About MainePets.com
Welcome to MainePets.com, a website dedicated to all things pets in Maine. We have Blogs and a Forum and Photos for every member to post whatever they choose about living with their pets —the good, the bad and the ugly.
MainePets.com is moderated by content producer Shannon Bryan. And while this producer monitors the site regularly, the group is actually governed by its members. The community is expected to show respect for one another and the opinions and views posted. It is up to the community members to be respectful of each other and help keep discussions supportive, informative and entertaining.
If you're uncertain where to make your posts, here's the low-down. Blogs are first person stories about your experiences and are generally written in a narrative format. The Forum is best suited for short posts with discussion topics, tips, announcements, workshop information and business reviews.
MainePets.com does not however permit direct solicitations for businesses/services on posts made to the site. If a business/service is referenced in a Blog entry or Forum post, it should be done in the context of your own personal experience. You can contact Kevin in our sales department for MainePets.com's advertising rates (which offer a variety of price ranges and features) by email or phone (207) 791-6299.
Discussions on MainePets.com will have a variety of viewpoints that may not always align with your own values/morals/lifestyles. We suggest when posting a comment to discussion topics that you ask yourself if the words you are about to post are ones you would say face-to-face to people you have just met. And when asking a question, be sure it's something you really want feedback on from the community at large.
MainePets.com will remove vulgar, obscene and/or inflammatory comments immediately and the posters reprimanded or removed. FCC-accepted 'naughty' words, while not encouraged or condoned, they are tolerated. We hope our community members will speak to one another with kindness, respect and appropriate language.
Q:How do I log on to the site to make a post/comment?
A: Check out the top of the web page for instructions on whether you need to login or register.Note: If you are already a member of MaineToday.com, you'll be prompted to add your username and password for that site and your information will transfer to MainePets.com. Any changes you make here will not be reflected in MaineToday.com. We set up this system to make it less redundant for our branded partner sites.
Q: How do I start a discussion?
A: At the top of the page (above the photo galleries) is a pull down box "edit your stuff." Choose "ask a question" to start your discussion - or just go to this page...
Q: How do I change my profile?
A: At the top of the page (above the photo galleries) is a pull down menu "edit your stuff." Choose "Edit your PROFILE" - or just go to this page ...
Q: What action should I take if I am verbally attacked or threatened, or spammed?
A: You can use the "report abuse" option attached to each blog, question and comment entry on the site. You can also contact Shannon directly.
Q: What happens when a comment is reported as 'abuse'?
A: A flag appears with the reported comment to the content producer for review. If the comment is against our guidelines, then it will be deleted. Q: How can I locate a previous discussion?
A: You can use the site's search tool (at the top of the page on the right side is the search box). Enter a key word from the discussion, and you will get a list of results containing that word.
Q: Can I delete a post?
A: Yes, you can. Go to
the top of the page (above the photo galleries) to the pull down menu "edit your stuff." You can edit or delete a question, delete a comment or edit or delete a blog entry. Q:What are the star ratings?
A: We allow members to rate posts so they can let the member know they enjoyed their contribution. It's also a way for members to sort posts on the site based on the most highly rated content at any given time. And just to set the record straight that no one-star rated posts will be terminated (the 'Report Abuse' takes care of the policy guideline issues). When we see that kind of stuff on the site we assume (1) it's a systems problem or (2) we have a lurker on the site with a mean spirit.
Q: How do I change the name of my blog?
A: When you edit an entry or add a new one, you can change the name in the white box labeled "Your blog title:" It's just above the "Post an Entry in Your Blog" text at the top of the page.
Q: What are Categories?
A: These are keywords created by the site's content producer as a way to round-up posts that are in a similar topic area. For instance, if you're a member interested in Dogs, you can go to the Dogs Category page and see all the posts other members have made in this topic area. To find a listing of categories on the site, go to the tabs at the top of the page and click on Categories.
Q: What are Tags?
A: Tags are keywords YOU make up. Adding tags is a way to get more specific than a general category allows. You can also use them as a way to keep similar posts organized. Plus, the tag 'clouds' (found on the right of most pages on the site) can draw attention to your posts depending on the keywords you use. For instance, Nutrition in the tag cloud is going to draw additional attention to that entry because a pet's diet is so important.
Q: How do you add tags to your posts?
A: When making a blog entry, at the bottom of the page you will see a Category box and to the right of that box is the TAG box. Type in whatever keywords you'd like to into that box. There is no limit on the number of keywords you add but make sure you put a comma between words.
Q: What's the difference between the tags "service dog" and "Service Dog?"
A: The tag index is case sensitive and will automatically capitalize the first word of the tag. But after that, it doesn't touch your tag. You can change your tags to consolidate them by editing each of your entries where you have that tag (edit conversations here or blog posts here).
Q: How do I get my tag on the site's tag cloud and make that text bigger?
A: If you want to make the text of your tag 'grow' on the site, you want to make sure you use the SAME tags in your posts. For instance, the Dogs tag is large on the site because so many users have used that tag on their entries (both in Blogs and the Forum). The short, easy tags tend to grow more quickly because it's likely others will use that same key word. And tags also grow by the number of comments made on entries. So if you make a forum entry and tag it "swimming" and 20 people comment on that entry, that "swimming" tag will grow in relation to those comments as well. If you're still confused - or find this topic vastly interesting - check out Wikipedia for more information about how tag clouds are used on the web.
Q: Can I post events to the calendar?
A: We would love all of our members to share events happening in their community of interest to moms and families! Post an event here. You must be logged in to the site to post an event and be sure to ** put the words "Maine Pets" in the event description ** for your listing to appear on MainePets.com.
Q: My event is not appearing on the MainePets.com calendar. Why not?
A:
It's likely that you forgot to add the words "Maine Pets" in the event description. To add that to your listing, go here and choose "edit" next to the listings (in the right column) of the event you need to change.
Q: How do I make a change to one of my event listings?
A:
MainePets.com shares their event listings with MaineToday.com right now. We're working on building a new calendar system specifically for MainePets.com but it's not ready yet. So to edit your events, go here and choose "edit" next to the listings (in the right column) of the event you need to change.
Q: How do I add photos to my blog entry?
A:
When you make a blog entry, you can choose to "post entry and add photos" to add photos directly to your blog (an album or a single photo). The screen will darken and a box will appear asking if you wan tto "add a single photo" or "embed an album." If this box does NOT appear then simply click on the screen and save your blog entry. To add a photo to that blog entry go to "post photos", upload your photos and choose the title of the blog entry you want to associate your photos with in the "Embed album in blog entry?" box.Q: How do I upload a single photo to my blog entry?
A:
If you choose to upload a SINGLE photo be careful when you copy and paste the code for your single photo upload in to your blog entry. If you miss a bracket, that will break the image code and your photo will not appear. you can upload as many single photos as you'd like for your blog entry, just upload each photo and paste each photo's code in to the blog entry.Q: I uploaded a photo but it's not appearing on the site, why?
A: Check your photo's file name. You can NOT use apostrophes or spaces in photo file name. Also, keep your file names to less than 10 characters. Longer than that might cause the system problems. Another issue with uploading photos to the site is that sometimes images larger than 1MB may cause the server to time-out. If you are trying to upload several photos larger than 1MB, this is likely to happen. To avoid this issue, check out download.com for freeware to resize your images (Fast Stone is pretty easy to use) so they are smaller. If none of these suggestions are working, go to the photo troubleshooting thread in the forum.Q: What company runs MainePets.com
A: This website is part of the MaineToday Media, Inc.' online division, which includes: MaineToday.com, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel, Coastal Journal, Raising Maine, Maine Business and The Maine Switch
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I log on to the site to make a post/comment? How do I start a discussion? How do I change my profile? What do the abbreviations, such as dh, ds and dd mean? What action should I take if I am verbally attacked or threatened, or spammed? What happens when a comment is reported as 'abuse'? How can I locate a discussion that was posted awhile back? Can I delete a post? What are the star ratings? How do I change the name of my blog? What are categories? What are tags? How do you add tags to your posts? What's the difference between the tags "service dog" and "Service Dog?" How do I get my tag on the site's tag cloud and make that text bigger? Can I post events to the calendar? My event is not appearing on the RaisingMaine.com calendar. Why not? How do I make a change to one of my event listings? How do I add photos to my blog entry? How do I upload a single photo to my blog entry? I uploaded a photo but it's not appearing on the site, why? What company runs MainePets.com?Shannon Bryan is the managing content producer for MainePets.com. Contact Shannon directly by email.