- I'm having trouble signing up/signing in. What should I do?
First read this to see if the problem is due to your browser, JavaScript or cookie settings on your computer. Some programs--web accelerators in particular--can be another source of problems, so make sure they are configured not to function on Epinions.com. The next step is to check the member center and message boards to see whether these problems are limited to you or if other users are having the same issue(s).
If the above steps do not provide a solution to your issues, contact Community Care.
- I forgot my username and/or password, how do I retrieve it?
Look in the upper right-hand corner of any page in the epinions.com domain, where the words "Sign In" appear (if the words "{membername}'s Account" appear, you're already logged in and that's your name). Click on the "Sign In" link. If you have forgotten your password, click on the link that says "Forgot your password?" You may either submit your user name or your email address of record, and a link that will allow you to change the password on the account will be sent to that official email address. The email will include your Epinions member name but not your password.
If you've forgotten both your member name and your password, Community Care may be able to help. You may want to do a little detective work first, such as searching for topics you remember having reviewed in hopes of recognizing one of the names.
- How long does the "new" tag stay next to my username?
The "new" tag will appear next to a member's username for their first 30 days as a registered member of Epinions.
- How do I change my password and member name?
There is no way to change your member name. You can delete your current account, which will delete all of your reviews and earnings, here. You can not hold multiple accounts.
To change your password, click "change password" on your account summary page. Epinions account management FAQ appears here.
- How do I reactivate an old account?
Simply log in to an old account to automatically reactivate it. However, all unredeemed Income Share the account held will no longer be available, as explained in the User Agreement.
- How do I confirm my account?
Following registration, an email should automatically be sent to the email address you used to register on Epinions.com. That email will include a link for you to click on that will take you to this page:
http://www.epinions.com/register/confirmation.html
If you never receive that email, contact Community Care or post in the Help section of the message boards so that an Epinions staff member can manually confirm your account.
- Can I create more than one account?
No. Creating multiple accounts is against the Site Rules and User Agreement you agreed to when you signed up for an account. It is a ticketable offense that can be reported here.
- How do I delete my account?
Epinions has provided a form for account deletion here. Your member name and password are required to do so. Upon account deletion, all earnings are forfeit and most content associated with the account - reviews, ratings, comments, trusts - are permanently deleted as well. Only message board posts will remain.
- How do I change my email address?
You have two email addresses at Epinions, which may or may not be the same. The first is a public email address, which is displayed on your public profile. To change this address click on the "Edit Public Profile" link in the Account Options area, upper left-hand corner of your profile page. There is a box for your public email address near the top of the page.
The second email address is your Email of Record or "Contact Email," the address that Epinions uses to contact you for alerts, notifications, and so forth. This address is not displayed to the public. To change your contact email, click on the "Update Member Info" link in the Account Options area, upper left-hand corner of your profile page. There is a box for your private email address near the top of the page.
- Epinions won't let me enter my postal code, what's wrong?
Formerly, a bug existed that only allowed five characters to be entered into the zip/postal code field. This bug appears to have been fixed, although a postal code still cannot be entered with a space. For example, enter "T2T X2X" as T2TX2X, and it should work.
If for some reason that does not work, you can follow these simple steps:
1. Go to Shopping.com and log in with your Epinions username & password
2. Click on "Edit your Account Information"
3. Add/Update your details
Since Shopping.com and Epinions.com are integrated, the information will carry over from Shopping.com to your Epinions.com account.
- How do I add my profile picture?
First you need to find a profile picture on the internet or upload your own (you cannot use images that are located on your hard drive). If you do not have a place to upload and host the file, one of the free services like photobucket.com or tinypic.com work well. Then, simply place the URL of the image (either JPG/JPEG or GIF format) in the appropriate field on your Edit Public Profile page. Images over 100 pixels wide will be automatically resized, and possibly distorted, making it best to resize the image in a photo editor before uploading. Also, as a courtesy to members with slower internet connections, please make sure the file size of the image is appropriate (15kB max).
Further Reading:
The Profile Page Picture Plan by mobiprof
- How do I edit my public profile?
To edit your Public Profile, click the Edit Public Profile link on your Account Summary page. The Long Bio section is the only section that supports full HTML.
- Is my profile page visible only to members?
Your public profile page is visible to anyone who wants to see your profile, so be cautious about putting too much identifying information on your profile page.
You also have a private version of your profile page that only you can see when you're logged into your Epinions account. It will display hits per review and your earnings balance. You are the only member with access to that page.
To view your public profile page while logged into your Epinions account, click on the link right above your Activity Summary in the upper right hand corner of your private profile page.
- How do I change the background color for my public profile?
Epinions does not allow the normal HTML tag for changing the background color, even in the Long Bio section of your profile. However, it can still be done using alternate methods, as described by tch7 in this message board thread.
You can also override the rest of Epinion's style sheet with your own color scheme by using CSS, but this is not something to be attempted by people new to coding, and therefore isn't described here.
- How can I change fonts and font color?
To change the font on your profile page, the best method is to use the HTML tag: <font> </font>
To make this tag work, you will need to include some parameters inside the tag, for example:
<font face="Verdana" size="1" color="653554">Font Example</font> would produce Font Example
For further information on this tag, google 'HTML font'. If you have any questions regarding fonts, feel free to ask in this message board thread.
If you want to change the font outside of your Long Bio section, this can be done using style sheets (CSS). However, CSS is more complicated than HTML and is better left to individuals familiar with web coding.
- How do I create drop-down boxes for my reviews?
There are a number of ways that you can create drop-down boxes on your profile page for your reviews, and it really comes down to your preference in how you want the boxes to function. The best way to go about finding drop-down boxes you'd like to use is to look around at other people's profiles and elsewhere on the internet. When you find some that you like, look at the source of the page and find the section that contains the drop down box code (it'll be encased in <form> </form> tags). Once you have done that, amend the code (if permitted) to suit your needs and place it in the Long Bio section of your public profile.
Do note that the code for many drop-down boxes includes JavaScript, which is officially against Epinions' site rules. So that members may continue to enjoy the use of this tool, Epinions staff provided an example of drop-downs that are free of JavaScript. Discussion of the coding of these drop-downs and a link to an example of its use may be found in this message board thread.
- My profile page shows that I earned money! Why won't Epinions let me hit 'redeem'?
US residents must have $10 in their account before they can redeem. International members must have $100 in their account before they can redeem.
For more details on redeeming your earnings, consult the Income Share Earnings and Redemption page.
- I know people have read my review, so why does my profile page say I have zero visits?
Your number of visits is updated nightly. Occasionally a bug will strike, preventing hit totals from being updated for a few days. Express reviews do not have their visits tracked.
- How do I stop receiving emails from Epinions?
If you wish to stop receiving email alerts, click on the link marked "Email Alerts" in the Account Options area (upper left-hand corner of your profile page). Clicking on the blue-gray bar marked "Suspend Alerts" will cause alert email to cease. You may turn alerts "ON" at the same location: click on the orange link marked "Resume Alerts."
This process only stops alert emails and newsletters. Email related to site announcements such as policy changes will still come to your contact email; however, these are rare since such communication normally takes place in the Member Center.
- Can I delete multiple comment/rating/author alerts at one time, or do I have to do them individually?
Unfortunately, the only way to delete email alerts is one at a time. Therefore, if you frequently add email alerts, it is important to prune the list on a regular basis to keep it manageable. However, the number of email alerts you can set is not limited, so you are not required to remove any email alerts at any time.
- I subscribed to an Epinions newsletter, why haven't I received it?
You subscribed to a nonexistent newsletter. The sign up option was an artifact from the days when Epinions actually had newsletters. Major Epinions updates, contest winners and other messages from Epinions staff are listed in the Member Center.
- How do I refer a member?
The now-defunct referral program was phased out several years ago. While members often express an interest in referring friends and relatives for the enhanced community aspects, not to mention the additional income, there is at present no indication that the program will be reinstated.
- How do you set up a Content Partner site?
You can't. The content partner program was discontinued several years ago. There are no plans to reinstate this program.
- What are Content Filters?
Content Filters are a means of screening out objectionable or otherwise undesirable content, and content deemed unhelpful by the members who have rated it. These filters are set in a member's Site Settings, which is reached from the Account Options area of the member's Profile Page. There are three ways to control the filter settings:
- A checklist of Rating levels: if a box is unchecked, you will not see reviews of this Overall Rating when viewing a Product Page or another member's Profile Page (the default setting is to show Helpful and Very Helpful opinions only)
- A checkbox marked "Allow me to view members on my block list." If this box is unchecked, you will not see any content (Reviews, Ratings, Comments, and Message Board posts) submitted by members that you have Blocked. Set unchecked by default.
- A checkbox marked "Allow me to view members the community blocks." If this box is unchecked, you will not see any content submitted by members who are under a Community Block, whether or not you personally block them. Set unchecked by default.
Even if you have checked both of the "Allow me to see..." boxes, reviews written by those members you or the community block appear at the end of the review list for a product, regardless of any Titles they may hold.
- How can I remove a member from my view?
You can block the member. You may need to modify your Site Settings so that the block filters out reviews/comments/posts by individuals you have blocked, as described above. For more information on how blocks work, consult the Ratings and Web of Trust page.
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