Hi all:

Today, the topic of my post is the ‘Albums in Photo Gallery’feature.

What are Albums in MouthShut?

Albums help users to arrange their photos in a systematic manner.

How do I add Album and upload photos in an album?

- Log in and go to ‘Dashboard’
- Go to ‘Upload Photos’ page
- Click on the ‘Add another album’ link and enter the name of the album
- Select either Everyone or Members I Trust in 'Photos in this album visible to'
- Start browsing photos and Choose an album
- Press ‘Upload’ button

Boom, your photos will be uploaded in the album which you have chosen.

What is 'Photos in this album visible to' option in Album?

There are two options:

1. Everyone – Photos in that album will be visible to all users.
2. Members I Trust – Photos in that album will be visible only the Members trusted by you.

Can I change the visibility option of Albums?

Yes, you can.

- Go to ‘My Photos’ page
- Click on the ‘add’ link in My Albums
- Simply click on ‘Rename’ to change the visibility option of the Album or to change the name of the Album
- Press 'Save' and your Album will be renamed

Can I move a photo from one album to another Album?

Yes!

- Go to 'My Photos' page
- View the photo which you wish to edit
- Click on the 'Edit' link above the photo
- Select the Album
- Press 'Save' and the Photo will be moved to that Particular Album

P.S: While moving a photo from one album to another album, the moved photo’s visibility changes according to the moved albums' visibility.

Eg: Suppose if I move a photo from the General album (Visible to Everyone) to Private (Visible to only Members I Trust), then the photo will be visible to only Members I Trust since the album is Private.

Note: General Album is always visible to everyone.

Waiting for your response. Always eager to help.

Hi everyone:

Another super announcement - Very close on the heels of the changes seen on MouthShut.com. the prices of many Virtual Gifts have been reduced.

Many of our members were screaming "INFLATION". We decided to do something about it - something urgent and drastic. So, the prices of many popular gifts have been cut down. Yes, you heard right. The prices of many Virtual Gifts have been reduced.

But hey ....

This special discount scheme is available only for a month. Prices of gift items will be reviewed once again on January 2, 2009.

Make use of this Super Discount and start sending gifts to your friends on MouthShut.com.

Jaldi Karo!

Regards,

Jasmine Ahuja
Head - Member Support
MouthShut.com

PS: The image is a sample of price reduction

Dear Members:

Today is indeed a special day for all of us at MouthShut.com. After weeks of burning the midnight oil, it's time to say "Eureka", "We've done it". Our Product Team, Designers, Engineers and QA worked overtime to come up with some great changes on MouthShut.com. Over 300 changes - minor and major - have been implemented.

Any guesses where those changes came from - or rather, who suggested these changes? You, dear member.

Most of the changes carried out in this release came from you - your suggestions in reviews, diaries, comments, emails to support and/or Vikram. If you recall, Vikram had, in a previous diary stated how seriously your suggestions were taken up and how they were discussed in internal meetings. Well, now the time has come to see those suggestions actually be implemented.

So here goes:

1. A lot of you wanted the recent reviews and diaries to be listed in the old format. We sat, discussed, debated and executed. Once you click on 'Read More Reviews' and/on the homepage, you will be taken to the 'old look new page' of Recent Reviews.

2. This one again came from a lot of you. The suggestion was to be able to hide some pictures from everyone - especially unknown members. So an option has been created whereby you can now show your pictures in your Photo Gallery to everyone or to only members whom you trust.

3. This is interesting. Let the world know what you're doing at a particular point of time - "I'm reading reviews, so please do not disturb" or "I'm having a ball, anyone cares for a dance?" Your wish, your take. Be factual, be tongue-in-cheek. Go to 'My Dashboard' and announce what you're doing.Psst! Another member suggestion.

4. The scope of your Diary Post has expanded. You can now email your Diary Post to your friends. Share your deepest thoughts to even those who are not on MouthShut.com.

5. In 'My Dashboard', the latest five commentsreceived by you will now be visible.

6. Ah! The colour of your smiley icons has changed. More colour added to our lives. Males are now Blue and Females, Pink. A colourful suggestion indeed.

7. The category search has been set to the old format where you can conduct product search according to categories.

8. You can find more data in MouthShut Local which now includes Schools, Nursery / Play Schools and Coaching Classes.

9. Profile photo will be uploaded automatically. You do not have to struggle to find the 'Done' or 'Upload' button. Previously, there was an 'Upload' button below the preview of the profile photo which was confusing. When life can be simple why not eliminate confusions?

10. Diary and SMS Review comments will now be paginated. Single page comments made the entire thing look cluttered.

11. And finally. Bugged by too many Bulletins? Chill! You can now block bulletins by certain members. Just go to a particular bulletin, and click on 'Block bulletin from this member' and you're done.


Regards,
Jasmine Ahuja
Head - Member Support
MouthShut.com

Can there be music in any heart when my city has been ripped apart? My heart sank the moment I returned from the gym around 10:15 PM on Wednesday evening. No sooner had I settled myself in my bedroom, I received an SMS from another MouthShut employee informing me of "...some blast at the Taj".

Our company was preparing to host a delegation of twenty-five American educationists and they were to stay at the Taj from Saturday, November 29. To finalize all arrangements for the delegation one of my staff and I were to meet a Sr. Manager at Taj over dinner at 9:30 PM. Due to a personal issue (read below) the meeting was postponed for the next morning.

Then reports started pouring in about gun-fires and blasts from across the city. The brazen attack at CST (Formerly VT station) convinced me that what was unfolding is a systematic and barbaric terror attack on my beloved city.

I then called up my wife (who was recuperating in a hospital in Bandra) and asked her to follow the news.

I will post more thoughts and personal opinions in separate posts, but one immediate thought that has been hounding me was the need for our government to equip our police and other forces with modern weapons, sophisticated life-protection gear and better training to deal with challenges that are destroying our cities.

I hope and pray that we all join the efforts in defeating these terrorists in our own little ways.

With prayers and deep sorrow,

--Faisal

Hi everyone:

Just wanted to share my two-penny.

What has happened to Mumbai in the last few days is extremely unfortunate. Describing the city to be in seige would not be inappropriate. Most of us consider it to be a diabolic design against the security and prosperity of Mumbai and India.

Having said that, I wish to implore everyone at MouthShut.com to maintain emotional equanimity and exercise restraint, particularly in the comments and SMS messages. Please refrain from name calling and yes, please do not fight with each other.

It is the need of the hour to display emotional maturity. I am not asking you to express your love for the country or shock and dispeasure at what has happened, but please do stay away from jingoism and name calling.

Please! Please!

Regards,
Jasmine Ahuja
Head - Member Support
MouthShut.com

Hi everyone:

Weekend was bliss after the rigours of a hectic week. Slept like a log and ate like a horse. Wonder how most of you spent your weekend.

Just a point.

As MouthShut.com is expanding we are obviously attracting a lot of eyeballs, more than ever before. The registrations have seen a never-before surge - an increasing number of members are writing reviews and diaries. But there is a twist to the tale, a little unfortunate one at that.

Most of the new review writers hardly get any audience - very few members rate their reviews and comment on them. Agreed that a lot of the new reviews are "uninspiring, trashy and/or insipid." But it also means that the review writers are in need of guidance, especially from the senior members. Also, it does NOT mean that these reviews cannot or should not be rated or cannot or should not be commented on. MouthShut.com is your web site and the new members part of this large and extended kin. Do welcome them.

They need encouragement and guidance. Do rate their reviews honestly and help them improve by offering them your invaluable comments on their reviews.

Regards,
Jasmine Ahuja
Head - Member Support
MouthShut.com

I have been posting various diaries since July and hope you have been enjoying while reading the same and have found them useful. A lot of you have been reading those diaries and asked me most pertinent questions, providing a lot of valuable suggestions to make MouthShut.com a better and improved platform.

Once I receive your suggestions via comments/M2Ms, I sit with the Product Team and the CEO himself. We discuss all your suggestions in great detail. I am sure that you understand that all suggestions cannot be implemented and those which are decided upon cannot be implemented immediately as Analysis, Design, Development and QA to bring it out without any glitches requires time.

You will see in a couple of weeks quite a few of your suggestions being implemented. Which ones? Keep guessing!

Apart from the suggestions, some of the Technical Issues which you informed me via comments/M2Ms have been resolved in quick time. Most technical bugs and issues need at least 1-2 working days to get resolved. If the resolution of bugs reported by you takes longer, then I apologize.

I hope you found this post useful. I am always eager to help.

Cheers!
Vikram

It seems like just yesterday. Like I clearly remember when I held him for the first time in the hospital ward when he was born. My little baby boy Shiraz sent me an email. His first email. The moment I read his email, I knew he has become a big boy.

Checkout his email to me. It reflects the innocence of his mind. And the spirit of sharing with his baby brothers.

Give me your thoughts? How did you first react when you discovered your baby has grown...and how would you react if you found that a baby is now a big boy?

Click here to view a snapshot of the original email which Shiraz sent me.

Verbatim, it said:
" Salaams daddy. daddy bring me any game u want. And for kashif,basit. "

(notice the absent space after the comma for kashif)

Hello everyone:

A big congratulations to Team India on behalf of MouthShut.com. It was a collaborative effort, a total team effort. Sachin, Saurav and Sehwag scored well in the first innings while Dhoni and Sehwag came good in the second innings. As far as the bowling was concerned, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma took the honours. Dhoni, the current captain continues his winning spree. 2-0 score against the mighty Aussies is a matter of pride. A fitting farewell to Saurav Ganguly and Anil Kumble.

Come on guys, do write reviews on Team India and its heroes. Also, how about paying a tribute to Ganguly - the man who started the cricketing renaissance - by writing a review on him?

Let the reviews flow in. This time no special points and no prizes for the best review writer. This time each review will be the best review as it will come straight from the heart, a heart filled with pride for its cricketing heroes.

Regards,
Jasmine Ahuja
Head - Member Support
MouthShut.com

Hi all,

Today, the topic of my post is the 'Invite Friends' feature.

Why do you Invite Friends?

MouthShut.com enables you Invite Friends who you feel could benefit as much as you have from MouthShut.com.

How do I use Invite Friends?

Log in and go to Invite Friends Page by clicking on the link at the top of the page (next to the Help section).
You can invite your friends by three ways. The first option is:

1. You can fetch your mail address books of Hotmail, Yahoo mail, Gmail, Rediffmail, Indiatimesmail and Aol mail by providing valid Id and Password. Select your friends whom you wish to Invite and press the Invite Button.

2. If you want to compose the invitation from your own mail ID, click on Show Message in the second option, Copy and Paste the Invitation and send to your loved ones.

3. You can manually enter 100 friends Email addresses of your friends and invite.

P: S: You will get 50 MS-Points for each registration by your friends.

Waiting for your response. Always eager to help.

Cheers!
Vikram.