Frequently Asked Questions

Every congregation in the United Church of Canada can set up a micro site on WonderCafe. For instructions, see below, email the administrator to ask for a PDF with the instructions, or download the PDF here. You will need to have an account on WonderCafe that has been set up by an administrator. Please contact wondercafe@united-church.ca or 1-800-268-3781 x4189.

1) Use your username and password to log into WonderCafe. If you do not have a username and password, please contact wondercafe@united-church.ca with your name, email address, and church address, and your username and password will be
sent to you.

2) At the top of the page, there will be a bar with a variety of links WonderMail, Profile, Friends, Groups, Discussions, Blog, Favourites, Photos, Videos, Log Out. These are all your personal links for your profile. Click on Groups .

3) Your church(es) will be listed in your Groups listing. To view or edit the information on the micro site, click on the name of the church.

4) At the top of the church information, at the right hand side of the page, you will see two tabs: view, and edit. To edit the information about your church, click on edit .

5) Add information that you would like shown on your micro site. There will be spaces for full church address, email address, website, About the Church, About the Service, About the Neighbourhood, church map (an automatically generated church map will pop up, but you may add a different picture if you d like), minister s name, photo, and information, quick facts, and church pictures. You may add as much or as little information as you d like.

6) When you are finished adding or updating information, scroll to the bottom of the page. There are three buttons save, preview, and delete. To finish updating the information, click save . If you d like to see the changes before you save, click preview .

7) Once back on the main page (either by saving the new information, or clicking on the view tab), you should be able to see the information on your micro site.

8) You may add upcoming news and events by using the column on the right side of the page labelled Group Menu. To add a new event, click Create News Event in the middle of the column. To edit an existing event, click on the edit link beside each listing.

9) Input the information you d like shown. You may also include a file (with the extensions .htm, .html, .txt, .doc, .rtf, and .pdf) or a photo to be opened separately with the listing.

10) To adjust the order the listings appear on the main page, use the News Sort Order to put the first events at the top of the list. Click save at the bottom of the page.

11) Once you have saved the information, you should be able to view the micro site by clicking on the view tab.

12) To delete a past News & Events listing, click on the edit link beside the event you wish to delete. Scroll to the bottom, and choose the delete button, and at the next page, click delete again. Your event will no longer appear in the News & Event listings.

13) The URL for your micro site will be in the address bar at the top of your web browser when you are on the view tab. You can use this to link to your micro site from your own website, to advertise on signs or flyers, or to send out in emails.

If you encounter any problems with your micro site or have any questions, please contact the administrator at: wondercafe@united-church.ca 1-800-268-3781 x4189

When your log in and create a profile, WonderCafe masks your email address on the web to prevent automated computer programs from harvesting it for spamming purposes.

If you are unable to login with what you know to be your correct username and password, please ensure that you have cookies turned on. Most likely you are using Internet Explorer, so here are the steps to check your cookies for IE (other browsers should be similar): * Go to the Tools menu * Choose Internet Options * Select the Privacy Tab * Choose Advanced * First and Third Party Cookies should be set to ''Accept''. If they are not set to accept, please change this setting and try logging in again.

First, make sure the image you are attempting to upload is in one of the format WonderCafe accepts (.jpg). Next, make sure the filename is simple and short, with no spaces or funny characters. "Image.jpg" is a good file name. Next, make sure the file name is less than 600k. We do not allow images over 600k. If none of these things work, it's possible that the image is corrupted. Luckily there is an easy solution. Go to http://www.download.com/ and download a copy of the software program IrfanView. IT'S FREE and you can use it to resize images so they're less than 600k, or resave images that may be corrupted. Once you have downloaded and installed IrfanView, simply run the program, open your .gif, or .jpg image, and resave it as another version (example: in IrfanView, open file named pic01.jpg, and resave it as pic01b.jpg). Then, simply return to WonderCafe and upload your newly resaved image.

Yes! Every feature and function you currently see on the site is free. Just jump in and enjoy!

No, you need to create a user name and password before you can join in a discussion. But, feel free to browse around and see what others are saying even if you haven't logged onto the site.

The "Bookmark" link offers you the ability to use almost any of the social bookmarking services you wish to let others know about conversations taking place on WonderCafe which you find engaging and interesting. Social bookmarking is an easy way to let others know about WonderCafe. We encourage you to take a moment to click on it, start an account on one or more of the services and lift up WonderCafe. If enough WonderCafe users do this, many other people will be made aware of the great discussions taking place on WonderCafe and of the site's host, The United Church of Canada.

Just enter your email address in the left side bar, choose a password you can remember (one that is difficult for anyone else to guess) then click Log in. This will bring you to your profile page where you will be asked to fill out a few simple pieces of information; your name; username; age group; Province you live and postal code. You can also add a little more personal information if you like, such as your occupation, about yourself and your interests. You can write as much or as little as you want, or nothing at all right now. You can always click on the ‘My Profile’ button at a later date and add to or change your information. You can also add a picture of yourself (or absolutely anything you choose as long as it’s not offensive) that will appear whenever you reply to a post or post a new topic. Other people will be able to click on your picture and read your profile.

In the first version of WonderCafe, (2006-2008), many posters on WonderCafe used a “bump” as the second post of their own thread. This in no longer necessary on the version of WonderCafe which launched in Oct. 2008, though a few people still use it.

 

In the old site, a "bump" brought the post to the top of the list for those who had their default view set at “Last Post.” The old version of WonderCafe did not automatically raise new threads to the top in Last Post view, but only did this in the “Last Topic” viewing option. Using a bump after the second post would, however, be considered a breach of etiquette.

Once you have logged in, click on 'my profile'. You will see a dark brown bar underneath your profile picture and your WonderMail information. In the centre, you'll see 'Change Password'. Click on this, and you will be prompted to put in your current password, then enter your new password twice.

My Favourites is easy to use. Once you are logged in, when you click on a discussion thread, you will see a link at the bottom of the opening post. To mark this discussion as your favourite, click on this link and it will be added to your list. To view your list, use the "My Favourites" button at the top of the WonderCafe page. You can also access it via your profile page.

After you have submitted a post, just click on the trashcan to remove it. You have 2 hours to remove a post if you change your mind and don’t want it to appear on WonderCafe.

When you are logged in click on the My Profile button. You will see the My WonderMail box. This is for you to send messages to other users privately or for them to contact you. Every time you log in, you will see a message in the top right corner, below the Welcome message, that tells you if you have any WonderMail waiting for you to read.

Suicide prevention is a serious issue. Below is a collection of suicide prevention resources, including those in Canada.

 

Suicide Prevention Wiki - Worldwide directory of hotlines, text-lines, online hotlines, & resources. 

 

http://suicideprevention.wikia.com/wiki/International_Suicide_Prevention_Directory

When your log in and create a profile, WonderCafe masks your email address on the web to prevent automated computer programs from harvesting it for spamming purposes.

The best thing to do if and when you encounter such a situation is simply ignore them... 99.9% of the time they will soon leave you alone. By NOT responding to offending user (i.e., NOT giving them any attention, NOT letting them get a "rise" out of you), most people will simply go away. Annoying people get bored very fast when you don't allow them to annoy you. If the problem persists, contact the WonderCafe administrator and the person will be removed permanently from the site. If you feel that you have been threatened in any way, contact your local law enforcement.

First, make sure the image you are attempting to upload is in one of the format WonderCafe accepts (.jpg). Next, make sure the filename is simple and short, with no spaces or funny characters. "Image.jpg" is a good file name. Next, make sure the file name is less than 600k. We do not allow images over 600k. If none of these things work, it''s possible that the image is corrupted. Luckily there is an easy solution. Go to http://www.download.com/ and download a copy of the software program IrfanView. IT''S FREE and you can use it to resize images so they''re less than 600k, or resave images that may be corrupted. Once you have downloaded and installed IrfanView, simply run the program, open your .gif, or .jpg image, and resave it as another version (example: in IrfanView, open file named pic01.jpg, and resave it as pic01b.jpg). Then, simply return to WonderCafe and upload your newly resaved image.

If you are unable to login with what you know to be your correct username and password, please ensure that you have cookies turned on. Most likely you are using Internet Explorer, so here are the steps to check your cookies for IE (other browsers should be similar):

* Go to the Tools menu
* Choose Internet Options
* Select the Privacy Tab
* Choose Advanced
* First and Third Party Cookies should be set to ''Accept''.

If they are not set to accept, please change this setting and try logging in again.

Just enter your email address in the left side bar, choose a password you can remember (one that is difficult for anyone else to guess) then click Log in. This will bring you to your profile page where you will be asked to fill out a few simple pieces of information; your name; username; age group; Province you live and postal code. You can also add a little more personal information if you like, such as your occupation, about yourself and your interests. You can write as much or as little as you want, or nothing at all right now. You can always click on the 'My Profile' button at a later date and add to or change your information. You can also add a picture of yourself (or absolutely anything you choose as long as it’s not offensive) that will appear whenever you reply to a post or post a new topic. Other people will be able to click on your picture and read your profile.