This little post will serve as a quick FAQ to what goes on around here. As of late, we've picked up a few new members and lurkers, and a lot of them don't quite get the purpose of the site and either go away or get offended and send hate mail. We'll update this when we update it. So, in spiffy random order, here we go.
I signed up but it says my account is not active, what's wrong?
You probably haven't been activated yet. For reasons of security the two site administrators vet all new members to make sure they are not spammers. Our automated functions don't stop spam entirely, so we have to manually check everyone. It's like a customs checkpoint.
Basically, there's cheap human spam teams in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, Belarus, and China. Consequently we actually do not accept registrations from those countries. If you legitimately have something to say here and are in those nations, let us know and we'll get to you. Is there nightlife in Bangladesh?
How long until my account is activated? I'm very busy.
If you were very busy you wouldn't want to post here. TNL is a colossal time-waster. But if you insist, your account will be activated when it's activated. It's a human process. And the two human admins don't get paid to run this site, so they check the queue at random.
I'm a promoter and want to promote here, can I?
Sure, just post it in the "What's Happening?" section. Yes, there's posts about events in the main nightlife section but that's just moderators being lazy. Again no one gets paid to work on this site, so it's kind of a volunteer effort. Oh, and don't expect any favors if you are a promoter.
I want to buy an ad in one of those banner ad spaces, how do I do it?
This site isn't a moneymaker, but if you want to send us a banner, go ahead. We'll respond with a fair price. If you are a legit charity that we can ethically support, we'll do it for free or trade.
Attention Attorneys! Read This!
I got offended by something posted here, can I have it removed?
Absolutely not. Grow a pair and deal with it. It's a free Internet. Take it up with the person who posted it if it offends you that much. Start a dialog with them. It's what the site is for. All posts are the property of their authors unless otherwise cited. Talk Nightlife has no responsibility with regards to the content. We're not the police or your mother. If we were your mom though, we'd probably give you up for adoption. If it's really that much of a problem, we also suggest you "man up" and agree to meet one of us in person. FYI, the one guy who might show up is is a hard pill to swallow.
Who's behind all this?
Three people, two of whom are still around. The third guy is in a monastery in France. As to their real identities, it's not too hard to figure out. We'll leave that up to you, the reader. Exercise those neurons.
How long has TNL been around?
Since late 2007. Before that, the lot of us were on another site. We had a disagreement with them, so we left and started this.
What is the purpose of TNL?
Nightlife and entertainment gossip generated by you, the user. And the occasional slice of real information. We figured out no one cares about party listings or DJ set lists, they only care about gossip, so that is what you see here. It's the first community-run nightlife resource in the world.
You guys all seem to know each other, do you?
For the most part we live in Miami and the surrounding areas. We do all know each other. There is a cabal.
Is there an app or a mobile version of the site?
There's a mobile version of the site, but it only looks right on an iPhone or a Droid. Just type the normal URL and the site detects your device. Nifty trick, it's only been around for seven years. We don't bother with BlackBerry handhelds since they are outdated. Besides, if you have a BlackBerry you probably have a "real" job and shouldn't be posting here using your employer's resources. Unless you are the employer. In that case, do yourself a favor and get an iPhone.
I met some guy handing out TNL cards and taking photos. I thought you guys didn't do outreach like that?
The guy with the Canon at Space, right? No, not that one, the other one. Yeah, that's Pod. He's been around for a minute. We like him and he likes us. Flip the card over, the photos are on that site. And get him a drink. He's only drinking vodka on the rocks these days. Apparently his LFT came back and it was pretty bad. And pure sobriety frightened him even more so he reached a fair compromise, we think.
If the site doesn't make any money, how do you get all those nifty photos on the sidebars?
That's a separate operation called See Nightlife.. It's just a site that displays photos and the photographer arranges his own pay with the clubs. He's nice enough to let us have a syndication sidebar. In return we tell people what a terrific guy he is.
Yeah, about those photos, I didn't see the one I was in? I swear he took it.
He only takes photos of cute club dancers, DJs, and some of his friends. And abstract crowd shots. And that one photo of Vince Neil. So you either have to be a cute club dancer, a DJ, Vince Neil, a friend of his, or something abstract. Our suggestion is pretend you are a taco or something. Get creative. He's not a social media-style photographer, he's too old school for that. If you want yourself on Facebook, use your iPhone. You do have an iPhone, right?
In one of those photos...
Stop asking about the photos.
OK. Hey, the site is down, when will you be back up?
If you are reading this, the site is back up probably. Unless Google cached this page. But if the site is down, blame Dreamhost, our wonderful hosting provider. We're only here because it's cheap.
I forgot my password, can you reset it for me?
There's a reset function but if it's been a decade or two since you updated your profile with a current email address, we can reset the password for you. Drop us a line and tell us what you want it to be. "Kitty" usually works really well.
Do you guys do link exchanges?
Yeah, but we'd have to really get something out of it. Your blog might drive the wrong type of people here. Yes, we do kind of want to keep certain people away, without being obvious about it. We're not afraid of open discussion or dialog, we just want to keep the reading level here rather high. For example, if you're from the Wall Street Journal, we'll gladly trade. If you're from JivingCosmonaut Dot Com or something like that, probably not. We probably like your writing, but your audience might not be the sort we want around here.
Do you guys do social media?
"Do" as in have a presence? Yeah we do. We're on Facebook, Twitter, and even Google Plus. We usually try to update all three once a week. We're just not big social media people, for the purpose of TNL at least. We only established a Google Plus presence since it looks like Facebook might crash and burn and there's a slight possibility Google Plus might be used for something. Then again we did have a Google Wave. And look where that went. But here's the links.
• http://facebook.com/talknightlife •
• http://twitter.com/talknightlife •
• http://gplus.to/talknightlife •
Now, do we have Facebook Connect or any of those other OAuth linkages? Nope. You gotta sign up here the old fashioned way. One more password won't hurt. We suggest "kitty". It's super easy to remember and no one will guess it. And, fact is, we want a barrier to entry to make it a little difficult for the less literate to post. We want your gossip and scandal and general good humor but not if it resembles something out of a Facebook posting.
I'm looking to get my material published here, can I?
Sure, just sign up, and when your account is active, post away. We're not a blog, we're a forum, so you can post what you will. Let freedom ring.
I'm an investor/VC type of guy. This looks like a good investment. How about it?
Well, if you are rich, you probably got that way by being a good businessperson. TNL isn't a good investment. We'd burn through your first round of money in about a week and have nothing to show for it but a stack of receipts from Space, LIV, Scarlett's, the Apple Store, and Whole Foods. But if you insist, drop us a line.
Do you guys like Macs?
Yes, yes we do.
You know there's a new version of phpbb, right?
Good to know, we'll upgrade at some point.
Hey, look at that, we upgraded! 3.0.11 here we are.
If the guys running the site don't get paid, how do they make money?
They build stuff for other people.
Why is it a volunteer effort?
A site as open as this really couldn't make any serious income. At some point a sponsor would get offended and we'd have to break our rule of keeping it uncensored and delete a post. We'd rather just leave it as is and keep an open forum for you all. Beyond the cheeky banter and sarcasm, we do believe an open, anonymous channel is essential for free communication. And the nightlife and entertainment biz needs a channel for free communication. Every other channel out there for entertainment and nightlife is an advertorial channel. And it's only getting worse.
OK I still want to sign up, what should I do after my account finally gets activated?
Introduce yourself. Tell the community what you're all about. Do you work for a club? Do you just go out and have fun? Are you a paid spokesperson for Live Nation? Are you one of Pod's friends? Did you post on one of the old sites and finally resurface and end up here? What's your story? Tell the community. The more open you are the less mean they will be. Trust us.
A little note on "credit where credit is due".
Every so often, it's bought to our attention that big media blogs are taking commentary and content from us and reposting it as their own. Here's the deal with that, kids, it's disrespectful, and in some cases can be construed as illegal, if you have the right lawyer on your side. The general policy, as has been stated, is that all commentary remains the property of the person posting it. Much like if you disagree with what they say, you are free to go after them, also, if you take their words or their original research, you should give them credit or attribution. Or at the least, say you saw it on TNL first.
Besides, it's good karma. The community always cites their sources, so should you.
OK, you say "drop us a line", how do I do that?
A quick hello at site@talknightlife.com will work wonders. We usually on respond to serious inquiries. Hate mail gets trashed. We don't respond to it. Though we might post it up here and let the community laugh at you.
Updated (01 August 2012): You can now reach us via Pingup. What's Pingup? Well, basically it's a web application/iOS app that allows you to text your favorite business or organization from either your laptop or your iPhone. Basically just go to http://pingup.com/ and either log in, or get the app, and from there search for "Talk Nightlife".
This also doubles as our gossip hotline. Pingup cloaks the identity of yourself (If you choose, you can put a fake name into your profile, they don't care) and the identity of the person on our side (if we had more than two people) if you want to transmit scandalous info to us.
Well, it really doesn't double as the gossip hotline, it is only the gossip hotline since we don't provide any services really. We set up a Pingup business account to help one of our regulars out who works for them.
- pingtnl_sm.png (127.21 KiB) Viewed 5189 times
Yes, the logo we use on Pingup is Me Gusta. Because Me Gusta rules.
Thanks for your time.
Sure thing. Now go post something.
emergency powers clause - we do what we need to to preserve TNL. Deal with it. At the end of the day we know what's best for you.
EPC Status: Active
