GEMZIES Frequently Asked Questions

Welcome to the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) of Gemzies.com!

During our Alpha stage, we will continue to add additional tips & tricks, based on the user feedback we receive. Don't hesitate to send your ideas and feedback to feedback@gemzies.com

If you need a quick overview of "who we are and what we do", check out the tour.

Registration

User PROFILE information

About GEMZIES.COM

Using Gemzies - TIPS & TRICKS

FINE TUNING Gemzies during our Alpha stage

A bit of Gemzies "speak" - DEFINITIONS

So, what do we mean when we talk about:

I have read all FAQ's, but I did not find the answer to my QUESTION!

Don't hesitate to send us your questions, feedback, and ideas via feedback@gemzies.com
Thanks on forehand for your valuable contribution!
- The team behind Gemzies.com

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Registration

How do I register to become a contributor to Gemzies?

Registration is simple - just click the "sign up" link at the top right of any Gemzie page. You will be asked a couple of questions, like username and password, email address, etc. You will need to confirm your registration by clicking a link in an email that we will send to your address for confirmation. This is just to avoid spammers. Once you confirmed your registration, you are ready to add your reviews, new entries, etc.

I have forgotten my username/password - what do I need to do?

Use the "login" option at the top right of any Gemzie page. Below the section where you can enter your username and password, click the "forgot username" or "forgot password"-link. You will be asked for your e-mail address. Based on the e-mail address entered, we will send the username or password.

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User PROFILE information

Where do I find an overview of your terms & conditions?

Follow the link to our terms & conditions.

Where do I find your privacy policy?

Follow the link to our privacy policy.

What is happening to the profile information that I fill in on my page?

You need to have an account in order to add your reviews, comment on the reviews (or tags) of others, add new entries, or create new Gemzies pages. To enable this account, we need to have your user profile data. Of course, we will handle this data with care, and not hand it over to any third party.

Profile

First of all, your profile is intended to present yourself, and your expertise, to fellow experts. If you are open to a bit of networking with fellow experts, you can choose to set your full profile data 'public' (login > go to My Account > Profile (username) > edit). If you like a bit of privacy, but still can't wait to do some reviewing, just set all profile data to 'private'.

Using profiles, Gemzies is also able to track entries back to its contributors. If any entries are reported as offensive, abusive or clearly commercial, we will not only remove the entries, but also its contributors.

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About GEMZIES.COM

What is Gemzies about?

Gemzies -from 'gems'- provides a platform for experts, die-hard fans, or anyone with a serious opinion, to jointly maintain a Gemzies page on anything from Christina Aguilera to Narrowcasting.

Gemzies provides guidance in the ever expanding content of the Internet, via a pre-selected and structured list of best sites, videos, photos, news and books on 'any' topic.

Our contributors add and review entries, simply for the sake of helping others getting started. In return, contributors are 'rewarded' by displaying them as valuable experts in a ranking list on the particular Gemzies page. What comes from that is up to the experts themselves.

In short, Gemzies wants to support serious, structured digging, on any single topic to highlight the best on the internet available on that topic - Gemzies!

What do I find on Gemzies.com?

Gemzies pages provide a structured overview of the best sites, videos, pictures, news and books on a single topic. The entries on Gemzies-pages are added by you, our users. And based on your votes and reviews, the entries on each page, and within each category, are 'ranked' up or down..

Gemzies.com provides tools to easily search, browse, fine tune, and expand starting-pages. In future, we plan to add additional content types like podcasts or documents and we plan for tools to promote your Gemzies pages to others.

Maturing

To quickly judge the 'quality' of a Gemzies page, it will be ranked with an overall quality indicator, ranging from 1 to 5 Gemzies. These Gemzies are earned based on e.g. the number of active contributors, the average rate of entries by fellow experts, etc..

Since contribution to Gemzies pages is voluntarily, we expect pages on topics that people share a passion for to be published first, e.g. music artists, sports clubs, expertise areas, etc.

Gemzies will most probably not help you to find a nearby pizza-restaurant. Keep using Google for that type of searches. And since we are a serious initiative, we do remove abusive, offensive, or clearly commercial content.

How can I interact with my fellow experts?

Gemzies provides several ways to interact with your fellow experts:

  • Every expert can provide public and private contact details upon signing up to Gemzies. If you want to interact with fellow experts, you could use the 'public' contact details to start conversations via e.g. MSN, Skype, etc.
  • You can discuss and comment on the reviews of your fellow experts. The comments will be displayed on the Gemzies page, and in the personal 'my activity' section of every expert
  • You can also easily start tracking new entries or reviews entered by specific experts. You can do so via the 'profile' page of the specific expert. So if you do note an interesting expert out there, just click the option on his/her profile.
  • Similarly, others can track your contributions if they use the 'track' option on your profile.

We have planned for additional features in the near future, to further support the online community of Gemzies experts, e.g. personalized RSS, discussion forums, etc. We are keen to understand your ideas on most useful features in a next release, please send them to feedback@gemzies.com

So you want me to spend my valuable time ranking and reviewing content - what's in it for me?

Gemzies does not have a revenue share program, unlike some other Web 2.0 initiatives that rely on the quality of the input of their user community.

We strongly believe, however, that our experts can 'profit' from a high ranking in the list of most valuable experts on a specific Gemzies page. How you could profit is entirely up to you, but is always indirect. You could e.g. start a Skype-premium service on 'your' expert topic and provide online consult. Or you could refer to your Gemzies ranking when you negotiate your consulting rate.. be creative!

You end up higher in our lists of favorite experts & fans on any topic, if:

  • you create new Gemzie pages that become popular among a large group of fellow experts
  • you send in lots of high quality entries for any Gemzie page
  • you add reviews -or improved tags- to entries previously added by others
  • these entries receive a high average "rate" (1-5 Gemzies) from your fellow experts

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Using Gemzies - TIPS & TRICKS

How can I add new entries to Gemzie pages?

There are a couple of ways you can contribute to a Gemzie page:

  • You can rate every entry on any particular Gemzie page by clicking on a "score" of 1 to 5 Gemzies for that particular entry. Every visitor can rate entries.
  • You can add your personal reviews to any entry on a particular Gemzie page.
  • You can add your personal tags to an entry.
  • You can comment on the reviews (or tags) of others.
  • You can add new entries to a Gemzie page. These entries can cover sites, videos, photos, blog-posts, and (yes) books.

You need to have an account in order to add your reviews, comment on the reviews (or tags) of others, add new entries via , or create new Gemzie pages via .

Gemzies uses your contribution not only to expand existing Gemzie pages, but also to improve the structure of a page, e.g. by improved tagging of an entry, based on your comments on tags of other contributors.

How to add videos

  1. Find the URL
  2. Click on
  3. Select 'video'
  4. Fill in the embedded code of your video
  5. Fill in the title, your review, your rating and your tags
  6. Finish by clicking on

How to add videos from Youtube, Metacafe, Dailymotion, Yahoo Video

  1. Copy the embedded code.
  2. Use this embedded code for your entry

How to add videos from Google Video

  • Find out if this video really is a Google video (not from Youtube)
    • If this is a Google video you will see the Google Logo on the bottom left
    • If this is a Youtube video you will see the Youtube logo on the bottom left
  • If it is a Google video.
    • Copy the embedded code from the details field on the right. If you do not see the embedded code on the right side. Click on Google video on the bottom left of the video screen. Select 'go to Google video'. Now you will see embedded code in the details field.
    • Use this embedded code for your entry
  • If it is a Youtube video.
    • Double click on the video.
    • You are now on Youtube (see How to add videos from Youtube)

How to add photos

  1. Find a photo on the internet
  2. Click with the right mouse button on the picture select properties
  3. Copy the location url:
  4. Use this url for your entry

How to add photos from Flickr

  1. Go to http://www.flickr.com/
  2. Search for the picture and go to the picture page (for example http://www.flickr.com/photos/cortos/321501860/)
  3. Click with the right mouse button on the picture
  4. Select properties
  5. Copy the location url:
    • Example: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/138/321501860_0456518259.jpg?v=0
  6. Use this url for your entry

Note: Sometime you will find a spaceball.gif. This is a transparent overlay preventing you to copy the image. Of course there are workarounds. Please respect the copyrights. If they use this spaceball they do not appreciate someone using or deep linking the image.
For example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/visit_spain/470979538

Example: ttp://l.yimg.com/www.flickr.com/images/spaceball.gif

How to add photos from Google Images

  1. Go to http://images.google.com/
  2. Search for the picture and go to the picture page
  3. Click on the image in the upper Google Frame or click on 'See full-size image'
  4. Copy the url from the browser
  5. Use this url for your entry

How can I edit my entries, e.g. in case I made a mistake?

  1. Login to your account
  2. Go to the Gemzies page on which you want to edit an entry.
  3. Click on 'My Activity'.
  4. Go to the entry which you want to edit
  5. Click on
  6. Edit the entry URL, display title, entry type, review, rating or tags.
  7. Click on 'save'

a name="remove_entries">How can I remove my entries?

  1. Login to your account
  2. Go to the Gemzies page on which you want to edit an entry.
  3. Click on 'My Activity'.
  4. Go to the entry which you want to edit
  5. Click on
  6. Click on 'remove entry'

What options do I have to customize my profile?

  1. Login to your account
  2. Go to 'My account'
  3. Click on 'edit' in the upper right corner, to check on all options for editing your profile

Edit Profile

How can I get involved in adding new Gemzie pages?

Go to , fill out the one-page form and you'll be Gemming in minutes. An account will automatically be created if you are not a member yet.

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FINE TUNING Gemzies during our Alpha stage

Why is Gemzies so slow?

As a true start up, we have no deep pockets (yet) when it comes to hardware. We are doing our utmost best to keep up with the pace Gemzies is being used worldwide. If you do notice a slow response, imagine us running around the server-room, planning for our next scaling-exercise..

I want to check an entry, but there is no content...!

That's very well possible, due to the dynamic nature of the internet. We call this phenomenon 'deadlinks': someone posts an entry to Gemzies, and a little while later the specific video, photo, books or even the website has been removed, resulting in a deadlink. We run a daily automated procedure to remove these deadlinks from Gemzies, to prevent this annoying feature, but you might end up clicking on a deadlink now and then. Sorry. You can report a broken link by clicking on . You will find this link at the bottom of every entry.

How do you rank the most valuable contributors?

You end up higher in our lists of favorite experts & fans on any topic, if:

  • You add reviews -or improved tags- to entries previously added by others
  • You send in lots of high quality entries for any Gemzies page
  • These entries receive a high average 'rate' (1-5 Gemzies) from your fellow experts
  • You create new Gemzies pages that become popular among a large group of fellow experts

And since we are in Alpha, we keep working on the algorithm!

How do you rank the number of Gemzies for a specific page?

We start of with a couple of assumptions on what drives the quality of a Gemzies-page, as it is experience by any visitor. We assume that:

  • A bigger number of contributors drives the quality of a Gemzies page
  • A bigger number of reviews per contributor drives the quality of a Gemzies page
  • A higher average rating of entries (via reviews) drive the quality of a Gemzies page
  • A bigger number of reviews per entry drives the quality of a Gemzies page
  • A bigger number of entries does NOT drive the quality of a Gemzies page

So, we have divided the above criteria in 5 levels, we score each page on each of the criteria, we do a bit of math, we add some weighing factors, and voila! You get 1 to 5 Gemzies as a result. And again, since we are in Alpha, we keep working on the algorithm!

How do you rank the entries per page, per category?

Entries on a page end up higher in any category, if:

  • The average rating of the entry (1-5 Gemzies) among all users is higher
  • The average rating of fellow experts that reviewed the entry is higher
  • The number of users that rated or reviewed the entry is higher

And again, since we are in Alpha, we keep working on the algorithm!

When adding websites to a Gemzie page, the Gemzie toolbar sometimes "crashes"

OK, sorry, we are aware of that. It happens specifically when trying to add a website that has been set up not to be 'framed' in another website. Some websites don't like the feeling of that, so they 'close' Gemzies and put themselves on top. Nevertheless, there are ways to work around it, and we plan to do so..

What new features have you planned in future releases?

Lots of them! But since we are a serious initiative, expect some 'serious' features in next releases, like:

  • Continuous improvement of our "ranking" algorithms
  • Improving the search function : allowing users to search for Gemzie pages using additional search criteria
  • Improving the "related Gemzie pages" function
  • Adding additional filters : allowing users to filter e.g. on the language of content displayed (handy if you would only like to see, say, French movies).

The structure of Gemzies is prepared for the above, now we just need the time and resources to do so.

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A bit of Gemzies "speak" - DEFINITIONS

So, what do we mean when we talk about:

Gemzie page

A collection of suggested 'best' links on any subject, including reviews of 'expert' users.

Page quality (nr of Gemzies)

The quality of a Gemzies page is expressed in a level from 1 to 5, matching the total number of 'Gemzies' earned out of 5 possible Gemzies. The level (or the # of Gemzies) is visually expressed via the indicator at the top right corner of a Gemzie page.

The calculation of the levels is a.o. based on:

  • The number of contributors to a Gemzie page
  • The number of reviews per contributor on the Gemzie page
  • The average rating of entries (via reviews) on a Gemzie page

The naming of the 5 levels is as follows:

Maturity

  • 1 Gemzie
  • Starting page
  • 2 Gemzies
  • Growing page
  • 3 Gemzies
  • Maturing page
  • 4 Gemzies
  • Solid page
  • 5 Gemzies
  • Excellent page

Entry

A posted "link" on a Gemzie page (a link can point to a site, a blog, a video, a book, etc.)

Contributor

In order to be a contributor, one has to be logged in. Once you start adding entries, reviews, or comments to other reviews, you become one of our contributors.

Category

All entries to a Gemzie page can be "tagged" by contributors. The tags serve to 'categorize' the entries into groups. A category can (visually) group a set of entries to a common tag-word. E.g. if 10 different entries on Christina Aguilera share the tag-word 'concert', then 'concert' will be a category on the 'categories' tab.

Gemzies takes a different approach to tags and categories, when compared to many other web 2.0 initiatives, where you see tag-clouds being used all over the place. The key difference is that we combine tags (e.g. concert) and subdomains (e.g. Christina Aguilera.gemzies.com), therefore allowing for a more specific categorization of content, for any specific topic.

Review

A written review of an entry, submitted by a contributor. In order to submit a review, a user needs to be logged in. When writing a review, a contributor is ALSO expected to vote 1-5.

Comment

A comment to a review, submitted by another contributor. In order to post a comment, a user needs to be logged in.

Comments to reviews can evolve in discussions among experts. Discussions on 'your' reviews can be easily checked from your 'My activity' page.

Vote

A posted 'score' from a single contributor, on a single entry, ranging from 1 to 5 (no broken values). In order to vote, a user does NOT have to be logged in. In other words, one does NOT have to be a contributor, in order to vote.

Rating

The average 'score' of an entry, calculated as an average of all of the votes that the entry has received. The votes can be either anonymous votes, or written reviews from known contributors.

I have read all FAQ's, but I did not find the answer to my QUESTION!

Don't hesitate to send us your questions, feedback, and ideas via feedback@gemzies.com.
Thanks on forehand for your valuable contribution!
- The team behind Gemzies.com

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