This page is designed to provide you with help on this site, and with certain features of the chat application. Please feel free to look over this information should you encounter anything you feel you need help with. Chances are it's in here somewhere.

If you need to contact us directly on the site, you may send a site email to the Site Administrator to answer your questions or address your concerns.

This site was created for the Big Bear area and surrounding mountain communities -- and those who live or visit here -- to share and discuss the items that affect us all. Here you may blog opinions, post classified ads, upload photos, videos and music, discuss politics in the forums and chat about your experiences with your mountain-loving friends.

• NOTE: YOU MUST ENTER A DATE OF BIRTH THAT SHOWS YOU ARE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE TO USE THIS SITE. This entry cannot be left blank due to legalese issues. Thanks in advance!

• Upload a profile picture if you have not already done so. You may do this by clicking on the "placeholder image" when on your profile page; this will take you to the screen where you can upload and create a primary photo for others to see. Complete your member profile so that other members browsing can get to know your online personality. Your member profile menu link is located on your profile page. This will make it easier for you and others to find friends on here with similar interests and contact them.

• You have a PRIVATE PHOTOS area as well, where you may upload pictures that you just want to share with those friends you allow to view.

• Check out all the features on the site! We have a LOT of them, and will be continually adding MORE! If you have a suggestion for a feature we feel our community would appreciate, we'll be happy to implement it.

• For all site support requests or problems not related to logins or passwords, please email: support(at)bearvalleyvoice.com

• Anything concerning site policies, rules, regulations, and privacy issues should be addressed to: admin(at)bearvalleyvoice.com

• For issues concerning the CHAT portion of the site ONLY, you can either look for a room moderator or Admin in any of the chat rooms, OR, if the issue needs further consideration and no one was available at the time of the issue, you may email: support(at)bearvalleyvoice.com

Rest ASSURED that we take ANY concern seriously, and we will do whatever it takes to make EVERYONE'S visit with us a pleasant, fun, friendly experience!

Should you require help with our chat application, we request that all new chat users check out the HELP tab located at the top of the chat window. This is available each time you enter chat, and may be accessed by clicking the tab. It will give you most of the answers you would normally ask about how to use all of the features we've included in our chat rooms. We want your time spent chatting to be FUN and EASY!

The Following are general things you need to do for the best possible chat experience:

• To disable the bell whenever anyone types into the chat room, look for the little handbell in the bar just above the text input area and click it. A red X should appear over it showing that sound notifications are now disabled.

• To change any of your camera or mic and bandwidth (connection) speed settings, look for a blue gear symbol at the top of the page. You can modify a number of personal settings using this.

• If you get a popup notification asking for your permission to allow cam and mic, accept this and check "allow".

• You can see your OWN cam in the lower right corner of the chat window in the "My Cam" box.

• You can adjust the volume of sound in the room by right-clicking anywhere on the chat screen and selecting settings. Click on the little microphone, and adjust up or down on Volume Control until you are satisfied with your sound. HINT. Check the Reduce Echo box, and lower your sound to about 1/4 on the scale. ALSO, lower your SYSTEM sound (from the little speaker in the lower right of your system tray) as well as microphone volume levels if you get any echoing or feedback. This is usually due to having your microphone too close to your speakers. It may take a bit of playing, but set properly, Flash transmits the absolute CLEAREST QUALITY sound available, and music plays at CD-Quality for the most part, depending upon your connection speed.

• Connection speeds can make or break the quality of a Flash Chat application. In the Settings gear at the top of your chat application, look for the connection speed settings. There are THREE choices, Dial-up (only for those who connect by modem, as it will allow someone with a SLOW connection to enjoy the chat as best as possible), DSL (While the label is DSL, this setting is best for ANYONE using a high-speed internet connection, Cable, DSL, or Satellite). This should be the best all-around setting for the majority of people chatting. It offers much clearer cams and finer voice quality than dialup, so that other member's cams will appear clear and crisp to you and you to them. REMEMBER, if THEY are broadcasting at a lower rate, THEIR cams will appear grainy; it is NOT your settings affecting this. Finally, the LAN setting is for extremely fast internet connections. You can try this setting if you have a fast Cable or DSL connection, as it will broadcast your cam in ULTRA-CLEAR quality. Other people viewing your cam could expand it to almost full-screen and still get excellent picture quality. Conversely, anyone broadcasting at LAN speeds will have a very sharp, crystal clear video that YOU can open to a very large size with no real drop in overall quality. There is NO difference in voice quality for DSL or LAN settings, as we have determined that the voice is very clear at any setting above 22kbps, which is what we have these set at.

• Overall, for the BEST sound performance, with FLASH applications, a USB headset is the BEST. Separate Mic & speakers give too much feedback, as the connection is ALWAYS open so you can chat in REAL TIME.

• There is a "Hands Free" button next to the "TALK" button in the bar at the bottom of the chat window. Press and hold the TALK button whenever you wish to talk in the room. If someone else is talking, you will see their name next to the talk button while they are on. Wait until they finish talking before trying to use the Talk button. The HANDSFREE button is something we've added that will let you click it and forget it. As long as hands free is checked, you can talk without having to hold anything down. Upon clicking it AGAIN, it will disable hands free. This feature is most useful when broadcasting your own music into a room. If it is YOUR room, then do as you wish, but if you are in someone ELSE'S room, ALWAYS ask before playing music in a room. You will not make any enemies by asking.

• Should you have any problems with settings or connections, please contact us for help.

• If your connection seems slow, or you drop the connection continuously, this is USUALLY a sign of either a bad internet connection from your ISP, or more LIKELY, your system is infected with Trojans, Worms, Malware and Spyware. These programs establish a connection to websites whenever you are connected to the internet, and are broadcasting and downloading to your system continuously. Your system MAY even be sending out thousands of spam emails if it has been taken over and used as a zombie. We recommend using some free programs to check and clean your system of these infestations. They are freely available for download from the WEB. Download them, run some scans, clean and optimize your system, and we bet that you will have a MUCH better connection and smooth video and voice as long as your connection speeds support it!