Bringing People Together through Internet Technologies
TCFN is a nonprofit organization that uses Internet technologies to bring people together in communities of shared interest or need. We've been linking the people of Minneapolis, St Paul and neighboring communities since 1995.

Miscellaneous FAQ

We've compiled a list of some of the most common questions and problems that users have, and some possible solutions.

* Do you have any web counters?
* Can I have my e-mail forwarded to another address?
* Is there any way I can find out who else is online with me?
* How do I chat with other users?
* Can I use another browser like Netscape or Internet Explorer with the Freenet?
* Could you please change my username and e-mail address? 

Formatting of this document: Text in quotes represents text which appears verbatim on the system, or text which you should enter verbatim. Text in single quotes represents a single keystroke to type. Unless otherwise noted, control characters are not case-sensitive.
Do you have any web counters?
Many users have asked for some way to count the number of visits to their web pages, or display the number of visits on their pages. The Free-net does not currently have any software available to users for this purpose, however, we are thinking about it.

If you have any technical experience with web counters or Unix software installation and would like to volunteer with this project, Please let us know by posting a message in our Caucus Conference Center, in the "tcfn" conference.

In the meantime, there are resources available from other web sites that allow you to count the number of visits to your web pages. Usually, these involve placing an link to an image from another site on your web pages. Whenever your page is accessed, this third-party image, witn the number of visists displayed on it, is also accessed. More information about these third-party web counters can be found by consulting any of the popular search engines.

Can I have my e-mail forwarded to another address?
Yes! Registered Free-net users can now have their e-mail forwarded to another address. Check out our new E-mail forwarding service. Just follow the instructions on the form.

Is there any way I can find out who else is online with me?
Finger is an Internet service that allows you to type in another person's e-mail address to see if they're currently online, or type in the name of a service provider to see who is currently on that system.

There are several different ways to use Finger, depending on your Internet connection. If you're connected via dial-in or telnet and using Lynx, and you want to see who is currently using the Twin Cities Free-net,

* Press 'g'.
* At the prompt, type "finger://tcfreenet.org/" 

Or, if you want to look up a specific user,

* At the prompt, type "finger://tcfreenet.org/username" 

Username refer's to the part of a person's e-mail address that comes before the @.

This method will only work with our Lynx browser. If you are accessing the Free-net from another internet provider, and are using another browser like Netscape or Explorer, the finger:// URL will not work. There are, however many freeware and shareware Finger client programs available for use with your SLIP connection from numerous software archives around the Internet. There is another option. Try our Finger Page. When you reach the Finger page, press 's' if you're using Lynx, or follow the instructions in your browser's search dialog box, and type in the e-mail address of the person you're looking for.

How do I chat with other users?
The Free-net does not have any type of service that allows users to chat with each other in real time, like the unix talk/ytalk programs. Also, we do not have IRC software, and do not allow connections to IRC services.

There are, however, other ways to communicate. You can send E-mail, and in many cases, your message will get there instantaneously. We also have our Caucus Conferencing Center, where users can get together and discuss a wide variety of topics.

Can I use another browser like Netscape or Internet Explorer with the Free-net?
In order to use programs like Netscape and Internet Explorer, you need to have a SLIP or PPP connection with another Internet service provider. The Freenet does not provide SLIP or PPP service.
Could you please change my username and e-mail address?
In most cases, we don't allow users to change their name or e-mail address. We are trying to create an online community where people can feel free to communicate in an open and honest environment. If we allowed people to use aliases and nicknames, it would open the door to possible abuse of our system.

We do allow some minor changes to users' names. If you request, we will add or remove a Jr. or Sr., or change a more formal name like "Michael" into a "Mike". Your username is based on the information you typed in when you registered online. If, for some reason, that information is garbled or incorrect, we can change that too. Generally, our rules require a real first and last name, which must match the information you provided for us in the mail.