Q: Who is behind this website? A: SHOE was founded by us, two women: Sunci Nikolic & Fab Syz better
known as "The SHOE-Team". Everything from the programming to the
designing, from ideas to the whole content, from merchandise to marketing
- simply everything is done by us. You will never hear us complain about
being bored *lol*
Q: I keep seeing this weird name "NEKA"
everywhere. Who is that? A: NEKA is our bitchy Chat door woman. Be nice to her and she will be
nice to you ;-) No, NEKA is not a real person. She exists only in cyber
space. The comic was designed by Nicole Schoenbeck.
Q: What is the idea behind this website? A: The idea of SHOE has been born because we (Sunci & Fab) both
realized, how difficult it was to meet other lesbians. It's not easy to
walk into a lesbian bar for the first time all by yourself. We have
actually met over the Internet. It was so much easier to meet for the
first time in real life after having exchanged emails for a couple of
weeks, that we thought it would be a great idea to provide the same
opportunity for other women. Believe it or not, but the very first time we
actually met - the very same evening - the idea of SHOE was born and 2
weeks later the first version of SHOE was online.
People started sending out emails over the mailinglist to find new friends
to go clubbing with or anything like that. We used to go and meet new
members beforehand and try and make them feel welcome and comfortable.
Read more about it in our Press Release.
Q: When did it first go online? A: SHOE went online the very first time on 14 July 1997. Mainly as a
local mailinglist which quickly grew nationwide and eventually went
international beginning 1999.
Q: I want to give you feedback about the
site. How do I do that?
A: We have an Ideas Pool where members can post their feedback,
suggestions and critical comments. We very much welcome all your input :)
Q. What other projects do you have? A: Too many ;-) SHOE is not the only thing we are working on although
for us it's the most important site. It's our baby :) You can check on our
other projects on this homepage: SHOE
International Network
Q: How
do I sign up? A: Simply go to "Sign Up " and start filling out the blank
fields. You MUST provide a valide email address or your profile will not
be activated.
Q: What's the difference between a
personal profile and a promoter profile? A: With a personal profile you will have full access to everything in
the member area. A promoter profile will only get you as far as the SHOE
guide where you can add Events, Parties, Clubs etc.
Q: What are the advantages of
registering with SHOE? A: By registering with SHOE you will have full acess to everything in
the member area incl. All personal profiles, Chat, Forum, Instant
Messenger, Mailinglists etc.
Q: Do I have to provide my real
information (i.e. name, email, city...)? A: You do not have to give us your real name. Actually we prefer the
usernames to be invented names. As for everything else, you will need to
provide your real / valid email address, city and country you live in.
Invalid profiles will be deleted.
Q: Will my Email address be visible to
other people? A: No! Your email address will not be displayed anywhere on the site.
We highly recommend you to not write your email address down publicly in
the forums or mailinglist.
Q: Will my Email address be given out to
third parties? A: No! We assure you that your email address will not be given to
third parties. We treat all your personal information with the outmost
care.
Q: Can I delete my membership at any
given time? A: Yes. Simply go to MySHOE > Delete Profile.
Q: Help! This is too complicated for me! How do I
know what a "Signature" is, for instance? A: There is a ? (question mark) next to every step. Click on it. You
will get more detailed information what you need to do.
Q: I get the error message: "The Login name
is already in use". What now? A: Just choose a different one and submit the form again.
Q: Ich have signed up but did not receive a confirmation
email. What do I do now? A: This could be becauses of any of those 3 reasons:
- The email address you have entered, is wrong
- Your mailbox is inactive (Hotmail for instance, disactivates unused
email addresses)
- Your mailbox is full
Check those 3 points and sign up again.
Q: I received my confirmation email and clicked on the link. But I
always get this error message: "Registration Code
does not Exist" A: Either you have not activated this link within 24 hours (therefore
you need to sign up again) or you have double clicked and thus already
activated it. In that case, you will receive an email within a few seconds
with your login details.
Q: I have forgotten my password. What do I do now? A: Go to: this page, enter your e-mail
address which you have submitted when you registered your profile and you will receive
username and password within seconds by e-mail.
Q: I keep getting error messages when trying
to log on? What's wrong? A: Please red the error message in read carefully. It tells you exactly
what the problem is.
Q: Why is there a member area? A: In order to give lesbians a safe place and to prevent abuse.
Q: What's up with those Baby pictures? I want to see recent photos. A: SHOE has started into this virtual world with a vision: No-one should be judged and discriminated against solely based on looks. We managed to maintain this idea for nearly 10 years. But the worldwide web has changed immensely over the last few years. And so have the needs and demands of todays female surfer. Since it has always been important to us to create a place where women will not be judged soley based on looks and age, we are aware of the fact, that the SHOELace membership obviously contradicts our vision of a judgmental free world.
Q: How do I edit my Nickpage?
A:
Go to MySHOE and scroll down to your personal settings.
Q: How do I upload my photo?
A: Go to MySHOE.
* To upload Baby & current Photo, please select the link: Nickpage Photo Upload
* To upload your pet, your car, your computer, your SHOE Fotoalbum please select the link:
SHOE Photo Album
Q: How do I search for members in my own area ?
Go to Member Profiles and enter your search keywords in the empty field. Using the Extended Search Option will help you narrow down the search in your area. You can even search by Flirt Status, Age, Zodiac sign and so on. To use the extended search option you need to sign up for a membership upgrade called SHOELace. More Info: SHOELace
Q: Why do you charge for certain features? A: Ah that's quite a simple one.
The SHOE community was one of the very first lesbian online
communites when it was launched in 1997. It started full of
enthusiasm and idealism and over the years grew to become the
worlds largest online lesbian community.
As the number of members grew so did the costs. Our idealism
and goals not only consisted of providing all lesbians, bisexuals
and transgendered women a safe and happy place on the internet
but also to keep it free of charge. We have managed to maintain
this for over 8 years and now our private pockets are empty....
Although we have received fantastic support and donations from our
members, the costs were still not covered.
This meant, we had to decide on new ways to finance the site. So we
have come up with the very funky SHOELace membership :-)
Q: Will I be able to access the additional features immediately? A: This depends on which payment option you have chosen. If you pay through Paypal you will get instant access. If you decide to pay through our online shop www.shop4lesbians.com then it may take up to 24-48 hours - since these payments have to be dealt with manually.
So if you are in hurry... choose Paypal ;-)
Q: I have paid for my SHOELace membership but cannot access the additional features. A: This can happen, when you select an amount yourself instead of selecting the 1 week, 1 month or 1 year option by default.
But that's nothing to worry about. This just means, that you have charged your SHOE Cashcard and that you will now need to tell the system what you would like to use this amount for i.e. upgrading your Membership with SHOELaces.
Follow these steps:
- Go to: http://en.shoe.org/member/shoelace
- select the desired type of shoelace account (one week, month, year) and click on ">> SELECT"
- now, simply confirm the amount. it'll be debited from your SHOE Cashcard which you have already charged.
as soon as you have done this, you'll be able to use all features on SHOE instantly :-)
Q: Where is the old SHOE Mailinglist??? A: The old Mailinglist is still there. You need to go to the Classifieds & Personal Ads / Mailinglist Section. Then select a category that most suits the content of your post. If you are looking for the old general discussions that used to go over the list you will need to select: SHOE Mailing List / General Talk. Write your message and don't forget to tick the Mailinglist Box in order to send it over the list. Every single category can be sent over the SHOE Mailinglist.
Q: I
wish to send an Email over the Mailinglist to the
SHOE members. How do I do that? A: Go to the Classifieds & Personal Ads / Mailinglist. Select a category which suits the content of your message best. For instant: For general discussions about any topic, click on General Discussions / SHOE Mailinglist. If you are looking for a travel buddy then click on Travel Buddy.
Every single category can be sent over the Mailinglist to thousands of women.
Here's a step by step introduction if needed ;-)
Step 1:
Select the appropriate category. SHOE Mailingliste / General Talk for instance
Step 2:
Click on "New Message"
Step 3:
Select "Language", "Country" aswell as "State" *
Step 4:
If your post is of private nature, click on "Private". If it's commercial, click on "Commercial"
Step 5:
Enter Subject aswell as your message
Step 6:
Click on the "Mailinglist" Box to have it sent over the Mailinglist
Step 7:
Optional: Since your message is not only sent over the mailinglist but also displayed in the Classifieds section you are able to choose from different additional options like Photo Upload and so on.
Step 8:
Click on"Continue"
* If your message should be sent nationwide, then leave the field "State" as it is by default.
Should your message be sent worldwide, then select "Worldwide" in the Country field.
You are now seeing a summary of your post. You have the possibility to edit your post or publish i.e. submit it over the Mailinglist. Depening on which category you have chosen and whether you selected private or commercial you will need to charge your SHOE CashCard in order to pay for the fee.
Q: How do I reply to the sender of a message I have received from the mailinglist?
A: Scroll down to the bottom of the email you have received and click on the link which leads you to her nickpage. You have the possibility to leave a message in her personal guestbook or instant messenger. If you do not have her email anymore, go to the Classified & Personal Ads / Mailinglist section and look for her post.
Q: I am receiving all kinds of emails. Is it possible to sign up only for selected categories? A: Yes.Go to your Mailinglist Settings (MySHOE > Mailinglist Settings) and sign up for the categories and countries that are of interest to you.
Q: I have sent an email through the
mailinglist but it doesn't appear to have been sent. What happened? A: The mailinglist is moderated. Normally mails are being checked
and sent out within minutes but it can take up to 24 hours. If your
message still does not appear in the mailinglist archive,then
your post was most likely
against the rules. Please read them carefully before posting.
Q: I don't want to receive mails
anymore. But wish to remain a member! A: Go to MySHOE > Mailinglist Settings > Basic Settings. Where it says:
Do you wish to receive Emails from the SHOE Mailinglist? Select No and save your changes.
Q: How do I post a message? A: Click on the forum which interests you. To post a message, click
on: "Add new subject"
Q: How do I reply to a
message? A: Click on "Reply"
Q: I wish to correct something in my
post. How can I edit it?
A: Simply click on "Edit" correct your post and save it.
Q: How can I close the topic I have
opened? A: Go to your thread and click on "Close subject"
Q. The newest
post is at the top. Can I change this so that I don't have to scroll
down to read the first post?
A: Yes you can. Click on the "Sort by date" icon
Q: Why are certain usernames written in grey? A: Peoples usernames will appear in grey if they have deleted their
membership.
Q: I
have posted a message and now it's not there anymore! What happened? A: Either your post has been moved
by the SHOE-Team because there is a forum more appropriate for your post.
Or, your post was against the rules. Please read them carefully before
posting.
Q: Who
moderates the forum? A: The SHOE-Team moderates the
forum and reserves the right to delete, edit or move posts if necessary.
Q: I always get logged out automatically after 40
minutes. That's very annoying!
A: If there is no activity on SHOE from you, you will get logged off
automatically after 40 minutes. This is for security reason. Avoid being
automatically logged off, by leaving the instant messenger open. The
messenger constantly reloads itself and therefore you will not get logged
off automatically anymore.
Q: The font size is too big/small. How can I
change that? A: SHOE has been specifically programmed so that users with eye sight
problems can also enjoy our website. This means that, you can change your
font size to your needs yourself in your browser.
- Internet Explorer: View > Textsize
- Netscape or Mozilla: View > Textzoom > bigger or smaller
- Opera: > View > Zoom > Choose zoom
Q: I keep having to enter my password every
time I click on something. Why? A: You have probably not activated your cookies. Please read
this: 1.2 How do I activate cookies?
A cache is where the computer stores information about every web site accessed. Instead of going to the web site to download the page, the computer checks if the page is available in its memory. If it is available the cache copy is displayed unless otherwise specified by the user in the browser settings.
This can cause problems because you would not see any changes or updates made to the pages if the browser displays the old version of the stored page. Set the browser settings to clear the cache for every access of the page.
Internet Explorer
From the View menu, select the sub-menu Internet Options.
Under the General section, select the Settings under the Temporary Internet Files.
Check the Every visit to the page and press OK.
Press OK to update the settings.
Netscape Navigator
Select Edit then Preferences.
Under Category expand Advanced by clicking on the +, select Cache
Check Every time in the section where it asks about comparing the cached document to the network document.
Q: I have my own business and wish to promote it
on SHOE. How do I go about it? A: Great! You can find all the information you need here: E-Advertising.
Make sure to download our mediakit. It contains all the necessary
information like ad rates, stats and discounts.
Netscape 3 accepts cookies as default. You should therefore have no problems with cookies. When you are asked wether you want to accept a cookie, choose "Yes"
1.Choose the menu "Edit"
2.Choose "Preferences"
3.Click on the field "Advanced"
4.Activate "Accept all cookies" or "Accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server".
As default IE3 accepts cookies. You should therefore have no problems with cookies. When you are asked wether you want to accept a cookie, choose "Yes".
1. In Internet Explorer, click Internet Options on the Tools menu.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. Click the Web content zone you want.
4. Click Custom Level.
5. Activate Cookies.
1.3 What happens, if I don't activate the cookies?
If you don't activate the cookies, you cannot navigate on this website and you'll receive tons of error messages.
General Infos
