Answers...

1. What is a webring? A webring is a group of websites of a common interest. They are all linked together, meaning that someone who's interested in that topic can quickly easily find several sites about it, without having to search for each site individually.

2. What is the Navigation Code you keep mentioning? The Navigation Code is a piece of HTML, which adds a small bar to your page. You'll often see it abbreviated to 'Navbar'. On it are links pointing 'back', 'forward' and 'hub', amongst others. These are what allow people to navigate backwards and forwards between different member pages.

3. What is a 'Site ID'? A Site ID is a number used by Webring's software to uniquely identify your site in the ring. It is used to allow the backwards/forwards navigation between sites, as well as in my own voting system, hence is extremely important.

4. How do I find out my Site ID? When you first signed up in the ring, Webring's software should have sent an email. This contained information on what your ID number is. If you lost that email, and need to find out, follow these steps.
1) Go to the Ring Hub page
2) Find your site (you may have to look on several pages)
3) Hover over the link for it (but dont click it)
4) Read the link displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the browser window. Somewhere in the address it should say &id=xx. The 'xx' bit is your number.

5. Why do some of the pages on the site follow a completely different design? Although I maintain the site and Awards system, the backend ring stuff is done by a company called Webring.com. Certain things have to be done through their pages, such as joining the webring, and these cannot be customised by me.

6. Who are you? I am Terence Burridge, although I generally go under the name Entei-rah. I'm the ringmaster for the webring; basically the person responsible for keeping everything running smoothly on the ring.

7. I registered with the ring ages ago. Do I need to change the code? You dont NEED to change the code. Most of the old code will still work fine, however there a few problems with it. The old ring homepage it points to no longer works, the 'Skip Prev' link jumps into a different webring, and there's no link on the bar for voting. All of these issues are corrected with my newer version, but its up to you whether or not you wish to implement it. See the Navigation page.

8. I registered so long ago that I no longer have a username/password to access the ring. What can I do? This is a common problem, and its not usually the fault of the members. This ring is a long-established ring, having been here for over 4 years. During that time, the company behind it has merged with Yahoo, then demerged again. In both cases, all members were expected to migrate their sites and usernames themselves. Not surprisingly, some got lost along the way. There are several ways to solve the problem;
1) The first, and best way is to try and reclaim your ID yourself. If you can still remember your original password, sign up for a new username, log in with that, then visit here. You may be able to migrate your old site to your new ID. At least one member managed this, so it is possible!
2) If, after re-registering, the migrate link above fails. Email me to tell me the new username and the old Site ID, and I will transfer the old membership to you.
3) If you just want to change the description or address, and dont want to re-register, email me with the changes and I can update it for you.

9. The email address in my Webring account is way out of date. What should I do? The email address in the Webring profile is used to send out important news/updates on the ring, hence its vital that its up-to-date. There are a few options here.
1) If you can still access your Webring account, simply log in and update the settings
2) If you cant access your account, you can either re-register, as mentioned above, or email me and inform me of the new address. I'll make a note of it, and email you manually if there's any news.

10. I have a Watership site, but cant find anywhere to host it. What should I do? The best option is to find one of the free hosts on the net, and host it there. If you're new to the net, www.geocities.com is always a good place to start.

11. I'm a new member. How do I get to use one of the other navigation bars? When you sign up, Webring sends you out a standard email explaining how to install the default navbar known as the Server Side Navigation Bar (SSNB). If you want to use it, then follow those instructions. If you want to use one of the alternative bars, look at the navigation page. It contains a pretty self-explanatory wizard to generate some alternative code.

12. Do I HAVE to have the navigation code on my site? Yes, I'm afraid. Without it, you break the chain of sites linked together, which defeats the object of it actually being a ring. Webring's software is pretty fussy about this.

13. How do I add the code to my site? First of all you have to get at the HTML sourcecode for the page. If you build your own site offline, then upload it, this is easy enough. Simply open the page in an editor such as notepad. If you use an online site builder, you may have to explore the options before getting at the sourcecode (Which you can identify as a load of plain text starting with < HTML >). Once you have access to it, scroll down to wherever you want the bar to appear. This may require some tinkering to get it in the right place, so its probably best you make a backup of the page first. When you find the place to put the bar, copy the text for the navbar from either my, or webring's page, and paste it into the editor. After saving it, you can then preview the page by opening it in a browser. When you're sure its working, reupload it to the net. If everything has worked correctly, the site should display 'Pass' in Webring. To check
1) Go to www.webring.com
2) Login with your username/password
3) Go to http://j.webring.com/mbr?p=ms
4) Click on the site's name under 'Site Title'
5) Click on the 'Test' link on the page which opens
If you can see the code on your page, but Webring still insists your site fails, contact me.

14. How can I add the code if its a Yahoo Group? On pages such as this, where accessing the HTML sourcecode is difficult or impossible, I can set up a page on my host which contains the navbar, then opens the page in a frame. If you need me to do this, email me after applying to join.

15. Why hasn't my site appeared on any of the pages yet, even though my membership has been approved? Whereas Webring's system is largely automated, my site is all still updated manually. Therefore, although I may approve the site within 24 hours, it'll probably take a bit longer for me to add it to the pages on this site.

16. Why are the awards not given out very often? The awards are new, and as such I'm still trying to gauge whether or not there will be many votes actually cast. If there aren't very many, I may make the awards less frequent, or if there are loads, I'll make them more frequent. It's all down to public response at the moment.

17. Can I opt-out of the Awards? If for some reason you dont want to be in the awards, just let me know, I'll update the page on the site and send you some new navigation code.

18. Why are some sites not in the Awards? Some members may have chosen not to be part of them. Also, members who have just joined may not be in the database yet; if so, they'll be added within a day or two. The only sites permanently out of the awards are my 2 - Thank U Stars, and this site, as it doesn't seem fair to have my sites potentially winning my award!

19. What if I join the ring halfway through the voting? Obviously you'll be at a disadvantage, but I'll still add the site. You'll stand a better chance in the next complete season. If you join right near the end of a season (say about 4 days beforehand), I'll probably just keep you out until they restart.

20. I have a question, but it's not in the list. Why not? Probably because I never thought of it. If you're still stuck with anything, email me and ask. It might be a useful FAQ to go on here in the future.

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