Help Page

I've been meaning to write a "Help Page" for a long time, but just haven't gotten around to it. The Help is about the webpage and not about Obedience in general i.e. "Do's and Don't" to make your experience of using the website a joy, instead of a frustrating catastrophy <vbg> (that means "Very Big Grin").

Top Questions

There are some questions that come up time and time again, so I'll cover these first:

"Who to I make the cheque payable to?"

OK, memberships (for the downloading of schedules etc), and the ObUK Merchanise- these are to be made payable to me (Les Perry). The exception is the eShop ads, and these are to be made payable to Coventry DTC.

"How much is membership?"

Membership is currenty £5 per annum. (Or £5.40 through Paypal as the 40p pays the Paypal charges, obviously you save the cost of an envelope and a stamp.)

"Can I transfer the membership fee to your Paypal account prior to my membership running out?"

I prefer you don't as things can go wrong which I then have to sort out. (E.g. You transfer the money to the wrong Paypal account.) By waiting for the Paypal link to appear after your membership expires (and this may take 24 hours) then by clicking the link will bring up all of the correct details.

"I've paid by Paypal but my membership is still is not updated"

If you've definately paid by Paypal your membership should have been updated immediately to 'approved', and the new one years membership started. If it hasn't then email me on les.perry@obedienceuk.com (I can check everything is OK in Paypal and update your access).

"Where do I send my cheque?"

My address is 25 Scots Lane, Coundon, Coventry CV6 2DQ.

"How do I change my email address on the ObedienceUK website, as it's showing the wrong one on the Members Forum?"

In the 'Welsome Back' box on the website, click the "View/Edit Profile" link, and you can change it there. (If you really don't want your email address to appear on the forum, then change it to something like donald.duck@disney.world.)

"I can't seem to print the top part (bottom part) of the schedule (entry form)?"

Suggested by a member: If you set the Adobe printer options to 'fit printer margins' you can get the whole thing.

Auction

The newest addition to the site is the Auction service. I thought that this would be a useful addition as we all have those things that are of no use to ourselves anymore, but might be just the thing that someone else has been searching for.

Before you start, I must say that this is a very basicAuction Service. It has not got all of the 'bells & whistles' that you'd expect from, say, EBay. Having said that it does do all of the basic things well.

The other thing it has in its favour is that it is FREE (yes, you did hear right .... FREE) for items under £5. For anything over £5 it is discretionary, but we would expect you to donate something to Coventry DTC for providing the service (say £1).

Also, no sale, no donation!

The idea is to add an auction for each item you want to sell. You describe the item for sale, and place a Starting Bid amount against it. The 'Starting Bid' is the minimum amount you are prepared to sell the item for (in some auctions there is a 'Starting Bid' figure and a 'Reserve' figure that you can place against the item - in the ObedienceUK Auction there is only one figure that is used for both purposes).

The first person who views the item and want to bid, has to bid at least the 'Starting Bid'. Subsequent bidders have to bid more than the original bidder.

All communications will be via email therefore it is important when you register on the site that you give a correct email address. This email address will be used to send you your password for the auction site. This way your email address is validated.

Emails will be used to inform you when your item has been bid on, and also gives you details at the end of the auction of who was the highest bidder, and contact details.

FAQS (frequently asked questions) on Auctions:

Can I upload a picture to show my sale item?

I'm afraid this version does not allow the uploading of pictures. However, for those of you with webspace you can put the picture on your own website and link it to the item. (You have to specify the full URL address of the picture. For example http://www.mysite.co.uk/images/mypic.jpg - there is a preview of the Auction item before you confirm it so that you can check that you typed the right address. If the picture doesn't appear then you can use the 'back' button and try again.)

Can I place a 'Reserve' price on my item?

The 'Starting Bid' value you enter is the minimum amount that can be bid. If you want to set a Reserve amount then set the 'Starting Bid' amount to your reserve value.

How much will I be charged?

There is no direct charges for this service, however we would expect you to use your discretion and donate something to the Coventry DTC for providing this service. A cheque for £1 is suggested (items sold for under £5 are free of any charges), made payable to 'Coventry DTC' and addressed to Les Perry at 25 Scots Lane, Coundon, Coventry CV6 2DQ.

Schedules

OK, next up is the Schedules (the biggest source of headache for me, as I'm the one that normally has to 'sort you out').

There is a '£5 per year' fee for anyone who wants to download Schedules. The payment can be made online using Paypal (who take Visa and Mastercard and 'I think' even Switch), or a cheque sent to me (Les Perry).

To download schedules you have to create a Username, then pay the annual fee. That is so, so simple, but you'd be surprised by all the people who mess it up. A lot of people blame it on me - to start with - but I'm sure they become very embarrassed to find they've not followed a few basic instructions:

• The Username you have to create for schedules has nothing whatever to do with any other username you might have (including the yahoogroups username).
• To get the Schedules you must put in your Username and Password in the "Sign In" box on the Home page and click the 'Login' button. Then you can go to the Schedules page.
• The Username must be one that you raised yourself, and then got me to authorise by either paying online or sending me a cheque for £5 (which with cover downloads for a 12 month period from the date that I authorise it).
• To raise a Username, click on the "I'm a new user, so sign me up" link in the "Sign In" box on the home page. This will cause the 'form' to be displayed that allows you to enter your details. Please, please, please, please try to remember your Username and Password (that you create yourself) - I can't remember how many times I've been contacted about forgotten Usernames or Passwords.
• Unless you've turned 'Cookies' off on your browser, the page will remember who you are the next time you get to the ObedienceUK website and the "Sign In" box will now say "Welcome ..." and your Username.
• If you have turned 'Cookies' off, or you have pressed the "Log Out" link, then you will need to re-enter your Username and Password to be able to download schedules.
• In 12 months your Username will expire, and your access to the downloads will have stopped, but you can re-start them by again paying online via Paypal or sending me £5 (to Les Perry, 25 Scots Lane, Coundon, Coventry CV6 2DQ - cheques payable to Les Perry), and when I receive them I will re-activate your Username. Remember to tell me what your Username is. The online button to pay via Paypal only appears on your screen when your username has expired.

If you are paying online, please follow the process through Paypal till you arrive back at the ObedienceUK website. Failure to do this may mean that you have paid but not been updated on the website. Should this happen then please email me with the problem as I receive notification of all payments from Paypal and hence can step in and correct it. ("Only as a last resort please!")

To read the Schedules you need Adobe Acrobat Reader software, and there is a link to a site where you can download it for free on the Schedules page.

FAQS (frequently asked questions) on Schedules:

I can't download the Adobe software ... what do I do?

If you can't download it the best thing to do is to get a cover disk off a
computer magazine that has it on.

A lot have a library of free software on every month, like the Acrobat
Reader software. Magazines like "PC Answers". (It's not usually in the
featured software of that month, but if you read the small print it's
usually on there.)

Paying by PayPal - Is there anything I should know?

OK, I've had some feedback from some people who have used PayPal to get
their Schedule membership through, so I thought I'd better let you know
their comments.

PayPal is not something you can sign-up for and use all at once. In other words, if you decide to pay your ObUK subs by PayPal and you aren't already accepted by PayPal then you are going to be disappointed. The signup process for PayPal involves them charging you a nominal fee to signup to PayPal, which they give you back when you complete the signing up. Unfortunately you have to wait for your next credit card bill which has a code in the transaction line that you then put back into your computer to finish the signing up(* - see note below about Switch). I can understand why they do this, as it ensures that you are who you say you are, and that the credit card belongs to you. (All of this you have to do before you can then use PayPal to get your membership paid.)

PayPal is however a recognise payment method online, and I understand it to
be secure (it's up to you what you believe). It is used quite a lot on eBay
(for instance).

I didn't want to use it on the ObUK site last year because you had to charge
in dollars, but now they accept Pounds Sterling.

So, if you plan on using online payment the next time your membership comes
up for renewal I suggest you signup to PayPal now, then you'll be ready.

https://www.PayPal.com

*For those using online banking, and wanting to pay by Switch you just have to go into your online banking site to see what the transaction code is and this takes less than a week.

 

Courses

There is now a charge of £10 for each Course placed on the site. However, for £50 per annum you can have a perpetual page i.e. open all year around to display as many courses as you have (obviously only of interest to people running more than 5 courses in a year). Please contact me (Les Perry) if you want to place a course on the site.

Out & About

You used to have to put a password in to put handlers name against the photos. But I've changed it now so that you have to be signed in to change them. I've done this because of some of the inappropriate comments that were being made.

When you put the descriptions in now, I know who is putting them on the site, and if inappropriate things are entered then appropriate action will be taking - which includes the member being banned from the site (schedules etc).

yahoogroups

For the mailing lists we use yahoogroups, but as well as receiving the mails there is a lot of information on the yahoogroups website for each list.

FAQS (frequently asked questions) on yahoogroups (the mailing lists):

Is there any way that I get get a digest version of the mails?

Of course, but you'll have to make the setting changes. (I can't.) When you convert to digest you get a single email that contains main individual mails (rather than getting them all separately). This might be once a day, or more times if there is a lot of mail in a particular day.

Go to www.yahoogroups.com/groups/ObedienceUK or ObUKNewbies (you may need to login with your email address and password at this point, if you do then go back to the page I mention again after logging in) . You should now be on the group page (with the ObedienceUK.com graphic) .... go down the page and click the 'change your settings' link. Here you should now be able to choose to get the digest.