Getting Started

There's a few things you'll want to do to get started on www.livingOUTthere.com.

1. Click on Your Profile on the menu to the right. This will take you to your profile page. Click the Edit tab where you'll see sub-tabs for completing your account settings and your Profile Details.

   Under account settings, you can

   • change the eMail address to which livingOUTthere.com will send notices,
   • change your password,
   • upload a picture of yourself (we recommend you have a pic, as profiles with pics get much more attention than ones without),
   • determine if you want to see help tips on the site, your friends activities on the home page, or see your buddies recent posts,
   • create a signature that will go at the bottom of your comments in blogs and forums,
   • determine how you want your private messaging to work,
   • determine if you want to be notified about buddy/friend activity, and
   • set your timezone.

   Once you've made the changes you want, click Submit to save them.

   If you want to show your birthday in your profile, click the Other tab and specify it there (don't forget to click Submit). You can remove it if you've previously specified it.

   Then you'll want to click the Profile Details tab and complete your profile. Certain fields are mandatory (the ones marked with a red asterisk *), while others are optional. Fill in as much as you like, but the more you do, the better someone will be able to get an idea about you, which is always helpful when looking for a match. Note that there are different sections divided into tabs half-way down the page. You'll need to go through all four tabs to make sure you got all the required fields completed.

   Once you've completed that, you'll see a message that says your profile details were updated and changes saved.

2. If you want to have some additional photos in your profile (we think that's a good idea --- after all, your profile pic is just one pic), you'll need to create one or more galleries by choosing Create photo gallery from the option available to you after you click Your Photos, and then upload your photos via the Personal files tab once you return to Your Profile, where you can also associate your photos with a gallery.
3. Now you're ready to see and be seen by people on the site! And you're ready to explore the other areas of the site. You can search for profiles using the Member Search, read them, see the photos they've shared, rate the profiles you like (one to five stars), and then see them any time by choosing My Stared Profiles. Or you can
   • send a private message to a member,
   • read their blog, and comment on their posts,
   • participate in forums,
   • write your own blog,
   • read the FAQs (good place for additional information and 'how to' stuff),
   • place classified ads, or
   • post an event that you want everyone to know about.

So get out there and have fun! Oh, and please invite your friends to join. There's a place at the far right where you can do that. Just type in their eMail address, and we'll take care of the rest. Or if you want to include a personal message along with the standard invitation we send, click the little View your invites under the Send invite button. That will take you to a new page listing your outstanding invitations. If you click the New invitation tab (or just click that link here), you'll get a page where you can customise the invitation with your own message. Note that they will only receive a single invitation stating that you've invited them to join the site. We do not send spam, or any other kind of advertising.

Enjoy livingOUTthere!