Helpful Hints:

Can't get your card?
The card you sent was not received?
How to save your postcards.
Can't get things to work?
A note about the music on BlackDog.
How much does this cost?
BlackDog's Postcard Privacy Policy
Don't Get Confused

Can't get your card?
The card you sent was not received?

For more help and for answers to frequently asked questions, go here: http://blackdog.net/postcards/help1.html.

How to save your Postcard

There are many available web browsers -- and some browsers are eccentric! You need a browser that has forms implemented (older versions of MacMosaic will not work). Go to this useful test page for browsers. Also, Hotwired has a browser tuneup page to see how well your browser performs various tasks. You can also run a browser diagnostic and tune up at BrowserTune.

Your best bet is to download the latest full version of Netscape or Microsoft's Internet Explorer. They are both free for download here:

http://www.netscape.com
http://www.microsoft.com.

Here are some other problems users have encountered:

• AOL: The Preview option might not work: send the card anyhow. Some users cannot send cards at all - clicking on a picture doesn't work. Also, AOL caches files indefinitely. To solve this problem, clear your machine's cache.
• Pipeline: Cards sent from pipeline often have some extraneous headers embedded in them. This makes them unreadable!
• Prodigy: Doesn't allow some users to access the Postcards at all.
• Music Files: Some users (primarily AOL users) have web browsers that will not allow you to hear the sounds that accompany the Postcards. Download Netscape or Internet Explorer. If you are already using Netscape, Netscape version 2.0 or later has a plug-in called Netscape Player. If you do not have it (NPaudio.dll), you should download the latest version of Netscape. Make sure you get the FULL version, not the 'lite' download, which is what many internet service providers (ISP's) give out. For Internet Explorer, you might need to download Crescendo.

For more help and for answers to frequently asked questions, go here for More Help.

The music on BlackDog has been gathered either from midi sites which represented that the files available were in the public domain (not copyrighted), or which were created by the BlackDog staff. In addition, we have checked the names of the music files at The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. to try and confirm that they are, indeed, free for public use. Therefore, to the best of our knowledge, all of the music/midi files on BlackDog are public domain and we are free to use them. If we have made an inadvertent mistake and a music file on any of our pages not in the public domain, for whatever reason, please let us know. We will need to know the name of the song, who owns it, and why it is not freely available for our use. Once we have been notified, we will remove the sound from our pages. Please send this notice to BlackDog's Webmaster.

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This site is free.  The banner advertisements at the top of most of the pages on BlackDog pay the bills.

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The postcards require the use of email addresses.  Children must have permission from a parent or guardian before filling out any forms or providing any information over the internet.  Email addresses are shown in the postcards you send, but we do not collect the information for our use - or anyone else's.  No information from any BlackDog activity is distributed or sold.  All cards are purged 7 - 14 days from the date sent.  Holiday cards are kept longer to allow for holiday vacations.

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Just to make sure nobody confuses the electronic postcards on this site with the United States Postal Service or any of their products or services:  there is no connection.  If you want to mail a real letter or buy some real stamps or any other tangible or intangible product or service the United States Postal Service sells, you need to contact them yourself in some way.  Again, this is not a real postal service. . .these are electronic postcards that have been created for visitors to BlackDog to enjoy.  So don't think that there's any connection whatsoever with the United States Postal Service or the United States Government, because there isn't.

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Certain portions of the Helpful Hints are courtesy of Judith Donath who designs and maintains
MIT Media Lab's The Electric Postcard. Thanks!