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.

You have the choice to restrict who can read your journal entries. You can even make certain entries private, so only you can read them.

You can assign a security level to an entry by using the full Update Page at http://www.JournalFen.net/update.bml?mode=full, or, after the entry is posted, by editing it (http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=2).

Below the area where you type your entry, there is a dropdown list that allows you to select the security level you want to assign that entry. You may choose from Public, Private, Friends, and Custom. The Custom option will not appear if you have not defined any custom friends groups (http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=90).

At this time, there is no way to change the security level of your entire journal with one command.


The security levels operate as follows:

PUBLIC:
Anyone, whether logged in or not, may read entries that are marked Public.

PRIVATE:
Only the user who posts an entry marked Private can read that entry.
If you are logged in and viewing the friends page of someone who lists you as a friend, your private entries will appear on that page when you are viewing it, because you have access to them, but no one else who views the friends page of your friend will see your private posts.

FRIENDS:
Only you and people that you list as a friend can read entries marked Friends, and only while logged in. If someone adds you to their Friends list, that will not allow them to view your Friends-Only entries. See http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=36 for details.

CUSTOM:
Custom security allows you to post to only certain groups of people on your Friends list. These groups are completely customizable. See http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=90 for details.


The authentication is done with cookies. If you're logged in (http://www.JournalFen.net/login.bml) and you have access to see a certain post, it will appear with a textual or graphic indicator of its security level.


USING THE WEB INTERFACE:

The JournalFen web update client supports custom friends group security when posting entries. However, to be able to use it, you need to make sure that the browser you are using to update with is capable of running JavaScript. In most browsers you can set this option in either the appropriate security or preferences menus.

In the drop down listing of security levels, on the bottom you should see "Custom...". Choosing this option will make a set of checkboxes appear directly below the scroll box, one for each set of friends groups you have defined. When posting with custom security, you may choose one, some, or all of the currently defined friends groups.

Note that if you post to more than one custom friends group, anyone who is in any selected group will see the entry, not just those in all the selected groups.

USING A DOWNLOADED CLIENT:

Many clients available for download include the ability to set security levels for journal entries. For more information on your preferred client, consult its documentation or its menu options.


While you can restrict who is allowed to read your journal, it is not possible to know exactly who is visiting your journal. You can, however, add a hit counter provided by a third party. To find a source for the counter, you will need to locate one that does not include the use of a scripting language (for more information about this restriction, please see http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=14).

So long as you are logged in (http://www.JournalFen.net/login.bml), you will see this option on everyone's User Info page. It is a small icon with a "+" symbol, located in the blue toolbar at the top of the userinfo page. When you click on that icon, you will be prompted to confirm your decision before the user is added to your Friends list (see http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=61 for information on managing your Friends list).

If the user is already listed as a Friend, this button allows you to modify settings (such as colors and custom Friends groups; see http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=102 for information on custom Friends groups) or to remove them from your Friends list.

To set up a Friends group so that only certain users can see your posts (see the FAQ at http://www.journalfen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=24 for more information on Security settings), go to http://www.journalfen.net/friends/editgroups.bml

Click "New" to give your group a name, then move the usernames you want in your group from the "Not in Group" box to the "In Group" box using the >> button. You can make your group public or private by selecting the appropriate button. Remember to click "save changes" when you're done. You can add or remove users from your groups at any time.

If you only want to view certain users on your friendslist because, for example, you're a member of a community but are sick of seeing posts about animals on fire on a daily basis, you can set up a filter at http://www.journalfen.net/friends/filter.bml

This page will show all your previously created groups and will let you choose which one(s) you'd like to view on your friendslist.

No. In order for someone to see your Friends-Only entries you must add him or her to your Friends list and he or she must be logged in.

There is no other way for someone to see your Friends-Only entries. If someone adds you to their Friends list, for example, that does not enable them to see your Friends-Only entries. Note that if you are logged in then you will still be able to see these entries on the Friends pages of such people. This, however, does not mean that they can also see the entries.

For a more complete explanation of how the security settings work, see http://www.JournalFen.net/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=24.

At this point in time, the Topic Directory is unavailable.

You can see the birthdays for your friends (assuming they've provided that information) at http://www.journalfen.net/birthdays.bml