TechHui Site FAQ

Q: What is TechHui? Who can join?
TechHui is a social network for scientists, techies, tech entrepreneurs, and new media enthusiasts in Hawai'i. Kama'aina abroad and people outside Hawai'i interested in Hawaiian tech ventures are also welcome.

Q: Does TechHui share my email with other parties or email members about non-TechHui related topics?
Absolutely not.

Q: Who created TechHui?
Daniel Leuck and Mika Leuck created TechHui after discussing the idea with Peter Kay at a Honolulu coders meeting. Peter and Ralph were giving a talk on digital democracy. Early contributors included Truman Leung, Clifton Royston, Tim Little, Aaron Kagawa, J. David Beutel, GB Hajim and Sam Joseph. Philip Johnson helped us find some of our first members by sending an announcement to his mailing list. Gabe Morris, Greg Hester and Bill Sodeman also assisted in growing membership.

Q: What technology was used to build TechHui?
TechHui uses a combination of Ning, an SaaS (Software as a Service) turnkey network platform, and Ooi, an SaaS provider of turnkey networks and social media widgets.

Q: Can anyone use the blog? What are the rules?
Yes. The rules are:
1) Entries should be about science, technology, technology business or new media.
2) Entries should be at least a few sentences long. The blog is for substantial science, technology, technology business or new media related posts only. If you want to post a one liner such as "check out site x" please use the appropriate forum.
3) We don't allow blog entries written for the sole purpose of selling a product or service. Product and service announcements are allowed in the Announcements forum.
4) We do allow cross posts. Feel free to use TechHui to promote "best of" blog entries by cross posting and providing a link back to your blog.

Q: What are the rules for the video and photo areas?
Those areas are for non-commercial photos and videos that convey useful information or are works of art. Commercial videos, logos, and advertisements will be removed.

Q: Can I use HTML in my blog and forum posts?
Yes. The blog and forums allow a subset of safe tags including <a href="...">, <p>, <br>, <strong>, <em>, <u>, <strike>, <img>, <embed> and <object>.

How do I quote text?
Use the blockquote tag. Example:

<blockquote>Tim: Mika said Dan is loud and smells peculiar.</blockquote>
I agree.

Q: How do I post code snippets?
Right now the best way is to surround your code samples with <pre> tags. Use <br> tags at the end of each line to avoid the insertion of unwanted line breaks by the editor. We are working on better support for code snippets.

Q: Am I required to use a photo of myself for my profile picture?
No, but it is strongly encouraged. Photos help ensure people aren't masking their identity. They also reduce the chance of people saying things they wouldn't say off-line, and generally promote a friendly environment. Profile photos should be 183x183 pixels or larger. Larger photos will be automatically resized.

Q: Can I create my own group?
Yes, as long as it is technology related. We ask that group creators provide an icon and reference related forums and groups in the text box at the top of the group homepage. If you need help with the icon let us know. Group icons should be 171x171 pixels or larger. Larger icons will be automatically resized.

Q: How public / private is TechHui? Who can see my content? Is it crawlable by Google?
TechHui is a public site, and by default all content is public. Most of the content is available via RSS, so it is trivial for others to subscribe and store this content. You should be aware of this when posting and engaging in discussions. You can control visibility of your profile by going to Settings (upper right hand corner) > Privacy. You can also control visibility of blog posts, videos and images during the process of making the post. Responses to public discussions are public, and crawlable by search engines. Think of these discussions as public broadcasts, along the line of radio or television.

Q: I'm a recruiter. Can I join TechHui? What are the rules?
Yes, you are welcome to join and post in the Tech Jobs forum. Please note that posting job positions elsewhere including members' profile pages is strictly forbidden. Messaging members or groups about job positions is also strictly forbidden.

Q: I don't agree with a blog post from that Dan Leuck guy. Should I be polite and stay silent on the matter?
No! Our community includes many people who rarely agree with that Dan guy, including most of his friends and relatives. Comment on his post and tell him so.

Q: What are the rules for the forums?
We use a slightly modified version of the rules Ryan Ozawa wrote for his popular Hawaii Threads board:

1. Search before you post. This is "rule number one" on many message boards. Before starting a new topic, it is important to be sure that the topic hasn't already been introduced. There may be an older thread that is very relevant to what you want to address, and your new contribution will only be strengthened by reviving the existing conversation. It's natural to think that every new development warrants a new thread, but try erring on the side of keeping related messages together. If you absolutely must start a new thread, please start off by referencing and linking to the older one.

2. Use helpful thread titles. While it's hard to resist being clever or cryptic sometimes, for the most part the threads you start will do better if you succinctly explain the subject in the title. For example, if you've been thinking about painting your house, don't use "I've been thinking about something" -- use "House Painting" instead. When posting a review of a movie, don't use "Movie review" -- just use the title of the movie. Think about how your thread could evolve or be referenced later. The better it is described, the more inviting and useful it will be.

3. Stay on topic. We know this is hard, especially with the way talkstory sessions go in real life, but try to remind yourself what the thread is about before you add your reply. If something someone wrote sets off a new thought or remembrance, run with it in a new thread. For example, if someone mentions food in a discussion about politics, refer to that tangent in a new topic in the food section. If you just want to banter back and forth with another member, take it to Private Messages, IMs or e-mail.

4. Excerpt and summarize, but don't copy and paste. Very often, a news article or website can spark a great discussion. However, do not cut-and-paste the text of an article or reproduce other material in its entirety in your posts -- this often runs afoul of copyright rules. At most, quote one or two paragraphs that you think are the most interesting, then provide the link to the source for those who want to read the whole thing.

5. Link with care. The beauty of an online conversation is that you can easily direct readers to more information while crafting your own message. By linking to other sites, you can back up an assertion you make in a debate, or let people see for themselves what got you thinking. But when directing people to other sites, please include some information about the destination. Instead of posting just a URL, or a message with a generic hyperlink like "click here," include some context, like, "Check out this great Hawaii message board." Please post links to web pages rather than directly to multimedia content (i.e. Flash, video or audio files), and include a warning if the site includes multimedia content or content that may be considered objectionable or inappropriate for children or workplace viewing. Finally, please don't use tools or tricks to obscure the real destination of your link (like TinyURL).

6. Post with Aloha. Don't post personal attacks. Use common sense and if you are participating in a lively debate consider following the 60 second rule when responding.