RIVERWIRED BASICS

REGISTRATION

  TAGS

SEARCH

EDITORIAL POLICY

BLOGS

RiverWired Basics

What is RiverWired?

RiverWired is your place to find more. More inspiration. More knowledge. More fun. Whether you want to find the perfect hybrid vehicle or you're interested in understanding the most important eco-initiatives to take for your family, we've got information and community for you. Maybe you're curious to hear how other people make green choices in their daily lives, or you'd like to blog about your experience with your green home. If it's friendship you're looking for, why not make a friend who shares your interest in getting more out of living a greener life?

Here are the basics: RiverWired is a social networking site that provides people with information, resources and a vibrant community dedicated to all things green. Our platform makes finding information, making friends and posting content easy, fun and rewarding. We search blogs, articles, videos, and podcasts on sustainability and green living from all over the web and give you the most relevant items in easy-to-find format. We provide you with the ability to post videos, join a blog discussion, and share with friends and colleagues. Our mission is to help make your life and our world greener and better.

Why RiverWired?

RiverWired is set up to allow our users to make it whatever they want it to be. It's a one-stop-shop for everything green. No matter what your eco need, you can probably fill it here.

RiverWired provides a variety of resources around a single theme: green living. If you care about the environment in any way, from learning personal eco tips to catching up on environmental news, RiverWired is for you.

A huge part of our mission is to provide an outlet and tools for all the creative energy that going green is inspiring in people. You can come to RiverWired to share your voice with an entire community of people who care about helping the environment. And you can do it in a variety of ways. If you write, you can publish a blog for people to comment on. If you make videos, you can post them for others to view. Create, speak your mind, and let the RiverWired community help. A few thousand heads are better than one.

How do I join RiverWired?

It takes only a minute to sign up for RiverWired. Just go to our homepage at www.riverwired.com and click on the little green “Join” link on top right of the page. Provide us with a bit of information (all kept completely private unless you choose otherwise), and you'll be on your way!

Registration

Is RiverWired free to join?

Yes. It is absolutely free to join and participate as a RiverWired member.

What if I lose my password?

No worries. Click on the “Sign In” tab at the very top right corner of the RiverWired home page and click on the “forgot your password” link. On the next page, give us your User Name and email address, and confirm by clicking on “Email new password.” We'll send you an email with a link to restore your password or to create a new one. Of course, if all else fails, you can always go to the “Contact Us” page and fill out a RiverWired Help form. One of our team members will respond to your problem as soon as possible.

I am having trouble logging in. What should I do?

First of all, make sure you are using the exact user name and password you registered with. Remember that the password field is case sensitive. If you continue to have problems, click on the “Contact Us” tab at the bottom of the page and then choose “RiverWired Help.” For the Categories section of the RiverWired Help form, choose “Login problems” so that your issue is handled quickly by the appropriate team member.

Will I be able to delete my account?

If at any point you wish to discontinue your use of the RiverWired service, you can click on the “Contact Us” link at the bottom of the homepage and submit a RiverWired Help form. We will delete your account and all content you posted on RiverWired, except content published by a group.

TAGS

What are tags? How do they work?

Tags are an index of all the content on RiverWired. They are words or phrases that members mark their groups, videos, blogs, and photos with in order to make them easier for other members to find. They are an alternative, and often more effective, way to search RiverWired for content that interests you, rather than using the search bar.

Each piece of content on RiverWired can have several tags attached to it so that it’s easy to find related content on the site. If you are browsing a piece of content and see that it has a tag that you’d like to see more content about, you can click that tag and all groups, blogs, videos, and photos with that tag will come up.

You can also make tags work for you. To make sure your blog, photos or videos can be found easily, provide concise tags that relate directly to the subject of your content.

How many tags can my blog or video have?

You add tags as single words or short phrases, separated by commas. You can post as many tags as you want for a piece of content, as long as it's within reason. If you post too many, some won't show up because the database only allots a certain amount of space for tags on each piece of content. Get around this by posting tags that relate directly to your post.

What's the best way to select tags for what I publish?

A great way to think about tags is to try to describe your content in as few words as possible. Think about what your content is really about, and what words you would use to search for it if you were looking for something like it.

SEARCH

How does search work?

Enter words or phrases into the search bar to find all related content from the RiverWired database. When you search the database, you are searching all user-generated content: blogs, videos, and member profiles for the word or phrase you've entered. If that word or phrase appears anywhere in the title of the post (for blogs, it will search the body of the post, as well), it will appear in your search results, and you can click on it to view it. Note that tags are not included in this search. Check out our section about tags in these FAQs for more info on them.

How do I search for articles?

In addition to finding user-generated content, searching for a word or phrase in the search bar will bring up all the articles from our RSS feeds with that word or phrase in the title. All titles that match your search will appear listed in the “Blogs” section of the search results screen. For instance, if you search for “hybrid car,” you will find many articles from around the Web listed in the Blog search results.

How do I find specific RiverWired members?

If you know the first name, last name, full name, email address or User Name of the member you're searching for, you just enter it in to the search bar and the member's profile will be listed in the “Members” category of the search results page. Click on the thumbnail photo or user name link to view the member's entire profile.

EDITORIAL POLICY

What is RiverWired's editorial policy?

At RiverWired, we believe in our members' right to speak freely at all times on our site. In cases where members post content on the site, our editorial role is slightly removed. If content is “flagged” for violating our Terms and Conditions, we make sure it has been rightfully flagged before taking any action. While we want to provide members with the ability to post freely on the site, we always adhere strictly to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Who owns the content on RiverWired?

Whoever creates content owns that content. If you create something original and publish it on RiverWired, you own it. But by publishing content on RiverWired, you're granting RiverWired the right to reproduce your content for marketing and related purposes, limited to RiverWired.

Be sure that you have permission to publish any content that is not your own, and to give proper attribution to the author when you post it on the site. You should provide more than quote marks or simply a citation of the author's name; proper citation includes a little information about why the content is worth sharing. In turn, any original content you post online should be reproduced with the same attribution. Educate yourself about your rights and the rights of others by visiting www.copyright.gov website">www.copyright.gov.

What can I publish on RiverWired?

RiverWired is dedicated to creating a community where its members can learn and grow. As such, we allow content of all kinds to be published on the site, as long as our platform can support it. If it is your own, you can be as creative as you want. If it is someone else's, just be sure to give the author proper attribution as defined by the government's standards of Fair Use.

Any content we prohibit is due to a national or international law violation, or is banned in order to keep the service usable for all registered members. Please visit our Terms and Conditions to see a more detailed description of our policy.

Do you censor what I can read and see on RiverWired?

RiverWired does not edit or censor content. Because we have minors in the community, we may need to give your content adult settings if you haven't done so already. And we reserve the right to remove content that we deem inappropriate in any way. See a more detailed description of our standards at our Terms and Conditions page.

How does RiverWired make money?

RiverWired makes money by allowing our sponsors to advertise on the site.

What types of content can I publish on RiverWired?

RiverWired members can publish videos and blogs. A member can have multiple postings with different titles in each of these forms of media.

BLOGS

How do I publish a blog?

As a RiverWired member, you have the ability to publish your own blog. You are allotted one blog space, with the ability to publish as many posts with as many titles as you want.

To publish your blog, click on the My Blog tag at your profile page. Give your blog a title, a short description and tags. Click submit. From the blank “My Blog” tab, you can now post on your blog by clicking “Add new post.” Once you've posted, you have the ability to edit or delete each post, or to create a new post.

What can I publish in my blog?

Blogs come in all shapes and sizes. You can do whatever you want with your own blog. It can be a place where you keep a daily green journal. Or you can make it more interactive, posting green discussion topics and inviting comments and dialogue. Use your blog to post information that interests you, and that you think might interest others. Links to informative or fun Web sites, an article you read this morning, books to read, places to visit, etc. Your blog is your opportunity to make RiverWired whatever you want it to be.

How do I edit something I've already published?

On each of your blog postings, you can edit by clicking on the “Edit” tab at the top of the post. You have complete freedom to change, add or delete anything you want.

How do I get more people to read my blogs and view my content?

There are many ways to get people to read your blogs and view your content. Just being an active member of the community will help - the more friends you have and the more you stay visible by commenting on others' content, the more people will view yours. If you create the best content you can and label it with effective tags that make it easy to find, you should have no problem attracting people to your work.

What are the rules of Fair Use when quoting another author?

When publishing a portion of someone else's content, it must be for the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, according to the United States Copyright Office. There are no exact rules for Fair Use, but doing no more than citing the source of the copyrighted material is definitely not enough. You must obtain permission for the use of copyrighted material. If you are quoting another source, it must be reasonably short and the purpose for its inclusion in your original material must be clear. For more information on the principles of Fair Use and copyright law, please visit our Terms and Conditions page.