Is account creation open? No. Account creation is usually closed. We open it occasionally, but for the most part it is closed, to keep from our growth becoming too rapid. If you know a paid user, you can ask that user to request a free level journal for you. Or you can ask a paid user to advocate for you for a free account at one of two places:

http://www.journalfen.net/community/anon_no_more

or

http://www.livejournal.com/community/leavin_eljay

You can also purchase a paid journal of your own at any time at http://www.journalfen.net/paidaccounts/. You're welcome to check the create journal link occasionally, as well, on the off-chance you'll catch us during an open registration period.

We have free accounts, and two levels of paid accounts available. Paid Basic and Paid Premium are the paid levels. Early adoptors (now closed out) have their own special sets of privileges.

Free account creation is turned off on JournalFen by default, to curb too-rapid growth. Occasionally, we will open free account creation for limited periods of time. Check the Create Journal link from time to time to see if creation is open. Alternatively, if you know a Paid User, that person can request a free-level journal for you. Paid Users are entitled to additional accounts, just as they were entitled to a certain number of account creation codes when JournalFen was operating under the codes system.

Occasionally, we open up Paid Accounts to be bought as Permanent, meaning they are Paid for life with no further payment ever required.

PLEASE NOTE: At this time, paid account creation is not automated, therefore there may be a delay of a few minutes to a few hours (admin has to sleep sometimes, unfortunately) between the payment for and the creation of, your account. When your account is created, you'll receive email confirmation, which will include your password. We appreciate your patience in this time of growth.

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Buying a paid account is a great way to show your support for JournalFen. At http://www.JournalFen.net/paidaccounts, you can view pricing information, place an order to add paid time to your current account, or purchase a new account.

You no longer have to have a Paypal account in order to use this Paypal checkout; you can use a Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover card with this checkout system, without having to sign up for a Paypal account.

If you absolutely do not want to use Paypal on some kind of karmic moral grounds (hey, who're we to judge) you can also go to our Mediawood hosting signup area, create a billing account there, and instead of ordering webhosting, you can order a paid journal there:

http://mediawood.com

If you are purchasing a paid account by check, money order, or cash, you will get a confirmation screen during the checkout process with the address you should send your payment to. Make sure to include either a print-out of that page or a note referencing your payment number. Make checks payable to "CKR Webhosting LLC".

Please note that we do not recommend sending currency through the mail, as it can easily be stolen and there is absolutely no way to recover it. If the payment does arrive at our office, however, we will accept it.

Additionally, we can not accept checks from countries other than the United States. International users should first try paying by credit card. If this is not possible, or if your credit card is not accepted, you will need to obtain an international money order in United States funds.

Thank you for supporting JournalFen!

This is easy. Just click the Paid Accounts link on the menu side-bar. Choose the level of Paid Account you want to buy for someone, enter that user's journal name, and click Buy Now. If you want a specific gift message to be sent to the person's address on file, put "Gift Message:" in the notes/additional instructions area in the checkout forms and include your gift message.

If you don't include a gift message, the journal user will be informed of their upgrade, but the gift notification will be sent with the giver as anonymous.

When you sign up for a JournalFen account, the server sends you a Welcome message by e-mail, to be sure your address is valid. That e-mail tells you how to confirm that you've received it (you simply go to a Web page specified in the e-mail). Once you do that, you'll be able to use all the features of your new account.

You have to re-confirm whenever you submit a new e-mail address to JournalFen (http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=19). Be sure to check your new e-mail account for the message JournalFen will send to you.

If you didn't receive the message, the problem could be that too much of your e-mail is being filtered out by anti-spam software, so you might have to find out from your e-mail provider how filtering is done.

If you need to have the message re-sent to you, do the following:

(1) Go to http://www.JournalFen.net/editinfo.bml to be sure you entered your e-mail address correctly. If you have to change it, instructions for confirming the new address will be e-mailed to you. But if it was already correct, continue to step (2).

(2) Go to http://www.JournalFen.net/lostinfo.bml to have your password e-mailed to you. When you do this, the server will notice you are not validated, and it will include instructions in the e-mail, telling you where to go to confirm that you've received it.

If you have problems validating once you have the validation email, please see
http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=37

If you lost your original validation email, then you probably never received information about getting started with JournalFen. You can read about how to get started at
http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=55.

Check your personal settings! This is very important. You'll want to decide if your email address will be displayed at all, or mangled, and you'll very likely want to check the option to block spiders and web crawlers. These things are vital in doing at least something to prevent spammers from getting your information.

The short answer is that, if you are a paid user or you are hosted by CKR/Mediawood, you may request a rename here:

http://www.journalfen.net/users/rename_me/

and ZR will change your account name when she has a chance. You may only do this ONCE, for free.

Please be aware that if this courtesy gets abused, it will no longer be offered. And ZR's prickly, she doesn't want her ass kissed; a simple, polite request will do.

Now for the technical stuff...

If you are a paid user, you can request a new free-level journal to use, with the new journal name you want. Or you may wait for one of the times when free account creation is turned on, and create a new journal for yourself there.

JournalFen identifies your account by your user number, not your user name. Renaming an account simply changes the name associated with that number - everything else about the account remains the same. Paid or Permanent account status, user privileges, Friends, personal info, and other account-related data will be the same with the new username. All existing comments in other journals and posts in communities will display the new username.

What happens when someone tries to access the old username? You have two options. The old username can automatically redirect users to the new username - using this option is encouraged, so links to posts in your old journal don't break. This redirection will remain in place as long as your account exists. Alternately, the old username can be marked as deleted, so anyone who visits the journal will receive an error message. The old username will remain unavailable for at least 30 days.

As a convenience, you can also choose whether or not to preserve Friend-Ofs when renaming a journal. If Friend-Ofs are preserved, then everyone listing your old username as a friend will continue to list your new username as a friend. If Friend-Ofs are not preserved, you will be removed from the Friends lists of all other users when your account is renamed. (Of course, they can then add you again.)

If you want to hide your journal from someone who has found your username, the rename feature is probably not what you want. See "Can I make my whole journal Friends-Only or Private?" (http://www.journalfen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=120) or "How do I delete/undelete my entire journal?" (http://www.journalfen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=16).

The short answer is no. Once a journal has been claimed by someone, it's theirs.

The longer answer is that this rule is sometimes bent and/or broken. It's impossible to list the full criteria for the suspension of this rule. If it's just killing you that you can't have the username you want because someone who's never touched their journal has it, you may create a support request ( http://www.journalfen.net/support/submit.bml ) asking us to look into it. Please know, though, that the chances are slim that we'll be able to accommodate you.

This policy will change if we begin to receive too many requests, so please think about whether or not you really need THAT name. Please remember the journal must never have been used and/or modified.

You can change your email address and many of your other account settings at http://www.journalfen.net/editinfo.bml.

Once you change your email address, you will need to re-validate it. If you don't receive an email to re-validate your address, see "How do I get validated? It says I'm currently not validated!" (http://www.journalfen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=11).

If you would ever like to remove an address you have previously validated from the list of previously validated email addresses on your account (perhaps because you no longer use the address or it is no longer valid), you can visit http://www.journalfen.net/tools/emailmanage.bml.

If you were suspended without having had an email notification, it is probably because you were discovered to be a minor. Once you have been suspended for being a minor, all subsequent journals you may manage to create for yourself will be suspended as well unless we have irrefutable proof that you have come of age and are the person you claim to be in your proof.

Submission and acceptance of this proof is at the sole discretion of JF, as our schedules may not permit the time necessary to investigate what a previously suspended member submits as proof of his/her current age.

You might also be suspended if you've been found to be name hoarding. Creating multiple journals in order to keep those names out of circulation is a no no.

If you were suspended without notification, the other possibility is that the infractions were numerous and we simply didn't have the time or the inclination to list them and our reasons.

If you want to delete your entire journal, log in and go to http://www.journalfen.net/manage/ then click the link that says "Account Status". (You can also get to this page directly by going to http://www.journalfen.net/accountstatus.bml?authas=insert_your_username_here)

Change your Journal Activation Status to "Deleted". Click on Change Status. Your journal will be saved for at least 30 days in case you change your mind, but will not be available during that time.

To un-delete your journal before it has been purged, go back to the same place and change your Journal Activation Status to "Activated". Click on Change Status.

As stated in the Journalfen Terms of Service (http://www.journalfen.net/legal/tos.html), paid accounts are non-transferable and non-refundable. If you have a paid account and choose to delete your journal, you will not be able to transfer the remainder of your paid time to another account, nor will you be able to receive a refund for it.

To change your password, go here:

http://www.journalfen.net/changepassword.bml


For information on how to create a secure password, see:

http://www.journalfen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=71

To recover your account information, go to http://www.JournalFen.net/lostinfo.bml and follow the instructions given there. Your information will then be mailed to you.

For security reasons, JournalFen will only send your password to the email address currently entered in the Personal Information for your account, or to an email address that has been previously validated for use with the account. If you no longer have access to the currently registered email address or to any previously validated email address, you will not be able to recover your username or password. For more information about validation, see http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=11.

This is an automated process. JournalFen staff and Support volunteers do not have access to your password and will not be able to provide it to you.

If you are unable to regain access to your account because you have forgotten your username or password, and no longer have access to the email address currently registered with the account or to any previously validated address, you may wish to create a new journal. However, JournalFen will not provide you with an invitation code to do this; you must either obtain an invitation code from a friend or purchase a Paid Account. See http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=104 for instructions on creating an account.