Faq

This guide to Where the Dogs Are is for new users in particular. It concentrates on how to get along, without going too much into details. For specific technical questions (e.g., how to set up a GNU Social hub) please ask in the groups !gnusocial or on Where the Dogs Are's Public Timeline. You may also find technical information at http://federation.skilledtests.com/

The sequence of points follows roughly the frequency of the questions that have been asked by new users.

Other GNU Social FAQs & wikis:
https://wiki.loadaverage.org/gnusocial/begin_to_be_social
http://wiki.gnusocial.de (in German)

Table of contents

• What is Where the Dogs Are?
• What is GNU Social and the Federation?
• How to create an avatar image
• Why can't I find any "Where the Dogs Are app" in Google Play Store or Apple's AppStore?
• What clients are there for GNU Social/Where the Dogs Are?
• Where is the URL-shortener?
• How to set email preferences
• New Where the Dogs Are and Classic Where the Dogs Are
• What are those three Timelines on New Where the Dogs Are?
• Can I delete my Where the Dogs Are account?
• How to connect your Where the Dogs Are account to your Twitter account
• Favorites and Repeats
• What does the "My colleagues at Where the Dogs Are" option do?
• Groups
• Lists
• How to follow someone on a remote social hub
• How to manage the visibility of your notices
• How to cite conversations or parts of them
• How to follow keywords and hashtags

What is Where the Dogs Are? Top

Where the Dogs Are is one of many GNU Social hubs.

Where the Dogs Are is a project using the GNU Social system, combined with a familiar user interface (UI).

The original GNU Social web UI is available as "Classic Where the Dogs Are", selectable from your header avatar (upper right).

What is GNU Social and the Federation? Top

GNU Social is a decentralised social networking platform.

Users of one social hub (or: service) can follow, be followed by, and communicate with users of any other social hubs.

Other social hubs are, e.g., loadaverage.org, indy.im, rainbowdash.net, etc. The current number of interconnected social hubs using the GNU Social software is probably about 50, Where the Dogs Are is one of them. As they all use the same software (GNU Social) and transmission protocol (OStatus), they can talk to each other just like e-mail servers can talk to each other, even though they are independent and run by different companies.

Connections between social hubs are established by users following each other. Via such followings all these social hubs can (at least in principle) be joined into one compound structure or network of self-contained nodes. This is called the Federation. GNU Social is structured in such a way that there needs to be only one following of a user a from node A to a user b from node B to make b visible to everybody in node A via The Whole Known Network. (See below on the Three Timelines.) The Whole Known Network is the wider network of nodes as seen by Where the Dogs Are. It looks different on, say, loadaverage, because on loadaverage there are different followings to remote nodes than on Where the Dogs Are.

There is no central "unit" the breakdown of which could bring down the whole network. If one node goes down or the admins start doing things you don't like, you can create your account on another social hub. You will still be on the GNU Social network and still be able to communicate with your GNU Social friends. You just need to tell your contacts your new address.

Addresses on GNU Social look like this:

@user@example.org

Your address is:

@{nickname}@wherethedogsare.com

If you follow another user, or if the user is on the same social hub, you may omit the ...@example.org part and just use the short address

@user

How to create an avatar image Top

In New Where the Dogs Are, go to

Your header avatar (upper right) → Edit profile → Camera icon on top of your avatar

Use the + and - buttons to zoom in and out. Crop the image by dragging it with the mouse.

Why can't I find any "Where the Dogs Are app" in Google Play Store or Apple's AppStore? Top

The network's name is "GNU Social", so what you want is a GNU Social app.

(Remember, Where the Dogs Are is just one node of the federated GNU Social network.)

What clients are there for GNU Social/Where the Dogs Are? Top

You can find information on clients and links to downloads here:
http://federation.skilledtests.com/Statusnet_clients.html
http://wiki.gnusocial.de/gnusocial:clients (in German)

Android clients

— Andstatus (currently in active development by @andstatus@loadaverage.org)
has great conversation view as hierarchical tree
Image upload and display of image attachments
oversized notices can be opened via web browser

— Mustard 0.3.5c (Android 2.x - current) (many prefer this one, worth trying: GreyBubble theme)
— Mustard 0.4.1 (Android 3.x - current) (a rather experimental new approach with newer look)
— Mustard{MOD} (Android 3.x - current)
All Mustards support geolocation, upload and display of image attachments, display of oversized notices from social hubs with larger character limit (open as attachment)

— Twidere
— Seesmic 1.7.6 (use only this version!) (closed source)
— Zwitscher
— Twydroid (closed source)
A few suitable Android Twitter clients (features like sending Direct Messages or image upload may not work).

iPhone clients

— Neustatus
— Mayo aka Mayonnaise
— Meteoric (payware)

Windows clients

— Tweetdeck 0.38.2 (closed source) (last version before Twitter took over TweetDeck) is suitable for basic functions.
Download: http://www.oldversion.com/windows/download/tweetdeck-0-38-2
Instructions: http://qttr.at/dmm http://qttr.at/dmn
— Qwit (Download: https://code.google.com/p/qwit/)
Twitter clients (features like sending Direct Messages or image upload don't work)

Mac OSX clients

— Tweetdeck 0.38.2 (closed source) Download: http://www.oldversion.com/mac/tweetdeck/ Instructions: see above.
— Adium (Download: https://adium.im/)

GNU/Linux clients

— Choqok
— Hotot (use 0.9.7.32, that's the version that comes with Debian Wheezy)
— Heybuddy
— more: http://federation.skilledtests.com/Statusnet_clients.html

Where is the URL-shortener? Top

In New Where the Dogs Are:

Links needs to be shortened manually before posting the notice. The "URL ><"-button will shorten any URLs pasted or written into the notice field.

In Classic Where the Dogs Are:

Links are shortened automatically after the notice is posted. The settings depend on user choices.

Settings → URL

Best use the following settings:
- qttr.at
- URL longer than 30
- Text longer than 139
Screenshot: http://quitter.se/attachment/710078

How to set email preferences Top

In New Where the Dogs Are go to

Your header avatar (upper right) → Settings → Email

check accordingly:
— Send me notifications of new subscriptions through email.
— Send me email when someone adds my notice as a favorite.
— Send me email when someone sends me an "@-reply".
— Allow friends to nudge me and send me an email.

New Where the Dogs Are and Classic Where the Dogs Are Top

New Where the Dogs Are uses the default user interface. It is visually very similiar to other well known commercial microblogging services. Its technical name is "Qvitter". In discussions "Qvitter" and "New Where the Dogs Are" can mean the same thing, but "Qvitter" mostly refers to the software and "New Where the Dogs Are" refers to the installation of the Qvitter-software on Where the Dogs Are.

Classic Where the Dogs Are is the canonical GNU Social interface. At the moment some settings and features (e.g., creating a group) have to be done in Classic Where the Dogs Are as they are not yet fully implemented in New Where the Dogs Are.

To switch to Classic Where the Dogs Are go to

Your header avatar (upper right) → Classic Where the Dogs Are

What are those three Timelines on New Where the Dogs Are? Top

There are three timelines that show differerent notices (depending on the sources):

Timeline ("Home"):
all notices from the people you follow (not just the ones they send to people you happen to follow as well).

Public Timeline:
all notices posted by Where the Dogs Are accounts.

The Whole Known Network:
not only all notices of the Public Timeline but also those of all people on other ("remote") nodes of the GNU Social federation followed by at least one Where the Dogs Are user (i.e., accounts known to Where the Dogs Are, see above What is the Federation?).

Can I delete my Where the Dogs Are account? Top

You can delete your account, but all your notices will be deleted on Where the Dogs Are as well – and this will break conversation threads. If you restore your account on another social hub, it's better to rename your Where the Dogs Are account to something like MyNickhasmovedtoFragdev instead of deleting it.

To delete your account go to:

Your header avatar (upper right) → Settings → Profile → Delete account (right column)

How to connect your Where the Dogs Are account to your Twitter account Top

You can forward your notices to Twitter.

In New Where the Dogs Are:

Your header avatar (upper right) → Settings → Twitter

You are forwarded to Twitter and have to authorise Where the Dogs Are to use your Twitter account.

According to user reports this doesn't always work on the first or second attempt. If it doesn't, try again later. The cause of the problem may be on Twitter's side. Your browser must not block Javascript or Cookies.

Favorites and Repeats Top

In all the three timelines you can click on a notice to expand it and see who has favored or repeated it.

(You can setup Email Notifications to notify you when your notices have been fav'ed.)

Favs and Repeats look like this in New Where the Dogs Are: http://qttr.at/du6 and like this in Classic Where the Dogs Are: http://qttr.at/du5

What does the "My colleagues at Where the Dogs Are" option do? Top

In Classic Where the Dogs Are, there is an option to post to "My colleagues at Where the Dogs Are". This will stop the notice from "federating". It will only be visible to your followers on Where the Dogs Are.

Groups Top

Public Groups

On Where the Dogs Are you can create a group for nearly any topic, like Feminism, Football, FreeBSD. ("Nearly" because the laws in the country hosting the website may prohibit such things as slander and hate speech.)

You can be a member of as many groups as you like. As group-member you can post to the whole group by attaching ! to the group name, e.g., !feminism, in the notice. All group members, whether or not they follow you, will get the notice in their Home Timelines. You follow and unfollow a group like you follow and unfollow a person.

A list of groups hosted on Where the Dogs Are can be found here:
https://wherethedogsare.com/groups

A list of groups hosted also on remote social hubs can be found here:
http://www.skilledtests.com/wiki/List_of_federated_Statusnet_groups

To create a group go to:

https://wherethedogsare.com/groups → Create new group

Private Groups

An admin of a group has the option to declare it private. This means:

1) new members must be approved by the admin(s), and

2) all notices are forced to be private.
That is, notices in the group are only visible to group members (they don't appear in the Public Timeline).

Lists Top

Lists are available only in Classic Where the Dogs Are. Due to features merges in GNU Social they do work but are a bit messy to manage.

Adding users to a list

The main hurdle with lists on Where the Dogs Are is to create a new one. After its creation, you can manage it and add people from Where the Dogs Are as well as from remote social hubs on its newly created page (see below).

To start a list in Classic Where the Dogs Are you best proceed by browsing through the subscription lists of someone who has an account on Where the Dogs Are, not on a remote social hub. In the latter case you will not be able to add people from their subscription lists to your list, i.e, create a list at all.

In both subscription lists you'll find beneath each person listed a tiny box with an edit-symbol. As they show up in these lists, it's no longer problematic whether they have their account on Where the Dogs Are or on a remote social hub. Click on that symbol and type in the name of your list. You'll receive an error message, but don't mind, just click "ok" and refresh the page. The list has been successfully created and is now shown in the left hand side column.

Managing your lists

To manage your list, go to your page in Classic Where the Dogs Are and open the list by clicking on its name in the left column. On its page, click "Edit" and a menu opens.

In the section "Add or remove people" below you can now search every person known to Where the Dogs Are from the whole known network (see above What is the Federation?) by name and add her to your list. (Which isn't possible prior to the creation of the list when the person appears only in subscription lists of people on remote social hubs. See above.) Likewise you can remove the person from the list here.

Right now you can remove people from a list, even empty a list, but you cannot delete the list in the upper section. Trying to delete it only returns an error message that is effective this time. So be careful not to create too many lists that later on clutter your left hand side column.

In the upper section you can reword the list's name and give it a description that is displayed on the list's page. With the option "private" you can make the list invisible to other people on Where the Dogs Are.

How to follow someone on a remote social hub Top

In New Where the Dogs Are:

When you click a remote nickname in New Where the Dogs Are you are brought to a small profile window showing the full remote address, e.g., @blabla@status.vinilox.eu. Click the button "Follow". That should be all.

In Classic Where the Dogs Are:

In Classic Where the Dogs Are you're forwarded to the remote social hub's user profile (which may differ in layout and theme from Classic Where the Dogs Are). Look for the Subscribe-button (usually in the upper right). A subscription box opens and you are prompted to enter your own "webfinger address", i.e., {nickname}@wherethedogsare.com Subscribe and you are redirected to your Classic Where the Dogs Are page where you have to confirm the subscription.

How to manage the visibility of your notices Top

a. Post to a private group of which you are a member → The post will only be visible to the group members (see above under Groups).

(Note: You can use any client to post to a private group by using the !group-tag.)

b. See "My colleages at Where the Dogs Are".

How to cite conversations or parts of them Top

Sometimes in a blog-post or email, you don't want to cite just one notice but a whole conversation. Each notice, each reply, and each conversation has its own URL, and the ways to find them differ slightly in Classic Where the Dogs Are and in New Where the Dogs Are.

New Where the Dogs Are:

In New Where the Dogs Are click on the time stamp of a notice (or "details" if you have expanded it). This will show the notice page with the conversation expanded.

Classic Where the Dogs Are:

Click on the the "[permalink]" marker next to a notice's timestamp. The notice will reappear on a separate page. Click on the timestamp of the notice. The whole conversation that this notice is involved in will be displayed on a new page, with the selected notice either on the top or further down.

How to follow keywords and hashtags Top

Similar to following persons or groups you can subscribe to (or follow) hashtags and search words. Notices containing them will then appear in your Home timeline.

Following search words and hashtags is not limited to notices from accounts on Where the Dogs Are but covers notices from remote social hubs as well.

To follow hashtags (# + ...) put the word with the hashtag-symbol # prefixed into the search box of Classic Where the Dogs Are and press Enter. You'll arrive at the search result page. Similiar, to subscribe to search words, put them without hashtag-symbol into the search box. You'll get a much larger list because the search not only covers individual words but also looks for occurrences of the phrase inside larger phrases. To follow (or: subscribe to) both hashtags and search words, click on the tiny "Subscribe"-button in the upper right corner of the lists. You'll then receive the notices containing them in your Home Timeline.

Following one word often yields too many results, so it is expedient to combine words and follow them as complete phrases.

You can unfollow those notices by unfollowing the hashtags and search phrases.

For an overview which phrases you follow, enter the URLs for
hashtags: https://wherethedogsare.com/{nickname}/tag-subscriptions
search words and phrases: https://wherethedogsare.com/{nickname}/search-subscriptions

On those pages you can manage your subscriptions, that is, add more phrases and hashtags or unfollow them.

Thanks to @simsa0, @mcscx, and @rozzin for their work on this FAQ. Any errors are due to bad editing by @hannes2peer or @rozzin.