Help

Registering is quick and easy, simply fill out the information fields on the "Join Scoozme" page.

• User Name
  Your user name is your unique identifier on the site. Your user name must be from 3 to 12 letters or numbers, it can also include the underscore symbol _ . You can check to see if your chosen username is available by clicking on the link: "Click to check for availability". If your chosen name is not available you will need to select a different one. Usernames that include profanities will not be accepted.
• Email Address
  You should enter a valid email address in this field, as we will need to send you a verification email after you have signed up.
• Password
  Your password whould be something you will be able to remember, and can contain from 6 to 11 characters. You will be required to enter your password twice.
• Additional Information
  Other additional information to enter includes your country location, gender, birth year and interests. This will help us to tailor the site and it's content to suit you better.
• Site Terms
  Once you have filled out all your information, you will be required to check the box confirming agreement of our Terms Of Service and our Privacy Policy.
• Verification
  The verification box you see here is to ensure you are a real person and not a robot that is exploiting our site. Simply enter the characters you see within the image box on the left hand side, into the field on the right. Once you have done this you simply press the "Sign Up" button at the bottom. At this point we will send you an email to the address you have specified, all you need to do is to open the email we have sent you and to click on the confirmation link contained within in it. Once you have done that your membership to Scoozme is confirmed.

Scoozme is essentially about asking and answering with the power that comes from being able to post any media you like including video, audio and images.

Scoozme is the place where everyday people can mix with professionals, hobbyists and enthusiasts in various fields to share answers, recommendations, identifications, opinions or appraisals on just about anything in any topic.

The potential uses of scoozme are extensive, and below we have outlined just some of the many ways you might use this site...

• What Song is This?

  Have you got a song stuck in your head and you don't know the name of it? Or maybe you've heard a song on TV and you want to find out who sang it? You can upload some words that you may know or additionally add a little audio file of you humming or singing the song. Someone is sure to know the song you're talking about.

• What's This Worth?

  Have you uncovered an old family heirloom in the attic and you aren't sure what it is or what it may be worth? Take some photos or videos of it and upload them to Scoozme, ask people what it is or what it may be worth. We have a category for collectibles and antiques.

• Who Is That?

  Trying to work out who is who in an old school photo? Just put it up on our site and fill in as much information as you can and who knows, maybe you could reunite with that old school friend again.

• Where Was That?

  Maybe you have a bunch of holiday photos and you can't remember where you took them on your big world trip? Upload them to our Travel and Places category and someone will be able to help you remember where you were!

• What's This?

  Caught a fish and you don't know what type it is or whether it will taste good? Maybe you want to know how best to cook it? Put some photos of it in our Fish category and get the answer you're looking for.

• Pretty Much Anything...

  Want to get opinions on what furniture suits your newly renovated room? Think you've discovered a new species of giant killer ant in your back garden? Trying to work out how to fix your computer or software problems? ...Post it all on Scoozme

Creating new questions on scoozme is simple.. Just click on the top menu link "Ask" from any page on the site and provided you are logged in, you'll be taken to the Ask page where you can specify exactly what your query is.

Some entry fields on this page are mandatory in order to best organise your question on the site, while some are optional and you may specify as much or as little information as you wish. Keep in mind the more information you enter here the better the chances of someone being able to answer your query properly.

Your questions posted to scoozme can be purely textural questions or you may additionally choose to add up to 4 separate pieces of media to the question. Adding media to a question can increase the chances that someone will be able to accurately answer your query. For example: If you were seeking to get a valuaion or information on a certain piece of pottery you had.. you could take up to 4 photos or videos or a combination of both, to show the pottery from various angles. This would allow others to better see what you are talking about.

You will find more about filling in specific fields in the sections that follow..

• Type a short title that will appear with your question

  This field is a text input box for you to enter a short title question for your upload. This title is essentially what you are asking people about. Examples of what you might enter in Step 1 would be: "What sort of fish is this?" or "Who sang this song?" This field is restricted in length to 56 characters and will also form the title of the page on which your question sits.

• Type some more details about your question

  This field is a text input box where you can enter more detailed information about what your question or media post. It is ideal to expand upon the main question that you entered in Step 1, by giving as much information as you can.

• Category To Place Your Question Into

  Categories are used on the site to sort postings into defined topic areas. Simply choose the most appropriate category from the drop down list provided. For example if you have caught a fish and you don't know what type it is...simply enter your question in the Animals category drop down list.

  Note: This is a mandatory step, it helps others to find your question better. If your question doesn't fit into any specific category, you can simply choose to place it in General Queries category.

• Location Relating To This Question

  This text field allows you to enter any information you know about where your video or image for example was taken. This allows people to give a more accurate response to your question. For example..if you have taken a photo of a bird in Yosemite National Park...you should then enter: U.S.A -California.

  Step 4 is not a mandatory field, sometimes the nature of your question will mean it is not relevant anyway. It is merely here to asist others in answering your question more accurately.

• Around What Date Does This Question Relate To?

  This is simply a date ( if you know it ) relevant to the question or the media that you are uploading. For example if you took a video of something on your holiday, you would enter the date that you took that video on. If for example you were unsure of when you took the video, you can simply leave this field blank or use the year or month only.

• Enter from one to ten keyword tags

  Keyword Tags are simply a collection of words you would use to describe your upload. They should be descriptive single words separated by a comma, and should ideally include words from your "Main Question" Example: If you were uploading a question about an American car such as a Corvette, you might add keyword tags like: Car, Corvette, American, Red, 1984, engine, problem

Enter The Characters In The Box: After step 6 you will notice a box containing some funny looking text and numbers. This is a code that allows us to tell you are a human visitor to our site and not a robot. Simply enter this code into the text field beside it. These letters are not case sensitive.

Save: Clicking the Save icon at this step will save your posting details entered up to step 6. You must save your posting at this step before you can proceed to attach any media. Once you do this you will be presented with Step 7 below.

• Choose Media To Attach

  This is where you get to upload and attach any type of media you like to your question posting. We currently allow you to add up to 4 different files to be displayed with your question. You don't need to attach any files. If there are no attached files, your question will appear as a text question.

  For more information on what types of files we can accept, check Allowable Media Attachments section below.

• Select Files To Upload

  You will see 4 different slots each with a browse and upload button. To upload a file to Scoozme from your computer simply click on the button beside any slot . This opens up a file request box for you to find a suitable file from your computer. Once you have selected a file, click the "Upload" and the file will be sent to our server. Depending on the size of the file this may take some time. You can upload up to 100MB at once.

   

  You must check the tick box at step 7 and agree to our Terms Of Service before uploading any media files. This checkbox clears if you change your file selection.

   

  Once the file is on our server it goes through some conversions behind the scenes, and then we display a thumbnail of your file. If you uploaded an audio file, you will see our default audio icon appear.

   

  Having the ability to upload up to 4 related pieces of media, enables you to better convey to other members what your question is focused on. So you might add 4 different photos of the same object to help better identify it. You are free to add any combination of media, so you might upload 2 photos, 1 video and an audio file for example.

 

If you choose not to attach any files to your question, you post will be deemed to be text only and when you view it on our site in its thumbnail box you will see our default text icon shown.

Note: The default thumbnail image that is displayed with your post on the site is taken from the first piece of media that you upload to the site.

• Conversion Of Uploaded Media

  Depending on how large your media attachments are, and the speed of your internet connection, you will notice that it will take some time for you files to upload. If you wish to leave the "Ask" page and continue browsing the site while waiting for your files to upload..please click on the link provided in the message box at step 7. Leaving this page via any other links will terminate your current upload/s.

   

  Once your files reach our servers, they will be converted into a size and format for display on our site. This process will take some time depending on the size of your upload. Also note that audio and video files are truncated on the server. Audio files are currently truncated at 30 seconds and video files at 5 minutes.

   

  Once the conversion process is finished, you will notice that thumbnail images will be shown for each of the 4 different files you have added. You will also receive a message in your message alerts box in the right column, which will tell you whether the conversion was successful or not.

• Select A Function To Perform

 

Return To Questions: This button will take you out of the "Create" page and back into a page that shows you all of the questions you have posted to the site, including both "Published" and "Unpublished" questions.

Delete: This button will delete the question you are working on from the site. You will be asked to confirm that you wish to delete your question. Remember once it is deleted you cannot undo this.

Preview: This allows you to see a preview of the actual page that your question will appear on as site visitors will see it. Your question has not actually been sent "live" to the site at this stage.

Publish: Once you are happy with the information you have entered on the create page, you can click on the 'Publish' link. This sends the question 'live' to our site where other users will be able to see it on it's own dedicated page. Note that a question can't be published while there is still media being processed for it.

Scoozme allows you to upload in the following formats:

• Video: .flv, .mov, .wmv, .avi, .mpeg, .mpg, .asf,  .ogg
  
• Images: .jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp
• Audio: .wav, .mp3, .flv, .wma, .ogg

From time to time we add additional formats.

To insure your media files reach our site as quickly as possible and can be converted by our servers properly, there are some ideal file types, resolutions and sizes that we recommend you use:

• Ideal Video Settings

  When converting videos to be uploaded to our site it is recommended that you downsize them to the following ideal parameters before uploading them, this will allow the speediest transfer and best possible chances of a error free conversion:

  • Resolution: 400x300px (higher resolutions such as 640x480, PAL and NTSC resolutions are supported but will take longer to process. Smaller resolutions such as those from camera phones are also supported.
  • Length Of Time: Video lengths for individual video attachments are limited to 5 minutes. You can however upload 4 different videos of 5 minutes each if you wish. Keep in mind the more video you upload the longer it will take to convert it on our servers
  • File Type: Any of the acceptable file types can be uploaded, as they will need to be converted by our servers regardless of what you upload.
    
• Ideal Audio Settings

  At this time audio length is restricted on the site to 30 seconds. Uploading audio files longer than 30 seconds will force them to be cut 30 seconds after the start. Thus we recommend you only upload parts of an audio file that relate to your question. You should refer to our Terms of Service regarding uploading songs to our site.

• Images

  Images are displayed on our site at a maximum resolution of 1024x768. Images that are uploaded at resolutions higher than this will be downsized to 1024x768. You will find that .jpg files will upload the fastest to our servers, but you are welcome to upload other formats such as .png, .gif or .bmp images.

Each question uploaded to Scoozme gets it's own dedicated page. On these pages you will find all the media and text information that has been posted under a certain question.

At the top of the page you will find the main title of the page, which is also the question that is being asked. Underneth this you will see any media that has been attached to the question as well, followed by the "Posting Details", "Tools" and "Responses" sections.

In the middle column of the page you will find a selection of "Related Questions" loaded as thumbnail modules...clicking on these will take you to their own dediated pages.

There are up to 4 thumbnails viewable below the main media area, they represent the media that the user has attached to this question. Just click on each thumbnail to view or listen to the corresponding piece of media.

Below the thumbnails you will find all of the additional information relating to the question posted. Including the name of the user who uploaded the question and on what date it was uploaded. Also in the posting details you will find full text details of the question as well as other information such as Tags, Category and Location.

• Added By

This shows the username of the member who uploaded the question, clicking on their username will take you to their "Profile" page. Beside their username you will see the time and date that they uploaded the question to Scoozme .

• Views

This is simply the number of times this question has been viewed by site visitors.

• Category

This is the preset category on Scoozme that posting is filed under. You can click on Category links and you will be taken to the chosen category page to find other postings within it.

• Details

The Details area is additional information that the member has added to go with their question. It is generally used to expand upon the actual question.

• Content Date

The Content Date is the actual date that the question pertains to. It can be simply a year or a specific date. Not all posts will have a content date specified, but it can be a helpful addtional piece of information when asking a question or giving an answer. For example: When uploading a school photo for the purposes of finding out who someone was, the content date can be used to specify what year ( if known) that the photo was taken.

• Responses

This is the number of answers or responses that have been given to this question by members of the site.

• Location

This is the location that is shown within the media that has been posted. It can enable a viewer of the page to better answer questions that are dependent on location in some way.

• Tags

These are keywords that are used to describe the posting. You can click on any of these tag links to find other postings that have been added using the same Tag.

• Create a New Response

  Creating a new response allows you to post a new answer or give feedback to the person who has uploaded the question. When you click the link you will see a text field open up along with a verification code. Simply type in your  response and then type in the verification code into the box beside it, then click "Submit". Your response will then be added to the page.

• Bookmark This Question

  Clicking a "Bookmark This Question" or "Bookmark it" link on Scoozme enables you to save a thumbnail version of this page to your own "Bookmarks" list .This will help you find the page later. Likewise once you bookmark a page you will then see "Unbookmark This Question" or "Unbookmark" links shown for this question, clicking these will then remove the page from your Bookmark list.

• Social Bookmarking

  You can choose to share pages on scoozme through the most poppular social networking and news sites on the web, including Facebook, Digg, Del.icio.us and Stumbleupon. You will need to be a member of these 3rd party social sites in order to share scoozme pages on them. Simply click on the icon appropriate to the site you wish to bookmark the page upon.

The responses area is where any answers that have been posted to this question will show. Short Response answers are highlighted so they stand out. This allows people browsing the responses to quickly scan through the answers.

• Reply To This

  You may reply to any specific answer by finding the Response that interests you and clicking on the "Reply To This" link at the bottom of the members response. Doing so will reference this persons comment within your own response.

• Rate This

  At the bottom right of every response you will see the ratings buttons, which allow you to vote on what you think of this person's response to the question being asked. You have the following options:

  Good: If you believe the person's response is a worthy contribution you can click this link to vote it as "Good". You will notice that the ratings score box at the bottom right will increment your vote.

  Poor: If you believe the response is not very good you can click this link to vote it as "Poor". This subtracts a vote from the current score for the response.

• Flag As

  Offensive: If you believe the person's response is offensive in nature you can click this to flag it in our system as offensive.

  Spam: If you believe the person's response is blatant spam or rubbish such as a chain letter and has no intention of contributing properly to the site, you can click this to flag their response as Spam in our system.

Profiles are individual pages dedicated to each member on scoozme. Your profile page displays information about you to other users on the site. There is more about setting up your profile in the next section..

Clicking on your "Control Panel" link within your alerts box in the right hand column takes you to a page where you can alter what is displayed to others on your profile page, as well as change various setting for your site account.

When you are logged into scoozme you will see your alerts and statistics box situated in the top right column of the site. This box contains quick stats about your site activity and links to your profile page as well as the most recent messages you have received from the site. You can dismiss messages using the check box in the top right of the message area, or alternatively click on your "Control Room" link to go to your profile and setting page. To view your profile as other site members see it..simply click on the "My Profile" link in the lower right corner.

Questions that are posted to Scoozme are organised into distinct subject categories. When you create a question on Scoozme, you are asked to place it into a particular category which best suits the nature of the question.

To quickly browse through questions that have been uploaded into certain categories, simply click the "Categories" link at the top of any page. You will then be presented with a full list of main categories and subcategories across all our subject areas. Simply click on any category name and you will be presented with the most recent questions that have been posted under that topic.

You will find at the top right of every page above your personal alerts box, is the quick search box. You can enter search keywords in this field and return matches for your search terms. The quick search is a fat but limited way to find what you are looking for.

On the top main menu , you will see the icon "Search". This will take you to the "Advanced Search" page of scoozme. Advanced search gives you far more options for finding exactly what you want and for sorting and ordering the results when you find them.

• Choose A Site Area To Search

  Select a subject category on the site that you wish to search within. Leaving this drop down menu set to "All" will search every category on the site. It is recommened that you choose a specific category if you want the fastest search times.

• Search A Location

  Locations allow you to find postings on the site that have been taken in specific locations around the world. Not all questions have locations attached to them, as this is an optional field when someone uploads a query to the site. However locations can be a helpful additional piece of information to search on, particularly with respect to things like old school photos, missing persons or wanted people postings.

• Search Dates Around

  "Search Dates Around" is refering to the date on which the particular media or question refers to, it is NOT the date on which the question was posted to Scoozme. When someone uploads a question to the site, they have an option of adding a date( if they know it) on which the media was taken. For example: this could be the date on which the person was on vacation and took a video or photo and seeks an answer about something in that photo or video. It might alternatively be a rough date estimate and only show the year in which the photo or video was taken...for example a person who has uploaded an old historical photo or some other piece of media.

  Many questions posted on the site will not have this date information attached, however it is a useful search parameter to use when looking for certain things on the site.

• Questions Containing Keyword

  Keywords are a very useful way to search the site...simply enter a selection of keywords or phrases that best describe what you are looking for. The search engine will look for results that contain these words, or questions that have been "tagged" with these keywords. For example you might enter: "bird", "grey", "london" and the search will return results containing these words.

• Include Results Meeting ALL The Criteria or ANY Of The Criteria

  By selecting the "ALL" or "ANY" buttons, you can tell the scoozme search engine to be more or less specific with its results. "ALL" will tell it to return results matching all of the information you have entered at the previous search steps 1-4. "ANY" will be a broader search that will return results that may match one or more of your parameters selected at steps 1-4. If you wish to get very specific results, you should select "ALL".

• Number Of Results To Return Per Page

  This step is simply a display option which controls how many search results will be shown per page. Simply choose your desired option from the drop down menu.

• Sort And Filter

  This step is also a display setting which controls what type of results you will see and in what order:

   

  • Order By: You may choose to display the search results by "Time" ( date which the questions was uploaded to scoozme) "Views" (how many times each question has been looked at) or "Responses"(how many responses or comments have been left on the question page)
  • Questions Containing: These options decide whether to show questions that contain certain types of media, the options are: "Any Media" ( Questions containing Text Only, Video, Audio or Images, will be shown) "Text Only" (Only questions that are simply text and contain no additional media will be shown) "Images" (Questions which have images attached to them will be shown ) "Video" ( Questions which have video attached to them will be shown) "Audio"(Questions which have audio attached to them will be shown )
  • Sort: Sorting by "Descending" or "Ascending" will simply change the order in which results appear. for example the newest results will appear first when the "Descending" button is checked. "Ascending" will reverse the order of results.

  Pressing the "Go" button on the search page will submit your search query to the site and return your results.

Verification codes are used from time to time on the site to ensure we are dealing with humans and not automatic systems used for spamming. Verification codes are not case sensitive. If the auth code does not update or is unreadable, click the 'Update' button to obtain a new auth code.