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Help
Welcome to groupthing – a social
network for teenagers into creative things!
Got a question about the site? You
can find the answer here. If there's something you want to know that
we haven’t covered, post a question on the forum.
Or email us info@groupthing.org and we’ll get back to you pronto.
groupthing – what’s it all about?
What computer do I need to be able to view groupthing?
What can I set my group up about?
How do I find members for my group?
What things can a group creator do?
What happens when I freeze someone?
What happens when I promote someone?
I’ve been frozen unfairly, what can I do?
What are open and closed groups?
How do I report inappropriate content on groupthing?
How do I report inappropriate behaviour by another member?
I’ve just noticed a mistake/bug on the site – how do I report it?
How do I become a HeadSpace member?
How do I change my email address or password?
I have lost my password. What can I do?
Where can I upload my own work?
Are there any upload limits on videos or audio?
groupthing – what’s it all about?
groupthing is for teenagers aged 13
up to 18 who are into books, games, films and music - anything creative
really. You can make friends by setting up groups around the things
you like and asking people to join. Once you’ve set up a group you
can build your own virtual shelf (stocked with your favourite books,
music, games or DVDs), rate and review the items on your shelf, chat
to other group members and upload your creative work for people to see
and comment on. There’s also a groupthing blog and forum.
You’ll need to sign up to start taking part.
What computer do I need to be able to view groupthing?
groupthing doesn’t have a minimum operating system requirement – it will run on most modern operating systems (ie: XP, Vista/OSX, Linux).
But it does have a minimum browser requirement.
PC: Internet Explorer 6 and 7 (or better) microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx
PC and Mac:
Mozilla Firefox 3 (or better) www.mozilla.com/firefox/ (Recommended)
Safari 3 (or better)
Opera 9.6 (or better) www.opera.com/
To play the audio and video content
on the site you will need: Adobe Flash player 9 You can download it
at www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/
What can I set my group up about?
Anything to do with words and reading.
It can be about films, graphic novels, poetry, music (lyrics), games.
Or, a particular writer, singer or Manga illustrator... or whatever
you’re passionate about.
You have to register
with groupthing. When you register with us you set up a profile, which
pops up every time you log in. You can create a group from your profile
page.
As many as you like. But remember,
it’s probably best to keep the numbers low so you have enough time
to spend on each group!
It’s easy! You just click on the
‘join’ button, which is under the group picture. The ‘leave’
button is in the same place (you’ll only see it if you are a member).
How do I find members for my group?
You can advertise your group in the
forum and invite people to join.
To do this you have to copy the URL for your group and then paste the
link into the special ‘New groups’ section of the forum. You can
write as much information about the group as you like and invite people
to join.
What things can a group creator do?
A group creator can change the group
avatar and description, write a group ‘update’, create a poll and
freeze members who aren’t playing by the house rules.
What happens when I freeze someone?
Group creators can ‘freeze’ a group
member if they feel they’ve not been following the house rules. A member is frozen for a week, which means
they can’t do anything on the group page. A tag will pop up against
that member’s avatar to show they have been frozen. If they continue
to be a problem then the group can report them to groupthing admin
help@groupthing.org
What happens when I promote someone?
If you promote a member they have the same rights as you and can edit the group. You can make them an ordinary member again by clicking demote.
I’ve been frozen unfairly, what can I do?
If you’ve been frozen and you don’t
know why, or you feel it was unfair, you can email us at help@groupthing.org and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
What are open and closed groups?
Anyone can join an open group but you
have to be invited to join a closed group.
How do I report inappropriate content on groupthing?
On every item of user content on groupthing.org,
you will see a REPORT IT button. Click on this, and you will be asked
to select a reason why you are reporting this content. Submit this form
and it will go straight to our moderators to look at.
How do I report inappropriate behaviour by another member?
We take internet safety very seriously,
and want groupthing.org to be as friendly a place to hang out in as
possible. If any other user is acting in a way that you feel threatened
by, please tell us about it. You will find the REPORT IT link on every
piece of user content and on the Safety Page.
I’ve just noticed a mistake/bug on the site – how do I report it?
As we’re a new site, there may be
a few bugs in the system. If you notice something that isn’t working,
or have a suggestion about how something could work differently, we
want to hear from you. Report a bug here
HeadSpace is a project based in libraries
for teenagers. Teenagers can design and run their own space in the library.
groupthing is the virtual home for HeadSpace. HeadSpace members have
their own groups which you will only be able to join if it is an open
group. The HeadSpace forum is only open to HeadSpace library members.
How do I become a HeadSpace member?
There are currently 7 Headspaces in
England but more are on the way! You can use the locator on the Headspace page to see if there is one
in a library near you. If there is, just go along and join in. If not,
watch this space.
How do I change my email address or password?
You can change your email address or
password by doing the following:
1. Visit www.groupthing.org on your computer and sign-in using your username and password.
2. Click the ' edit my profile tab on your 'Home' page.
3. You will see the following options: Email, and Password.
4. Enter your new email/password,
save the changes and it will be updated.
I have lost my password. What can I do?
No problem. Simply click here and enter your email address and we will
reset your password for you.
You can change your picture as many
times as you like.
1. Visit www.groupthing.org on your computer and sign-in using your username and password.
2. Click the ' edit my profile tab on your 'Home' page
3. You will see the following option:
avatar. Just upload your new picture and you’re done.
You can give your work a "tag",
which is like a label. Tags help you find work which has something in
common. You can put up to five tags on the work you upload.
Where can I upload my own work?
You can upload your own work on a group
page or on the creative hub. If you upload it on a group page you will
be given the choice whether you want it to sit on the group page or
also go into the creative hub.
If you aren’t a member of any groups
but you are a member of the site you can upload your work on the creative
hub.
Are there any upload limits on videos or audio?
No, but we advise that you keep video
and audio to a maximum of 10-15 minutes. The larger the file, the longer
it’ll take to upload!
Copyright is a tricky business but
we’re tried to make it as easy as possible. When you upload a something
on the site, you are automatically covered by the
Creative Commons licence This means
other people can modify your work but they have to credit you.
If you don’t want other people to
be able to modify your work you can opt out by selecting the “all
rights reserved” tick box. This means you have ownership over your
work, but groupthing is still allowed to display it.
Other things to remember are:
- Any contribution you make to groupthing.org (including text, photographs, graphics, video or audio) must be your own original work and not copied from anyone else unless you are copying or changing the work of another user on groupthing.org who has not opted out of the Creative Commons licence.
- You must ensure that the posting of the material on the website does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any other person. For example, you are likely to infringe someone’s intellectual property rights if you copy wording out of a book or from another website.
- If you use the name of a person in your contribution, or someone could be identified from what you post, then you should make sure that you have their consent (or the consent of one of their parents or guardians if they are under the age of 16).
- By uploading your work on the site you give groupthing.org permission, free of charge, to use your contribution in any way it wants (including modifying and adapting it for operational and editorial reasons). groupthing.org may share your contribution with trusted third parties.
Social bookmarking allows users to
store, classify, rate, comment on and search links to any website or
blog
If you see something you like on groupthing
you can bookmark it using the bookmark icon at the bottom of the groupthing
navigation bar. You can choose to link the page to lots of different
sites – facebook, dig, yahoo or buzz. Or you can email it to a friend.
Once the page/article is linked back to one of these sites, other users
can then read it as well as post comments and related links.
NB: please remember that you’ll need
to have an account with these websites (most of them are free) and that
you’ll need to agree (and comply) with their Terms and Conditions.
RSS feeds are addresses that look like any other link on the web (http://...) but act in a different way. When you give an RSS address to an RSS reader (this is called subscribing to a feed) it will tell you when there is something new at that site. For example, if you subscribe to a group RSS feed, your RSS reader, will show you when there is new activity on that group.
groupthing has RSS feeds for group pages, the blog, and the creative hub.
You will see this icon 
on any page that has an RSS feed. When you see it, click on it and you’ll
be able to set up feed from that page.
You can find RSS readers here.
NB: please remember that you’ll need
to have an account with these websites (most of them are free) and that
you’ll need to agree (and comply) with their Terms and Conditions.
