Help desk Number 454-5400 - Help Desk E-mail support@crisny.org
CRISNY is NOT funded by, a government agency, the university system or any other state or federal entity. CRISNY is an independent not-for-profit organization with 501-3(c) classification. We lease space from the University for our offices, but we are not part of the University in any way. CRISNY is funded by the subscription fees of individuals and businesses of the Capital Region as well as donations from a variety of sources.
In order to continue to provide the residents of the Capital Region with a quality service, that brings regional information together in a giant knowledge base, we need the support of the community. We have limited resources available to us in the form of personnel, and funds. As we grow, with your support, we will channel the additional resources into providing the best service possible for very affordable rates. The success of this community network is entirely dependent on the amount of support we receive from the Capital Region residents. Support the network that helps the entire community, spread the word about CRISNY, and subscribe today.
Why Doesn't CRISNY Offer Unlimited Access?
CRISNY's goal, indeed our mission, is to provide Internet access to all residents of the Capital Region, regardless of their technical proficiency or financial status. We are the Capital Region's Community Network, and the area's only not-for-profit Internet access provider. As such, we believe that it is better to offer all members of the community a reasonable number of hours online than to offer unlimited access, and have certain subscribers (knowingly or unknowingly) abuse the privilege.
For this reason, we do not strive to offer the lowest cost unlimited access account in the area, or in the nation. We have developed a pricing strategy which enables us to provide a very high quality, dependable and accessible service for prices that the regional market will bear. Additionally, since CRISNY provides free or low-cost Internet access to local governments, qualified not-for-profit organizations, and schools; our subscriber's fees help to build a dynamic online community.
Even a $19.95/month unlimited account is not of great value if you get a busy signal 50% of the time! CRISNY's subscribers spend, on average, 11 hours per month online. NYNEX provides us with frequent "Busy Studies" to ensure that our subscribers are able to access the Internet through CRISNY __no less than 98%__ of the time!
In the choice of quality versus quantity, we have determined that our customers would rather have reliable service over unlimited access.
By selecting CRISNY as your Internet provider, you help to support the network that serves the entire community. As a public service, we offer free or low-cost access to qualifying not-for-profit organizations; including governments, educational institutions, libraries, social service and cultural organizations and schools. This enables them to make important community information available on CRISNY's Web pages.
CRISNY can only make these free and low-cost accounts available through the sale of commercial and individual subscriptions. We welcome your business, and encourage you to spread the word about our service.
Using CRISNY is just good business, for you and for our community!
How can I support my community network?
Your support can come in many ways:
Does CRISNY have Public Access Sites?
Yes, the William K. Sanford Town Library in Colonie, has set up a computer in the library with access to CRISNY and the WWW. You must present a valid library card to sign-up for time on the public access computer.
We intend to implement additional public access sites as soon as revenues permit. If a library, community center, or other public place, wishes to set up a public access site, and currently possesses the necessary equipment, we will work with you. For those that need equipment, we will have to work out sponsorships with local businesses, or some other means of purchasing the equipment. Our minimum guidelines for donations for this cause are as follows:
If you, or your organization would like to donate such a machine, please contact, CRISNY at 442-5733 or via e-mail at admin@crisny.org
Does CRISNY offer special deals to Not-for-Profit organizations and Government?
Yes, as part of our mission to bring information online as a service to the community, we are offering qualified not-for-profit organizations 501 3 (c) status, FREE accounts. We strongly encourage those organizations that can afford our very reasonable rates to pay for the service. CRISNY can not continue to exist without the support of subscription fees from organizational accounts. In fact our individual account rate at $40 a year is in part subsidized by organizational account fees. Please consider paying for an account or some portion of the cost, as a donation, if at all possible. To apply for a not-for-profit account please print the not-for-profit application form from our web site, or call 442-3728 for a copy of the form to be sent by postal service to your organization.
There are some responsibilities that go along with getting a FREE account. They are as follows:
The account should only be used for the three purposes stated above. If the time allotted is consistently maxed out, with no visible results in the form of additions to the Web Pages, active participation in the discussion groups, and prompt response to e-mail questions, we will have to conclude that the account is being misused. If your staff finds it important enough to use the account for other activities, it should be important enough for them to help support CRISNY by getting their own Individual accounts.
Does CRISNY offer software with the subscription?
CRISNY offers software to subscribers with Macintosh operating systems meeting the following requirement:
Unfortunately, the current environment in Intel based machine software is such that there are no perfect Internet access packages. The shareware packages, although reasonable, still cost in the neighborhood of $25. At that rate the user is better off purchasing a commercial package that costs $35 and includes technical support. We do not provide software for the Intel based machines. We recommend that you purchase the Netscape Navigator Personal Edition package, because our Web pages are designed to maximize features that Netscape supports.
The Minimum System Requirements for Purchasing a Copy of Netscape Navigator Personal Edition 3.0 for Windows:
CRISNY recommends that for optimal performance you have the following:
Netscape Navigator Personal Edition has this to say about using a RPI (Rockwell Protocol Interface) modem:
"If you're using an RPI modem and your modem is not specified in the modem list, you should select Rockwell-based as the manufacturer and 14400 bps RPI modem as the model. Netscape Personal Edition does not support the Rockwell software interface for error correction detection used by RPI modems, thus you may experience a slow connection."
Netscape, contrary to popular belief is not free. It is a licensed product that only legitimately licensed vendors are allowed to distribute. CRISNY is not currently licensed to distribute Netscape. Once you are connected to CRISNY in PPP or SLIP mode you too can download the latest beta version of Netscape or an older released version, if you wish to do so. It can be used on top of any PPP based Internet package you purchased. Netscape Navigator, the Web Browser is NOT the only thing you need to get onto the Web. You need other CRITICAL software pieces. Assembling these pieces from shareware is NOT easy. You are much better off as a novice user to purchase a package that includes this software, such as the Netscape Navigator Personal Edition.
What is the CRISNY policy on trial subscriptions and refunds?CRISNY has priced individual accounts at very affordable rates, which are in fact subsidized by commercial, subscription rates and special project revenues. We do not offer a trial subscription, because are rates are very reasonable to begin with. If you would like to try CRISNY for a month, you may consider paying the star account rate of $25 a month, which is the only account that is billed monthly. You will still be responsible for the one-time start-up fee of $20, which applies to all individual accounts, as well as your county sales tax.
All our prices are subject to change and the set-up fee is non-refundable.
We will only consider requests for a refund if, the subscriber has not been able to successful get online, has tried consistently to work with our help desk, and still continues to have problems.
Does CRISNY Provide UNIX Shell Accounts?CRISNY will not provide straight UNIX shell accounts.
Can I upgrade my account type before the renewal date?Yes, we will change your account type and collect a pro-rated fee for the remainder of your account time period.
How Do I get a Usage Report on my CRISNY account?Account usage will be based on a monthly cycle of the 16th of the month to the 15th of the next month. You will be emailed a usage statement weekly indicating cumulative usage from the last 16th.
If you want to check usage for a specific time period, you may do so by going to the
Account Usage Information section under Subscriber Services, of the CRISNY Web pages. Indicate your userid and you will automatically be e-mailed a usage summary.No. We are waiting for the technology to mature.
How will I or my business know how many people access our pages on the Web?
You may implement a counter on your page to indicate how many hits your page gets.
Jump to Counter Explanation
There is also a Web Statistics tool that you can tailor to receive information on your directory and Web Pages. There is a detailed explanation of this software available by clicking here.
User names are assigned based on an algorithm that uses the subscriber's last name, up to 7 characters, and the first letter of the first name. Any request to change this, will only be heard and evaluated prior to the subscriber activating and using the account. CRISNY will NOT change a user name to create a vanity id. Once usage has begun changes will NOT be considered except in extreme cases and only if the account has had no usage.
Can More than One Person Use the Same Account?
NO. CRISNY accounts are one user one account. Do NOT give your name and password to someone else. This is not a valid use of your CRISNY account. YOU will be accountable for the time used and any overage will be billed to you. To avoid this problem, do not give your account information to anyone.
The User Guide is being revised, according to feedback we have received from subscribers, as well as changes in the service since the first printing. Once revised, the guide, will also be updated online. The online version is available at:
http://crisny.org/subscriber/help/guides.html
Does CRISNY have additional help beyond the help desk?
Yes, CRISNY offers as alternatives to calling the help desk; a users discussion group and mentoring programs.
A users group is formed online to which you can subscribe. Other users can offer their insights and solutions to your particular problems. For more information see:
http://crisny.org/subscriber/forums/cris_forums/users.html
There is a download button on the bottom of the CRISNY Homepage with the Netscape logo on it. This is linked to the Netscape Download site. Once you make the connection to that site, please follow the directions posted by Netscape on how to download. The site URL is:
http://home.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/index.htmlThe caveat is that downloading Netscape in Lynx (the character based Web Browser tool) will not work. You must already have a PPP/SLIP Internet Access software package installed on your PC for you to be able to download Netscape, the Web Browser.
When will CRISNY make Newsfeeds available?
A survey was conducted in May of 1996. At that time there was not enough of a response from the subscriber base to make newsfeed service available. CRISNY will conduct another survey at a later date to see if interest has changed regarding this service. In the meantime there are a few public news servers that subscribers from anywhere may attach to to receive newsfeeds.
Some CRISNY subscribers have also done their own investigation into alternative resources, one of which is posted here for your benefit.
Thanks to Joseph Levy, for supplying us with the following information:
We are working on implementing an indexing mechanism.
How do I change my password?To change your password, first make sure you are aware of the security risk that a weak password poses, to you and the entire system. User's passwords will be checked at random intervals. Any user found to have a weak password will be notified by mail, and a new password will be assigned, meeting the security guidelines. Be very careful in selecting your password, and NEVER give your password to anyone, including CRISNY staff. You are responsible for usage of your account. If you provide your password to someone and they use your account, YOU will be responsible for any costs incurred. Consider your CRISNY password equivalent to your PIN number on a Bank Card. Protect it from misuse. If you forget your password, you must call the CRISNY help desk at 442-5733, provide your social security number along with your username, and you will be assigned a new password which will be sent to your mailing address by US postal service. We will not provide this information over the phone. This is to protect your security. Please review the secure password guide:
http://crisny.org/subscriber/help/password.htmlIf you are using the character based menu:
Login as usual. Select the option to change your password and answer the prompts.
If you are using a PPP/SLIP connection
Telnet to crisny.org:
(You may need to specify your telnet helper application in your browser to use this link.
In Netscape, this is under Options, General Preferences, Apps. You may want to do a find
file to determine if and where you have a telnet application.)
Login using your userid and current password. Select the option to change your password and answer the prompts.
If you have requested a link to your Homepage, you will not automatically see the menu of options after logging in. You must type at the prompt:
main_shell
This will bring up the menu. Proceed as above.
Why can't I download files using the character based system?
The focus has been on bringing to the community the best service level, which is currently graphical access using PPP or SLIP protocols to make the connection. The character based system is a completely separate system involving time consuming programming. The development of this system is of a lower priority, and as the tools for access advance further, character access may become obsolete. At such a time we would not continue to maintain this separate system.
How can put my Homepage on CRISNY?
Please refer to the Web Page Maintenenance Guide for instructions on how to upload your Homepage.
URL:http://crisny.org/subscriber/help/webmaint.html
How can I implement a counter on my Homepage?
Send a request from your CRISNY account to support@crisny.org for a counter. You will be notified through e-mail that your counter is ready to be activated. On your homepage enter the following HTML code at the point where you wish to place the counter:
The Capital letter A denotes a style of counter. If you would like a different look see the counter style page and select the appropriate one for your site. Don't forget to modify the above HTML source by replacing the capital A with the letter of the style you picked.
How can I implement a guestbook on my Homepage?
Send a request from your CRISNY account to support@crisny.org for a guestbook. You will be notified through e-mail that your guestbook is ready to be activated. On your homepage enter the following HTML code at the point where you wish to place the guestbook link:
How do I set-up a clickable Image Map?
To create a clickable image map on you Homepage you must first create the image in a .gif or .jpeg format. Once you have an image the critical task is to be able to map specified coordinates to URL's. There is a freeware program for the Windows environment which will help you do this. We recommend that you use the "Map This" Program that can be downloaded from CRISNY
This software will allow you to create a file with the extension .map which must be present for the imagemap to work. The contents of this file consists of definitions of areas of the map with specified coordinates and URL's.
The software also asks that you specify a default file which is shown if a person clicks on an area of the map which has no associated hot link. You may create this files and word it yourself, or you may point to the default file already on the system. The text in the CRISNY file none.html is as follow:
There is no associated Information For This Section of the Map. Click on an object on the map to access data. Choose the Back Arrow on your screen to return.
Here is an example of a .map file:
default http://crisny.org/none.html
# Comment for site A
rect URL 0,0 79,56
# Comment for Site B
rect URL 79,0 125,56
# Comment for File C
rect URL 125,0 200,56
The coordinates are from the top left corner to the bottom right corner for a rectangle, there are also other shapes to set coordinates for, this is only an example.
Within your Homepage HTML code, you must refer to the image map in the following way:
The "pathtomyacct" is the full path as follows:
for individual accounts:
users/crisnyid
for businesses:
business/companies/crisnyid
for not-for-profits:
not-for-profit/crisnyid
What happens if I log on more than once?
You will be charged for each log on against your time per month, and per minute beyond that. To avoid being charged do not leave your connection open if you are not using it. We have implemented a 20 minute idle time out, but if you are using an interactive tool, that sends you packets of information, your connection is not considered idle, and you will be charged. Do NOT give your name and password to someone else. This is not a valid use of your CRISNY account. YOU will be accountable for the time used and any overage will be billed to you. To avoid this problem, do not give your account information to anyone.
Why is my POP mail program bouncing my mail?
You may have entered the CRISNY IP numbers instead of the crisny.org name in the space for SMTP and POP mailer address. Make sure you enter crisny.org instead of 204.97.182.250.