telperion1
in
mefas
ADMIN - getting in, and getting help
Hey guys,
Every year during the awards I send out educational posts about how to do things at the MEFAs every week or two. Granted, we're a little late getting started this year - nominations season is half over already! Still time to get some nominations in, though. To do that you need a membership, and not just any membership but a particular kind. That's what I want to talk about today: how do you become a member of our website, and how do you use that membership.
GETTING STARTED
There are essentially two kinds of accounts at our website, permanent accounts and ones that will be deleted from year to year. In the past we've called these types of accounts author and nominator accounts, or author and MEFAwards accounts, but that's a bit confusing because some authors are also members of the Yahoo group.
Anyway: getting a temporary account is easy. Simply have a story that is nominated for our awards, and if you don't already have an account a temporary account will be set up for you. You will be automatically emailed a password to use to log in to our website. So you can log in and start using the site. You will be able to start filling out your forms on your nominated pieces, or you can start looking at the other nominated stories and voting for them if you like. Temporary members are invited to vote for any nomination besides their own of course, in the year they're nominated. (So you can vote for 2011 nominations but you won't be able to vote for 2012 nominations unless you get another temporary account because you've been nominated then as well.)
Permanent accounts are more, well, permanent. While temporary accounts only last for the 2011 awards, permanent accounts are here to stay. They won't be deleted, which means that whatever password you have in 2011 will also work for the 2012 site. You can vote for nominations just like temporary accounts can. You can also nominate up to twenty stories (temporary accounts can't nominate). Getting a permanent account, though, takes a bit of time. They're free for the asking, but we want to make sure that you don't already have a temporary account, and we want to make sure you get important announcements about the awards.
So here's the process for getting a permanent account.
(1) You join the Yahoo group MEFAwards.
(2) You are sent a short questionnaire asking for some basic information.
(3) Once you complete this questionnaire and email it back, a MEFA volunteer checks that you don't already have an account. She then sets up a password and username for you at our website.
Until that time, your Yahoo username and password won't work at our website. The two are COMPLETELY different things from our website's password. We'll get things set up as quickly as possible, but I usually tell people to allow 48-72 hours for the process. Don't wait until the very last second to set up your account if you want to nominate something.
GETTING IN
The next step to do is to actually log in and start using the website. To log in, just visit www.mefawards.org/ and type in our username/email and your password. The password should have been emailed to you when your account was first set up.
If you get a problem, here are a few strategies to try.
--- (1) For missing passwords: check your spam folder, to see if your email program to a little overzealous. Weird, how sending out hundreds of emails telling people they've been nominated for some new awards program would make ISPs suspicious... :-P
--- (2) Still can't find your password? Click the "Forgot Your Password?" link from our login page and follow the instructions.
--- (3) If your password isn't working, first check that you are typing it in correctly. Caps matter, as do spaces before and after. "Mellon" looks different from "mellon", " mellon", or "mellon ". This is far and away the most common cause for password logins.
Other than that, if you have further errors, let me know. Just email me at supportATmefawardsDOTorg and we'll sort it out.
GETTING HELP
If you need help, there are three email accounts to know:
--- usersATmefawardsDOTorg. Send all questions about passwords or memberships here.
--- supportATmefawardsDOTorg. Got a question ab0out policy? Just feeling overwhelmed by it all? Then email me at supportATmefawardsDOTorg.
--- techATmefawardsDOTorg. Getting an actual error message? That's the domain of our world-class webmistresses. Use this email address and it will get your post where it needs to go.
If you have more general questions you can also ask them at the MEFAwards Yahoo group. That listserv exists not just so I can make announcements, but so you can ask questions where other longtime MEFA participants will read them and hopefully answer them. Feel free to do just that.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Most MEFA members join our site and log in to do one of three things: tell us about one of their stories that has been nominated, nominate stories themselves, or vote for the stories that have been nominated. I'll go over these in more depth in the coming weeks, but for now, I just want to mention briefly how to get started on all of these things.
To fill out the form on a piece already nominated:
1. Log in to www.mefawards.org
2. Select "Your Nominations" from the "Nominations" menu.
3. Click "Nomination Form" under the story you want to tell us about.
To nominate a story:
1. Log in to www.mefawards.org
2. Select "Nominate a Piece" from the "Nominations" menu.
3. Fill out the form provided.
To vote for a nominated story:
1. Log in to www.mefeawards.org
2. Select "Browse 2011 Nominations" from the "Nominations" menu.
3. Find a story you want to vote for. Click the "Read the Nomination" link to read the story. Then click the little pencil icon to write a review of that story when you're done.
There's obviously a lot more to talk about on any one of those tasks, which is why I'll be writing in more depth about them in upcoming weeks. But hopefully that will give you a place to get started.
Elen sila lumenn omentielvo,
Marta
(MEFA Admin.)
Every year during the awards I send out educational posts about how to do things at the MEFAs every week or two. Granted, we're a little late getting started this year - nominations season is half over already! Still time to get some nominations in, though. To do that you need a membership, and not just any membership but a particular kind. That's what I want to talk about today: how do you become a member of our website, and how do you use that membership.
GETTING STARTED
There are essentially two kinds of accounts at our website, permanent accounts and ones that will be deleted from year to year. In the past we've called these types of accounts author and nominator accounts, or author and MEFAwards accounts, but that's a bit confusing because some authors are also members of the Yahoo group.
Anyway: getting a temporary account is easy. Simply have a story that is nominated for our awards, and if you don't already have an account a temporary account will be set up for you. You will be automatically emailed a password to use to log in to our website. So you can log in and start using the site. You will be able to start filling out your forms on your nominated pieces, or you can start looking at the other nominated stories and voting for them if you like. Temporary members are invited to vote for any nomination besides their own of course, in the year they're nominated. (So you can vote for 2011 nominations but you won't be able to vote for 2012 nominations unless you get another temporary account because you've been nominated then as well.)
Permanent accounts are more, well, permanent. While temporary accounts only last for the 2011 awards, permanent accounts are here to stay. They won't be deleted, which means that whatever password you have in 2011 will also work for the 2012 site. You can vote for nominations just like temporary accounts can. You can also nominate up to twenty stories (temporary accounts can't nominate). Getting a permanent account, though, takes a bit of time. They're free for the asking, but we want to make sure that you don't already have a temporary account, and we want to make sure you get important announcements about the awards.
So here's the process for getting a permanent account.
(1) You join the Yahoo group MEFAwards.
(2) You are sent a short questionnaire asking for some basic information.
(3) Once you complete this questionnaire and email it back, a MEFA volunteer checks that you don't already have an account. She then sets up a password and username for you at our website.
Until that time, your Yahoo username and password won't work at our website. The two are COMPLETELY different things from our website's password. We'll get things set up as quickly as possible, but I usually tell people to allow 48-72 hours for the process. Don't wait until the very last second to set up your account if you want to nominate something.
GETTING IN
The next step to do is to actually log in and start using the website. To log in, just visit www.mefawards.org/ and type in our username/email and your password. The password should have been emailed to you when your account was first set up.
If you get a problem, here are a few strategies to try.
--- (1) For missing passwords: check your spam folder, to see if your email program to a little overzealous. Weird, how sending out hundreds of emails telling people they've been nominated for some new awards program would make ISPs suspicious... :-P
--- (2) Still can't find your password? Click the "Forgot Your Password?" link from our login page and follow the instructions.
--- (3) If your password isn't working, first check that you are typing it in correctly. Caps matter, as do spaces before and after. "Mellon" looks different from "mellon", " mellon", or "mellon ". This is far and away the most common cause for password logins.
Other than that, if you have further errors, let me know. Just email me at supportATmefawardsDOTorg and we'll sort it out.
GETTING HELP
If you need help, there are three email accounts to know:
--- usersATmefawardsDOTorg. Send all questions about passwords or memberships here.
--- supportATmefawardsDOTorg. Got a question ab0out policy? Just feeling overwhelmed by it all? Then email me at supportATmefawardsDOTorg.
--- techATmefawardsDOTorg. Getting an actual error message? That's the domain of our world-class webmistresses. Use this email address and it will get your post where it needs to go.
If you have more general questions you can also ask them at the MEFAwards Yahoo group. That listserv exists not just so I can make announcements, but so you can ask questions where other longtime MEFA participants will read them and hopefully answer them. Feel free to do just that.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Most MEFA members join our site and log in to do one of three things: tell us about one of their stories that has been nominated, nominate stories themselves, or vote for the stories that have been nominated. I'll go over these in more depth in the coming weeks, but for now, I just want to mention briefly how to get started on all of these things.
To fill out the form on a piece already nominated:
1. Log in to www.mefawards.org
2. Select "Your Nominations" from the "Nominations" menu.
3. Click "Nomination Form" under the story you want to tell us about.
To nominate a story:
1. Log in to www.mefawards.org
2. Select "Nominate a Piece" from the "Nominations" menu.
3. Fill out the form provided.
To vote for a nominated story:
1. Log in to www.mefeawards.org
2. Select "Browse 2011 Nominations" from the "Nominations" menu.
3. Find a story you want to vote for. Click the "Read the Nomination" link to read the story. Then click the little pencil icon to write a review of that story when you're done.
There's obviously a lot more to talk about on any one of those tasks, which is why I'll be writing in more depth about them in upcoming weeks. But hopefully that will give you a place to get started.
Elen sila lumenn omentielvo,
Marta
(MEFA Admin.)