentor activities in the RF, co-chair of the RF/GC Mentor Team, and helps send Welcome/Congratulation letters to new graduates.
Toreadorbotanist - liaison tool for RainForest/Canopy - oversees the Voting Booth, the Expertise pages at the Community Website, works with the Chat Team, and Forum Teams.
Tigers_lady - liaison tool for RainForest/Andes - works with the RF Project Teams, and updates the cl_only directory.
All liaisons act as mediators, alternate attendance at the Liaison Teleconferences with GeoCities, and encourage open communication.
Question: What are project teams?
Answer: Project
Teams have taken on specific responsibilities which are important to the overall
operation of the RainForest Community, and the CL program as it exists in the RF. Each
team consists of individual CLs who are working together in harmony with their liaisons
and with GeoCities to achieve the goals and visions of our group, to promote the
RainForest theme and community interaction, and to make our community the axiom of
self-governing communities in GeoCities.
Question: Can I join one of the Project Teams in the RainForest?
Answer: As a CL, you are strongly encouraged to participate on a Project Team. For more information, contact the respective Team Chair for the Team(s) you are interested in joining, or the Project Team liaison if you have an idea for another project.
Question: What happened to the GC Featured Page Program?
Answer: The Featured Page program has been discontinued by GeoCities, but not forgotten. Former Featured Pages will retain their status, and also the rewards that accompanied that recognition. The program itself has been replaced by a new program called the Best Of GeoCities (BOG). This program involves "topic masters", all of whom are CLs who have been appointed by GC after having met certain qualifications. BOG also utilizes a spider which visits all the homesteader sites in GC, and gathers information based on page content. More details will be published about this program as soon as they are available from GC.
In the RainForest, our CLs have established a program known as, Top Of The RainForest, which recognizes outstanding websites in our community. The sites are categorized by topic, and then listed under those categories. For more information about this program, please contact someone on the "Top Of" selection team.
The most recent website recognition program is the GeoCities Outta Site Awards. See the Project Team pages, or contact benjinn for more information.
Question: What should I do if I find a page on my block that I
feel is outstanding?
Answer: Until the BOG program is in place, you can encourage potential sites to apply for Top Of The RainForest recognition, or the GeoCities Outta Site Awards.
Question: How can I find the homesteaders membername?
Answer: You can find the homesteader's membername by going to the Geocities Member Lookup Utility.
Question: A homesteader in my block has no address listed on his
page? How can I contact him?
Answer: To find the address for a user who did not include it at their site, go to the following location:
http://www.oocities.org/cgi-bin/homestead/mail.pl?membername
Replace the word "membername" with the member's Geoname found on the block listing. This process will bring up a generic email form so you can email the homesteader.
Question: What if I don't know the member's Geoname in order to use the email form for a missing address?
Answer: Go to GeoCities Member Lookup In the address, put something RainForest9900 (no /'s) in the form, and it will tell you the member name. You can also fill in a member name, and get the address.
Question: I just visited a page in my block that is written in a
foreign language. Where can I go to find help from someone who speaks that language?
Answer: The RainForest has a diversity of CLs who speak various languages, so in an effort to assist our CLs, we have published a series of expertise pages in the Help Section of our community website for easy reference. Another helpful site is located at http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate?
Question: I have 300 homesteaders in my "block". How often should I "scan" my block?
Answer: Scanning homesteaders' pages is time intensive! Set a goal of how many sites you wish to scan per day, and stick to it! Some CLs try to scan at least 5 sites/internet session. If you scan all your blocks in a month, you are doing well.
It is also a good idea to provide regular reports (bi-monthly or monthly) to your liaisons regarding your block scan, and include the urls of "abandoned" or "not moved-in" sites so your liaison can follow through with their report to GC.
Question: Are there any utilities that will make scanning my
assigned blocks a little easier?
Answer: Try the cyberwiz site for a block tool utility that will help you with your scanning duties.
Question: What should I do if I come across a page that just has a directory of files?
Answer: Try clicking on any of the html files if there are any, and try to find the "home" page. Sometimes the homesteader simply does not know that his "main" page must be named index.html. If there is no index.html file, there is a possiblility that they are using their site at GeoCities for file storage. Note the url in your regular block scan report to your liaison.
Question: What should I do if I come across a page that has major content violations?
Answer: All major violations should be reported to the liaison responsible for that community. See "Who are the RF liaisons" above. Porno pages and other major violations can be suspended by the liaison until the GC Alert Team can follow through.
Question: Are Pagecount banner counters allowed in GeoCities?
Answer: No...Pagecount banners/counters are considered banner advertisements, and are NOT allowed in GeoCities. The only banners that are allowed are GeoRewards Banners and Internet Link Exchange Banners. There was some debate on whether or not "Starting Point" banners would be allowed, and Karen advised us that they would be. For more information about banners, go to Geocities Banner FAQ
Question: What about commercial pages in GeoCities?
Answer: More often than not, commercial pages look alot like regular pages, so try to familiarize yourself with the commercial pages in your neighborhood. They pay for their sites and have special rules that apply to them. GeoCities has setup GeoShops for residents, and has reserved a section of the GeoCities server for "Shopping". This area is referred to as The Avenues. CLs are also invited to join the GeoShops program, so if you are interested in this complimentary service for CLs, send an email to Tynan.
For GeoShops guidelines, visit: http://www.oocities.org/geoshops/terms_conditions.html
Question: When does GeoCities delete inactive sites?
Answer: Generally, GeoCities gives a new occupant 2 weeks to "move in". If no one moves in then the site becomes "vacant" for another homesteader. After a site is up, GeoCities periodically deletes sites if they are not updated in six months, sometimes longer.
Question: If I come across an inactive site, what should I do?
Answer: Log it on your regular report to your liaison as "inactive", note the dates, and briefly explain why you feel the site is inactive. Your liaisons will follow through with reports to GC.
Question: When scanning my blocks, I came across a page that
takes me back to a GeoCities main page. What does this mean?
Answer: Two of the most common reasons for this happening are:
(1) a site was removed from the database by GeoCities Alert because of content violations.
Eventually, this address will become vacant, and another homesteader will move in;
(2) an incorrect url was submitted.
Question: How do I recognize pages with hacking activity on them?
Answer: Go to the Hacking page to review.
Question: Can new graduates display a Community Leader icon on their home page?
Answer: Most definitely!! You passed your GC Training, and you are working through your CL Orientation in the RainForest. We would be proud for you to display a CL icon on your page. Following are some urls to obtain ready-made graphics for your page: CL graphics and RF/GC graphics.
Question: Now that I am a leader, I'd like to separate my
personal mail from my Community Leader mail. Where can I get a new free email address?
Answer: Geneseo has put together a list of all the services that are offering email addresses with descriptions of them all.
Question: I just got an email from a homesteader asking to become
a Community Leader...what should I do?
Answer: Send them to our Community Leader Application page at the RF Community Website. We are always looking for dependable, hardworking citizens to join us in the Community Leader Program.
Question: Is there a page that lists all of the Leaders, their
email addresses, and their pages?
Answer: You can see the current leaders for each neighborhood by picking the Community Leaders link from each main neighborhood page. For the RainForest, you can check the block assignment page, or look up an RF CL in our private CL Directory.
Question: I seem to have misplaced the password to the forum, and the CL chat room. How can I get these passwords?
Answer: You can get the passwords from your RF Liaisons.
Question: I just got a letter from a homesteader who signed up
for a page in GeoCities, but never received his password. What should I do?
Answer: Go to the Geocities Member Password Lookup Utility, and put in either the members GeoCities address, or his Geoname. His password will be sent to the email address he registered his account with.
Question: My homesteader lost his/her password, and their email
address is invalid so using the password lookup utility is useless. What should I tell
them?
Answer: Go to the GeoCities Password Request Form. They will need to fill out the form in its entirety, including all the original information they used when they signed up initially. If all the information was entered correctly, GeoCities will mail their password to them.
Question: My homesteader's index.html page isn't downloading properly, and it contains alot of code. Is there an easy way to check for codes that contain errors, or are incompatible with certain browsers?
Answer: Go to the following urls to get automated reports on web page codes and browser incompatibilities:
http://siteinspector.linkexchange.com/
http://www.websitegarage.com/
http://www.webreference.com/services/validation/.
Question: I want to be a chat monitor, what do I do?
Answer:In the RainForest, we have established a Chat Team to handle all Chat Room
responsibilities, including the appointment of Chat Monitors. You must be over the age of
18 to be a Chat Monitor. If you are sincerely interested in volunteering some of your time
in the Chat Rooms, send an email to the RF Chat Team
Chair.
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