As the manager and member of many webrings on the Webring system - and on RingSurf, as well - I've spent (wasted?) a lot of time fiddling with them to keep them running smoothly.
While I consider them a fun addition to my website and a wonderful way to bring traffic to my pages, I still think of my involvement with them as a hobby. For me, webrings are something to do to break up the monotony of studying and working. And of course, messing with them on my pages helps me keep my meager HTML skills somewhat current.
However, there are a few people who take them a WHOLE lot more seriously than I do. They are quite knowledgeable on all the little ins and outs of webrings. I defer to their experience and ability and often go to them for assistance, especially since some technical problems can only be fixed by Webring Support.
People who join my rings often ask me for help in figuring out how to fix problems they are having with their rings or simply to help them understand how to navigate the system. For that reason, I decided to put together this "RESOURCES AND HELP" page. Here you will find a list of some of the more helpful resources for Webring information, in no particular order. Since most of my rings are on Webring.org, I am not particularly familiar with RingSurf, RingLink, and Bravenet, but there are some resources for those venues, too.
Also, you might want to check my list of Other Webring Addicts' Pages. Looking over their pages is sure to help give you an idea or two about how webrings work.
"This web site is the result of the collaborative effort of some experienced ringmasters engaged in the webring community.
Our mission is to define and develop the Webring concept, and to promote public awareness, acceptance, exploration and enjoyment of web rings, by sharing experiences and providing resources and practical help to ringmasters and members."
This website is far beyond the usual connotation of the phrase "under construction," but it is still relatively new. It is well-designed and contains a great deal of useful information, from the most basic stuff for those new to the concept of webrings to highly technical, detailed instructions for the very experienced. It is a site for and by users of webrings and everyone is encouraged to join and actively participate in the construction of the site.
"This list was established to preserve and foster the traditions of open, un-moderated discussion related to webrings and the webring community. It is open to ringmasters, ring members, system hosts, and programmers to share resources and provide assistance.
Even if messages to the list are typically supposed to be webring related, we have found it motivated to also accept topics of more general interest to webmasters."
Andrea Stalnecker, aka "&rea", has put together a wonderful site to which I often refer. It is easy to navigate and has easy-to-follow directions to fix most problems. &rea also regularly posts informative and helpful replies to ring discussion lists (information on the lists can be found below).
James has an extensive site that is worth checking out for many reasons other than webrings. But if you are looking for help with your rings, this should be one of the first places you go. He has put together a mind-boggling amount of information on not only how to handle membership or management issues, but also a lot of articles that deal with the history of webrings. His award winning site is a must see. James is another frequent poster to the discussion lists regarding webrings and is always ready to help with specific questions.
Almost as an afterthought I've added the official Webring.org help page. This is described as an "interactive context-sensitive help system". The problem I have with this system is that it is often, in my incredibly humble opinion, too technical. The answers seem to assume a working knowledge of the somewhat esoteric abbreviations and technical inner-workings of the system that are far beyond the casual and occasional user. But, it's there for you to use, so I include it here. There is also a link to email support with specific questions. My experience has been that the answers I have received from this avenue of support tend to be short and sweet and, truthfully, not very helpful when all is said and done. The sheer volume of requests for help that they receive limits the depth of the answer you will get.
"This is the official WebRing help Forum. Any user logged into our system can post here; however, do not post until you've read Guidelines and Most Asked Questions just below this box. If you fail to do this you will be referred there if your question is already covered! Comments & Suggestions should go to the General Forum (which can be found through Guidelines and Most Asked Questions.
"This is the official Help WebRing of WebRing.com and will begin to fill up with Technical Support Help Pages and Member Resource assistance sites in the latter part of 2002. Make this ring your FIRST stop when looking for answers to your WebRing questions, whether in technical or layman's terms."
As I add this link to my site (January 6, 2003), there are 18 "help pages" listed as members of this ring... all belonging to the Webring Users Guide listed above. As it is a fairly new addition to Webring.com, look for additional (and more varied) resources in the future.
"This is an open discussion forum for users to discuss WebRing features, wishes, thoughts, etc. QUESTIONS about and PROBLEMS with the System should be posted in detail in the Member Resources & Technical Support forum - http://L.webring.com/forum?forum=ringhelp. Negative, derogatory or personal comments will be deleted. Anyone can post, you don't have to be a member."
(NOTE: Although I have real problems with a description of a forum that claims to be "open" while blatantly stating that anything the censors don't like will be deleted, I list this here because it is a source of information.)
Description of Ring: "One of the original Ring Manager rings, running since early 1998. Ring homepages for rings hosted all ring systems accepted. Rings of all sizes and most topics accepted. Membership list purged in 2001 to maintain quality standards."
"WebRing Managers WebRing presents the WebRing Managers Forum, a place for WebRing Managers to discuss ideas, ethics, tactics, etc. This Forum is for WebRing discussion only and is closely moderated."
Even if you aren't a member of the ring or the forum you may read the postings and learn what issues interest active managers. Yes, I'm a member. :)
I recently took over management of the One World Ring on RingSurf and hold membership in several rings on that system, but I am not extraordinarily familiar with how it works since I spend most of my webring allotted time using Webring.org.
Morgan Smith has put together an excellent reference page that compiles "Help Answers" from the Ringmasters-l mail list. To be honest, I haven't reviewed all of the links, but it was recently updated to provide information on the "new" Webring.org system, so I'm sure the information will be useful. There are also links to help AOL and WebTV users along with HTML tips. This site also has a progressive HTML tutorial and Paint Shop Pro tutorials, too. This is all good stuff for anyone who manages a webring and needs a reference guide for coding and images.
Ringlink is a free CGI Perl program for running webrings, "created by RingMasters for RingMasters." It's a that provides the tools you need to run one or more webrings independent of the big ring organizations. Ringlink 2.37 was released September 1, 2002.
