Be more interesting | itimes

Where are the points I had earned on itimes

itimes.com has implemented the Times Points program which is a common loyalty program for users of the Times Network. Your points will show up based on the activity you do from the point the program is implemented.

Why the ALL new itimes?

The largest collection of Katrina Kaif photos, a campaign that you have been dying to create or a Poll that you thought would always bring out the truth.

The new itimes across its ten (Ya 10!) categories empowers you to create interests on your favourite topics.

And guess what, you not only get to earn points for all your activities but also get crowned the Interest Master and then the Superking on our live leader board.

But do remember to keep those posts coming or someone smarter out there, who knows a lil more than you, can topple you and become the Master of the Interest.

What is an Interest Network?

Well that's an easy one. Interest is any topic or hobby that you love and would love to tell the world about. It's also a great forum to showcase your breadth of knowledge on a subject, person, place or just tell a story.

The Interest Based Network empowers you to create posts of all types (polls, blogs, photos, discussions, videos etc) on interests other people may own, or just create an interest and make sure you update the world, while others follow.

What are Interests?

Any interest is any topic or hobby that you chose to contribute on itimes. It's a collection of posts/content on any given topic on the network.

All interests are unique. To acquire or own an interest you can:

Create an Interest
Compete and Acquire from another user

On owning an interest you have the responsibility of keeping it updated with relevant posts. For e.g if you own the interest Amitabh Bachchan, you have to ensure that you constantly add new content to it.

Your deep knowledge on an interest will prompt people to follow you and you will earn points on every activity you do. Large contributors will be showcased on the interest Master Leaderboard or can also become Interest Superkings.

What are Posts?

Posts are first level of content created on the site. Every post must have an interest name tagged to it. A maximum 5 interests and a minimum of one interest can be tagged with any post.

Once submitted, you cannot change the tagged interests for a post. However, more interests can be added at a later stage if originally the post was not tagged with 5 interests.

What is the difference between Interests and Posts?

Any interest is any topic or hobby that you chose to create on itimes by adding the description, photos, and tagging related interests. Users who follow you or the interest can load posts to your interest, however cannot own the interest you are a master of. The only time you can lose the ownership of an interest is when another user loads more posts than you.

At all points of creating the interest we provide auto suggestions and tools to make your interest more relevant for e.g the option to fetch descriptions from the web, add photos from Flickr, related links etc.

Posts are updates on an interest and therefore multiple posts can be part of a single interest.

What are the different types of posts that I can create?

There are seven types of posts.

Discussions : Well it's a democracy on itimes, discussions are created to trigger views on a topic
Photos: Photos can be added to Interests to make them more relevant and exciting. All photos uploaded on the site are default public.
Videos: You can embed videos from youtube and tag them to interests.
Blogs: Write blogs and share these with maximum people on the site by tagging only the relevant interests. Spammers will be disabled and the community is encouraged to report spam.
Polls: Create and participate in polls. Create polls using photos and videos as options.

How am I given points?

A user is awarded points based on the activity he does on the site. Since all posts are tagged with interests, a user gets points with respect to different interests.

Points are awarded to the users for activities on each interest like post creation, comments, likes, reposts, shares etc. Based on your activity and interests tagged, you will have different points for different interests.

Who is an Interest Master?

The user who contributes the maximum relevant posts and has the maximum number of points generated through his activity becomes the interest Master. He is featured on the main site leaderboard for his intellectual prowess and can lose ownership if another user has more relevant posts than him on the same interest.

Can I become an Interest Master?

Ownership of an interest on the site is dynamically populated basis activity i.e A user can create and own an interest however his activities, viral, followers, reposts, shares and commenting by group members will determine the duration of his ownership.

At any given point of time, like a floating badge, the owner can lose being the Master of an interest if other members on the site are more active contributors to the interest.
The ownership is lost to any other user who is more active on the Interest contributions than the owner.

Where are the groups I was a member of on the previous version of Itimes?

The groups you were a member of are now Interests. Some of the groups have been renamed into different interests but all user discussions, photos and videos are tagged with the new interests.

How am I following these Interests?

All the groups you were a member of are now interests and you are now following them.

How do I find or relate to people who were my friends on the previous version of itimes?

All your friends and you follow each other on the new version of Itimes.

What does 'following' mean?

You can choose to follow Interests and People. By following them you will receive regular updates on your wall and notifications about their activity. Following a user does not require the consent of the person you are following. However, he can choose to block you from following him.

Can I keep my itimes profile private?

No

How do I signup into itimes.com?

You can create an account in itimes.com using direct signup or any of the following social connects of Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Linkedin, MSN.

What is linking of accounts?

Linking accounts allows you to sign in to itimes using different connects and share the content with your friends on the connected social networks.

What is a repost?

A repost is an internal itimes share to spread any content, even if it is not owned by you, among your followers.

Do I own the Interests I create?

Ownership of an interest on the site is dynamically populated basis activity i.e A user can create and own an interest however his activities, viral, followers, reposts, shares and commenting by group members will determine the duration of his ownership.

At any given point of time, like a floating badge, the owner can lose being the Master of an interest if other members on the site are more active contributors to the interest.

Can I delete an Interest I created?

No. You cannot delete an interest once created.

How do I change my email notification preferences?

You can change your email notification preferences from the Notifications page

How can I change my password?

You can change your password from the settings page of your profile.

Why do I need to tag an Interest to each post.

Adding interests to a post is mandatory. You can add a maximum of 5 interests to a post. Your post feeds populate the wall feeds of the interests you have tagged your post with allowing for distribution of your content to relevant audience.

What are the three tabs on my wall?

Your wall shows the activity updates of the people and interests you are following on the site. The third tab on your wall shows your own activity updates. Other users who see your wall will see your activity on this tab when they view your profile on the site.

Can I edit my posts and to what level?

Yes. You can edit the post you create with the following exceptions:

The poll question and options cannot be changed after voting has started on the poll.
A photo and video once uploaded can only be deleted and not edited.
Interests once added cannot be changed.

What is the difference between block and un-follow?

You can block a user to prevent him/her from following you permanently.
You can unfollow a user you are following and not receive any updates from him/her.

What information will you gather from my third site account like fb/twitter?

Itimes collects vital information to populate your profile like your full name, interests, email ID, friends, based on your privacy settings. Rest assured, we do not share your information with any third party

What are the best sizes for uploading images?

You can upload photos at a number of points in the new itimes, starting with your profile photo (240 X 240 px). It is mandatory to support a new interest with a photo. The interest photos and all the other posts where you upload a photo (except for the photo posts) should have a minimum width of 240 px.

Configure - itimes Mail

Please note that post configuring your itimes email ID you cannot send e-mails from your mail client, you can only use it to download your mails

itimes.com users will not get the facility of creating a mailbox effective 19th November 2012. We are committed to maintaining the email accounts and all data for our current users till 18th February, 2013 -12 PM (IST).

All mail services and data access will be turned off on 18th February, 2013 -12 PM (IST) however you can continue to log in to the itimes.com site using your itimes.com login id.

Does the email shut down mean that I will lose all my data from my mail box?
Not at all. All data in your mail box can be downloaded via IMAP at any given point of time till 18th February, 2013 -12 PM (IST). We would encourage you to download your mail as soon as possible or forward your emails to your new account.
We would also like to remind you to change your login credentials on other networks, where you have provided Indiatimes Email as your primary/authentication or alternate id.

How do I download Emails?
You can download your data using multiple email clients. Please refer the steps and the screenshots on the help centre page.

What do you mean by use the id to access itimes.com?
This means that you can continue to access itimes.com and login to the site using your @itimes.com ID however you will not have access to Email or an inbox.

I want to change my itimes password; I cannot remember my itimes password?
Please use the Forgot Password option to change your itimes password. Your password will be sent to your alternate email ID.

I am unable to download or configure my mail on IMAP?
You can write to us at grievance.itimes@indiatimes.co.in anytime till 18th February, 2013 - 12 PM (IST) and we will hand hold you through the process.

My change password requests on other networks come to my itimes id since it's my primary id. What happens to such mails in the future
We would request you to change your id on other networks so that any change password requests on those networks do not come to your itimes mail account.