System Time: 09:07 25 Jul 2008 - 12 Players Online

Troubleshooting

Support Outlets

BlogShares Forums

There is a wealth of information over in the BlogShares Forums. The best forum for help on issues would be the Technical Support forum. You can also read information on the game in the Documentation forum as well as the Tutorials and Solutions forum.

Blogshares IRC

Another resource for quick support is the BlogShares IRC Channel. Here you will find people online all the time and can get answers in real time as opposed to having to wait for a response through the forums System.

BlogShares Support Email

The last resource for BlogShares Support is the Support Email Address. Use this as a last resort after all other avenues of support have failed.

Account Issues

I am having trouble creating an account

As long as you follow the instructions laid out in this Help System in regards to creating an account, you should be ok. Otherwise you need to give specific details in the Technical Support forum.

Missing confirmation e-mail/link doesn't work

If the message is missing, check your spam folder. It is possible a filter automatically blocked the email and dumped it. You may also want to check your trash folder in case it went there. If there is still no email found, or if the confirmation link simply does not work, send an email to support@blogshares.com to have the Support Team check it out and get back to you with a solution.

Delay in activating Premium Membership

When your Premium Membership is paid for via PayPal, the upgrade could take up to 72 hours. Generally it is complete much quicker than this. The delay could be infinite if you forgot to send the User Name and Email Address you signed up with.

If you paid via cash, check, or money order the upgrade can take up to two weeks depending on the speed of the mail carriers. This is an uncontrollable variable and is why PayPal is the suggested method of payment.

Why am I limited to 20 transactions?

Due to the immense cost of running the site and paying for bandwidth, limits were put into place to allow individuals to get a taste of BlogShares without using too much traffic. The cost of upgrading is $15 per year, which works out to less than five cents per day. If you choose not to upgrade your account you will be limited to a total of 40 transaction: 20 Idea transactions, and 20 share transactions.

Why does 'Account Suspended' appear when I try to log in?

This means that for one reason or another your account has been flagged as having been possibly been involved in potential rules infractions. If this is the case, then you should have received an e-mail stating a reason as well as instructions to visit the BSEC forum boards to see the case thread against you.

You will have an opportunity to defend yourself during the case and other users will not be permitted to join in the discussion between you and the BSEC unless it is to offer evidence either in your favor or against it. The BSEC act swiftly on supposed CHEATYPANTS cases and do not take the issues lightly.

Blog Issues

Why does my blog appear in the system multiple times?

This is a known issue with the spiders. Multiple blogs can be merged in the following way:

• Find the blog you want to keep, and copy down its URL as listed in the system.
• Go to the page of the blog you want to get rid of.
• On the bottom of the sidebar to the right, you will see a "Suggest Alternate URL" box. Place the address in there.
• Click "Suggest" and it will be added to the queue for merging.

Please note that only URLs which go to the exact same location are accepted as alt-URLs. See this thread for more on alt-URLs.

Someone else owns my blog's shares!

Relax. Part of the fun of BlogShares is being able to buy shares in other blogs in the system. All blogs reserve 1000 shares for the owner, who must claim the listing to gain them. Owning shares in your blog does not confer any title or control outside of BlogShares for the owning player, and should not be confused with actual ownership of the blog itself.

My blog says "Blog not yet indexed for trading"

There are actually several delays in waiting for a blog to become available once it hits the system. These delays can last up to a week or even longer. At times, the system will be unable to completely identify a blog if the URL contains special characters (such as ~). Irregardless, if you are still experiencing issues after a full week contact support and they will attempt to assist you.

Why do some blogs say "I/O - Spider Errors"?

This is caused when a blog cannot be reached by the spiders for whatever reason. Generally it is due to the server being temporarily down, or the page having been pulled down for editing. This type of error is almost always corrected the next time the blog is indexed. If you notice this issue is persistent, use the red "Report Error" link at the top right of the blog's page.

How can I claim my blog?

For info on claiming your blog, please visit Claiming Your Blog. Some important things to note are that the code you receive when claiming your blog must be placed in a static portion of your blog, meaning a permanent sidebar or some other permanent place.

You may change the graphic and the size of the graphic used so long as it still identifies BlogShares in some way. The important piece of the claim code is the portion which includes your User ID number.

Why do my incoming links not always show up, or show multiple times?

Incoming links work differently than outgoing links. In order for a link to be reflected on your blog's page, the linking blog must be indexed after the link is added. The spiders won't know the link is there until then and thus won't display it on your page.

Links will show up multiple times if the linking blog has multiple entries in the BlogShares system, although there are some other causes which are currently being debugged. Many blogs are listed in the system with both a trailing "/" and without. At times they are listed with and without the "www" as well. If you notice this issue you should suggest an alternate URL (if the listings are for the exact same blog) for one of the duplicate blogs so this can be taken care of.

My blog/another blog shows the incorrect title

If it is another blog, all you can do is click the red Report Error link at the top right of the page. Some blogs change names over time, others have routing issues or even have problems with the blog hosting service themselves.

If the blog is not yours, all you can do is use the red "Report Error" link on the top right corner of the page. If it is your blog you can utilize the "Owners Menu" to change your blog's name.

My blog/another blog has a share discrepancy listed

At times you may notice a blog has a share discrepancy listed. This can be either more or less than the number of shares that should be available. The discrepancy is caused by simultaneous uses of Artefacts by multiple users. Code changes have been put in place to reduce this occurrence, but discrepancies still happen. A permanent fix is in the works to fix all share discrepencies. Uuse the Report Error link to report NEGATIVE discrepancies only.

I am trying to buy shares in a blog and notice it has more/fewer than 5000 shares. How?

Outside of the above response, if a blog has more than 5K shares it is because the owner most likely issued new shares. You can do this on your own blog as well. Note that the total number of shares that can be issued is tied directly to the valuation of the blog. The higher the valuation, the more shares the blog will support.

If there are less than 5K shares, this was caused by a feature that is currently disabled: Split/Reverse-Split. This allowed users to split their shares or merge them. The process was slightly bugged and overly abused, and was removed until a fix can be implemented. Blogs that have less shares because of this will probably stay this way unless the blog owner feels like issuing new shares.

IRC Issues

I am having trouble with the Java IRC client located on the BlogShares homepage

There are several things that can cause this:

• Firewalls: Many firewalls block specific Java commands from running properly. If you are having trouble with the Java client, first try disabling your firewall, refreshing the BlogShares page, and the trying to connect again. It is not suggested that you without a firewall, however, so if this change fixes the problem, you should consider adjusting your current firewall settings to allow this Java script, or use different firewall software. The easiest solution is simply trying a different IRC client, such as mIRC.

• Browsers: Browser security settings can also interfere with Java applets loading properly. Check with your browser's help documentation to see learn how you can allow java applets to run within the browser environment.

• Java Version: It is very important to ensure you are running Java on your PC. All current mainstream browsers support Java, but not all come with Java included in a basic install. Either visit your browser's homepage to find out whehter or not it comes with Java. If so, either download the version of your browser that is Java enabled, or download the official Java runtimes from Sun.

I can't join the Wyldryde network

At times there are issues with one server or another that will deny you access to the network temporarily. This is normal for any network, however is rather uncommon on Wyldryde. You should have no issues connecting directly to the network (though you may experience trouble connecting to specific servers). If you are having trouble, make sure you read the mIRC Howto and followed those instructions.

If you are still having issues and have never connected to IRC before, it is possible your IRC provider is blovking ports that make IRC communications possible. This is highly unlikely but has been known to happen, typically if your IRC client is not set to the default port. Go to "Tools" -> "Options" and click on the "Options" item in the left side tree. In the information over on the right hand side, make sure the "Default Port" is set to 6667.

Why do I keep seeing people join/quit en masse from IRC?

When a server is unable to keep the communication going with the next server in line due to Internet congestion, network problems or other bizarre and random factors, it will disconnect, or split away. This is known as a "netsplit". Some or most (even all) members will apear to leave at the same time with an identical quit message that looks something like:

User has quit IRC (Rubicon.WyldRyde.Net Excalibur.WyldRyde.Net)

This typically does not last long, so just sit and take it in stride.

Forum Issues

When trying to connect to the forums, I get "This Service is Unavailable"

The Forum sits on the same server as the website. If BlogShares is comming up with that message, usually the forums will as well, though not always. Database errors with BlogShares will not lock down the forums.

I get "Page Cannot be Displayed" messages

This is usually caused by your browser cache having been corrupt. Merely dump your temporary internet files and browser cache and all should be well.

How do I use the forum code to format my messages?

A guide to the forum code system is in the works with images and examples in place. This will be complete as a part of Phase 2 of the Help System.