Help and Info for using Sphinn- News & Networking For Search & Internet Marketing

Sphinn: Help Info

Want to learn more about using Sphinn (we pronounce it "spin"). Then you've come to the right place! That is, if you've already read the introduction. If you haven't, please check out the overview, then come back for the more detailed guidance here.

Contacting Us: Something broken or got an urgent matter or need human help? Use the contact page. If it's a general bug or wishlist request, please use these pages:

Also see this for the latest changes to improve the site:

Sphinn: New Features Added

Topics: These are either news stories that have been submitted or discussions that have been started by Sphinn members. To view topics, select the "Topics" tab at the top of Sphinn pages. By default, you'll see Hot Topics, but you can switch to What's New view. More about these views:

Hot Topics : These are the most popular topics as voted by Sphinn members over the past three days. If you want, just the "Sort items by" links on the right-hand side of a Hot Topics page to narrow Hot Topics to today, yesterday, the current week or for the entire month.
What's New: These are topics recently submitted by Sphinn members. Like one of them? Click on the Sphinn button to vote for it. Topics that get enough Sphinns can move to Hot Topics.
Greatest Hits: These are all topics submitted to Sphinn over time, listed in order of how popular they are.

Categories: At the top of Sphinn's pages, you'll see categories listed, such as "Yahoo" or "Searching." Select a category to narrow topics to just those areas. Each category also has subcategories, allowing you to focus even further. The Other category has a special Sphinn Zone area. This is the place to talk about how Sphinn itself works. Have questions, feature suggestions and so on? Start a discussion here.

Sphinning: See a news story or discussion you like? You can vote for it using the blue Sphinn icon. Just click on the words "Sphinn It," and you've cast your vote -- the words will change to "Sphunn" to indicate that your Sphinn was registered. Voting -- called Sphinning here -- is also an easy way to keep track of stories for future reference, since everything you Sphinn for is automatically recorded within your profile. Want to know more about a story? Click on the number in the icon, and you can see a full description about it plus any comments.

Comment Voting: Like stories, you can rate whether you like a comment you've read or not. To vote for it, click the + box at the top of the comment. To vote against, click the - box.

Submitting Topics: The Submit tab at the top of the Sphinn page is how you submit topics. Be sure to read the guidelines before submitting:

Comments: The Comments tab is where you can see the latest discussions happening on topics across Sphinn.

Calendar: The Calendar tab is where you can find (or submit) events going on related to search and interactive marketing. You can also associate yourself with an event, so that others know you'll be going.

Network: The Network page is where you can search for people in addition to finding them through news stories and discussions. When you find someone, you can establish a relationship with them, as explained next.

Relationships: At Sphinn, you can have one of three relationships with other members. These are:

People You're Stalking (Stalkees): See someone doing something interesting and want to keep track of them? Stalk them! Why bother? For one, it lets you send private messages to them, handy if they don't publish their regular email. For another, they'll see you're stalking them -- which is a first step to them possibly making you a friend.
Stalkers: These are people who find you interesting. It's a one-way relationship, at this point. But you have the option to make it two-way. Use the "add as friend" option listed for any stalker to transform them into a friend.
Friends: These are people who you've either stalked and he/she decided to make you a friend, or who were stalking you and you decided to make a friend. In the future, we plan special ways for you to share things with your friends. For now, just feel good that you can have some. Go make some!

Profile: This page that you reach using the Profile link at the top of Sphinn pages tells the world what you do at Sphinn plus allows you to share information about who you are publicly. In particular, the area shows:

Relationships: Friends, People You're Stalking & Your Stalkers, if you choose to share these.
Info: Using the Modify Profile option, you can create a public business card for others in the Sphinn community. Upload a picture of yourself or a custom icon. Share your email using the Public Email option or give it private by leaving that box blank. You can also share your IM info. Have a blog or two or three? List your work, personal and one other blog -- plus have the last three items posted in these places appear in your profile, if you provide feed addresses. Participate in popular discussion forums and social network sites? Enter your profile addresses so others can locate you in these places. You can also choose whether to share your relationships. This area also displays User Stats such as when you joined, how many topics you've submitted that have gone to Hot Topics, total topics you've submitted and more.
Submits: See everything you've submitted to Sphinn.
Gone Hot: See everything that's made it to Hot Topics from what you've submitted.
Latest: See everything you've submitted that's in New Topics.
Comments: See all the comments you've made to news stories and within discussions at Sphinn.
Sphinns: See all the stories you've voted for.

Inbox/Private Messaging: If you've registered, you can receive messages through Sphinn's private messaging service from other members who are your friends or stalking you. This is a helpful way to let people contact you without having to expose your public email adddress.

Your Account: You need to login to modify your account details, submit stories, comment and basically do things other than browse Sphinn. Forgot your password? The Login page has a form that will let you reset your password to something new.

Sphinn is an evolving community. Aside from the information above, see also these important other pages of help information: