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Frequently Asked Questions

Who made this site and why?
The Buzz is produced by semissourian.com, the online enterprise of the Southeast Missourian newspaper and several other of the region's newspapers. It is a community publishing effort that provides low-cost service for Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois clubs, community groups, and other non-profit organizations. For-profit businesses may also take advantage of the site's capabilities for a $50 monthly fee (exclusive rates for local Chamber of Commerce members are also available, click here). The software behind the site was created by Nando Media
Who can get a free web page?
Free web pages are available to non-profit groups, including churches, in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. Applicants need only register for service online and await approval. An e-mail address is required.
How long does it take to get approved?
Usually less than a day during the week; sometimes as quickly as an hour. Approved members are notified by e-mail. Semissourian.com reserves the right to verify contact information and deny access if credentials are in doubt.
When can I update my page?
Any time of day or night, from any place on the planet where you have access to the World Wide Web. All you need is your username and password and the address http://thebuzz.semissourian.com
How do I get my group's logo to appear on my page?
You must have an electronic copy of your logo, in either GIF or JPG format, on your computer. The file must be no larger than 300 pixels in width and 200 pixels in height, and no larger than 16,000 bytes in file size. Use the "Edit This Page" function. Go to the "Upload Your Graphic / Logo" form and follow the instructions to send the GIF or JPG file from your computer to our server.
How much information can I put on this site?
Buzz Members can post an unlimited number of scheduled events, but there are size limits for each area of the page. These limits are expressed as numbers of characters; keep in mind that spaces between words should be included in this count.
Here is the breakdown of how many characters you can put in the various fields:
- Group Title: 128
- Description: 768. (Only the first 160 characters, approximately, will show up on search results pages.)
- News: 20,000 characters. After the first 760 characters, the news section breaks and the rest is displayed on a second news page.
- Event Title: 160
- Event Description: 512
How does the events calendar work?
Add your group's scheduled events to your page. Go to the "Administrative Functions" page by clicking on "Edit This Page" and entering your password. Click on "Add a New Event," (or, to alter or delete the item, "Edit an Event") and follow instructions. The event will appear on your group's page, and it also will show up when anyone searches the calendar database on the semissourian.com calendar page.
What about HTML?
You don't need to know any HTML to use this site. Currently, the site will treat most HTML code as regular text characters. But you do have the ability to use some HTML in portions of your Buzz page.
You can use these HTML tags to format text, add line breaks and paragraphs, and insert links to other web pages from your News story and Event descriptions:
 to start new paragraph.
 to start new line.
 or , with end tag, to boldface or italicize.
<A HREF> with end tag to insert a link. For example, this:
<A HREF="http://thebuzz.semissourian.com">thebuzz.semissourian.com</A>
will look like this on your web page:
thebuzz.semissourian.com.
Note: Using the P and BR tags is the only way to force line breaks and new paragraphs.
Where can I get help?
You can send us e-mail at webmaster@semissourian.com or leave a voice mail message at 1-800-879-1210 x 212. If you have questions while you are editing or updating your group's page, you may find what you need under a help button at the bottom of the page.
What's my URL?
The URL for your site will be sent to you by email when you are approved. It will be in this format: http://thebuzz.semissourian.com/XXXX/ (where XXXX is a number unique to your group). You can either publicize this address or simply direct people to http://thebuzz.semissourian.com. Tell them to use the keyword search form to find your group's web page.
Why are groups divided into categories?
Each group is listed under only one of 20 categories intended to suggest the group's emphasis. If you don't find what you're looking for under one category, try another.
And what are these 'geographic service areas?'
The contact person for each Buzz group is asked to indicate the geographic area -- Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Scott City, etc. -- that represents the group's location or primary service area. If you are interested in an outlying town that is not on the list, then search the Elsewhere in Missouri or Illinois area.
Who else has control of my page?
Anyone with your username and password can change your page, so be sure to keep them secret. If you lose your username or password, it can be re-sent to your email address when you try to log in to edit your page. Semissourian.com reserves the right to edit or remove any posting or entire site without notice, but is not responsible for monitoring member activities. If you find something offensive in a member's site, please notify us at webmaster@semissourian.com and we will determine action accordingly.
What if I forget my username or password for editing pages?
You can go to your group's page and click on the "Edit this page" link. Then click on the "recall" button. The username and password will be e-mailed to the contact for your group. These are case-sensitive, so be sure you enter capital and lower-case letters correctly.
How is the "Contact Information" used?
If someone visiting your page has a question for your group, they need to be able to contact you by telephone or by e-mail. Your e-mail address is especially important: The administrators of thebuzz.semissourian.com use your e-mail address to keep you informed about improvements and other developments that affect Buzz members. Make sure your e-mail address is correct -- check for typos! Click "Edit this page" and then choose "Contact Information" if you need to correct this information.
How can I send e-mail to members and other people interested in my organization?
Invite members and others to sign your Guest Book, where they add their names and e-mail addresses. You yourself can add guest-book entries for your friends, if you know their e-mail addresses. You can send out a newsletter, bulletin or other e-message to every address in your Guest Book. Go to the "Administrative Functions" page by clicking on "Edit This Page" and entering your password. Click on "Send E-mail to your Guests." It will be sent out within minutes, and you'll receive e-mail confirmation of its delivery.
How do I view the names in my group's guestbook?
Go to the "Administrative Functions" and choose "Export Guest Records." If there are entries in your guestbook, they will be displayed in your browser. To save the contents into a file, click on the FILE tab at the top of your browser. Then select Save File or Save As. Give the file a name and select "Plain Text (.txt) as the file type. Note the directory in which you are saving the file.
What do the "Organization Hit Counts" measure? Do we know how frequently someone learns about our group by searching the groups and calendar databases?
The answer to the second question is No. Many people learn about a group or a scheduled event by searching the databases from the Buzz home page. But this search activity is not measured now. However, if someone clicks to your group's page from the search query results, this visit to your page is measured, as explained below.
Monthly page views are organized so you can see how many visits each section of your site receives:
- Main page views reflect how many times someone has visited your group's main, public page.
- Contact page views reflect visitors to your main page who click on "Contact us."
- Guestbook hits register when a visitor clicks on "Sign guestbook" from your main page. These are the only categories affected by public users.
- Authorized hits show how often someone with your group's password has entered the administrative portion of your site -- including either your group's contact person or an administrator with semissourian.com.
- The Counter category tracks the times someone has selected "Organization Hit Counters" from the page editor.
- All is a total of hits received in all these categories.
How does my group post photos on our Buzz page?
Buzz allows your group to create photo albums. All you need to do is click on the "Edit this page" link in the left-hand column of your main page. Once you log in, click on "Edit PhotoAlbums." Once you are on the PhotoAlbums Editor page you can either create a new photo album or edit an existing album.
- To create a new album:
  Click on the "Add a New Photo Collection" link. You will then have a form that says "Attributes." Enter a "Title" for the album. The "Description" box, which is also on that page, is where you should enter the text you want to show up under the Album Title on your main Buzz page. It should be a short sentence or two describing the photos that are included in that particular album (i.e., You may want to name an album "Christmas Party" and describe it as, "These are pictures taken at our organization's December 15th Christmas party.") Once you create an album, it will automatically send your browser to the "Edit PhotoAlbums" page, which is described below.
- To edit an existing album:
  Click on "Edit PhotoAlbums" in the PhotoAlbum Editor page (if you just created a new album, you will automatically be sent here) . Choose the album you want to edit. Then make the changes needed. You can add photos to an album, edit an existing photo, or move the position of a photo in the album.
You can create 5 albums and each album can contain over a dozen pictures. Photos must be in either .gif or .jpg formats (jpgs must be "standardized," or "baseline." "Progressive" jpgs will not be viewable) . Your pictures can be no larger than 560 pixels wide by 500 pixels high, must be 72 dpi and cannot be larger than 81,920 bytes.
Please be aware that any pictures you post should be the property of your group, or else you should have written permission to duplicate them. It is illegal to copy pictures from other sources, including other Internet sites, and republish them without the express written consent of the copyright holder. If you feel a picture is infringing upon a copyright, or is otherwise inappropriate for the Buzz, please notify us at webmaster@semissourian.com.
How do I post a link to a map of our organization's location?
1. Visit mapquest.com.
2. Enter your organization's address and click "MAP IT!"
3. You should see a street map showing the vicinity of your organization. This is the page you want to link to. Highlight the "Location" bar in your browser and copy this long address into your system clipboard (Select "Copy" from the "Edit" menu on most browsers).
4. Go to your organization's Buzz administration page.
5. Go into the "Edit Organization" page. At the end of your organization's description, paste in the address of your map (Select "Paste" from the "Edit" menu). Then, put this code before the address:
```
 <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="
```
 And put this code after the address:
```
 ">Map of our location</A>
```
6. Be sure to select "Description contains HTML tags" and then hit "Continue" to save the change.
Why does my group description or news story get cut off in the middle of a word?
Your group description is limited to 768 characters. Spaces, line breaks, and HTML tags all count towards this character limit. The system will automatically chop off anything over 768 characters, even if the cut occurs in the middle of a word or in the middle of an HTML tag.
Likewise, your news story is limited to 20,000 characters. However, only the first 768 characters will be shown on your organization's front page.