FAQ
- Is Blinxi free?
- What is the Menu bar?
- How do I change my personal information?
- How do I change my password and/or e-mail address?
- My last name is displayed on my profile, how do I get rid of it?
- How do invite my friends to Blinxi?
- How do I search to see if someone I know is already a Blinxi member?
- How do I search by name?
- Can I search by school?
- I found my friend, now how do I add him to my friends list?
- How do I view my friends list?
- Another Blinxi member is annoying me, what should I do?
- What is “Who’s viewed me?”
- How do I view profiles anonymously?
- How do I make my profile private?
- Strange Men/Women keep sending me messages, how can I stop this?
- I added a picture when I first set up my page, how do I add more?
- I’ve uploaded some new photos, how do I change the picture that everyone sees on my profile?
- How do I delete a photo from my photos page?
- How do I add a caption to one of my photos on my Photo page?
- How do I view my friends photos?
- How do I comment on a friends photo when I’m on their Photo page?
- How do I send someone a message on Blinxi?
- How do I send messages to more than one Blinxi member?
- What in the world is blogging?
- Can I blog on Blinxi?
- My friend told me they started a group, how do I find it?
- How do I start a group?
- Require approval for embedded content? What does this mean? What’s embedded content?
- How about embedding photos and videos?
- What do the little icons next to my mail in my inbox mean?
- What is rich text formatting?
- What does URL mean?
- How and why customize url?
- What’s a wink?
- What’s the point of forwarding member to a friend?
- Who are the “Help Guys” and why are they my friend?
- How do I post a comment on my friends page?
- What’s event mean on the menu bar?
- How do I create an event?
- Can I search events?
- What does Blinxi mean?
- I’m in a band, can I put up a band page with music?
- Blinxi looks all screwy when I view it through AOL’s browser, what’s going on?
- What is “Top 9”?
- Can I upload pictures from my computer directly into a blog posting?
- How do I edit or delete a blog posting?
Yes! Everything on Blinxi is absolutely free! We generate revenue through advertising and not by charging a membership free.
The menu bar is the easiest way to navigate Blinxi--it sits on the top of every page on the site. The icons on the menu bar take you directly to all the major pages on the site.
3. How do I change my personal information?
You can do this by clicking the Edit my profile link to the right of your name on your profile page or your Home page. You can quickly navigate to these pages by clicking on the Home or Profile link on the menu bar at the top of every page. The link will take you to your Profile edit page. On this page you can change all the information on your profile page that other members will see about you. After you have updated your profile, simply click the Save all link at the bottom of the page and you will be redirected back to your home page.
4. How do I change my password and/or e-mail address?
To change the password you use to login, or the e-mail address where we can contact you with notifications just click the my settings link under your picture on your home page. You can easily get to your home page at any time by clicking the home tab in the menu bar at the top of every page. Once on your Account settings page you will be able to change your name, password, and e-mail address. When you’re finished click the Save all link on the bottom of the page.
5. My last name is displayed on my profile, how do I get rid of it?
You may choose whether or not to display your last name by clicking the My privacy link under your picture on your Home page. You can easily go to your Home page at any time by clicking the Home tab in the menu bar at the top of every page. The first option you will see is Display last name on profile page simply click the yes or no buttons to the right of the question. And when you’re finished click the Save all link on the bottom of the page.
6. How do invite my friends to Blinxi?
To invite more of your friends to join you on the Blinxi network simply click the invite link in the upper right hand corner of any page above the menu bar. This link will take you to the Invite Friends page. On this page you can use the top box to enter your friends’ e-mail addresses one by one (separated by commas), or you can use the lower box to import your entire address book from another e-mail service (i.e. AOL, Earthlink, Yahoo).
7. How do I search to see if someone I know is already a Blinxi member?
To search for friends on Blinxi, simply click on the search button on the right end of the menu bar on the top of every page. This will take you to the main search page, within the search box there are many options to narrow down your search like age, sex, location, etc… select your options and click the search button in the bottom of the search box.
You can also search by name or e-mail by clicking on the Search by name link at the top of the search box when you are on the main search page (Remember: to get to the main search page, just click the search button on the right of the menu bar at the top of every page). Once you are on the search by name page simply enter your friend’s first or full name, or her/his e-mail address and click the search button at the bottom of the search box. If your friend has a very common name and you get too many results to sort through just scroll up to the top of the search page and you can enter a zipcode that your friend lives in or near and specify the proximity to that zipcode, then click the search button again.
You can also search by school by clicking on the College search link at the top of the search box when you are on the main search page (Remember: to get to the main search page click the search button on the right of the menu bar at the top of every page). Once you are on the College search page simply choose a state from the pull-down menu on the left and then a school from the pull-down menu on the right and click the search button at the bottom of the search box. Blinxi will then search the site and give you a list of all of our members that went to that school.
10. I found my friend, now how do I add him to my friends list?
Once you’ve found a friend on Blinxi by searching or by looking through your friends friends, click his/her name or picture to view his/her profile. On their profile page under their picture click the link that says “Add as Friend” and she/he will be added to your friends list.
11. How do I view my friends list?
You can view your friends list quickly and easily from any page on Blinxi by clicking on the friends link in the center of the menu bar at the top of the page. On your friends page you will see a list of all your friends with their pictures and a number of options such as send message and view friends.
12. Another Blinxi member is annoying me--what should I do?
If another Blinxi member is sending you inappropriate messages such as unwanted sexual advances, spam, or just being generally annoying, you have two options. The first option is to block them from sending you messages. To do this, go to your inbox and open the offensive message. At the bottom of the message box there is a Block user link; click it and this user will no longer be able to send messages to you. The other option you have is to report the abuse directly to Blinxi’s site administrators. There are two ways to do this: The first method is similar to blocking them--click the button at the bottom of the message that says Report Abuse. You may also go to the sender’s profile page by clicking her/his name or picture from the message they have sent you. Once you are on her/his page click the Report abuses link under the picture. Both of these links will take you to your message page where you can fill out a message to send to the site administrator.
13. What is “Who’s viewed me?”
Use the Who’s viewed me? section of the site to identify other Blinxi members who have viewed your profile. To see who has viewed your profile just click the home link in the upper right hand corner of the menu bar on any page in the site. Once you are on your home page scroll down to your friend’s box. At the bottom of the friend’s box click the Who’s viewed me? link. This link will take you to a page much like your friends page with a list of all the people who have viewed your profile.
14. How do I view profiles anonymously?
If you turn off Who’s viewed me? you will be able to view profiles anonymously but you will no longer be able to see who has viewed your profile. To turn this option off click the home link on the far left side of the menu bar, which will take you to your home page. Once you are on your “home” page click the my privacy link under your photo, which will take you to the privacy section of your account settings page. The second option under Privacy settings is View profiles anonymously click the yes button to turn off the Who’s viewed me? function and then click the Save all button at the bottom of the box
15. How do I make my profile private?
To make your profile private click the home link on the far left side of the menu bar, which will take you to your home page. On your home page click the my privacy link under your photo, which will take you to the privacy section of your account settings page. The third option under Privacy settings is Who can view my full profile?
Use the pull-down menu to select the option you prefer. If you select My friends, a member will need to be identified as your friend before they are able to view your full profile. If you choose My friends’ friends, only people that are friends of your friends will be able to view your profile. If you set it to “Anyone” your profile will remain public.
16. Strange Men/Women keep sending me messages, how can I stop this?
To change your message settings click the home link on the far left side of the menu bar, which will take you to your home page. Once you are on your home page click the my privacy link under your photo, which will take you to the privacy section of your account settings page. The fourth option under Privacy settings is Who can send me messages? Use the pull-down menu to select the option you prefer. You can set it at My friends. With this option a member must be identified as your friend before they can send you a message. If you choose My friends’ friends people that are friends of your friends will be able to send you a message. Or, you can set it to Anyone; if you decide to do so anyone on Blinxi will be able to send you a message.
17. I added a picture when I first set up my page, how do I add more?
You can have up to 50 photos on your Blinxi profile. To add more photos click the home link on the far left side of the menu bar; this will take you to your home page. Once you are on your home page click the My pictures link to the right of your profile picture; this will take you to your photos page. Click the upload photos link in the top left of the photo box. You may also scroll down beneath your photo until you see the upload photos box. Now click the Browse button and find the photo you want to upload in a file on your computer. Once you have found it, click the choose or select file button (may differ slightly on every computer.) You will see the file path in the field to the left of the Browse button. Now click the Upload button. Your file will be uploaded, the page will refresh and your photo should appear in the photo album at the top of the page.
18. I’ve uploaded some new photos, how do I change the picture that everyone sees on my profile?
To change your profile picture click the home link on the far left side of the menu bar, which will take you to your home page. Once you are on your home page click the My pictures link to the right of your profile picture, this will take you to your photos page. Now go into your photo album at the top of the photo box and select your picture. Then click the Set as profile picture link beneath the picture; it will now appear on your profile page.
19. How do I delete a photo from my photos page?
Go into your photo album at the top of the photo box and find the picture you want to delete. Once you select it click the Delete link beneath the picture and it will be deleted from your photo album.
20. How do I ad a caption to one of my photos on my photo page?
Go into your photo album at the top of the photo box and select the image. Click on the photo and it will load in the viewer below your photo album. Scroll down below the photo and find the caption field. Enter your caption and then click the add/edit caption link to the right of the field. The page will refresh and when other Blinxi members view your photos they will see your caption.
21. How do I view my friends photos?
When you are viewing a profile page simply click the view more pics link under the profile photo and it will take you to the photos page. Now you can scroll through your friend’s photos in the photo album in top of the photo box.
22. How do I comment on a friends photo when I’m on their Photo page?
Scroll through your friend’s photos in the photo album in top of the photo box and select the photo by clicking on the image. It will load in the photo viewer below the photo album. Just scroll down below the photo and you will see a comments box. Add your comment and click the Preview button. The page will refresh and your comment will appear. If you like your comment click the Submit button. if you wish to edit your comment click the Edit button; if you decide you don’t want to post a comment after all click the Cancel button.
23. How do I send someone a message on Blinxi?
There are a couple of ways to send someone a message on Blinxi.
If you are viewing your friends list you can click on the Send message link next to the photo of the person you want to message and this will take you to the Compose mail page with the message already addressed to your friend. If you are viewing your friend’s profile, click the “send message” in the box below her/his picture. This will also take you to the Compose mail page with the message already addressed to your friend. Click the mail link on the left side of the menu bar from any page. This will take you to your inbox; click the Compose mail link. This will take you to your Compose mail page; select the friend you want to message from the pull-down menu.
Write your message and click the Send button at the bottom of the page.
24. How do I send messages to more than one Blinxi member?
Click the mail link on the left side of the menu bar from any page; this will take you to your inbox. Now click the Compose mail link to go to the Compose mail page. Now click the multiple recipients link under the pull-down menu, and a box with your friends’ names will appear. Hold down CTRL (Cmnd or Open Apple on a mac), and click the friend or friends who should receive the message. Write your message and click the Send button.
25. What the world is blogging?
Blog is internet slang for a web log. It’s an online journal--you can write about whatever interests you. Blogging is the act of adding entries to your blog.
Yes you can! It’s easy! Every Blinxi member has a blog as soon as they sign up. Using it is up to you. To access your blog, click on the blog button in the center of the menu bar. Once you’re on your blog page just click the add new posting button and your blog entry page will load. Type out your blog entry, and then click the Post button. Your blog post will be online for everyone to see.
27. My friend told me they started a group, how do I find it?
There are two ways you can this. First off you can go to your friend’s profile and scroll down to the group list to find the group. The second way would be to click the group link on the right hand side of the menu bar, which will redirect you to the group page. Now just enter the name of the group into the search field and click the Search button. A list of results will show up with two options next to the group photo: view this group and join this group. If it’s a public group, just click the join button; if it’s private or hidden you will have request an invitation, or wait to be invited.
Starting a group is easy--simply click the group link on the right hand side of the menu bar. This will redirect you to the group page. Click the create a group link just above the search field. You will see the create group page. You will then have the option to enter your group name, select a group category, and group privacy settings. You can upload a group picture in the same way you uploaded your profile photo. You will be asked for your country, zip code, and a brief description of your site. Then you can personalize your group’s website URL by entering something such as http://groups.blinxi.com/awesomegroups. Once you’ve entered this info just click Save.
29. Require approval for embedded content? What does this mean? What’s embedded content.
Anywhere you can enter text on Blinxi, you can also enter HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) code and other types of computer code. Why would anyone want to do this? If you enter code from a site like Youtube.com or Flickr.com, you can display a video or a picture on your profile page or as a comment to your friends. So this option in your privacy settings (click “my settings” on your homepage) allows you to choose whether or not you want to approve things that people might embed in your comments before they are posted on your profile. Just in case someone puts up a stupid video like the one below and you don’t want it on your page.
30. How do I embed photos and videos?
Embedding photos and videos on Blinxi is fun and easy! Let’s say there is a something really funny on Youtube.com that you want to post on your friend’s page in the comments section. First off go to Youtube and find the video, to the right of the video you’ll see the word embed and a text box full of computer code. Now double click your mouse inside that box and the code will be highlighted (see picture).
Once it’s highlighted copy the text by pressing CTRL (CMND or “open apple” on a mac) and the letter C at the same time or by selecting copy from the edit menu on your browser. Now log in to Blinxi and go to your friend’s page, scroll down to the comments section and click the add comment link in the upper left of the comments box. A text entry box will open up, now type your message (if any) and then paste in the code from Youtube by pressing CTRL (CMND or “open apple” on a mac) and the letter V at the same time or by selecting paste from the edit menu on your browser. Now click the Preview button at the bottom of the entry field. The page will refresh and your comment will appear and you should see the video. If you like your comment click the Submit button. If you wish to edit your comment click the Edit button; if you decide you don’t want to post a comment after all click the Cancel button.
NOTE: Sometimes a few extra lines of code will appear in the comment, usually the first few words. If this bothers you, you can click the Edit button and go back and erase the extra code, just be careful not erase too much and remember to click Submit again afterwards.
31. What do the little icons next to my mail in my inbox mean?
These little icons are there to show you what action you have taken on this message. Look at the photo below: The little icon next to the message to my friend Sarah means that I have forwarded this message. The little icon next to message to my friend Spencer shows me that I have replied to his message.
32. What is rich text formatting?
Rich text formatting allows you to alter text just like you would with any word processing program. You can bold text, change text color and size, etc. To use these options click the buttons just above the text field (see photo)
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. In laymans terms it’s a website address starting from http://. So if you are ever asked to enter a URL this is what they are looking for. You might be asked for a URL if you are trying to embed a photo. If you ever need to find out the URL of a photo anywhere on the web so you can link to it, just click on it so it loads in a new page and then look at the top of your browser at the address in the text entry field and that is the URL of the photo.
34. How and why customize URL?
You can customize your URL so that it’s easier for people to find your profile. URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, in laymens terms it a web address. If you don’t customize it will be long with seemingly random numbers, but if you customize it your profile can be easily found at address as simple as www.blinxi.com/helpguys. To customize your url simply go to your home page by clicking the home link in the left side of the menu bar. This will take you to you home page now click the My settings link under your profile picture. This will take you to your account settings page, and the fifth option from the top will be Personal URL and there will be an empty text field. Type your name or a nickname into the space, for example, Spencer. Now click the Save button at the bottom of the page. Now your profile can be easily viewed at www.blinxi.com/Spencer.
This function is not yet enabled.
36. What's the point of forwarding member to a friend?
You might want to use this function for a couple of reasons. Let’s say you see a person that you know a friend of yours would be interested in, just forward that person’s page to your friend. Or let’s say you have two friends that are friends in real life but aren’t friends on Blinxi yet. You can help connect them. And it’s easy! Just click the Forward to a friend link beneath the photo on the page of the person you want to forward. You will be redirected to the Compose mail page with a partially composed message that has a link to the profile. Select your recipient and click the Send button.
37. Who are the Help Guys and why are they my friend?
The Help Guys are Tim and Spencer. We are two of the co-founders and the co-creators of the site. We designed this thing, so who better to ask for help if you have a problem on the site. Just click on our profile and send us a message with your question. We are automatically friends with you because that way it’s easier for our members to find help if they need it. So feel free to ask us any question you have on the site anytime of day or night and we’ll try to get back to you as soon as possible.
38. How do I post a comment on my friend’s page?
Go to your friend’s page by clicking on her/his profile in your friends list. Scroll down to the comments section and click the add comment link in the upper left of the comments box. A text entry box will open up; type your comment and click the Preview button at the bottom of the entry field. The page will refresh and your comment will appear. If you like your comment click the Submit button. If you wish to edit your comment click the Edit button; if you decide you don’t want to post a comment after all click the Cancel button.
39. What’s event mean on the menu bar?
The event button on the menu bar will take you to the event page where you can create or search for an event on Blinxi. This functions much in the same way as sites like Evite. If your having a party, or a fundraiser, or a political awareness meeting this would be where you would want to go to invite people and list all the info.
Okay let’s say your having a big 50th birthday party for yourself and you want to get the word out, start by clicking the event link in the menu bar. You will be forwarded to the main event page. Click the create an event link towards the top of the events box.
You will be redirected to the create event page. Here you will enter the event name, tagline, time, date, category and the privacy settings.
After you fill this all out click the Save & Next button, and remember: only items with an * next to them are required. You don’t need to enter your phone number if you don’t want to. You will be forwarded to the event detail page.
If you click the first option, everyone will be able to see the names of all who have RSVP’d to your event. If the second option is checked people will have the option to RSVP. Then go to the Guests per invite pull-down menu. Here you can select how many people the friends you invite can bring with them to your event. Next you have a few options allowing friends to comment on your event posting and then an option to upload a photo for your event that works just like uploading a photo on your photos page. When you are done click Save & Next you will then move on to the Invite Guests page.
On the left you will see a list of all your friends--just click on a name and then click the Add friend button under the box and the name will move to the box on the right. To select multiple friends at once hold down CTRL (CMND or “open apple” on Mac) and click a bunch of friends and then click the Add friend. If you mistakenly add some one you didn’t want to add just click their name in the box on the right and then click the Remove friend button at the bottom of the box. Once you have chosen your friends click the Submit button at the bottom of the box. You can also click the Skip for now button and do this later. Now move onto the second Invite guests page. On this page you can search Blinxi to add people that aren’t in your friends list. Once you’ve found whom you’re looking for just click Submit to move on, or if you don’t need to add anyone else click the Skip for now button. And just like that you’ve created an event!
If you’re looking for something to do one night, it’s easy to search for events on Blinxi. Start by clicking the event link in the menu bar. You will be forwarded to the main event page. There is a search field near the top of the box just enter a keyword and use the pull-down menu to pick the kind of event you are looking for and how close to your home zipcode you would like to search. You can also leave the keyword text field blank and see all the events near your zipcode. You can also browse events by clicking on of the categories above the search field. You will then be asked to select a subcategory and you will be able to look through lists of events. If you are a member of a museum or other group, and would like to enter an interesting event, you can do that as well.
You have no idea how hard it is to come up with a name for a website. Every name you can think of is taken, so we decided to make up a word hence Blinxi. So since Blinxi means nothing it’s up to you give it meaning! Blinxi is whatever you make it!
43. I’m in a band, can I put up a band page with music?
Right now Blinxi doesn’t have it’s own music player software. But it is still possible to set up a band page with music that people can listen to and even buy and download directly from your profile page! To do this set up a profile page just like you would for a personal page with all your band’s info, photo, etc. Then go to www.snocap.com where you can upload all your music and set up an account. Just copy and paste the code from snocap into the about me section of your Blinxi profile on the edit profile page. Your fans will see a window where they can listen to your music and download tracks for 99¢ a pop.
44. Blinxi looks all screwy when I view it through AOL’s browser--why is this?
This happens because the AOL browser window is set to open too small too display many web pages, so text and images can get garbled and superimposed on each other. But don’t fret-this is a simple fix. All you have to do is grab the bottom right corner of your browser window and make the window larger. To do this move your cursor over the bottom right hand corner over the three angled lines.
Click your mouse to grab it and pull it to the right to make the window wider.
Your “Top 9” is the nine friends that are posted in your friends box on your profile page. By default these will be the first nine people you became friends with on Blinxi. However, you can also choose which nine friends you want displayed. To do this click the edit top 9 link at the bottom of your friends box on your home page. This will take you to the edit top 9 page. You will see nine boxes. If you want to change your top nine go to the box of the person you want to remove from your top 9 and use the pull-down menu to select a different friend to be in this box in your top 9.
46. Can I upload pictures from my computer directly into a blog posting?
Yes, this is easy to do. When you are adding a new post to your blog, beneath the text entry field you will see the words add photos. You will see three photo-upload boxes as you can post up to three pictures in each blog entry. This works just like adding photos to your profile. Click the Browse button and select the photo you’d like to post from your hard drive. After you’ve written your post and selected your photos click the Post button.
47. How do I edit or delete a blog posting?
To delete a blog posting click the blog tab located in the center of the menu bar on every page. This will take you to your blog home. On the left you will see your most recent posts; at the bottom of each post there will be an edit link and a delete link.