CrazyOutdoorsmen.com Help

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I go back to the public homepage?

By clicking on the Crazy Outdoorsmen Logo in the upper left hand corner of the site, you will be taken back to the public authenticated page.

2. How do I comment on a journal?

At the top of each journal is 10 stars used to rate the journal. If you are the first to comment on a journal, all the stars will be blank. If the journal has already been commented on, the number of stars lit represents the average rating by CrazyOutdoorsmen members. To rate and comment on a journal, waive your cursor over the stars to light up the number of stars you think the journal deserves. Click once you have highlighted your rating of stars and a comment box will drop down. Enter your comments and they will be displayed below.

3. How do I create a journal?

Creating a journal is easy. It’s the key functionality of CrazyOutdoorsmen.com and it was designed for the average internet user that spends most of their time outdoors instead of on the web. To create a journal, select the “create new journal” tab on the upper left side of your menu option or on the top tool bar. This will lead you to a journal platform that is unique to CrazyOutdoorsmen.com.

There are various input functions on the journal creation platform. These include the journal body where story is told, the photo/video upload where your accompanying photos and videos are attached to the journal, users where you indicate which members were there, and the sharing preferences where you decide which groups you want to add your new journal to. A check box at the top of the journal creation page will also let you designate the journal for submission to the public page.

4. How do I create a group?

We want our members to have the ability to share and read journals that relate to areas of their interest or geographic locations. To create a group for your hunting partners, family members, and friends, click the “create new group” link on the left side in your member options. This will take you to the group creation platform. Enter the group name and group description then decide if you want this group to be open to the public or kept private. A private group is only open to those that you invite. A public group can be joined by any member on CrazyOutdoorsmen.com

5. How do I invite members to CrazyOutdoorsmen.com?

On the left side of the page you will find a box with the words “enter email address . . .”. Enter the email address of anyone you would like to share your journals with or would like to add to an existing or newly created group. CrazyOutdoorsmen.com is a great place to create a group for your hunting partners or deer camp. Invite everyone you hunt, fish or enjoy the outdoors with and allow CrazyOutdoorsmen.com to be your meeting place for sharing information and keeping up to date.

6. I updated my journal, why isn’t it the most recent public journal?

Updated journals are not sent to the top of the public site to avoid a member from resaving an old journal to get it to the top. We hope to keep the most recent journal on public site as the top journal so that you can tell which journals you have and have not read. To handle this situation, any updated journal will show up under a member’s group (that the journal is shared with) in white to designate it as unread if it has been updated since this member read your journal. Once the member reads your journal, it will disappear until it is updated again. Your updates won’t go unappreciated if you belong to groups!

7. How do I invite members to an existing group?

Groups are very effective sharing and marketing tools that work best when many members are included to view and participate. When you post a new journal to your group, everyone that is a member to the group will be sent an email to notify them of the new material.

To invite a member to your group, search members and find the member that you would like to add. *Try our search function! After you have located a member you want to add, click on “Invite member name to Group(s).” A drop down box will allow you to invite this member to any group that you are currently a member of.

8. How do I make a journal public?

At the top of the journal creation platform, you will find a check box titled “make journal public.” If you wish to make a journal you are writing public, check this box. If you want to make a private journal public, follow the instructions for “how do I edit a journal” and click this box. Any public journals must first pass an approval process by an administrator to be sure that only journals that are suitable for the public appear on the public site.

9. Why didn’t my journal show up on the public site right away?

All journals that are displayed on the public site have to be approved by an administrator. This ensures that the public site maintains a level of integrity for members of all ages. For more information on this topic please review the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

10. How do I edit a Journal?

On the left side under your user options, click on “Manage My Journals.” This will take you to a list of all the journals you have added to CrazyOutdoorsmen.com. To make changes to a journal, click “edit” next to the journal you wish to change. After you have made your changes be sure to save the journal before you navigate away from the page.

11. Can I upload a video?

Videos can be uploaded in the same upload area for your journal pictures. Currently, we accept AVI and WMV videos that are under 20MB in size. We will expand our video functionality as dictated by our users over the coming months and years.

12. How do I add a user to my journal?

After you have competed writing your journal, uploading your videos and photos, you have the option to add users from CrazyOutdoorsmen.com that were a part of your outdoor activity. To add users, click “Users” and all users in your groups will show up. Highlight the appropriate user and select add users. To select multiple users repeat this process or hold down the ctrl key as you select users. These members will be notified that you have included them and they will have the ability to add a related journal. These journals will be linked so members can read everyone’s interpretation and experiences associated with a single outing.

13. How do I save a journal to a group?

After you have competed writing your journal, uploading your videos and photos, and adding users from CrazyOutdoorsmen.com that were a part of your outdoor activity, you have the ability to decide where to save this journal. Click on “sharing preferences” where you can decide to keep this journal private (use this option when you are keeping private information that you don’t want to share with others, like that muskie hole location) or put the journal in relevant groups. A drop down will list the groups you belong to. Click the boxes of the groups you wish to add to the journal to and click “Save Sharing Preferences.”

14. Why aren’t the Links hot in my Email and how do I fix it?

Some email services block links to websites contained within emails to prevent a user from clicking on an unsafe webpage. This is a great feature, but as a result, it blocks links to quality pages like CrazyOutdoorsmen.com. We have provided these links in our notification emails to help our members quickly and seamlessly access new journals, groups, comments, and invites. Every email is different, but here is how you can attempt to fix it.

15. How do I make a picture show up in the journal sample?

Journal samples display the featured photos of a particular journal to allow members to decide if it is a journal they will be interested in. When you upload a photo as part of your journal creation, you will have the ability to rank your photos and decide which ones you would like to feature. Each time you upload a photo a box next to the upload will allow you to select the photo you think best represents a sample of your journal. Choose up to 3 featured photos and save your journal. If you would like to change your featured selection, scroll to the photo you wish to change and select “edit” next to it. At the top of the photos, this chosen photo will display with the option to add text, change the rank, or select or unselect it as a featured photo.

16. How do I use CO for my guide service?

We can increase awareness of your services. Since our members control the content of CrazyOutdoorsmen.com, you will have the ability to create a group or multiple groups for your guide service. The group description can provide information of services you provide, your experience and background, and your contact information. You can then invite people to join your group to view journals and photos of your recent outings with clients as you update your group. After your group is created you can direct your clients to the site to let them create journals and upload pictures and videos of their own experiences. Our functionality is a great marketing tool to locate prospective clients, and stay in touch with past ones as they will be notified every time you upload a new journal. You can use it as an additional feature to your service. Our search group and journal function will allow users to locate groups of particular interests or geographic locations. New clients can see first hand what to expect and previous clients can stay in touch by viewing new outings that may encourage them to book your service for additional trips. It’s free marketing and can be as useful as you make it.

17. What does it mean when a journal is listed under my groups?

On the left side of the authenticated page your groups are listed in Orange. Under each group, new journals or updated journals will appear in white under the corresponding group. When a new journal is created it will show up under the groups it is located in. Our system prevents members from updating a journal without making changes to get it to the top of the features list. However, if a journal is updated by a member since the last time you viewed it, the title will show up in white. After you have visited the group or read the journal, it will disappear.

18. How do I edit the info in my group?

Only the group creator is able to update information on the group page. To edit the group information click on “Manage My Groups,” on the left side of your user options. This will take you to a page that displays the groups you moderate (that you created) as well as the groups you contribute to. Immediately to the right of any group that you moderate, you will find an edit link. Click this edit link for the group you wish to edit. You will be allowed to change the Group Name and the Group Description. If this is a public group, any changes will have to be approved by an administrator. If your group is public, you will be unable to change the group to private to restrict access in the future.

19. How can I use CrazyOutdoorsmen.com for my Organization or Club?

We can increase awareness of your organization or club and provide a place to load your information and keep your members updated! Since our members control the content of CrazyOutdoorsmen.com, you will have the ability to create a group or multiple groups for organization. The group description can provide information of services you provide, background of your organization, and contact information. You can then invite people to join your group to view journals and photos of recent outings as you update your group. After your group is created you can direct your members to the site to let them create journals and upload pictures and videos of their own experiences within your organization. Our functionality is a great marketing tool to locate prospective members, and stay in touch with and share with current ones. Each time your upload a new journal, members of your group will be notified with an automatic email. CrazyOutdoorsmen.com can be used as an additional feature to your organization. Our search group and journal function will allow users to locate groups of particular interests or geographic locations. New members can see first hand what to expect and current members can stay in touch by viewing new outings that may encourage them to continue to contribute. It’s free marketing and can be as useful as you make it.

20. How do I get additional information?

Please refer to our Privacy Policy for any questions regarding your privacy and information use on CrazyOutdoorsmen.com.

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CrazyOutdoorsmen.com Help

Welcome Page Help

First of all, welcome to CrazyOutdoorsmen.com Help. We know that some of this stuff can get confusing, so we put together a little system for helping you find your way around CrazyOutdoorsmen.com.

Note: When perusing the site, keep an eye out for the "What's This?" icon whenever you have a question about certain functionality on a page. Who knows, it may actually help.

Alright, on to some of the Frequently Asked Questions. There are some nuances when going through CrazyOutdoorsmen.com that may not be that apparent your first time through. Take a quick peak at the following FAQs to help you get your feet wet with the site:

1. How do I go back to my homepage?

In the unfortunate event that you get lost in the site, simply click on the CrazyOutdoorsmen.com logo in the upper left hand corner of the site. You will be immediately taken back to the safety of your home page. Ah, home sweet home.

2. How do I create a group?

We want our members to have the ability to share and read journals that relate to areas of their interest or geographic locations. To create a group for your hunting partners, family members, and friends, click the Create New Group link on the left side in your member options. This will take you to the group creation page. Enter the group name and group description then decide if you want this group to be open to the public or kept private. A private group is only open to those that you invite. A public group can be joined by any member on CrazyOutdoorsmen.com.

Also, when you navigate to Create New Group, make sure to keep an eye for the What's This? icon, which will provide more insight into what a group is and how to set one up for your needs.

3. How do I create a journal?

Creating a journal is easy. It’s the key functionality of CrazyOutdoorsmen.com and it was designed for those of us who spend most of our time outdoors instead of on the web. To create a journal, select the Create New Journal link on the upper left side of your menu options or from the menu located at the top of the page. This will lead you to a journal platform that is unique to CrazyOutdoorsmen.com.

There are various input functions on the journal creation platform, so make sure to look for our friend, the What's This? icon. These include the journal body where you can type your story, the photo/video upload where your accompanying photos and videos are attached to the journal, the user select box where you can indicate which members were there with you for the adventure and, finally, the sharing preferences where you decide which groups you want to share your new journal with. A check box at the top of the journal creation page will also let you designate the journal for submission to the public page.

4. How do I invite my friends to CrazyOutdoorsmen.com?

On the left side of the page you will find a box with the words “Enter email address...” Enter the email address of anyone you would like to share your journals with or would like to add to an existing or newly created group. CrazyOutdoorsmen.com is a great place to create a group for your hunting partners or deer camp. Invite anyone you hunt, fish or enjoy the outdoors with and allow CrazyOutdoorsmen.com to be your meeting place for sharing information and keeping up to date.

... and the help just keeps coming. If you haven't found what your looking for, head over to our Help Page. Remember, you can get detailed help information from the icons located throughout the site.

CrazyOutdoorsmen.com Help

Sending Invitations Help

If you're looking at this then your probably interested in inviting some friends to the site. Well, you've come to the right place. There are a couple useful tidbits to keep in mind when inviting friends to the site:

1. CrazyOutdoorsmen.com's emails often end up in the Junk Box
As unfortunate as it may be, CrazyOutdoorsmen.com is just another drop in the bucket when it comes to websites trying to send email. So, you may want to let your friend(s) know that you invited them and that they should check their junk email box. Also, be sure to mark our emails as safe if you see them in your junk box, so that you don't miss it when your buddy writes about the monster 12 point buck he just shot.

2. You can enter one (1) email address at a time; or you can supply as many as you want, using ";" in between each address
For example:
hunter4life@yourisp.com;iluv2fish@yourisp.com;etc@etc.com; ... you get the point.

3. Invitation emails contain a temporary password for the soon-to-be new members
This password is randomly generated and sent to the email address that you specify for the invite. If, for some reason, that user loses their password, feel free to Contact Us and we can retrieve it. That said, all user specified passwords are encrypted and not accessible by any member of the CrazyOutdoorsmen.com team.

... and the help just keeps coming. If you haven't found what your looking for, head over to our Help Page. Remember, you can get detailed help information from the icons located throughout the site.

CrazyOutdoorsmen.com Help

"My Groups" Help

The "My Groups" list contains all groups that you are a member of. It is really just a set of quick links to your Group Home Pages, as well as any new journals that you or other members in your group write. The Group Names are written in orange text and the journals will be written in white. As members update existing journals, they will reappear in this list in order to let you know that a journal has been update.

The journals will be removed from this list if you a) click on the journal or b) click on the group. Most members use this as the initial reference point for new journals that might interest them.

... and the help just keeps coming. If you haven't found what your looking for, head over to our Help Page. Remember, you can get detailed help information from the icons located throughout the site.

CrazyOutdoorsmen.com Help

"Group Content" Help

When you click on a Group Name anywhere on the site, you will be taken to that group's home page... pending, of course, that you have access to view that group. Once the group's home page loads, you will notice that the right hand side of the screen is populated with various member's names and various journals under each member. This is primarily intended as a quick reference to view the latest journals from each member in the group that you are currently viewing. These journals will be phased out after six months, but will still be available when searching for a journal.

... and the help just keeps coming. If you haven't found what your looking for, head over to our Help Page. Remember, you can get detailed help information from the icons located throughout the site.

CrazyOutdoorsmen.com Help

Photo/Video Upload Help

Videos and pictures are the backbone of CrazyOutdoorsmen.com. Ironically enough, uploading pictures, and even more so videos, can be non-trival if you haven't done it before. Follow a couple of these simple rules to ensure that your videos and pictures work well (and look great) in your online journals.

Picture and Video Rules

1. Maximum Size
The maximum size of what can be uploaded in a single click (i.e. all three files) is 20MB. Thus, if you would like to upload a VIDEO that is close to 20MB in size then do not specify other files in the remaining two File Upload boxes, so as to not go over the 20MB limit.

2. Accepted Movie Types
We accept AVI or WMV movie files at this time. If you are using Windows then you already have access to the "Movie Maker" software that can be used to edit your video and save it as a WMV file. We do plan on expanding this functionality in the future, but have not seen the demand as of yet. Please contact us if you would like to see this expanded!

3. Minimum picture size
Each image is watermarked and could be featured throughout the site. In order to achieve consistent site aestetics, we must ensure that photos are larger than 276w X 105h, so if you see an error regarding the size of your picture, try to bump up the size of the image that you are trying to upload and give 'er another shot.

4. It Takes Time...
If you have a slow Internet connection, it will take more time to upload large photos. Thus, if you are seeing performance issues when uploading videos or images then take a look at shrinking the size of your images to speed up the process! Many digital cameras now-a-days shoot pictures in excess of 2MB each, which can take up valuable size on your hard drive as well as make it frustrating to upload such large files over a slow connection. Just keep this in mind!

... and the help just keeps coming. If you haven't found what your looking for, head over to our Help Page. Remember, you can get detailed help information from the icons located throughout the site.

CrazyOutdoorsmen.com Help

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... and the help just keeps coming. If you haven't found what your looking for, head over to our Help Page. Remember, you can get detailed help information from the icons located throughout the site.