Frequently Asked Questions

Short answer: buddycloud Channels is a location based, mobile social community.
Long answer: In buddycloud Channels you can talk to people about all kind of things, show where you are. Just spend some time here and talk with people and soon you'll know what this is. And why it is so addictive.

Do I have to pay for this?

No, buddycloud is free. However, if you use it with GPRS/EDGE/3G, your network operator might charge you for using packet data. Contact your operator for the data charges. The client is also optimized to use as little data traffic as possible. But you can also use buddycloud with Wi-Fi

What is the difference old and the new buddycloud channels?

With channels NG there came a new channel system into existence. Now it is not as chat like as it was before in the old generation of buddycloud. The channels are now more ordered. There is now a difference between a regular message to a channel and a comment to a message. You can start a thread with posting a message and other users can answer you in your thread.
That way the communication in channels has become more ordered and easier to follow.
There are some other changes, but these can be seen as minor differences. Users need to ask for permission to post messages and comments when they join a channel, user handling has been made easier and some other.
Most of the new stuff is pretty self explanatory. Those that are not will be covered in this FAQ. If not: just ask in #help. Someone is always there to take care of your problems.

How does the buddycloud location engine work?

Depending upon your buddycloud Channels client's positioning settings, it detects your location using the nearby cell towers (active by default; can deactivated manually), GPS, Wi-Fi hotspots (active by default; can deactivated manually) and/or bluetooth. It normally detects only the region by itself. But you can define more info like place name or street by placemarking it.

What is a placemark?

A placemark is a place that you (or someone else tagged. You can tag basically every place you want to share with your followers or the whole world. There are private and public placemarks.
A private placemark is a placemark that only you can use and that only your followers can see. So you don't have to tell the whole world where your grandmothers appartment is
A public placemark is a placemark that everyone near to it can see. Whether it's your favourite coffee shop or just a nice spot in a park. Tag it to let the world know it exists. You might be surprised when you see other people frequenting your places.

How do I create a placemark?

In the second tab the so called Places tab you just wait for some time. The topmost entry shows that buddycloud is learning the place. At that point the client looks up which celltowers are available how good the reception is and which WiFi networks are available. As soon as the learning is done the entry wil change to “Somewhere new in ...”
Open the Options menu and choose “Bookmark new place...” Now you have to decide whether it's a private or a public placemark. Fill in the details as exact as you like or deem necessary. If it is some kind of shop or restaurant or so you can also choose to “Search for details” in the options menue – the client looks up the name you entered and returns some results.
All that is left to do now is to hit done in the options menue and you just created a new placemark. When you visit this location the next time you will be placed at that placemark automatically.

How do I create a channel?

Creating a channel is pretty easy. You just go to the Explorer tab, open the options menu and choose "New channel..."
Enter the name of the channel (you can change this later), change the ID of the channel (you can not change this later) if you want it to be shorter and easier to write - #ontheboxthetvchannel is just damn long and complicated to write. A much better choice would have been #tvchannel
The description is the topic of the channel. Say what this channel is about (you can change this later).
And last in the list is what kind of channel it should be. You can choose between „Open Channel“ and „Members Only“ - „Open Channel“ makes the channel visible to everyone. Everyone can read the messages in this channel and it appears in the Explorer tab. A „Members Only“ channel is a channel where only approved users can read or write messages

I am the owner of a channel. What are my powers?

You can grant users the ability to write in your open channel or in a closed channel you can grant allow them to read that channel. You can delete comments or even whole threads. And by clicking on „Change permissions“ you can make a user a mod in your channel, take the mod rights away, take even the right to write away or ban them. And you can edit the details of a channel or delete it if necessary.

So, you say I can delete a channel. But how do I do it?

You can only delete a channel if you own it. To delete any of your own channels: Open the channel, select "Options" → "Channel" → "See channel details" → "Options" → "Delete". But remember: deleting a channel is permanent. So be really sure that you really want to delete that channel. The content will be lost!

What does "Change permission to follower" do?

The permissions of a follower are very simple: they can read only what is written in a channel. So if you change the permissions of a user to follower he can only read the messages in the channel and no longer post (assuming he was granted publisher rights) in the channel

What does "Change permission to publisher" do?

A user with publisher rights can write messages and comments in a channel. So if you grant a user publisher permissions he can post to that channel.

What does "Change permission to moderator" do?

A moderator can give users the right to publish messages. He can ban unfriendly users and delete abusive messages. Some of these powers are only available when the channel owner is offline

How can I find channels that interest me?

You can look for interesting channels in two ways. Number one: you go to the Explorer tab and take a look at the most active channels, channels picked by the Buddycloud Team or Channels that are near to you. Number 2: you explore which channels your followers create or follow.

Why are words starting with a # highlighted and why do users do this?

Those are direct links to channels. Every channel has its own # ID, which is defined while creating the channel. And it's shown below the channel name (in the new client) and in channel details. Users can also copy the # ID of a channel directly to their phone's clipboard by selecting "Options" → "Channel" → "Copy # ID" (so that they can paste it somewhere else). If you click on a # link, you'll get the option to see that channel's details. And from there, you can select "Options" → "Follow" to follow it.

I joined a channel but I can't write messages

To keep spammers silent you need to ask for the permission to write essages and comments. You do this by opening the options menue and clicking on „Request post privilege“. There you can write a small essage to the owner/mods of the channel, why they should provide you with the right to write posts and comments.

People sometimes write messages that look diffrent from all the other messages. How can I do this, too?

Some people call it 'running text'. To post such a message, you just need to begin the message with '/me' followed by a space and then the rest of the message. For example, if your username is 'xyz', and if you post '/me is here', the message will be displayed as 'xyz is here', in that different style.

How can I connect buddycloud to Facebook and Twitter?

Go to Options → Settings → Share Online. The buddycloud Channels client can push your current status to Twitter and Facebook and lets your followers there also know where you are.

I've reinstalled buddycloud/changed my phone and want to use my old account

During buddycloud Channels client's initial startup, select "Use existing account" and enter your details. You just need to enter your full buddycloud ID (e.g. someone@buddycloud.com ).

I have an existing XMPP account on a different server. Can I use it also to connect to buddycoud?

During buddycloud Channels client's initial startup, select "Use existing account" and enter your details. If you have an Ovi account or a Gtalk account you can use those. (e.g. example@ovi.com or anotherexample@gtalk.com) – just enter the full JID and your password and you're ready to go!

I've seen users post links to pictures and videos. I also want to do this

It's fairly easy. You need to go into the channel in which you want to post your media file. Open the options menue and choose “Post media” - you will receive a message containing a link to a webpage. Depending on your phones OS you can select that link directly or you will have to switch to the link, using the D-pad. Just hit it once to go right and open the link.
On the linked page there is a box in which you can select the media to be uploaded. Choose the picture or video you want to upload (and keep the filesize below 8MB)
Below that box is a second box, containing the text “Cheers!” - you can edit this text to send a message with your media.
All you have to do now it hitting the “Upload” button and wait until the file is uploaded. Now there'll be a message in the channel that contains a link to your picture/video

How do I select between multiple links in a message and open it?

Touchscreen phones: Just click the desired link to open it.
Non-touchscreen phones: Tap right or left of the d-pad to highlight the desired link and press center to open it.

How do I copy a post?

Select "Options" → (the JID of the user, who wrote the message) → "Copy post". The entire message will then be copied into your phone's built-in clipboard, and you will be able to paste it elsewhere. Like, in a new post.

OK, I copied a post. But there is no paste option anywhere

There doesn't have to be a paste option. Symbian S60 phones have a clipboard like a desktop computer. How to paste the contents of the clipboard can be found in the manual of your phone.

How do I know which users in my "Following" tab are online?

It's not possible. At Buddycloud, we respect users' privacy. They would reply to others when they want, without any pressure to reply immediately. It's more like SMS rather than IM.
For more info, checkout this thread about the same in Buddycloud's forum in GetSatisfaction. The discussion will provide you with enough details.