Hilfe

"You haven't received an email?"

• Every now and then an email gets lost somewhere in the internet, or perhaps it landed in your junk mail. Please also understand that our system may take up to 24 hours to send these emails.

  If you have already checked your junk mail and have waited for more than a day, we'll be more than happy to help you [here].

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"Is your activation link shown as defective?"

• Some email clients won't transfer the link fully, so you'll need to copy and paste the entire link (no spaces, should end in seven numbers) into the address bar of the browser and try again.

  In rare cases the link may be shown as defective even though you have activated successfully. Try logging in the next day using your email address and password. Don't worry, so far every single user has been able to enter the network!

  Maybe you've already been registered - the confirmation link will only work once.

  Why not try and login just to check?

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"You don't know what to do with the five characters in the image?"

• These five characters help keep your data secure. There are a range of computer programmes out there designed to read data automatically; this code ensures that only humans are using the network.

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"Which first names and surnames are allowed?"

• "Is your first name or surname not allowed?"

  • Your real name is allowed! Nicknames, pseudonyms, and the names of historical or famous people are not permitted and will be deleted. Please remember that people should be able to find each other on our platform.

• "Is your name not allowed?"

  • If your first name and/or your surname is not allowed, and you're not trying to register as Mickey Mouse, you should first register using another name, then go to 'My Account' and click on [change] next to 'Name'.

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"Forgotten your password?"

• Don't worry, we can help. A [Forgotten your password?] link will appear when you try and login with an incorrect password. Click on it and a new password will be sent to you – just have a little patience with our email server.

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"Change password"

• "You want to change your password?"

  • To change your password go to 'My Account' and click on [change] next to 'Password'."

• "You can't change your password?"

  • If you can't change your password, please make sure that you're entering your old password correctly. Check also that you have not used invalid characters in your new password – only letters and numbers are allowed.

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"You want to change your email address?"

• You can change your email address by going to 'My Account' and clicking on [change] next to 'Email'. An email containing an activation link will then be sent to your new email address. If you don't respond to the confirmation email, your email address will not be changed.

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"Are you having problems logging in?"

• Have you activated your registration by clicking on the activation link we sent you?

  Are you sure you've entered your password and email address correctly?

  If your password is shown as incorrect you can use the [Forgotten your password?] link. If the system tells you that your email address is unknown, please try again the following day.

  If after this you are still unable to login, please click [here].

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"Are you unable to login after changing platform to or from meinVZ?"

• Once you have changed platform simply login on the site that you have moved to with the same email address and password you were using before.

  You’ve moved from studiVZ to meinVZ? Then from this point onwards you should go to www.meinVZ.net, and login on the meinVZ homepage.

  You’ve moved from meinVZ to studiVZ? Then you can login on the studiVZ homepage.

  If this still doesn’t work, please click [ here ].

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"Are there duplicates of your profile on meinVZ?"

• Please report any duplicates of your profile to us by clicking on 'Report / Ignore' in the profiles concerned, and selecting 'Report'.

  Our support team will then investigate the issue and delete the other profiles if necessary.

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"You want to change your name?"

• Just got married? Spelled your name wrong? You can change your name by going to 'My Account' and clicking on [change] next to 'Name'. Please use your full real name so old and new friends can find you.

  If you need to change your name urgently, you can contact us [ here ].

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"Change password"

• "You want to change your password?"

  • You can change your password by going to 'My Account' and clicking on [change] next to 'Password'.

• "You can't change your password?"

  • If you're having problems changing your password, please make sure that you're entering your old password correctly. You may also have used invalid characters in your new password – only letters and numbers are allowed.

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"You want to change your email address?"

• You can change your email address by going to 'My Account' and clicking on [change] next to 'Email'. An email containing an activation link will then be sent to your new email address. If you don't respond to the confirmation email, your email address will not be changed.

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"Want to move across to studiVZ?"

• If you’re going (back) to university, you can transfer your meinVZ account across to studiVZ under [ My Account ]. When you do this, all of your information, friends, photos, messages and so on, will move from meinVZ to studiVZ and you can access the network from studiVZ. The two sites are fully connected to each other – ensuring that all functions can be used on both platforms. More information about the change platform function can be found in the Help topics under "Moving to studiVZ"

  Changing platforms again will not be possible until at least six weeks after the previous change – this helps us avoid a situation where users are frequently switching between the two platforms.

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"Which email notifications do you want to receive from meinVZ?"

• Do you want to be notified when something new happens in your personal network? You can adjust these settings beneath 'Messages' in [My Account]

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"You want comments in your groups to appear in a different order?"

• How do you want comments in your groups to appear? Do you want the oldest or the newest comments to be shown first? You can change these settings by going to [My Account], and then 'How do you want the comments in the groups to appear?'.

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"You want to delete your account?"

• That's a pity – are you sure?

  Please bear in mind that when you delete your account all your personal information and photos are erased from our databases and cannot be recovered – there's no turning back!

  If you're sure that you want to delete your account you can do so by going to 'End membership' in [My Account].

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"Telegram"

• Telegrams are messages from meinVZ to all users and may contain information about new developments in the network, or special offers from our advertising partners. A telegram will usually be visible to all users for a few days before disappearing again.

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"Gruscheling"

• "You've been gruscheled?"

  • Gruscheling cannot be explained – it must be experienced! Give it a try…it's harmless, but it's fun! If you want to explore the meaning of the gruschel more intensively, you can of course join one of our numerous expert or self-help groups.

    If you don't feel comfortable with a gruschel from someone, you can 'ignore' that person, and block any further contact from them. Simply click on 'Report/Ignore' under the user's profile picture and select 'Ignore'. This can be reversed by going to 'Ignored users' in your 'Privacy' section, and choosing to 'Pardon' them.

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• "You want to gruschel someone?"

  • If you want to gruschel someone, simply click on ‘Gruschel’ next to his or her profile photo.

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"Birthday reminders"

• Never forget your friends' birthdays again! Our reminders will automatically be displayed on your homepage – the countdown begins five days before the big event. If you don't want to be reminded about a particular birthday, click on 'remove' next to it. This birthday reminder will then only appear again on the day itself.

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"Last visitors"

• At the bottom of your homepage you can see the last three visitors to your profile. Not enough? By clicking on 'Show more' you can see the last 20!

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"Region"

• "You want to change your region?"

  • Your 'region' is the area in which you live. You are able to change your region in [My Account]. To prevent bogus region changes, users can only change their region once within a three month period. You've moved twice in this time? Please contact us [here]. Our support team will change your region manually.

"University attended"

• "You want to change the university you attended?"

  • You can change the university you attended by clicking on 'edit' next to 'My Profile', and then going to 'General'. Alternatively, you can follow the link [here].

• "Is the university you attended missing?"

  • Is the university you attended missing? Are you sure you've selected the correct country and state/area? If you have, but your last university is still missing, you can contact us [here].

    It may take a little time until your university appears, and at present we are only including universities within the EU.

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"School attended"

• "You want to change the school you attended?"

  • You can change the school you attended by clicking on 'edit' next to 'My Profile', and then going to 'General'. Alternatively, you can follow the link [here].

• "Is the school you attended missing?"

  • Our list does not yet include every school in the world, but we can build it up with a bit of help from you. The list of schools in Germany, however, is almost comprehensive. If you went to school in Germany please check the list again to make sure it's not there.

    If you have double-checked, and cannot find your schol, you can contact us [here].

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"Employment"

• You can edit your employment section by clicking on 'edit' next to 'My Profile', and then going to [Employment ]

"Notice board"

• You want to know how your notice board works? Each profile contains a notice board where other users and the profile owner can leave messages.

  If you delete a message you have left on someone else's notice board it will no longer be visible to other users. The profile owner, however, will still be able to see the message (along with a note that it was deleted by you).

  You should therefore think carefully about what you write on other users' notice boards. If you delete a message that has been left on your own notice board it will no longer be visible to anyone.

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"Who can see me?"

• "You don't want studiVZ users to be able to see your profile?"

  • You can adjust your settings to prevent this by going to [Privacy].

    You are able to select the visibility of your profile to meinVZ and studiVZ users independently. You could select, for example, that studiVZ users can only see your limited profile, and are also unable to send you messages or gruschel you. This would be a shame though, as there are lots of friendly and interesting people in studiVZ. You might be missing out!

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• "You don't want strangers to be able to see your profile?"

  • meinVZ offers very detailed privacy settings. You can go to [Privacy] and select, independently for meinVZ and studiVZ, that only certain groups of people are able to see your full profile. Those users whom you do now allow to see your full profile will only be able to see your limited profile (consisting of your photo, name and region).

    If you do decide to restrict who can see your full profile, you are able to select from a list any extra information that you would like displayed in your limited profile.

    You can read about this in further detail in our [Data Protection Information].

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"Visibility of contact details"

• All contact details (your email address, phone number, etc.) are automatically considered private, and will only ever be visible to your friends.

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"Who can send me messages and gruschel me?"

• You can select whether or not studiVZ users can contact you by going to [Privacy].

  Anyone in meinVZ can send you messages and gruschel you. We appreciate, however, that there may be some people who you just don't want to be contacted by. You can block these people from being able to access your profile by 'ignoring' them. To do this, go to the profile of the person concerned and click on ‘Report / Ignore' under their profile photo, then select 'Ignore'. This user will no longer be able to contact you and will only be able to see your photo, name, and region – and nothing else.

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"Invisibility"

• If you would rather be invisible when you're using the network you can change your settings by clicking on 'Profiles I visit' in [Privacy]. This will mean that other users will not know when you have visited their profiles.

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"You don't want people in studiVZ to find you through the search function?"

• "Gefunden werden"

  • You would prefer that only meinVZ users are able to find you? No problem, you can adjust these settings in [Privacy].

• "You don't want people to find you using the super-search, only through your name?"

  • Members can use the various criteria in the super-search to search for people according to profile content (such as 'school attended'). If you only want to be found through your name, and not through these criteria, you can adjust your settings in [Privacy].

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"How can I report someone or something?"

• "You want to report someone or something, but don't know how?"

  • You can report people, groups, or photos you believe to be inappropriate, by clicking on 'Report / Ignore'. You may want to report, for example, a fake profile, pornographic pictures, a racist group, or another user who is harassing you.

    All reports are dealt with by a staff member, so please take care to provide a reason and explain things thoroughly in your statement. With millions of users, investigating reports involves a lot of work, so please don't report someone or something unless you're serious. Accusers will always remain anonymous; their names will not be revealed to individuals being reported or to anyone else.

    This function has been introduced to ensure the security of our users and keep the network friendly and safe.

• "Can't you find 'Report/Ignore'?"

  • You can find 'Report/Ignore' beneath a user's profile picture, within a group beneath the group picture, and within photo albums above the picture concerned.

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"Anonymity of the accuser"

• The person reported will not know they have been reported. We will only contact the user concerned once we have investigated the accusation and found it to be valid. Even then, we will ensure that you are not implicated in the whole process. If it is clear what the user has been reported for (a racist comment made on your notice board, for example) then the user may well have suspicions as to who the reporter was, but they will not be told anything by us.

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"Ignoring a user"

• The 'Ignore' function allows you to block contact from particular users. You can ignore anyone by clicking on 'Report/Ignore' in their profile.

  You can then choose either to report this person, or to block their access to your profile. Users you are ignoring are displayed in a list in [Privacy]. They can only see your photo, your name, and your region, and cannot gruschel you, look at any of your photo albums, link you to photos, or contact you in any way.

  If you wish to remove someone from your 'Ignored users' list, you can do so by going to your 'Privacy' section and choosing to 'Pardon' them.

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"How can I send a message?"

• To send a message to a user, simply go to his or her profile and click on the relevant option below their profile photo. For Jane Smith, for example, this would appear as 'Send Jane a message'.

  You can also send your friends messages directly from My Messages. To do this, simply click on "New Message” and enter the name of the friend you want to write to.

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"How many messages can I send each day?"

• Users can send up to two messages a minute. You can send a maximum of 22 messages a day to users who are not on your friend list. This measure has been introduced to prevent people misusing the network and sending junk mail.

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"How can I send messages to more than one person?"

• You are able to send a message to up to ten friends at the same time. Simply enter their names in the corresponding section of the message – and the system will find those people on your friend list.

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"Can I respond to different messages at the same time?"

• Yes, you can open and write responses to different messages at the same time – this lets you compare and coordinate your messages.

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"Can I forward messages on?"

• You can forward a message on by clicking on "forward" next to where the message appears in your inbox.

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"Are my messages saved?"

• Every message that you send or receive is saved.

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"Deleted messages"

• Deleted messages really are deleted from our databases. They cannot be recovered.

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"Sending messages to studiVZ users"

• Some studiVZ users still haven’t connected their accounts to meinVZ. This means that they still have not agreed having contact with meinVZ users. If you would like to contact a studiVZ user, you will be given the opportunity to send him or her a system message. This will let the user know that you are trying to get in touch, and will allow him or her to connect to meinVZ.

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"You want to link someone to a photo, or delete a link?"

• "You want to link someone to a photo, or delete a link?"

  • You can link any of your friends to a photo, as long as they are able to see the photo you are linking them to.

    If you're not happy about a link to a particular picture you can delete it, so long as you are either the owner of the photo album concerned, or the individual who has been linked. To delete a link, simply go to the relevant picture and click on 'Remove my link'.

    Don't forget to click on 'Finish editing' when you've finished.

• "You don't want to be linked?"

  • If you don't want your friends to add links to you without you knowing, you can adjust your settings in [Privacy] under 'Who can link me to photos?'. If you select 'My friends can link me, but I have to approve each link', you will be informed of any attempts to link you, and these links will not be visible until you approve them.

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"You want to change or delete your profile picture?"

• You want to change or delete your profile picture?","You can change your profile picture by clicking on [Change profile picture] in your profile. You can then upload a new picture. Once you've uploaded a profile picture you must always have one, but feel free to change it at any time.

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"You can't upload a picture?"

• There are a number of possible reasons for this:

  The most likely reason is that the picture's file size too large. This means the upload can take a very long time, and may seem as though it is not working.

  In some cases it might be worth downloading a free Java-update www.java.com and the latest version of your internet browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox...) and trying again.

  Attention: The file names and the names of your photo albums cannot contain umlauts or other special characters, and the file extension (jpg or gif) must be written in lower case. If the 'Shiny new uploader' doesn't work you can always use the ‘Photo uploader from the olden days' – sometimes it works better!

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"You want to create a photo album?"

• To upload photos, simply click on [My Photos]. Then click on 'Create album' . Please pay attention to the file size of your pictures. If they are too large the upload may take a long time.

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"The photo uploader is taking too long?"

• If the photo uploader is taking too long, it may be that the file size of the pictures is too large. Try using pictures with a smaller file size, or just wait!

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"Is the photo quality poor?"

• When you upload photos they have to be adjusted to a size compatible with the network, and consequently might need to be made larger or smaller. This process may result in the quality of a picture being worse than the original. The pictures producing the best results have a pixel size of either 600 (landscape) or 450 (portrait) and are in jpg format.

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"You want to know where comments on the photos appear?"

• When you are looking at a picture in a photo album the comments will appear underneath it.

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"Who can see my photos?"

• In each of your photo albums you can go to 'Edit album information' and select who can see the photos in the album. You can make your photos visible to everyone in the network, just your friends, or just you. You can have different settings for the users in meinVZ and studiVZ.

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"The order photos are displayed in"

• If you click on 'Edit photos' when you're in an album, you can move the photos around into any order.

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"Photos in groups"

• You cannot have group photo albums, but this doesn't mean that you can't have photos within groups. Members of a group can add individual photos to any entries they make in the forum.

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"You want to know if there are pictures you're not allowed to upload?"

• Generally, we would prefer not to interfere in this area. If someone uploads a picture of you that you don't like, or a picture you find inappropriate, it's normally best for you to resolve this with the user concerned. However, if a picture is insulting, illegal, pornographic, or breaks copyright laws, you can report it to us using the 'Report' function.

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"You're unable to see photos on the website?"

• Our servers are often blocked by the settings in the Firefox browser. To change this:

  In the Firefox menu go to: Tools - Options - Content (the globe icon) – Exceptions (next to 'Load images automatically'). Make sure that 'only from original websites' is not activated.

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"File format/File name"

• You can upload any pictures in jpg or gif format. No other formats are supported at present. Please take care that the file size of the pictures is not too large. Files have to be converted by us and it can take a long time to upload pictures with a large file size. Pictures in gif format may not be animated.

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"You want to delete photos?"

• If you want to delete photos in one of your albums, please go to the album itself, click on 'Edit photos', and select the photos you want to delete. Click on 'Save changes' and the photos are gone.

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"You want to delete a photo album?"

• If you want to delete a whole photo album, please go to the album concerned, click on 'Edit photos' and then click on 'Delete album'. Please bear in mind that once an album has been deleted it cannot be recovered.

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"Want to know what happens to your photos when you move across to studiVZ?"

• There are two different cases here: The photos in your own albums, and those photos that you are linked to.

  Your own photo albums move across with you. Even your settings for the visibility of your albums or individual photos will remain the same. If a photo was previously only visible in meinVZ, it will remain so. If in the future you want studiVZ users to be able to see your pictures, you can change your settings before or after the move across.

  Links to you in the photos of other users will also be retained if the album they are in is visibile in studiVZ. If the photo or the album in which the photo appears is only visible to meinVZ users, the link to you will disappear when you move across. For this reason we have created a page during the change platform process that will show you all of the links that you would lose. On this page you are able to send a message to the owners of the albums concerned, explaining that you are moving across and asking them to make the photos visible on studiVZ. You can then suspend the move across, and view on your homepage over the next 14 days the number of links that you still stand to lose. This means you can decide if and when you move across, and you know exactly what the situation is regarding your links.

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"How and where can I search for groups?"

• "How and where can I search for groups?"

  • The group search function can be found in 'My Groups'. There you can find a list of all the groups you are a member of.

    At the top of the page there is a search bar, and beneath this you have the option of limiting your search to particular categories. Once you have entered your search term, simply click on 'Search groups'. You can also access the group search by clicking on 'search' in the menu at the top. This search works in exactly the same way, just without displaying the groups you're a member of on the page.

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  "How can I sort my group search results?"

  • You can sort the group search results according to number of members, number of entries in the forum, or date of last activity. This makes it easy to find the biggest, most active and therefore most interesting groups. To give you a better overview of your search results, you can choose between a view that displays lots of additional information (such as group creator), and a view which does not – therefore allowing you to see more search results on the page.

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"How many groups can I be a member of?"

• You can be a member of up to 100 groups. This should provide ample opportunity for you to meet new people, take part in group discussions, and plan for the next party.

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"Group settings"

• "Visibility in my profile"

  • You can select whether or not your membership of a group is visible to users who are not members of this group by clicking on 'Membership settings' in the group menu (underneath the group picture). If you hide your membership it will not appear on your profile to anyone outside of this group, and will appear to you in grey.

    This can be done under "Privacy" by going to [ Groups ] – there you can find an overview where you can adjust the settings for each of your groups. The settings under "Group visibility" determine who is able to enter a group, the settings under "Membership visibility” determine who can see that you are a member of a particular group.

    You can also change your settings within each individual group by going to "Membership settings" in the group menu under the group picture.

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• "Who can join your group?"

  • As group creator you can determine who your group is visible to – and, therefore, who is able to join it.

    This can be done under "Privacy" by going to [ Groups ] – there you can find an overview where you can adjust the settings for each of your groups. The settings under "Group visibility" determine who is able to enter a group, the settings under "Membership visibility” determine who can see that you are a member of a particular group.

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• "Notifications of new comments"

  • You can select whether or not you will be informed by email about new comments that appear in a group's forum by going to 'Membership settings' in the group menu beneath the group picture.

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• "You want comments in the group to appear in a different order?"

  • How do you want comments in the group to appear? Do you want the newest or the oldest comments to appear first? You can change your settings to adjust this in [My Account] under 'How do you want comments in the groups to appear?'

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"Want to know what power a group creator has?"

• As group creator you are responsible for the "Group administration" function, which means that you can edit the group picture, group description, and the announcements.

  You are able to respond to membership requests, promote members to moderator status, and delete the comments left by other users as well as entire threads. If certain group members are causing problems, you have the right to block them from the group permanently, or temporarily (by pardoning them afterwards)`.

  In addition, you are able to determine who the group is visible to – and, therefore, who is able to join it. This can be done under "Privacy" by going to [ Groups ] – there you can find an overview where you can adjust the settings for each of your groups. The settings under "Group visibility" determine who is able to enter a group, the settings under "Membership visibility” determine who can see that you are a member of a particular group.

  If you no longer have the time or energy to look after your group, you can nominate someone to succeed you. If this user agrees, he or she will assume responsibility for running the group, and you will remain a moderator.

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"Moderators: Why do we have them and what can they do?"

• "Want to know how you can become a moderator of a group?"

  • You can only become a moderator of a group when the group's creator 'promotes' you. Why not ask them? Please remember though, it's ultimately the creator's decision.

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• "What can moderators do?"

  • As a moderator you can delete the comments left by other group members, as well as entire topics. You can also administer membership requests, but are unable to throw other members out of a group or promote them to moderator status – only the creator can do this.

    The ‘Group administration’ function is not available to moderators, so you are unable to change the group picture of group description for example.

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"How can I invite friends to join a group?"

• You can invite friends to join a group by clicking on `Invite people` in the group menu.

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"How can I delete comments or threads?"

• All members of a group are able to delete or edit the comments they themselves leave (an option appears at the end of these comments). The group creator and group moderators are able to delete both individual comments and entire threads.

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"Are my comments still visible if you decide to leave a group?"

• Yes, your comments will still be visible if you decide to leave a group.

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"What happens to my groups when I move across to studiVZ?"

• There are two different cases here: Groups that you are “only” a member of, and groups that you created yourself. In both cases you will still have access to the groups.

  As a basic group member, you will still be able to read the messages in the group and write messages yourself. Even if the group is a meinVZ group that is not open to studiVZ, as a former meinVZ user you will remain a member of the group. Things will only get difficult if you leave the group – you won’t be able to rejoin.

  Groups that you have created yourself will remain. These groups will stay in meinVZ, but your control will not be altered. Ideally, you will open them up to studiVZ – then studiVZ users can join in. If you create a group later, as a studiVZ user, this will appear in studiVZ – but you can of course make these groups open to meinVZ users if you wish.

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"Search"

• The [search] function allows you to find lots of like-minded people in your own region, or anywhere in the world! If you're looking for someone from a particular region, simply select the region under 'Everywhere'. You can also select which platform you search in – meinVZ or studiVZ.

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"Super-search"

• "Can't find the person you're looking for using the standard search?"

  • Can't find the person you're looking for using the standard search?","You can use the [Super-search] to look for people according to a range of other criteria, and to give your search clearer boundaries. You can search for people according to their birthday, the school they attended, even their relationship status - any search is possible. You can also search according to a combination of different entries. The more specific the criteria, the more specific the results will be.

• "You don't understand the Super-search?"

  • You can search according to almost all the criteria that can be entered in your profile. Search for people with the same political orientation as you, who grew up in the same area, or who share your birthday! The more criteria you enter, the more specified the search will be. Remember, though, people can only be found if they have entered this information on their profile.

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"Group search"

• You can search for a group by using the 'search' function – the search for groups is on the far right, or by clicking [here]. Simply enter the term you want to search, and a group category if you wish, and click on 'Search groups'.

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"Being found"

• "You don't want studiVZ users to be able to find you using the search function?"

  • You would prefer only to be found by meinVZ users? No problem, you can adjust your settings accordingly in [Privacy].

• "Du möchtest nicht über die Super-Suche, sondern nur über die Suche nach Deinem Namen gefunden werden können?"

  • The Super-search allows users to find each other by searching for people according to the content they have entered on their profile (school attended, for example). If you do not want to be found through these criteria, and only want to be found through searches for your name, you can adjust your settings in [Privacy].

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"Want to move across to studiVZ?"

• If you’re going (back) to university, you can transfer your meinVZ account across to studiVZ under [ My Account ]. When you do this all of your information, friends, photos, messages and so on, will all move from meinVZ to studiVZ and you can access the network from studiVZ. The two sites are fully connected to each other – ensuring that all functions can be used on both platforms. More information about the change platform function can be found in the Help topics under „Moving to studiVZ“

  Changing platforms again will not be possible until at least six weeks after the previous change – this helps us avoid a situation where users are frequently switching between the two platforms.

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"Want to know what happens to your friends when you move across to studiVZ?"

• You will keep all of your friends when you move across – your friend list stays exactly the same, because meinVZ and studiVZ are completely integrated with each other.

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"Want to know what happens to your groups when you move across to studiVZ?"

• There are two different cases here: Groups that you are “only” a member of, and groups that you created yourself. In both cases you will still have access to the groups.

  As a basic group member, you will still be able to read the messages in the group and write messages yourself. Even if the group is a meinVZ group that is not open to studiVZ, as a former meinVZ user you will remain a member of the group. Things will only get difficult if you leave the group – you won’t be able to rejoin.

  Groups that you have created yourself will remain. These groups will stay in meinVZ, but your control will not be altered. Ideally, you will open them up to studiVZ – then studiVZ users can join in. If you create a group later, as a studiVZ user, this will appear in studiVZ – but you can of course make these groups open to meinVZ users if you wish

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"What happens to my photos when I move across to studiVZ?"

• There are two different cases here: The photos in your own albums, and those photos that you are linked to.

  Your own photo albums move across with you. Even your settings for the visibility of your albums or individual photos will remain the same. If a photo was previously only visible in meinVZ, it will remain so. If in the future you want studiVZ users to be able to see your pictures, you can change your settings before or after the move across.

  Links to you in the photos of other users will also be retained if the album they are in is visibile in studiVZ. If the photo or the album in which the photo appears is only visible to meinVZ users, the link to you will disappear when you move across. For this reason we have created a page during the change platform process that will show you all of the links that you would lose. On this page you are able to send a message to the owners of the albums concerned, explaining that you are moving across and asking them to make the photos visible on studiVZ. You can then suspend the move across, and view on your homepage over the next 14 days the number of links that you still stand to lose. This means you can decided if and when you move across, and you know exactly what the situation is regarding your links.

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"What happens to my messages and notice board entries if I change platform?"

• Your messages and notice board entries move across with you. They will remain in your inbox, or on your notice board, just as they appeared in meinVZ.

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"What will appear under „Member since…“ if I change platform?"

• Changing platform will not cause the date you joined to alter. If you registered with meinVZ on 15.03.2008, this date will still appear when you are in studiVZ – the date you changed platform is irrelevant.

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"Can I move back across to meinVZ?"

• You can, of course, move back to meinVZ – when you have finished your degree, for example. However, you will only be able to move straight across once. From then onwards you will only be able to change platform once every 6 weeks. This is to prevent a situation where users are continually switching between the two platforms.

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"You want to know why there are Ts & Cs and what they cover?"

• Ts & Cs is the abbreviation for the ‘General Terms and Conditions`. The Ts & Cs constitute an agreement between the individual user and studiVZ Ltd., the operator of the meinVZ platform. They contain important rules that ensure the interaction on the network is positive and friendly. Users who do not adhere to the Ts & Cs can be temporarily blocked, or in extreme cases have their accounts deleted. We ask for your understanding that we have to take such measures against violations.

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"You want to know why there is a Consent to the Use of Personal Data and what it covers?"

• The Consent to the Use of Personal Data constitutes an agreement between the individual member and studiVZ Ltd., the operator of the meinVZ platform. It concerns the processing and using of personal data. This document explains, amongst other things, which information you must provide to use meinVZ, which information you can choose to enter, and which information is visible to other users of the network.

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"You want to know how meinVZ approaches the issue of Data Protection and Data Security?"

• We – the company studiVZ Ltd. and the meinVZ Team – fully understand our corporate and societal responsibilities in the area of data protection. We appreciate the importance of not only meeting these requirements today, but also of being at the forefront in the future.

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"You want to know how secure your data is on meinVZ?"

• All of the information entered on a profile, and elsewhere, will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and subject to strict data protection rules. Even data that is made publicly available on a profile cannot, without the consent of the profile owner, be read, saved, edited, changed, passed on, used for commercial reasons or misused in any other way. It is also forbidden to create profiles that serve to read, save, edit, pass on or misuse information in any other way. Any violations will be investigated and, where necessary, punished according to point 6 of the Ts & Cs.

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"Can my data be passed on without my consent?"

• No. studiVZ Ltd., as operator of the meinVZ platform, will not give any personal details, email addresses, or other information to third parties for commercial reasons – whether to advertising companies, employers, companies that collect addresses, or anyone else. The protection of our users' personal information is of the utmost importance to our network. We have also blocked profile information from appearing in search engine results.

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"What happens to bits of information that I remove from my profile or change?"

• Information that is removed or replaced (a mobile number, for example) will be removed from our databases completely and cannot be recovered.

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"What exactly does personalised, or targeted, advertising involve?"

• Personalised advertising means that a company using our network to advertise is able to select particular groups of users to display their adverts to. For example, users in Munich will not be shown adverts for film previews in Berlin, women will not be shown adverts for aftershave, and 24-year-olds will not be shown adverts for over-30 parties!

  Please note: the names of our users are not involved in personalised advertising in any way. Read more about this [here].

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"Should I be worried about being flooded with adverts?"

• No. personalised advertising only means that certain adverts are not shown to all users. This is a good thing, because adverts that users consider irrelevant are of no use to either the members of the network or the advertising companies. Personalised advertising is also in our interests, because it allows us to keep the network profitable, and therefore offer the service free of charge. More about this can be found [here].

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"Can I opt out of personalised advertising and still use meinVZ?"

• Yes. Any user who is logged in is able to select which form of advertising they receive by going to [Advertising settings].

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"Which “Terms & Conditions” and “Consent to the Use of Personal Data” apply to me if I move across to studiVZ?"

• By moving across to studiVZ you are changing your platform, and as a result the applicable “Terms & Conditions” and “Consent to the Use of Personal” are those belonging to studiVZ. During the change platform process you will be asked to agree to the studiVZ Terms & Conditions, the Consent to the Use of Personal Data for studiVZ, and the studiVZ Code of Conduct, just as you were when you registered for meinVZ. There are only differences in a few places, the vast majority of the documents is the same for studiVZ and meinVZ.

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"What does 'invite' do?"

• If you have friends who have not yet joined the network you can click on [invite] and send them an invitation to join either studiVZ or meinVZ, depending on whether or not they are a student. Simply enter their email address in the field provided and, if you want, a personal message.

  Your friend will then be sent an email inviting them to join and, if they use the email to register, a friendship invitation from yourself will appear. You can send up to 25 invitations to different friends at one time: Simply enter their email addresses (separated by commas) and off they go!

  Please note: Recipients cannot see other recipients' email addresses.

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"You want to know if it's possible to register with meinVZ without being invited?"

• Of course! You don't need to have an invitation to join meinVZ. If you really want someone to join, sending out invitations simply gives you an easy opportunity to let them know.

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