About the FAQ

Q: What is a FAQ?

A: A FAQ is a list of Frequently Asked Questions and their answers. Always look in the FAQ before asking in the newbie forum!

Q: Why isn't my question in this FAQ? I looked but cannot find it!

A: Because no one has added it yet! Find out the answer (ask in the newbie forum perhaps?) and put both the question and the answer in the FAQ, where other Elftowners can find it!

Q: Can I add a question to the FAQ?

A: No. Don't just add a question without an answer and expect it to be answered. Questions should be asked in the forums, not here. However, if you want to add a question and it's answer, see the next question...

Q: Can I add a question and it's answer to the FAQ?

A: Yes. If you've found out the answer to a question about Elftown that puzzled you, or if you've answered the same question in the newbie forum over and over, you're welcome to add the question and it's answer to the FAQ. Put it in the right category and try to follow the general lay-out.

Q: Where can I get more help?

A: Go to the help section or the Elftown, Newbie Questions forum.

About Elftown

Q: What is Elftown, and what is the main purpose of this site?

A: Elftown is a site made (mainly) for Elfwooders who want to socialize, chat, get to know other Elfwooders and exchange experiences. You have a house where your profile is shown, and a forum to start and join discussions. Elftown is always under construction, so good suggestions might be implemented if the Mayor approves them. 

Q: What is the difference between Elfwood and Elftown?

A: Elfwood is a fantasy and science fiction art gallery where you can post your fantasy and science fiction art and stories. Elftown is a community for Elfwooders, hang-arounds and others who just happen to be here.

Q: So, Elftown is a community. What is a community?

A: A community is a place for "meeting" people and talking to them in one or several ways. Here in Elftown you can communicate in many ways, for example through private messages, the forums and the wiki.

Q: I'm all confused. Where do I start?

A: I would recommend you to start by looking at the forums. Read, say, the 50 newest postings in all forums that seem interesting. Also explore the wiki and visit other Elftowners' houses. There are also some Guided Tours that might help you getting started.

Q: Can I link to Elftown? Is there a banner or button I can use?

A: Yes, you can link to Elftown. You can find more info on this and a couple of images you can use on the wiki page called Elftown Logos.

Q: Who are the "Elftown crew" and how do I become a part of it?

A: The "crew" is everyone who helps build and maintain Elftown in one way or another. [Hedda] is the Mayor and does all coding (currently). He appoints Council-members, Town Guards and Secret Service to help him keep the order. All members can contribute to Elftown by leaving bug reports, making suggestions and writing this Wiki. To apply see apply to the crew!

Q: Can I be a town guard? Please!!!

A: See apply to the crew! Don't even try if you're new and haven't proven yourself. And don't give up just because you haven't been picked for one year! This is Elftown, not stress-town and we want people with patience.

Elftown crew members are chosen from people who send nice reports, or write smart things in the forums. From there guards are picked.

Q: How do I get one of those badge things for my bio?

A: Some badges show that you have won a contest, others show that you have a special role in maintaining Elftown or that you have contributed in some way (by reporting bugs, creating graphics or codes, suggesting changes or improvements for instance, even if it is not a contest and the options are not limited to these)
Read more at How do I get badges.
Even more information about each badge is available on The Badge Reward System.

In either case winning a badge should not be your purpose really. Badges come only as a sign of recognition for what you have offered to Elftown.

Q: Elftown displayed the "This page can not be displayed"-page. What is wrong?

A: The "page cannot be shown" message is the biggest crap Microsoft has ever done. It can mean anything, so I assume that it's your fault (or your ISP's).

If you have used a working browser (Opera or any kind of Mozilla/Netscape, and even new versions of IE in some cases), it would have told you why the page couldn't be displayed. (No route to host, Server refused connection, DNS-failure, stupid browser can't handle that long URLs, proxy server not working or something else).

If you don't get that evil page when you go to the entrance-page, but only when you log in or do something in Elftown, that probably means that you have found a redirect-"bug" in Elftown. Report when this happens! It will probably work with any other browser than IE, so you can try that if you want.

Q: Where do I report when people misbehave?

A:
 1) If you want to report a certain member, you can send a report to the guards from the member's house. Click on the button called "Send report to guards", you'll find it to the right in the member's house.
Read more on how to make a report
 2) You can write a comment on guards.
 3) You can write a private message to one of the guards.
 4) You can write in the Elftown, members-forum.

There are always a lot of complaints about people's behaviour on the chat. Don't use the chat if you can't stand it, as it's somewhat out of control.
If you are harassed outside of elftown you may wish to see serioushelp for advice.

Q: What sorts of things should people be reported for?

A: Members should be reported if they violated the Uploading Art Rules or if they are breaking Elftown's number one rule, "don't be an asshole!". For more information about what this rule means, see What is an asshole?

Q: How do I contact the guards or crew?

A: That depends on why you want to contact them.
 1) For reporting misbehaviour, see above.
 2) For contacting the town guards, see above.
 3) To ask a general question, go to the Newbie Forum and post the question there.
 4) To ask a wiki question, go to the Elftown Wiki forum and post the question there.
 5) To make a suggestion, go to the Suggestions forum and post the suggestion there.
 6) To report a bug, go to the Elftown Bugs forum and post the report there.
 7) If you have a question or comment you'd rather not share with everyone, you can find the names of the crew (guards, wiki bosses, daily image bosses, daily poem bosses etc) in the Hall of Fame.

About the Elftown Wiki

Q: What is this Wiki thing?

A: A Wiki (or rather Wiki-Wiki) is a webpage that anyone can edit. All versions of the page are saved, so if someone messes up it is always possible to restore the page. The Elftown Wiki can be used for documentation, like this FAQ. See the wiki_intro and the wiki FAQ for a more detailed description.

Q: Can I edit the Wiki?

A: Yes you can! There's even a Wiki playground [edit] 1574 to play around in, if you want to experiment with something.
However, you can not edit a wiki if it has been password protected and you don't know what the password is.

Q: Can I even edit the FAQ on the Wiki?

A: Yes, this wiki is not password-protected

Q: Is there a list of all wiki-pages?

A: No, and there will never be one. Wiki-pages with a secret name like my-very-secret-page-12344321 should never be found by someone if they don't find the link (like reading it in the FAQ...).
There do exist lists where you can find other wiki's;
The wiki´s wiki page
Very Miscellaneous
Interests
Unions

Q: Is the Wiki moderated?

A: Yes and no. Often the creator of a page also acts as "moderator", but for some pages we must all take responsibility. Messing up wiki pages on purpose won't make you popular.
The moderator can be the one you can ask for the password. Mostly the wiki will state how you can join. If it doesn't you can ask in the comment section of that wiki.

Q: What does it mean to export your wiki page?

A: It means people can view your wiki page without being logged into Elftown. You can only export wiki pages that you have made the first version of.

About Your House

Q: How do I upload a photo or drawing?

A: Go to Your House and click on "Change personal data" in the top right corner to go to the personal data changing page. Look for a link that says "upload new photo" or "upload new drawing". From there you should be able to figure it out... To the changing-page: http://www.elftown.com/update_attr.html

Q: How do I set my position on the world map?

A: Go to the "Change personal data" page (see previous answer). There you can find a link called "Select a position on Elftownworldmap". (it's DIRECTLY below "Fantasy race personality).
Click on the map where you are positioned and the map will be added to your house after you clicked "Change personal data" at the bottom of your personal data.

To remove the map, write nothing after
Or enter latitude-longitude on the format 39°10.356'N 101°31.092'W (Central USA):
on:
http://www.elftown.com/upload_imagemap.html?imagemap=Elftownworldmap&imagemapfile=worldmap%2Fbigworldmap.jpeg


Q: What is a relation?

A: A relation is ... well... a relation you might have with other Elftowners. Like, if you find someone who for example loves Evangelion, and you do too, then you can propose a relation being "Evangelion Fans" or something. If people propose a relation with you, you can answer either yes or no, depending on the nature of the relation - if you want the relation with the person or not.
When you answer the question, wether with yes or no, you will be redirected to the member's house who requested the relation.

Q: How do I propose a relation?

A: It is easy, don't worry.

At first, you could suggest a relation with no previous dialogue among people. But that meant that some people want to have "the highest number possible" to look cool, without ever messaging any of the people in the list (yes, I know it's silly, but it happened).

So, now you can only suggest a relation after you have messaged the person and you have gotten a message back at least. :)

To suggest a relation, you go to the house of the person you want to suggest it to. Then, you go to the very bottom of the house, and there you will see the "suggest that you should start a relation" button.

You can pick one of the random types of relation (family/friend/lover/enemy/cousin), or make up a name for it (there's a white box there to type it).

Once done, you press the button "suggest that you should start a relation".

The person will get a notification in his/her house saying "you have a relation request".
The request contains a link to your house and the possibility to accept or decline.
If the person accepts he/she will be redirected to your house, you will be automatically added to his/her list and that person will be added to yours. If the person declines, nothing happens. :)

Q: Why is my answer to a guestbook-message placed in another guestbook?

A: It is because you should be able to see the replies to your messages easily. It is also a way to make connections between guestbooks.

Q: Is it OK to use another language than English in the guestbooks?

A: No, not really, but it's not against any rule. But in the forums you should write English all the time (except in some forums, where English is only used in case of need). Private messages can of course be in any language the receiver understands.

About the Forums

Q: Help! I don't understand the forums!

A: That isn't really a question, but a frequent statement anyway. Read the other help pages on the wiki, and the official help page (there's a link to it at the bottom of every page). If you still don't understand, try clicking around in the forums for a while. If you still don't get it, ask in the newbie forum.

Q: How do I become a member of a forum? / How do I join a forum?

A: Go to the Forums page. Click on the name of the forum you want to join. Read the instructions, or click on "Show" to enter the forum. That makes you a member of the forum.

Q: The texts in the forums are moved to below the forum-status-box sometimes. Can that be fixed?

A: Yes, just go to your house -> update personal data and select a smaller font size. Or just make your window bigger.

About Miscellaneous Things

Q: How do I upload my art/stories?

A: You can upload one photo and one drawing to Your House (see above in the Your House section). If you want to display more art, you should get a gallery in Elfwood (or some other online gallery). 

Elfwood must be joined separately (having joined Elftown doesn't make you an Elfwood member!). Go to Elfwood's mainpage at http://www.elfwood.com , click on the Join link and follow the instructions.

Please don't use your Elftown House as a "gallery". The pictures in Your House should rather be a sample of your art, and can be used to advertise your Elfwood gallery (or another online gallery if you have one). You can provide links to your Elfwood gallery and other online galleries in Your House.

You can put stories/poems in your bio in Your House, if they are short. You could also make a wiki page for them, but then anyone can edit them (unless you password-protect the wiki)! If the stories/poems fit Elfwood's genre, you should get a shelf in Wyvern's Library in Elfwood.

Q: I want my picture to be shown on mainstreet! How can I do that?

A: The small pictures of members on the right menu on mainstreet are placed there automatically and randomly.
However you can nominate a Featured Member in the Featured Member forum.

Q: What does it take to be counted as an active member in Elftown? (Referring to the bottom of Mainstreet)

A: You have to log on at least every seven days to be an "active" member.

Q: Why isn't there a chatroom for Elftowners?

A: There is a chatroom for Elftown outside of Elftown! Read Elfchat or join the chatroom here:
<URL:wiki_azzurra>(will run a java applet)

There is also a chat for Elfwood members already! Take a peek at the IRC page on Elfwood at
http://www.elfwood.com/irc/irc.html and stop bugging [Hedda]!


You will need an IRC client, or you can use the RPG worlds Java client, although it can be somewhat buggy, (follow the links) and chat with other Elfwood artists and writers.

#lothlorien is now located on EsperNet -- irc.esper.net 6667

Q: Why is the 'Daily' Art / Poem not updated every day? Are the bosses lazy, or something?

A: Of course not! It is always daytime somewhere in the world, so in theory, they've updated many many times in a day! So you should thank them for working so hard!



Go or return to:
-The wiki-index
-The list of NSFAQ (Not So Frequently Asked Questions)
-The help index