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FAQ home page
- This section is the FAQ for questions about the doghouse
operation - not SM dog training which is covered in another
section.
Click here to be taken to that section.
The typical user of this sub site is thedoghouse itself
when it calls pages in response to situations. This allows
a consistent error reporting & explanation pattern as well
as putting all members communications in one place.
- The links to the left will take you further in to the
FAQ site - the links below are an overview.
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What is TheDoghouse Registration?
A central location for user information used throughout
The Doghouse web sites - ie your logon information is
stored in a database, it allows you to interact with
the doghouse applications and be a participant. When
thedoghouse moves over to using
MS Passport you can use your MSN logon to connect
to the site transparently.
Without it you are a visitor and just an observer.
More...
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What
are the benefits of having an Doghouse Login ID?
Your Doghouse Registration ID is your single point of
access to the many web applications that use a logon process
for user authentication. You need just one Userid
and one Password to access any Doghouse Registration based
application. Furthermore, your information is centralized
so you can update it in a convenient and secure location.
The benefits of having an Doghouse Registration ID will
increase over time as more and more Doghouse applications
and websites migrate to single point authentication.
Which means enter it in one place and it is applicable
everywhere - nothing to get out of sync.
More...
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What is email authentication?
Why has my logon disappeared?
- A email address with be authenticated. That means
software will keep testing your email account, if it
comes back as 'bad' you will be sent an email to get
it re-authenticated.
- Anti Spam
Equally from time to time on this site tests will happen
to see if a human is accessing the site or a spam engine
- steps are therefore taken to save needless proliferation
of information.
- It can be possible that you consider mail from the
doghouse spam and have blocked it. One of those blocked
email was the one telling your account was to be deleted
if you did not respond.
- You might not have responded because your yahoo/hotmail
account is over quota. A Google Email account (gmail)
has all the usual web mail features but with so much
space it would be hard to be over 'quota'.
- If your account is deemed as 'abandoned' then your
account will be destroyed. If you are a subscriber and
have paid, then it will be destroyed after your expiry
date.
- If you logon and have a flagged bad email you will
get nagging messages requesting you to verify your email.
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What does Doghouse UserID look like?
You can logon to your site using either your username
or your email address.
A userid cannot contain "@" and an email must contain
"@" .
- An email must contain an '@' character that separates
the user and domain values (example: lorem@ipsum.com)
and must be composed of at least two sub-domains separated
by a '.' (example: thedoghouse.org)
- A Userid must not contain an '@' character.
- Must be no longer than 50 characters.
- Should not contain spaces as that may have unpredictable
results when you use the doghouse.
Composition:
- it may contain numbers (0-9), upper and lower case
letters (A-Z, a-z), hyphens (-), underscore (_) and
periods (.), !, #, $, %, &, ', +, /, =, ?, [, ], ^,
`, {, |, }, ~
- they cannot contain any spaces, backslash (\), colon
(:), double-quote ("), semicolon (;), comma (,), less
than (<) and the greater than (>) characters, parentheses("(",
")"), asterisks("*") or
"@" as that will be understood to be you using your
email address
to log in with.
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Can I edit
my Doghouse ID?
Your Doghouse ID is the unique identifier for your Doghouse
profile, so as you update your password-protected information,
it always remains constant. Even if you edit your email
address, it won't affect the Doghouse ID you assigned
to your profile. The benefit of this is that emails addresses
come and go but but your nickname, your userid is constant.
The snag comes when your nickname is "pup" and you have
to choose "pup00001" or something less memorable. This
is where choosing to login using your email address would
suit.
There are no plans to reuse Profile names as this would
affect historical messages, You would not want the messages
in your inbox suddenly disappearing.
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What if I can't sign in with my current Doghouse ID?
- If there is a problem in the construction of your
userid or password - then it might not be acceptable
to logon. You might then need to
change your password or
contact support.
- It could be because your account have been deleted
because your account was
deemed abandoned.
- A mouse over tool tip will tell you if you can
use your email address instead of your userid.
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What are the rules for specifying an UserID?
- must be only single-byte characters, eg English
text..
- should be at least 3 characters long.
- must not be longer than 50 characters
- cannot contain any spaces
- the cannot be previously used - that is in use
by someone else already, as you will get an error
message to that effect.
- can contain only numbers (0-9), upper and lower
case letters (A-Z, a-z), hyphens (-), underscore (_),
and periods (.)
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What are the rules for specifying a password?
- must be only single-byte characters
- Your password is
case-sensitive
(Capable of distinguishing between uppercase
[capital] and lowercase [small] letters. For
example, A is different from a. If information is
case sensitive, it must be typed with the required
capitalization.) . When you log on you will have
to enter your password exactly as you enter it here
- must be at least 8 characters long
- must not be longer than 50 characters
- cannot contain any spaces, and can contain only
numbers (0-9), upper and lower case letters (A-Z, a-z),
hyphens (-), underscore (_), periods (.), and the @
character
- cannot contain the your UserID
- cannot contain the existing password, when changing
password
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What is the difference between Personals and Profiles?
- Personal Ads - are the result of submitting
a JOINING form. This process has changed little since
the site opened in 1995 and resulted in your advert
being placed in many listing. This is designed highly
searchable via Google so the chances of being found
by someone looking for that special Master is very easy.
The down side is that this is a list of the full advert,
not a pointer to it so some pages can take a long time
to load .
- Profiles - are automatically generated when
you fill out a joining form. Profiles are the contents
of database queries and this is common an all dynamic
contacts websites such as the gaydar/recon versions.
In this instance they are not to be consumed by search
engines but by logged in members and the results of
a search just produces a list of pointers to profiles.
This means that they can be much quicker to load as
you are getting small amounts of date each time.
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Why
all the need for specifying a state/timezone/country
code/Phone codes?
- Simply put this helps in locating your tiny advert
and profile in the haystack of the web.
With the advent of
GIGO the more inaccuracies there are in your
profile or advert.
- Wherever possible a pull down list will be used.
Where possible the lists would be restricted to relevant
areas - For example there is not state of "New York"
in the UK and the UK does not have time zones commonly
associated with the United States.
- Likewise some counties don't have states but regions.
Please avoid 'Unknown' as there are regions such as:
EMEA - Europe, Middle East and Africa.
FE/Pacific - The far East + Pacific as well
as territories such as:
NSW - New South Wales
EC - The EU Community.
- Free form text where you describe your district
your are relating this to someone who knows your city.
So post codes or metro lines are of use.
- The telephone area code is used to group adverts
and find people in that same area.
It is a safe bet that someone in New York City (Queens),
NY with an area dial code of 718 would recognise the
area dial code of 212 for New York City(Manhattan),
NY.
Likewise if you are just outside a major area like '718'
you might want to group yourself in with all the others
there rather than be all on your own with a code no
one has heard of.
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Can I use my new Doghouse UserID immediately after I register?
For most case the account creation is immediate.
If there is a problem with your email or other details
you may be asked to re-enter the data.
There may be a delay of up to fifteen minutes before you
will be able to use your Doghouse ID.
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What is the language preference option used for?
The primary language of the Doghouse is English.
However, certain TheDoghouse applications will ask for
a language preference. If an application requests a language
preference during registration, the application will attempt
to use the language you specify in future communications
(mailings, e-mail etc.).
It also allows other members who do not speak English
so good to search out adverts in their native language
- one you might speak.
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How can I report a problem encountered while using the
TheDoghouse
Registration functions?
You can report a problem by mailing the support help desk.
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What should I do if I forget my Doghouse ID or Password?
You may reset your password by using the "Forgot Password"
option on the TheDoghouse Registration web site.
Wherever possible, each logon situation will offer you
a choice/advice if you had a problem logging on.
If you need assistance regarding a forgotten Doghouse
ID, please contact the TheDoghouse Registration help desk.
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How will TheDoghouse use my personal information?
How will TheDoghouse assure privacy and security of my
information?
We know that you are concerned about your privacy; so
is the doghouse.
If you provide TheDoghouse with information about yourself,
such as name, postal address, e-mail address, or other
personal data, we may add it to our records. From time
to time you may receive information about our products,
services, activities, newsletters, your customised alerts
or contacts for other members purposes, unless you specify
that you do not wish to be contacted by selecting such
options in your account settings.
However if you were to opt-out of an alert telling you
your account was to be destroyed unless you take some
action, or that you have advert replies waiting that is
your choice.privacy
and security
We have a fully developed
privacy policy - which is both browser readable (Your
Data in the
browsers privacy report for that URL) and has a standard
web page.
To learn more, you can read about the doghouse's general
Internet privacy practices.
Our privacy practices are designed to provide a high level
of protection for your personal data, all over the world.
More...
Why profile without registering?
Set up and manage preferences and interests to tailor
thedoghouse.org content to suit your specific members
needs without registering. If you choose to register later,
the preferences and interests that you've already set
will be automatically associated with your new registration
settings and saved behind this user id and password. When
you register, you can also choose not to associate your
preferences and interests with your id and password.
Much of this takes the form of cookies
and session inspection which is aimed at enhancing the
user experience.
More...
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Why can I not access
WOOF!
The woof chatrooms require that your email be authenticated.
This can result in a time delay. However once you have
created you account and changed your password via email
you would have authenticated you email and your WOOF account
is synchronized.
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Why use icons versa text?
Well the idea is that a picture can tell a 1000 words
- as long as they are the right words then that is cool.
Love them or loath them over 98% of the people that access
this site use
MSIE and a few more use a computer at work or at home
running Microsoft products. So where possible we use icons
that they use for the same thing they use. So if the site
has a 'Nasty Microsoft' feel to it then it because even
if you dislike it you know what that button does.
Otherwise I could have done something arty in FlashMX
and only clicking it would you know what happens -
like do you want to discover that the air bag in your
car does something arty in a crash rather than saving
your life :) Equally I am a ludite and having been programming
since 1977 I am used to only using a keyboard :)
So as a techy I like the load time of 5 bytes of text
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to maybe 15kb extra for a small icon.
More...System
Icons
More...Chat
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How do I submit, view and manage profile
information about myself?
Using the profile
summary
When you answer questions about yourself, your preferences
and interests around thedoghouse.org, we'll collect this
information implicitly and store it in a profile if cookies
are enabled on your browser. Alternatively, you can submit
information directly to the profile through the profile
summary. In either case, you can return to your profile
to view, manage and add to your stored profile information.
Update my personal info
View, update or add to any personal contact details or
registration settings information, once you've registered
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"WHAT
THE FUCK IS TAKING SO LONG TO APPROVE ME?
AND DO YOU EVER ANSWER YOURE E-MAILS?"
Though not a frequently asked question it did surprise
me as email I get from you guys are very positive. However,
emails hit my inbox at a few hundred a day so it might
take more than a day or two to respond.
There are progressive plans to automate as much as possible
on the doghouse.
Who to reply to first?
Subscribers get a higher priority service than guest visitors.
Also if you use one email address for a correspondence
and switch to another I have no way of knowing you are
actually the same person even if it is perfectly clear
to you.
What sort of email?
Please put something in the subject line that is related
to your question.
Please do not include any unexpected attachments that
are not "JPG or GIF" anything else would have to be filtered
and that affords a spam/virus scan delay.
No good with Computers?
There are some expectations
about users in the internet. One of them is that they
know how to use a computer so a trip down PC World
or Best Buy would not hurt in getting free advice
or a starter book.
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What if I have
More Questions or Suggestions?
These are most frequent questions as well as ones that
you might ask.
There are other pages here, these are just some of the
questions.
You can email
for other comments or suggestions
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Im Lost!
Is there a tour guide or a User Guide for this site?
There are not that many sites that have a user guide for
it as that is part of the joy of explorations!
There is a newsletter that tells you about new features
and other content.
- There is
The Doghouse Insider which has hints and tips
of the day that are there to advise you.
- There are
site maps such as the one for the adverts.
- There is further development planned in this area.
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Will I get Spam if I give you my real email address and
real name?
Before you enter data into a website you might want to
do a Google search on your name "john doe" and on your
email address just to see how far it has reached on the
net.It is unadvisable you use your mothers email or
works email as you might find it uncomfortable if coming
out to these people. Further most employers spy on employees
email anyway - they are paying you to work not to surf
the web.
However we need an email address that you respond to
and a name you preferred to be called by, even if its
"Master joe".
We operate spam interception which requires human authentication.
This means that if you send us an email you will get one
back that you have to follow the instructions to allow
your mails to get through. These are things that Viruses
and spammers tend not to bother with.
We will not spam you and we are would make the
communication system consensual as we dont like spam
either.
I know this is not everything, its a start and you can
tell me what is missing.
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