| 1.
What
is PingRay?
2. Why
the name "PingRay?"
3. How
can I get PingRay?
4. Do
I need a high-speed Internet connection
to enjoy the PingRay selections? What
about plug-in's or special software?
5. I
clicked on a button in a featured
work and nothing happened. What gives?
6. I
signed up for the PingRay e-Guide
by email, but several weeks have gone
by and I'm not getting it. What's
wrong?
7. I
have or know about a great piece.
How can I get it selected by PingRay?
8. These
are great selections and they make
me want to shout. What can I do?
9. How
many categories are there?
10.Who
makes the selections?
11.Are
the PingRay selections appropriate
for my child?
1. What
is PingRay?
PingRay (pronounced like "stingray")
is the free, weekly e-Guide to the
best Net-based entertainment. We are
independent and do not receive financial
payment in exchange for making any
Net selections. In addition to seeing
a weekly selection of the Net's best,
you can also discuss/argue/ruminate
about the selections or about the
current or future state of online
entertainment, on PingRay's blog,
On
The Radar. (For more information
about us, please see About
PingRay.)
2. Why
the name "PingRay?"
Just as radar scans for targets or
"pings," so PingRay uses our "radar
beam" to scan for the best in Net-based
entertainment.
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3. How
can I get PingRay?
You can have the PingRay bulletin
emailed for free to you each week
if you wish. (Note that we have a
strict Anti-Spam
and Privacy Policy.)
Or you could go to the
PingRay Web site (www.pingray.com),
where you can find the weekly e-Guide.
You can also check out PingRay's blog,
On
The Radar, to share your
thoughts about these works and the
way Net-based entertainment is exploding.
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4. Do
I need a high-speed Internet connection
to enjoy the PingRay selections? What
about plug-in's or special software?
Yes, it would be best for you to have
a high-speed connection, since many
PingRay media-based selections would
take a long time to download over
a slower, dial-up connection. In fact,
the widespread availability of high-speed
access is the key reason, in our opinion,
that the Net is currently exploding
with original entertainment. From
time to time we may feature a wonderful
piece that could work fine at dialup
speeds, but, most likely, those will
be in the minority.
You should also have
the current Flash
plug-in and at least one of the three
most popular video players (QuickTime,
RealMedia
or Windows
Media Player). All of these
are free, and the vast majority of
Net users already have them.
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5. I
clicked on a button in a featured
work and nothing happened. What gives?
Sometimes, buttons in a featured work
use Javascript instead of a normal
link. Normally, it works fine, but,
on occasion, security software—
such as Norton— blocks it from
working. This is because Javascript
also generates those pesky advertising
pop-up windows, and Norton is trying
to be helpful by blocking Javascript.
To fix this, one good
step-by-step guide is at the Virgin
Blue site, which uses Javascript-based
buttons in its reservation system:
http://www.virginblue.com.au/helpInfo/websiteInfo/norton/#NPF2K3
If you are using a Norton
package not listed at Virgin Blue,
or have other security software and
still have this problem, you may need
to check the Help section of that
package to enable Javascript.
If, after doing the
above, a button still doesn't work,
make sure that Javascript is enabled
in your browser. As different browsers
do that differently, you'd best look
in the Help section for that browser.
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6. I
signed up for the PingRay e-Guide
by email, but several weeks have gone
by and I'm not getting it. What's
wrong?
First, please note that, after you
sign up, we send out a confirming
email to that email account, which
requires you to confirm that you want
to join our list. We send this to
make doubly-certain that you want
to join our email list and that someone
hasn't signed up for you without your
permission. (See our strict Anti-Spam
and Privacy Policy.) Search
your In-Box or Bulk Mail folder for
the email to make sure you didn't
forget to reply, which you do by simply
clicking the link in that confirming
email.
If you did reply to
that email, or you can't find such
a confirming email and think you may
have confirmed and then deleted it,
it's possible that the e-Guide is
mistakenly being sent to your Bulk
Mail or being blocked as spam. Check
your Bulk Mail folder and your spam
blocker; if our email is there, you
need to designate PingRay as not being
Bulk Mail or spam. The best way to
make sure this isn't happening is
by adding eguide@pingray.com
to your email address book, and following
any other procedures required by your
email service to "whitelist" PingRay.
On AOL 9.0, add eguide@pingray.com
to your "People I Know" folder.
If you're still having
a problem, email us at eguide@pingray.com.
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7. I
have or know about a great Web piece.
How can I get it selected by PingRay?
We'd love to hear from you. If you
have questions about our selection
guidelines, you can check out Our
Criteria. As noted there,
we choose works, not Web sites…although
sometimes a site might be entirely
one work. Please email the link to
us at editor@pingray.com.
We hunt down the best works, but also
count on our users to clue us in to
new works. Of course, we can't guarantee
we will agree it's great, but we will
certainly consider it. For more information,
please see Nominate
a Ping.
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8. These
are great selections and they make
me want to shout. What can I do?
Well, you could go into a closet,
shut the door and let loose. Better
yet — you could go to our blog,
On
The Radar and let us and
others know what you're excited about.
We're having energetic discussions
there about these wonderful works
and about where Net-based entertainment
should/could be, and we hope you'll
join us…whether you love them or not.
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9. How
many categories are there?
Presently, there are 13 categories
(see All
Current Categories), but
the number is changing as we discover
works that don't quite fit into existing
categories. If you think there is
a kind of Net-based entertainment
not represented by our categories,
by all means please let us know at
editor@pingray.com.
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10. Who
makes the selections?
We hunt down possible works ourselves,
get suggestions from a wide-ranging
group of friends and colleagues, and
get nominations from general users.
Then PingRay staff make the final
selections.
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11. Are
the PingRay selections appropriate
for my child?
If you're a parent, it's best that
you pre-screen just to be certain…except
for the selections in the "Kid Stuff"
or "Smart Fun" categories, which are
always intended for the whole family.
Most of the works we select are for
general audiences. If there is some
content in a terrific piece that is
suggestive, violent or otherwise might
offend some people or be inappropriate
for children, we will provide a NOTE
of caution in the description, with
an indication of the nature of the
content. (Pornography or works containing
gratuitous violence are never even
considered as PingRay selections.)
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