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Registration procedure
Registration is as simple as it gets! Click on the Register button, fill in your desired username, email address, password, birthdate and the security code provided by the system, click the button and you are set! Please note, clicking the registration button automatically acknowledges your compliance to our terms and conditions and privacy policy, so make sure to read them first.
Logging in and logging out
To log in the system simply fill your username and password in the fields located in the topmost part of the screen and click on Enter. If you have entered your details correctly you will be logged in the system. Alternative login method is to click on My profile and messages link. You will be taken to a login screen where you should do exactly the same - put your username and password in the fields and press the button. If logging this way, you will see a Remember me checkox. If you check it, the system will remember your login details and will log you in automatically each time you visit the site. You should have enabled cookies in your browser in order this to work.
To log out of the system click the Logout link which is located on the top of your screen replacing the login boxes.
Please note, logging out of the system will also delete the cookie uset to log you in automatically and you will have to log in again next time you visit the site. Logging out is not necessary when using your own computer. We strongly advise you logging out each time when using public machine to access the site!
Login problems
There are a couple of login problems that may occur. A login problem usually occurs when you forget either your username or password. Here are a few tips:
- First, try to remember have you ever been to this site before. Creating a profile under the influence of alcohol or drugs will most probably result in a login problem the next day ;-)
- Passwords are case sensitive which means MyPassword and mypassword are NOT the same.
- Make sure your caps lock is turned off (or on, depending on it's normal state, but it's usually off).
- If you have more than one language set installed on your computer, make sure you are using the proper one.
If you enter wrong password, you will be taken to a screen where you can try to log in again, retrieve your lost password or register. If you still experience problems after a few retries, you can use the password retrieval tool. Enter the email address you used when registering and click Send me my login details button. If you have entered a correct address, you should shortly receive an email with your username and password. If for some reason nothing happens in the next 24 hours, please contact us to resolve the problem.
If you get an error message stating this email is not in the database, it means either you have entered wrong email address or your account does not exist. There are couple of reasons for missing accounts. You could have deleted your account or it could have been blacklisted by the system due to violation of service policies, spam, scam or other illegal activities. If this is the case, you will not be able to create a new account with the same username and email address anymore.
What is a cookie
"A cookie is a small piece of data which is sent from a web server to a web browser and stored locally on the user's machine. The cookie is stored on the user's machine but is not an executable program and cannot do anything to the machine. Whenever a web browser requests a file from the same web server that sent the cookie, the browser sends a copy of that cookie back to the server."
That was the simplest definition of cookie we were able to find. Shortly, the cookie is a piece of information we store on your computer and which will be requested from your browser each time you visit the site in order to confirm your identity. There is nothing wrong with that, although the rumors say your computer's security can be breached using cookies. Yes, that's possible, but it's also possible to do that in a thousand other ways. If that was our goal, we would have done it in a way you would never understand. But don't worry, we are not up to that.
To put it the other way - should you wish to use this site, you should tell your browser to accept cookies from it.
Creating your profile
Once you log in the system for the first time you will be asked to complete your profile. Although all fields in your profile are considered mandatory, the system will automatically fill some of them. But let's make it clear - the more information you provide, greater your chance to get people interested in you will be. We urge you to be honest and provide correct information about yourself. All profiles found to be dealing with false details will be blacklisted without notice. This community relies on honesty so don't screw things up just because you can!
The most important part of your profile is the description. In this field provide as much information about yourself as possible. Tell others what you like or dislike, what you are looking for, what makes you happy or sad and everything else you would like to share. Yet, don't write a novel - 1000 characters are pretty sufficient to describe yourself in details.
You can add emoticons to your profile to make it more attractive to certain audience or just to put some emotion in it. Emoticons panel is located right below the description field.
Another important pat is the teaser. In this field put a one-line description of yourself. This line will be displayed atop of your description and is intended to provide other users with initial idea who they are dealing with. When writing the teaser use as much strategic information on yourself and your search as possible. For example "nice, long-haired guy" is one of the worst teasers you can use - everyone thinks he is a nice guy and quite a lot of people do actually have long hair - this does not tell anything interesting about you, thus dramatically lowering the chance someone to look at your profile closely. A good example of teaser would sound like "True gentleman in his middle thirties - taste the class". This way you are directly appealing to a certain audience, while discarding ones who you might not be interested in.
Other vital pieces of information that would reflect your exposure are your city, state and country, sexual orientation, interestes and physical data. Your location is important as most people tend to search parties close to them.
Secondary criteria to be considered are what you are actually looking for in the partner, your martial status, religion and number of children.
On your smoking, drinking and drug using habbits also depends much. We are not here to judge you and no user on that site has the right to do so. It's your choice whether you smoke 3 packs a day, drink as hell and powder your nose on regular basis so don not hide those habbits from ones that might be interested in you - they will learn about them anyway.
Editing your profile
Once logged in the system you will see a public preview of your profile. Clicking on Manage profile link will take you to the profile management interface where you will be able to change all your details. Saving the changes takes you back to the public preview so you can see how your profile looks when visited by other users.
Adding pictures
Log in the system, click on Pictures. On the left side you will see a file upload field. Click on Browse button. A standard file dialog will open allowing you to locate the picture you would like to upload. When you have found it, confirm the dialog and click the Upload image button. Once the picture has been uploaded to the server, it will appear right abowe the file upload field and a thumbnail will appear on the right side. Under each thumbnail there is a radio button and below the six thumbnails there are two other buttons - Set default and Delete image. First picture is automatically set as default by the syste. Once you have uploaded more pictures, you can easily select another default picture by clicking the radio button underneath and confirming its selection by clicking ont Set default button. This picture will then become your default profile picture. If you delete the current default picture, next one will automatically be set as your new default picture.
You can add up to six pictures to your profile. Pictures need to be in JPG format and no bigger than 350KB. If the image is more than 270 pixels wide, it will be automatically resized to 270 pixels. A thumbnail will automatically be created as well. Smaller images will also be automatically scaled to 270 pixels, but since they will look distorted we strongly advise you to upload bigger pictures rather than small ones.
Uploading sexually suggestive poses, nudity or other abusive material will result in immediate account termination. The same will happen if you upload celebrities pictures, cartoon characters, illustrations and ESPECIALLY - babies! Use your own photos because it's you who are looking for date, not Angelina Jolie, Jenna Jameson or Woody the woodpecker! They have their dates, we can give you that. Except for Woody, who is probably long ago dead anyway.
We do not preapprove pictures you upload, but we have agents crawling user profiles and reporting inappropriate pictures. To make it even worse, everybody can report abusive picture, so keep that in mind and put your own photos.
Profiles with pictures have significantly greater chance of success by the way.
Reporting abusive picture
Well if you would like to report abusive or in other way inappropriate picture, you can do that in two ways:
1. If you are looking at someone's profile, click the Report abusive picture link right below their pictures panel on the right.
2. If you are in the Rate people panel, you can use the Report abusive picture button in the bottom right corner of the panel.
Abuse report sends both suspected abuser's and your own ID, so think twice before you do so - is this picture REALLY abusing. Misusing the abuse report will lead to blacklisting the reporting party rather than the suspected one.
Turning rating on and off
Log in the system, click on Pictures. On the left side, just below your full sized default picture and the upload field, you will see Other members can rate me checkbox. If the box is checked, other users will be able to rate you. If unchecked, not. The system will automatically remember the new box state, there is no need to confirm your action. Only your default picture will be rated. Unregistered members will not be able to rate you regardless of the box state.
Private messages
Ah, yes, communications - THE essential part. Registered users can both send and receive messages. Received messages are stored in your inbox, while sent messages are stored in your outbox. Messages are marked with 5 types of icons to help you easily distinguish them. First three icons can be seen in your inbox, while the last two belong to your outbox.
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this icon represents unread messages. They are also easily discerned by the blue background in the message list |
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this icon marks messages which you have read, but did not reply to |
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messages that you have replyed to are marked with this icon |
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sent messages are marked with this icon |
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sent messages with pictures attached to them are represented by this icon |
You can contact users in two general ways:
1. If you are looking at the user's profile, right below the pictures on the right side you will find a link called Contact me. It will open a standard message interface, and will automatically fill that user's name in the field.
2. Between the inbox and the outbox there is a link called Write. It will lead you to the message interface where you can type your message. You will also need to know the username of the one you are willing to send message and put it in the respective field.
No matter whichever way to contact your party you prefer, you will be able to attach any of your photos to the message so they can easily see you. Nifty, eh?
You are also able to apply formating to your messages. Bold, italics, underline, quote and link are available. You can either click on the buttons to apply formating or you can type the following codes to change your text:
B |
[b]Bold text[/b] |
I |
[i]Italics[/i] |
U |
[u]Underlined[/u] |
Quote |
[q]Quote[/q] |
Link |
[link]site.com[/link] |
Please note, when making links, omit the http:// part as it's automatically applied by the system. Instead of http://site.com simply type site.com
And to make it even more spicy, you can add emoticons to your messages! Emoticons panel is located right below the message window. Clicking on certain icon will add its code to the message. Codes are automatically translated into icons once the message is sent.
Mass system messages
Administrators can send mass messages to DateYard users from time to time when there is an important announcement to be made. Instead of sending them as a personal messages that can be easily overlooked, mass messages will appear in the system notices window atop of your inbox. System notices expire 7 days after distribution and will automatically disappear. To make sure you will not miss an important system notice, in case of such event your inbox link will become bold to attract your attention, regardless of the number of personal messages you have in it. Administrators do not send system notices if there is no reason for that, so once you see the bold link, be sure to check out what is going on as it is probably important.
Reporting abusive message, spam or scam
At the bottom of your message screen, next to Add sender to favourities and Block sender, you will find the Report this message button. Before you click it, first take a few seconds to think about the possibility did you actually provoke such behaviiour, because in most cases abusive / harrassing messages were provoked. If the case is spam or scam, however, click with confidence.
Recommend users
To recommend users, you need to be logged in the system. Viewing user's profile, under the pictures, there is a link called Recommend me. Clicking it will bring a dialog where you can type up to 5 DateYard users and up to 5 email addresses of friends to which you would like to recommend this user.
Recommend DateYard
On the bottom of each page, in the footer, you will find a link called Recommend us to a friend. You can recommend our free dating site to up to 5 of your friends at a time. Please do spread the gossip, the coolest free dating site will be thankful. Not to mention that you can only benefit when more members join.
Quick search
This is the white panel that appears on most of the site pages. This is also the fastest and easiest way to start your search for people. Either make gender, age and location selection and click the Search button, or just click one of the predefined searches below.
Fast search
Fast search is extended quick search. Adding ability to match specific user interestes and filter the results showing only users that are currently online, it will help you narrow your possible matches.
Big search
Once logged in the system, the user can use quick, fast and big search. This is the most comprehensive search as it allows searching by every profile criteria, filtering results to a level where only what you are really interested in shows up.
With this search you can also define up to 5 one-click searches that would perform automatic search with previously set criteria. To define an one-click search, first set all of your search criteria and click on the Save preferences as one-click search button on the bottom right. One-click searches appear in special panel atop of the dialog.
Unregistered users as well as ones not logged in the system will not be able to use big search. They will get fast search displayed instead.
Match search
Match search can only be used if logged in the system. This is an automatic fast search that acts as one-click search. Once you click on Matches link on the menu, the system recognizes your last search settings and performs automatic search based on them. Of course, you can always change your search criteria and it will be memorized by the system once you perform your first search. Match search is important as it also provides vital information for users looking at your profile - it tells them whether you are looking for males or females, which also shows your sexual orientation. So we encourage you to set a match search just to complete your profile.
Rating people
You can rate other members in two general ways:
1. Rate people panel allows you to rate members on a random basis. You can still narrow your selection by applying the filters provided, but to keep the gambling feeling, users will be randomly displayed. To learn more about a specific member, just click on their picture and you will be taken to their profile.
2. If you prefer to do it individually, you can rate each user from within their profile. Rating bar is located below user's pictures on the right.
Please note, all users are able to see both their fans (who have rated them with 8 or above) and the haters (who gave them 1 or 2). So be wise about how you rate people.
Forums
We bet you do know how to use forums! For those who don't, using forums is pretty much as using instant messages, but instead of writing to a single person, your topic will be viewed by all registered users. There are certain rules when writing in forums and failure to comply with any of them will result in a blacklist:
- Do not attack or act aggressively to any other forum member, no matter whether you agree with their opinion or not. If you have something to tell to that member, use private messages. Noone else is obliged to read your dispute.
- Watch your language.
- Double check whether your statement fits the current topic. Noone likes to read offtopic nonsense.
- Don't turn forum into chat.
Additional information on forum usage and rules is available here. Be sure to read this section carefully before you start posting.
Favourites
Adding user to your favourites is simple. There are two possible ways:
1. From within user's profile, under the pictures, there is an Make me favourite link.
2. If you have received a message from this user, at the bottom, on the left, just below the attach pictures panel, you will find Add sender to favourities button.
Blocking and unbloking people
There are two general ways to block people: manual and automatic.
1. Manual blocking. First, you can't block users you just don't like because... we say so. Thus basically a user can be blocked upon contacting you in an inappropriate manner. That's why you will only be able to block users from within a personal message window. Go to the message user has sent you, scroll to the bottom where attach pictures box is. There are three buttons on the left. The middle one is Block sender.
Users that are manually blocked will receive a system message of their status each time they try to contact you and their messages will automatically be discarded.
If the blocked user was previously on your favourites list, they will be removed from it. Alternativelly, if for some weird reason you decide to add a previously blocked user to your favourites list, they will be automatically unblocked.
All manually blocked users will appear under the blocked users box in your preferences panel. Under each image there is an Unblock link. Do we really need to tell you what will happen when you click it?
2. Automatic blocking. You can set up to 4 automatic blocking criteria in the preferences panel - country, gender, age range and users looking for sex. Country blocking will automatically discard all messages sent from users in the specified country. Even that we do not support such kind of behaviour, you can have your reasons to do so and we will respect your decision. You however can not block users from more than one country at a time. Gender blocking allows you to filter your contacts even better. Age range will help you narrow that even more. Finally, the sex filter will block users looking for sex. Be advised that this filter will only apply to users who stated they are only interested in sex. It will not affect those who are interested in other activities, but have also marked sex in their profile.
All messages sent from automatically blocked users will be discarded by the system without any indication, so the senders will never know they are being blocked and will think you simply don't want to talk to them.
Please note, users that fall under your automatic block settings will not be shown in blocked users panel. You will get a system notification of active automatic blocking running when you enter your preferences panel instead
Changing email, date, time and language settings
You can do all that from within the Preferences panel. Once logged in the system, click on Preferences. Atop you will see your current email address, date and time display settings and language selection panel. Once you are done, click on Save preferences button.
Password change
You can change your password in the Preferences panel. First you need to type your current password, then a new one twice. Once you do that, click on Change password button. Please note, passwords are case sensitive, so MyPassword and mypassword would be treated as different ones. You need to have an account and be logged in to change your password, of course.
Deleting your profile
If necessary, you can terminate your account from within the preferences panel. Log in the system, click on Preferences and look at the bottom of the page where the section Account termination resides. Please note, you can not undo this process, so only click on that button if you are really sure you know what you are doing!
System messages
Information relative to the current section you are in and the system messages will be displayed in the box below the main menu (if logged off) or below the user menu (if logged in). Can't see it? This is where the pink pig's legs and belly are. System messages are displayed in blue, other information such as statistics or notes is displayed in black. Errors are displayed in pink.
Spammers, scamers, abusers and other punks
No punk activity within this site will be tolerated! Every confirmed case of such nature will result in blacklist for the responsible party. Blacklisting features a combination of various techniques including username, email and IP address.
So what do scammers do? Simple - they mislead people in various ways making them call value added phone lines or even directly send money. Remember, this is a free service and as such will never ask you neither for your bank / card details, nor for sending money, no matter the ammount. If someone pretends (s)he is from the DateYard staff, asking you to call a phone number or even send money, immediatelly report this user and never do what they request! It's difficult to distinguish which phone number could be value added because of the different phone operators thorughout the world, but since nowadays everyone has Skype, insyst on a Skype call.
Spamers on the other hand do spaming. If you get message consisting only of a website address or email address from an user you never asked to send any of them, it's almost certainly you are being spammed. You can counterreact to such users by blocking them.
Abusers are rude and ruthless people who harrass other users in any way they find suitable. Whether it's the religion, sexual orientation, body type, location or especially on sex topics, if you feel offended in any way, don't hesitate to report this event.
Reporting someone may not result in their blacklisting. Depending on the case, we will conduct investigation and come to a conclusion whether the user should be blacklisted or just warned that if they are caught second time, there will be no more warnings.
Escorts, hookers, giggolos or other individuals trying to sell their services here will be immediatelly blacklisted! Please, ladies and gentlemen, check Deluxe Companions instead.
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