Friends & Family: Fans?

BeachBill

I just noticed a "Fans" caption below my friends in the Friends & Family section. It only shows up when I'm logged in.

Is this new?
What is it exactly?

Here is the source of the "Fans" code on my page.

[FONT=monospace]<[/FONT]p id="fans" class="nav"><span class="title">fans:</span> <a href="http://.smugmug.com" class="nav"> </a></p>

PBolchover

I believe that these are people who have listed you as either a "friend" or as "family"

Andy

BeachBill wrote:

I just noticed a "Fans" caption below my friends in the Friends & Family section. It only shows up when I'm logged in.

Is this new?
What is it exactly?

Here is the source of the "Fans" code on my page.

[FONT=monospace]<[/FONT]p id="fans" class="nav"><span class="title">fans:</span> <a href="http://.smugmug.com" class="nav"> </a></p>

No, it's not new
Those are "your" fans.
http://www.smugmug.com/help/friends-and-family

BeachBill

Andy wrote:

No, it's not new
Those are "your" fans.
http://www.smugmug.com/help/friends-and-family

Okay, so I have ghost friends? Note the URL listed is invalid and the anchor text is blank.

By the way, I couldn't find anything in the friends and family help about "fans".

Andy

BeachBill wrote:

Okay, so I have ghost friends? Note the URL listed is invalid and the anchor text is blank.

Bill, checking your homepage, I see a Friend, but no fans.

cmason

I asked this some time ago. A Fan is when someone else adds you as a friend, but you have not added them as your friend.

When you add them as a friend on your end, they become a Friend. The Fan concept is nice, since you can see when someone has put you down as friend and then reciprocate. Unfortunately, when they don't have the "this is my friend" link exposed, there isn't a way to make them a friend....Andy being a good example of this un-neighborly customization

docwalker

I think I was the cause of Chip asking the question. A while back Chip and I got into a discussion here on Dgrin. I added Chip to my Friends list to make it easier to find his site later as I really like some of his photos. A few days went by and Chip starts asking why my name was showing up on his site as a fan. He recipricated.

The cool thing is that it can help your google rating. Anytime a site of similar topic links to your site google counts that as a better link than one of totally non related content.

You should feel no obligation to display the friends and family link or add people to your list. But, it is a nice thing to do. It does not hurt, and can actually help.

ETA: Here is the original thread that Cmason started - http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=31303&highlight=cmason

BeachBill

Andy wrote:

Bill, checking your homepage, I see a Friend, but no fans.

Correct, it just says "fans:" with a blank space beside it, and looking at the HTML code shows an invalid link to http://.smugmug.com with a blank description.

Or do you mean you can't see the "fans:" text at all? I noticed it only shows up when I'm logged in. When I log out, "fans:" disappears.

Andy

BeachBill wrote:

Correct, it just says "fans:" with a blank space beside it, and looking at the HTML code shows an invalid link to http://.smugmug.com with a blank description.

Or do you mean you can't see the "fans:" text at all? I noticed it only shows up when I'm logged in. When I log out, "fans:" disappears.

Correct, it's only for you, logged in. Now, you have a "fan" and there's something showing

BeachBill

Andy wrote:

Correct, it's only for you, logged in. Now, you have a "fan" and there's something showing

Okay, so if it's supposed to be there now that's fine. The only reason I brought it up is it just started appearing a day or two ago. Previously "fans:" never displayed at all, just like "family:" does not display when logged I'm in as I have no family links.

Final question, is that link to http://.smugmug.com supposed to be in the HTML code after the "fans:" text? I assume that's what made the "fans:" text show up in the first place and is probably the reason the separator character is appearing before your name in the fans list.

BeachBill

cmason wrote:

The Fan concept is nice, since you can see when someone has put you down as friend and then reciprocate. Unfortunately, when they don't have the "this is my friend" link exposed, there isn't a way to make them a friend

I noticed the same thing when trying to invite users to my communities. Some people are hiding the "invite to" links as well.

It would be nice if Smugmug would add a small box that cannot be removed, say at the bottom of every page that appears on every smugmug page only while you are logged in with options to add as a friend/family and invite to communities.

Andy

BeachBill wrote:

It would be nice if Smugmug would add a small box that cannot be removed,.

We try to balance features and personal preferences

BeachBill

Okay, so now I have two "fans" and I would like to reciprocate and add them as friends, but neither has a "this is my friend" link showing on their homepage due to customization. :cry

Suggestion: add a link next to the fan's username that says "add as: friend | family" then we can easily add these fans as friends or family.