HELPFUL HINTS & 'HOW-TO' INFORMATION
This site (Festivus Passions) is part of Passions Network Inc., a network of over 260+ individually free online dating & social network dating sites. You can maintain a membership on this site (Festivus Passions) alone and enjoy free access to the features within the site...or, if you are interested, you can add (many) other sites within the network that match your 'passions in life'. Surround yourself with others who share your interests and by adding more sites into your account, you have the option to browse the millions of additional member profiles throughout Passions Network. All account information is maintained & updated in one area, so just follow the instructions below to add sites into your account, or to edit existing sites. (An optional upgrade is available to significantly reduce ads among other things. While the ads in the site may be a bit much, they help us keep the site free for members who are not interested, or not able to, pay for online dating.) Have fun!
RECOMMENDATIONS
Do you want your profile to be seen?
Make sure you have a photo and a UNIQUE description
for each site you add into your account.
(Profiles with photos & unique descriptions appear
closer to the top of search results when someone clicks on Search, Browse or Who's Online.)
I'm confused! Where do I start?
Just follow the instructions below to add sites into your account and to edit the information for each site.
Click the 'MY DESCRIPTIONS' link in the 'My Account' area, and add a unique description for every site you join.
Click on the 'ABOUT ME / MY INTERESTS' link in the 'My Account' area, to make sure you have chosen all the keywords that represent a little of who you are.
Click on the 'MY SITES' link in the 'My Account' area to join all the sites within Passions Network that match you, or your passions in life.
Add at least one photo. For more information on this topic, click here.
Click on the 'GROUPS' link in the 'My Account' area to join the group categories that specifically match you (so that people looking for someone like you, can find you). Note: Do not join
Groups just because you are interested in people in those Groups. You will be in the wrong Groups if you do this!
Remember to logout whenever you leave the site. Our system logs you out automatically after some time, but logging out yourself will prevent people from thinking you are online and ignoring them.
Send us feedback! We want to know what you think...good & bad. Take a moment to click on the 'Contact Us' link above, and let us know what you think of our sites.
Note: Profiles with the same description in multiple sites, with nonsense descriptions, or without descriptions will be deleted.
How do I send & receive email messages?
All email messages are sent via the internal email system. Just click the 'Email' link in a member's profile or within the 'My Account' area, to send and receive messages.
Why are email messages sent via the internal email system?
All email messages are sent via the internal email system to prevent your external email address from being used for spam purposes. We recommend that our members use our internal system so that they can limit the possibility of people spamming their external email address.
How do I update my email preferences so that I can receive 'Alert' messages?
The default setting is for email notifications or 'Alerts' to be sent to members in the U.S.
The default setting for members outside the U.S. is for email notifications or 'Alerts' NOT to be sent unless opted-in manually.
You can see this by clicking on the 'EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS' link in the My Account area.
Verify that the email address you have provided is the email address where you want to receive 'Alert' messages.
If email notifications are disabled (regardless of your location), check the selection boxes to enable them. This requires email verification.
To disable notifications, just uncheck the selection box, and click submit.
Please note that re-enabling email notifications will require you to enter a verification code sent to you by our system.
To re-enable notifications, re-check the 'notify me' box on the 'Update Email Notifications' page.
Once the change is submitted, login to your external email system, and open the 'Verification' message sent to you.
Click the verification link within the email, and follow the instructions on the page it leads to.
If you have trouble with the verification link, copy the entire link, and place it in your browser address bar. Hit enter, and follow the instructions.
I can't remember if I've already changed my preferences. How do I know if I'm set up to receive 'Alert' messages?
If the 'Notify Me' checkbox in the 'EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS' area is empty, you are NOT set up to receive 'Alert' messages. If the checkbox has a check in it, you are set up to receive 'Alerts'.
Why am I limited to only 10 email messages a day?
The 10 email limit is designed to help prevent spam. For additional information on spam, click here. Please note that if you are on someone's favorites/friends list, you can send as many email messages to them as you would like, and they will not count against your daily limit. Likewise, everyone you add to your favorites/friends list will be able to email you without it counting against their daily limit.
Are email messages kept indefinitely?
Email messages (sent and received) are maintained for 6 months, after which the messages are deleted...unless the email messages are Archived/Saved. Archived/Saved messages are maintained indefinitely. While email messages are maintained for 6 months, please note that when a member's account is deleted, email sent to or from that member's account is deleted along with that member (again, unless the email message has been Archived/Saved.
Missing Email - I received a notice that I had an email (mini-message, smooch, or other action), but when I logged in, there was nothing there. Why?
Occasionally, someone will send a 'spam' email message that makes it through our primary spam filters. If you have your email notification preferences set to alert you to a new message, you would be sent a notice of a new email message (or smooch, mini-message or gift) waiting for you. After the alert is sent out to you, we are either notified of the 'spam' message by our secondary 'spam' filters, or by a member who also received the 'spam'. Upon investigation, we determine 'spam' was sent, and we delete the sender's account completely...including any sent messages (read and un-read). You then login to see the email you were notified of, and you find nothing there, because the 'spammer' and their 'spam' has been deleted.
PROFILE
How do I update or edit my title?
Your site title is managed in the 'MY DESCRIPTIONS' area above each site description
How do I update or edit my site descriptions?
Your site descriptions are managed in the 'MY DESCRIPTIONS' section in the 'My Account' area.
PHOTOS
Why should I add a photo?
Our system dislays profiles with photos first when people Search, Browse, or view 'Who is Online'. By adding a photo, your profile will appear above others without photos, increasing your chance to be seen. Most people prefer to look at profiles with photos.
How do I add a photo?
Photos are managed in the 'PHOTOS' section in the 'My Account' area.
What are the requirements for uploading a photo?
Photos must be .jpg images or .jpeg images.
Photos cannot have a URL, email address, or last name printed on them.
Photos cannot contain a celebrity image.
Photos cannot contain images of children.
Photos must be 'G' rated.
I don't know how to add a photo. Can I just mail it to you?
No. In order to add a photo, you must do so via our online system.
If I set my photo to 'secret', who can see it, and when?
Setting your photo(s) to 'secret' will prevent non-members from viewing them. Please note that any member will be able to see your 'secret' photos just by logging in, because once someone logs in, all 'secret' photos become visible. The 'secret' setting offers a small amount of privacy for those individuals who would prefer that their photos not be visible to non-members of Passions Network.
Some sites within Passions Network appear to have all photos set to secret. Why?
In order to provide a small amount of privacy against casual browsing of site members by non-members, Passions Network has set all photos on some sites to 'secret'.
SPAM
I've received a 'spam' email message, what should I do?
1) To report an email message, click the 'Report This Message' link located on the lower right within the email message itself. The message will be forwarded to the Customer Service department for review.
2) When you have the 'spam' message open in the email section of your account, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on the 'BLOCK' icon, to prevent future messages from this person.
I tried to send someone an email message, and I got a pop-up saying my message was spam, and that it wouldn't be sent. It wasn't spam, so why did that happen?
We have a number of spam filters in place to help prevent spamming within our network. Most of the time, our filters only catch true spam, but occasionally, a non-spam message is flagged. We are working on additional spam-prevention features which should lessen the chance we'll accidentally flag a non-spam message. Please note that if you are on someone's favorites/friends list, you can send email messages without any fear of them being flagged by our spam filters. Likewise, everyone you add to your favorites/friends list will be able to email you without fear of their email being flagged as 'spam'. This feature allows trusted parties to send and receive email with no fear of their email being captured or prevented by our spam filters.
I received a notice that I had an email, but when I logged in, there was nothing there. Why?
Occasionally, someone will send a 'spam' email message that makes it through our primary spam filters. If you have your email notification preferences set to alert you to a new message, you would be sent a notice of a new email message (or smooch) waiting for you. After the alert is sent out to you, we are either notified of the 'spam' message by our secondary 'spam' filters, or by a member who also received the 'spam'. Upon investigation, we determine 'spam' was sent, and we delete the sender's account completely...including any sent messages (read and un-read). You then login to see the email you were notified of, and you find nothing there, because the 'spammer' and their 'spam' has been deleted.
DELETE
How do I delete one or more of my site memberships without deleting my entire account?
Click the 'MY SITES' link in the Account Management area, and choose the 'Delete' option next to the sites you are interested in leaving.
How do I delete my entire account?
Delete instructions are available in the FAQ section of the site.
(Please note that you must be logged in to reach the 'Delete' page.)
SHOW US SOME LOVE (and help yourself in the process)
If you want to see lots and lots of people when you do a search...show us some love, and tell your friends about our network of 260+ individually FREE sites. If everyone just tells one or two of their friends, the number of member profiles will explode. Take a moment to send an email to a few friends, and ask them to just check us out. Hopefully, they'll join, and maybe even meet someone special who shares their passions in life too.
Separately, if you have a homepage, a website, or a blog, consider adding a link to us.