SoberFolk has all of the main functions of the largest social networking sites and we are adding more function on a weekly basis.Because of the size of this site there are a lot of questions.

Here are the answers to the most often asked questions from members of SoberFolk.org and questions asked at other sites that we frequent.We will attempt to explain all the available features, applications and functions of SoberFolk.org. But we will fail.We are expanding this site too fast to keep up with all of the new features and applications.Rather than documenting a new bug we have found we will put our effort into getting it fixed.As the site changes and new enhancements, information and functions are added we will do our best to keep up and to update this FAQ's section.

Since you are reading this page then it seems safe to say to that you already know basic website navigation such as typing web addresses, clicking through links and maybe even watching or listening to multimedia. That's great! What we'll do here is try to familiarize you with how to use our site and its many functions.

When you get done reading this FAQ we hope you will be able to create your profile, write a blog, make forum posts, reply to existing posts, and comment on what others have posted as well as. You will know how to format your text, make links, add images and videos and much more. We're not going to teach you how to use every feature or bell and whistle, but her provide you sufficient skills to feel comfortable enough to begin participating here

Viewing your own profile page

By default when you log on the first page that comes up is your Profile, but if you want to access it again there are a number of ways to do so.

On the SoberFolk Main Menu or on the User Menu (both shown above), click on My Profile to access your profile. On the Profile Horizontal Menu(shown below), visible when you are viewing either your or someone else’s profile simply click on Profile

The profile page displays detail information about you.While we would like you to fill out some of your profile. DO NOT fill out ANYTHING in your profile that you don’t feel comfortable posting on the internet.Our objective here at SoberFolk is to build a safe fun site and it won’t be either if you feel pressured to post anything you aren’t comfortable with..

Updating your profile

To edit your profile, click on 'Edit Profile' sub menu.

Use the following form to edit your profile details.

Updating your profile details

To edit your profile, click on 'Edit Details' sub menu.

Use the following form to edit your details. Click here

Updating your profile privacy

To edit your profile, click on 'Privacy' sub menu.

Here you can set the privacy settings for a specific area.

Changing your profile picture

To edit your profile, click on 'Change Profile Picture' menu.

Here you can upload an image for your profile. This can be a picture of ANYTHING.It is just an avatar.An avatar is just like a game piece of a board game.It only stands for you it DOES NOT have to be your picture.But it will help people remember you and make them more likely to check out what you have to say in your profile and blog.

This function allows you to look through your computer files to find an appropriate image. If you can not find an image you can download one from the net.You can use Google to find “free avatars gallery”.

SoberFolk Applications

There are a number of applications on SoberFolk and we are adding more every week.A larege number of these applications are hidden and will be made available to users over the course of the next few months.But a large number of applications are accessible from the Profile Page:

This is the control panel for many of the applications on the Profile Page.We’ll discuss each of these in detail.

Invite/Tell Your Friends

We hope that you will like SoberFolk and will want to Tell Your Friends about SoberFolk and invite them to join us.To make this easy for you we have create an application to help you send out emails to your friends.While we assist with this process we do not retain your friends email addresses.

First you select the email service and then tell us your account at that service and your password.We do NOT store that information but only use it temporarily to pull the list so you can chose which of your contacts will receive a letter.

You can then select which of these contact receive a letter and the text of this letter.

Adding Friends

One of the major ways of enjoying this site is to make friends with lots of other people in recovery already members of the site or new members. To do that is very simple. Simply when you see a profile of someone you want to make friends with click on “Add as friend” on their profile and then send them a nice message.

If anyone has “friended you” or asked you to be their friend then the New Friend Request here would be set to something other than 0.If that is the case then click on this link here and add them as a friend.

We really encourage you to make as many friends on SoberFolk as you can.It is a great way of meeting people and developing an online support system.Who knows the life you save might be your own.

You can “unfriend” anyone later if you chose to do that by deleting them from your Friends List.

The easiest way to meet people on SoberFolk is to go to the Home Page and click on any of the avatars and read different profiles till you find some one you want to meet online.Then just Friend them, send them a message or write on their wall.

Communications

There are countless number of ways to communicating with other members on this site.We have two instant message systems (Private Messaging and Facebook style instant messaging) , text chat, webcam/audio text chat, email, commenting on other people’s blogs, posting on the forums, posting on the groups, and other ways.

The first we will discuss is the email system.The picture above is the status section which is located at the very top middle of every page.The first line in this case “0 New Messages” is where you find out that you have mail.If you have mail click on this and you can see who has written you.If you are looking at anyone else’s profile you will see this special box at the end of the line showing that you have an email(s)

This is the Inbox.Just click on the subject on any of these messages to read them and respond.Click on the avatars to see the profile of writer of these messages.

If you want to send an email to any of your friends simply click on their avatar and you’ll see a bar like this under their avatar.Simply click on Write Message.

Private Messages.

This tells you have you have Private Messages. It flashes when you have messages and tells you who you have messages from.We also cause a pop-up box to float on your screen.

Click on this and you will be able to send or receive new private messages.To receive on any of the message in this Inbox and you can read/respond to them.You can also archive these message, forward them to another user or delete them.

To send a message click on Compose and the following screen comes up.

If you click on Show Users a drop down box comes up with a list of all of the members of SoberFolk that you can select which member to send an email to.All of your friends are automatically put into your "address book" of connections.

Instant Messages

You can also send “Facebook Styled Instant Messages”Look at the bottom right corner on the screen and you will see the number of online users.You are NOT counted in this number.Then you can click on this link and the next screen comes up showing you who those users are.Then you can click on any of them and the final screen comes up.Simply type them a message and press the Enter key.They will hear a sound and a will see a visible indication that they have a message.

Text Chat

You can also send Text Chat Messages.The text chat window is located in the right hand column of every page.Simply type a message in this window and press Send.It makes an audible sound.You can also use smileys in this chat and post links.

Write On Someone’s Wall

Writing on someone’s wall is a nice way to publicly saving hello.

You can then click on their avatar and see their profile, Comment on what they have said, or Remove their comment.SoberFolk displays the last few Wall Posts, but some people have a lot of posts so to see them all click on Show All.

BLOGGING

The way to access the blogging function on SoberFolk is either through the User Menu and on the Profile Horizontal Menu.When you click on it the following page comes up.

To write a blog simply click on Write New Entry.

The only real trick is that the Blog HAS to have a title.If you are not happy with your blog or it is a draft then change the radio box to Unpublish.That will save your Blog but NOT publish it to the net.

You can imbed links, photos, videos and there are a lot of other controls on your blog.

Post Forum Threads

Write this later from material below

Create Albums & Share Photos

Photo Sharing like Video Sharing is a SoberFolk Application and you will find it on the Applications tab on your profile.You may upload as many photos as you want on SoberFolk.The first step is to create an album.So click on the Create Album link and then the following screen comes up:

After the album is created you will need to upload the photos using the Upload Photo functions.The first step is to select the album.Then Browse your files to find the pictures you want to upload.

Upload/Share Video

Like Share Photos above Video is a SoberFolk Application and is located up Applications on the Profile horizontal menu.

First you have to decide if the video is going to be linked to or uploaded.Select one of these two options.

If you select Upload Video you will then tell us where on your computer this file exists and the name, a description, what category this video fits into, and then who can see this video.

If the video is to be linked to the location is specified, the category, and who can access the video

Join or Create Groups

Groups is a SoberFolk application like Photos and Videos described below.To access groups you can click on this link, or go to either Groups on the Main Menu or under Applications on the Profile Horizontal Menu.

While we have a lot of groups we have just started adding groups and there is a huge need for more groups from 12 step programs that are not represented to activities and hobbies that we don’ t yet have.While many of us in the program feel we are unique, if not sometimes terminally unique, if there is a subject that interest you there are probably more people in the program interested in that subject too.So PLEASE start a group and seek out members who have a similar interest.

If you would like create your own group, simply click on the link Create. Then the following screen comes up:

From this page, you can name your group, and add a description, and set privacy settings As a group owner, you can admit and ban members from your group. All group members can broadcast emails to all group members to keep in touch and keep people informed.Your groups will be available from your profile page.

On your group page you can edit the description, post announcements, have discussions, post things to the Wall, change the group avatar, invite friends, and show members.

Upload Audio/Music

This will be written later when the new application is loaded

Share Files

This will be written later when the new application is loaded