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Below please find answers to commonly
asked questions. If you do not find the answer to your question, please
email your issue, with a very detailed explanation of the problem, to
me at the following address:
email@secretloveletters.com
I sent a card
and the person to whom I sent it did not receive the card?
I cannot reach your site or I receive
the error message "The Page Cannot Be Displayed" or "Connection Timed
Out" when I try to go to your site.
I cannot hear the music on your site.
I am having problems viewing some
of the cards on your site, they appear blank.
I get the error message "Invalid Email
Address" when trying to send a card.
Why do I keep getting confirmations
that a card that I sent was picked up?
When I am on your site my computer
freezes and I have to reboot the machine.
I am not notified after I send a card
from your site.
My Secret Love Letters
Address Book mysteriously disappeared or emptied itself.
I cannot click on the link in your
newsletter or on the cards that I receive from your site.
Can I cancel the delivery of a card?
How do I unsubscribe from the
Secret Love Letters Fun News Newsletter?
Why do I get an error regarding cookies?
Question:
I sent a card and the person to whom I sent it did
not receive the card?
Answer:
If our site reported "someone at x@y.com has been notified
that there is a Secret Love Letters greeting
card waiting to be picked up", then the card was successfully sent. It
could be that the email was rejected either by the recipient's ISP (Internet
Service Provider - Email Provider) or by the recipient's local email application.
Sometimes the ISP's servers are too busy to handle the request or the
ISP could even be rejecting the message for security reasons.
Solution:
You can try to send the message again and/or contact me
to ask me to watch the "sending process" to see where the email is being
rejected.
More:
Hey, tell the world, secretloveletters.com
is not Spamming! This is a general problem of email "security". Computers
have various ways of protecting themselves from "unwanted" emails. Your
ISP has ways of blocking emails and your email application, whether it
is a virtual account on HOTMAIL or a local application like Microsoft
Outlook, can be set up to block email of a certain type, containing certain
language, or coming from a certain person. Generally speaking, this is
called "Spamming" and is a cause of great concern to all. As
secretloveletters.com is not YET recognized
as a leader in greeting cards, we have problems with certain ISP's rejecting
our mail from time to time. We see this very often in our mail server
logs. Of late, Excite, Caramail, and Rediffmail have had poor success
rates due either to their up-times or to rejecting our messages. Certain
ISP's cannot handle the amount of mail that we send them and close off
the connection to secretloveletters.com temporarily.
Some ISP's will accept the messages from us and dump them internally!
This is often the practice of "the big ones" like AOL and MSN. So our
mail logs show that the messages were sent but then they mysteriously
disappear once they reach the ISP's servers. We are in constant communication
with the ISP's and hope that secretloveletters.com
is not targeted in this way.
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Question:
I cannot reach your site or I receive the error message
"The Page Cannot Be Displayed" or "Connection Timed Out" when I try to
go to your site.
Answer:
This is usually a temporary problem due to either a busy
internet or our servers working very hard.
Solution:
Try a "REFRESH" -- holding the CTRL button and clicking
the Refresh button on your browser. Also, if you are a frequent visitor
to secretloveletters.com and this happens often,
you might want to empty your "temporary internet files" from time to time
(found in Internet Explorer under 'Tools/Internet Options/Temporary Internet
Files'). Emptying your temporary internet files can also clear up a lot
of space on your computer. Realize that in doing this, you are emptying
your browser's 'History'. Internet connections are not 100% as you well
know. When you click on a card, the request is sent from your machine
to your ISP to our servers. But did you know that in-between there can
be up to 50 servers that handle the request?! And that is just one way...the
request is answered and travels back the same, or a different, precarious
route to your computer screen. Sometimes, somewhere, somehow in the transport
your request is lost or broken. Of course all of this can take milliseconds
but that is not always the case. Depending upon your connection speed
and machine speed, our pages can take from less than half a second to
load to minutes! Another possibility is that our servers are busy or experiencing
another problem. When traffic is really busy, like for Valentine's Day,
we are dealing with several thousand requests each minute. Though our
servers are up 99.8% of the time, that still means that in one year the
servers would be down for 5 days! Don't worry, that is usually thinly
spread across the year and means that we usually experience just a few
minutes a week. So...have fun and REFRESH a lot!
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Question:
I cannot hear the music on your site.
Answer:
Your audio plug-in is either not installed or not working
properly. You may also not have a soundcard.
Solution:
Please go to the Crescendo web site, it is a free download:
http://www.liveupdate.com/dl.html and makes secretloveletters.com
greeting cards and fun pages sound fantastic. If you already have a MIDI
plug-in for you browser and are still experiencing problems you might
have to re-install the plug-in by running the setup application once again.
More:
Note to AOL users: Your service provider updates your software
from time to time. If you are having difficulty hearing our cards, you
might have to download the latest free Microsoft Media Player plug-in
at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer and re-install this plug-in
for your operating system.
Microsoft Users: If you are still having trouble, try the
Microsoft sound troubleshooting tool.
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Question:
I am having problems viewing some of the cards on your
site, they appear blank.
Answer:
Hello Web TV user!? Actually, even folks not using Web
TV might have this problem. We use a programming called "Flash" and Java
Scripting with our newer cards.
Solution:
Web TV folks have no control over these settings but if
you use a standard browser (Internet Explorer version 5.x or Netscape
4.x), you will be able to view these pages if you follow these instructions.
You will need to install the Flash plug-in and to view the Flash cards.
You can download the plug-in from http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer/
and you will have to install the plug-in for your particular browser (Internet
Explorer or Netscape). Web TV does not allow you to do this but due to
the popularity of Flash, I am sure that they will get this issue figured
out for you soon. Another issue that might cause the pages to not appear
properly (certain animation and options) has to do with Java Scripting.
The JavaScript setting can be found under your browsers Tools/ Internet
Options/Security Tab. You can customize this setting to your security
needs by clicking "customize". The JavaScript setting is towards the bottom
of the list under the category "Scripting". To allow the best operation
of secretloveletters.com, enable "active scripting",
"allow paste operations via script", and "Scripting of Java applets".
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Question:
I get the error message "Invalid Email Address" when trying
to send a card.
Answer:
There could be a server issue that is caching the pages
somehow or you could be not entering the email address properly.
Solution:
First, if you can try to empty your cache by deleting the
temporary internet files (found in Internet Explorer under 'Tools/Internet
Options/Temporary Internet Files') we can make sure that you are not bringing
up any old pages (this happens if you visit the site often). Next, we
need to verify the email address that you are typing. We should verify
that there are no extra characters or spaces in the email address. To
make sure, do not select an address from your Secret
Love Letters address book. Type it in character by character. For
Email novices, I have included a sample list of properly formatted email
addresses. If you are experienced you can disregard this, but do be careful
of blank spaces. If you believe that you are entering the email address
correctly, please respond to me at email@secretloveletters.com
and include the email address that gives you the error. If you tell me
less the 24 hours after it happens, I can usually check to LOG to see
what the problem is.
More:
Here are some good samples:
thomas@secretloveletters.com
al@aol.com
sally@webtv.net
frank_timmons@gateway.net
Notice that
the last one looks like there is a space. Actually there is a character
there...can you see it? It is a "_" and is critical because there is no
such things are spaces in email addresses!
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Question:
Why do I keep getting confirmations that a card that I
sent was picked up?
Answer:
The repeated confirmation issue has to do with the fact
that the person either...
1 continues to pick up the card -- clicks on the card from the email or
has saved it as their browser's home page and every time they open their
browser it goes to that card and sends you a notice of that fact.
2 the person has forwarded the card as an email to a friend(s) and when
the friend(s) views the card, you are sent a notice that it was picked
up (again).
Solution:
Ask your friend not to go to the link in the email anymore
or to change their browser's home page. They should not be forwarding
the email to others because when the other person opens the email, you
will be sent a confirmation. Also, tell your friend to enable "cookies"
in their browser's properties.
More:
Let us understand what happens when we set the confirmation
to "ON". When you send a card/email, we encrypt your email address (sender)
into the URL in the email that you send. For example, here is the encrypted
link for a card that I sent:
http://www.secretloveletters.com/fun/fun14.htm?e=thomasg%40secretloveletters.com%2ecom&f=
t%40thomas%2ecom&confirm=1 - notice that my email is included
in this link. If I click on this link to view the card, a confirmation
will be sent to me. When a person opens the email and clicks on the link
(going to the site) they invoke a command that sends you a confirmation.
We then place a "cookie" on their machine that prevents you from receiving
another confirmation from that person. However, if they have disabled
"cookies" (a browser security setting) then every time they click on the
link and go to the site through that link, they will send you a confirmation.
Also, some people like the cards so much that they save it as their browser's
home page. If someone does this and has cookies disabled, they will send
you a confirmation every time they open their browser (which goes to the
encrypted URL). Furthermore, if the person forwards the email that you
originally sent from our site this causes problems because the people
who receive this email will also open the card from the link within the
email and send you a confirmation. In other words, this is not how we
expect our cards to pass hands. Usually, people go to the site, send a
card to one or more people who open the card from the link in the email
(sending you an confirmation) and the process ends here. But, since forwarding
email is such a popular thing, some people will forward a card do several
people and when these people click on the link in the email (with your
sender email encoded in the link) you get the confirmation. Wow...that
is a lot of stuff.Well, there is a way of turning the confirmation off...for
the next cards that you send. If you use the Secret
Love Letters Address Book (the Edit button on the sending page)
you will see an option for turning the confirmation and copy OFF. You
will need to have "cookies" enable to do this. Check your browser's properties
(in Internet Explorer it is under Tools/Internet Options/Security) This
will prevent the repeated confirmations from happening in the future but
remember that there is still an email out there with an encrypted link
that will send you a confirmation.
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Question:
When I am on your site my computer freezes and I have to
reboot the machine.
Answer:
If the machine really freezes, the mouse does not work
anymore. If this is not happening, you might just want to check if there
is a tiny pop-up box in the background somewhere that makes it appear
as if things are frozen. If your computer truly freezes, read on...there
could be one of several things happening here. This is more a browser
problem than a "web-site" issue. We use Flash and JavaScript in some of
our cards and one of these might be creating some problems for your browser.
Our cards also play music and the audio plug-in might be causing some
issues as well.
Solution:
You can try to check the plug-ins and the settings for
these applications. A new Flash player can be installed by downloading
from http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer/. The JavaScript
issue is merely a setting in your browsers Tools/Internet Options/Security
settings. You might have to try different settings but accepting Javascript
and Cookies is the ultimate setting that you would need to use the full
features of our cards. A new audio plug-in can be downloaded from http://www.liveupdate.com/dl.html.
If none of these work, you might have a browser problem and want to update/upgrade
your browser. I include the links here..just in case.
More:
Upgrading your browser will most likely fix this problem
so if you are not tender of heart, here are the links. The applications
are all free (for now) and using the latest version of these browsers
will truly bring the latest enhancements of the WWW to your machine. The
only danger is if you have an older machine that might not be able to
handle the requirements of the new browsers. Before downloading and installing
these upgrades, check the requirements section...but remember, when software
vendors write their "minimal requirements" they use the same logic as
ski mountains when they report snow conditions. Netscape Users - The latest
version of Netscape Communicator can be found at http://www.netscape.com/download/.
The Netscape browser is free and has built-in e-mail and web-design tools.
Microsoft Internet Explorer Users: You can go to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/
for the latest Microsoft browser. The software is the most popular browser
on the market and works great with secretloveletters.com
greeting cards.
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Question:
I am not notified after I send a card from your site.
Answer:
The 'notification' and 'copy' option is a setting that
needs to be turned on from the Secret Love Letters
Address Book.
Solution:
The Secret Love Letters Address
Book should appear after you select a card and you are on the 'sending
page'. It is accessible through the 'EDIT' button on this page. If it
does not appear, you need to enable "cookies" in your browser's properties
(in Internet Explorer this is under Tools/Internet Options/Security).
If the 'EDIT' button appears but does not seem to work, you need to enable
Java Scripting (in Internet Explorer this is under Tools/Internet Options/Security).
Next, in the address book there is a setting called "Do not confirm the
cards I have sent (via copy or pick up notification)". Notice that by
default this is ON so if you do not want to receive notifications or copies,
turn this setting to "OFF". Also, notice the other options under this
menu.
More:
We
rely on email services, browser security settings, other than our own,
which is not a fool-proof process. The following is a list of potential
problems that might affect the notification process:1. A delay in the
sending of the card from our email server2. A rejected email address from
the recipients email server3. A delay in the transport of the card that
times-out the operation due to recipient email server's reliability.4.
Recipient email server rejecting the email due to SPAM (some email servers
WebTv, AOL, sometimes think we send SPAM because we send so many emails).5.
A general network problem that causes the card or copy or confirmation
not to be sent.6. The recipient not using "cookies" on their local browser.
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Question:
My Secret Love Letters Address
Book mysteriously disappeared or emptied itself.
Answer:
"Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?". We store the
address book in what are called "cookies". This has to be enabled in your
browser's security setting. If this once worked and you find that the
address book is empty, then most likely your "cookies" were deleted--not
stolen. This happens when someone "cleans up" your computer with a space
saving utility--cookies and temporary internet files take up a lot of
hard drive space on your computer. This can also be done by your ISP if
you have AOL or Web TV. This has happened to many Web TV people of late.
Your cookies will also disappear when:
1. You log in
to your computer as a different user (this can happen without your knowing
it - for example if you have a shared computer at the library or use an
Internet kiosk).
2. You or someone else has deleted your cookies or Internet files.
3. You are using a different computer each time you use
Secret Love letters.
Solution:
Sorry. You will have to re-create your
Secret Love Letters Address book because most
likely, the "cookie" that we store on your computer or that your ISP stores
is gone.
More:
With
Secretloveletters.com, we store the addresses
securely. For now, cookies are the only way we can store client settings
in a reasonable fashion.
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Question:
I cannot click on the link in your newsletter or on the
cards that I receive from your site.
Answer:
Your email application can be set to read emails as html
instead of plain text.
Solution:
If you would like to set up your local email application
to read the incoming emails as html, go to the properties section of your
client email application and set it to read "html" instead of "plain text".
This is a "formatting" option and due to the numerous email applications
out there, I cannot tell you where to find it specifically.
More:
If you do not change this setting, you will have to copy
and paste the link into your browser's address bar to see the cards. If
that does not work, there is a location listed at the bottom of each card
that directs you to the exact index file on the site where you can find
the latest newsletter so that you can type that into your browser's address
bar. Sometimes there is a problem with the copy and paste routine as it
can only hold a certain amount of characters in memory. Make sure that
when you copy and paste that you paste the entire link...or you can do
it twice.
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Question:
Can I cancel the delivery of a card?
Answer:
Cards
are only sent after the “Send Greeting Card Now” button has been selected.
At any time during the card creation phase, the process can be cancelled
and no card will be sent to the recipient(s). After that time, however,
we cannot control the email.
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Question:
How
do I unsubscribe from the Secret Love Letters
Fun News Newsletter?
Answer:
At
the bottom of the Newsletter that you received is a link that allows you
to unsubscribe from the Newsletter. You must use that link to unsubscribe.
The following is an example of the text at the bottom of the Newsletter
(this will not work to unsubscribe)
"You are currently
subscribed to secretloveletters-fun-news-XX
as: somebody@somewhere.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email by clicking
here: mailto:leave-secretloveletters-fun-news-XX-2418366H@listX.secretloveletters.com"
If you continue
to have problems unsubscribing, please send an e-mail to report@secretloveletters.com
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Question:
Why
do I get an error regarding cookies?
Answer:
In
Secret Love Letters we use cookies (small text-based
files) that store information about your settings. These are controlled
in your internet browser's settings. You should 'enable' the use of cookies
in your internet browsers Option settings.
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