About

 

Frequently Asked Questions

    Questions About WiseWireSM

  1. What is WiseWire?
  2. What is my Wire?
  3. How do I teach my Wire?
  4. What makes WiseWire unique?
  5. What is neural net filtering?
  6. What is collaborative filtering?
  7. How do I use WiseWire?
  8. What about privacy?
  9. Do I need to download WiseWire software?
  10. How do I sign up for WiseWire?
  11. I can't switch on to WiseWire.
  12. I forgot my member name / password.
  13. How do I change my password?
  14. How do I find out about new releases to WiseWire?
  15. My email address has changed. How do I change it in WiseWire?
  16. My home address has changed. How do I change it in WiseWire?
  17. Why can't I rate News from Our Feeds stories?

    Questions About Wires

  18. What are Wires, and how often are they updated?
  19. How do I add a Wire?
  20. I tried to Add a Wire, but it did not do anything.
  21. I did not find a topic of interest by browsing the Community Feeds.
  22. How many Wires can I have?
  23. Where do the documents my Wires deliver come from?
  24. There's not enough Web content in my Wire.
  25. Is there any way to tell my Wires that I want to receive content from ONLY newsgroups or ONLY Web sites?
  26. No Community Feed exists that matches my interest. Can I create my own Wire?
  27. Can the Wire I created get promoted to a Community Feed?
  28. I am no longer interested in the topic of one of my Wires. How can I change to another Wire?
  29. Can I reset a Wire to zero training, so that my Wire starts from scratch?
  30. How do I delete a Wire?
  31. I tried to Delete a Wire, but it did not do anything.

    Questions About Documents

  32. I am getting documents that are inappropriate to my Wires.
  33. Can I rate a document by subject line, without viewing the document?
  34. How do I view a document without the WiseWire frame?
  35. How do I bookmark a document/URL?
  36. I tried to view a document in my local newsreader, but it couldn't find the document.
  37. How do I print a WiseWire document to my local printer?
  38. I am getting the same article multiple times in a Wire?
  39. I have linked to another Web page from WiseWire. What document am I really rating?
  40. I rated a document before I was finished and WiseWire removed it. Can I get it back?
  41. I rated a document and WiseWire removed it, yet my total number of documents still says 30.
  42. I rated a document and WiseWire removed it, yet my total number of documents reported increased.
  43. Clicking Skip Unread Documents did not do anything.
  44. I incorrectly rated a document. Can I change my rating for that document?
  45. How do I know what rating I gave to a document?
  46. An article was good, but I did not like the author. How should I rate it?

    Questions About Browsers

  47. When I click the Back arrow on my Web browser, it seems to go back several pages.
  48. How do I make WiseWire my home page?
  49. How do I add a bookmark for WiseWire?

    50. Bonus Question

  50. Is there a Secret About Box?

    Questions About WiseWire

  1. What is WiseWire?
    WiseWire is a Web service that uses the artificial intelligence to train a "Wire" to deliver high quality online information tailored to the user's interests. Your Wire uses advanced neural network technology to filter all types of digital content. It then categorizes, rates, and delivers the best of Web pages, newswire articles, Usenet newsgroups, and other sources from the Internet to you.

  2. Who is my Wire?
    Each Wire is a hard-working assistant that continuously searches the Internet for the content most interesting to you. Your Wire learns as you tell it what articles you like and don't like.

  3. How do I train my Wire?
    By rating how much you liked a document, you provide feedback toyour Wire so it knows what documents you prefer. It can then target its searches to provide better and better content to you. The Wire can also use feedback from other users plugged in to the same Community Feed to better recognize documents you might find interesting.

  4. What makes WiseWire unique?
    WiseWire is not a news-clipping service, a search engine, or a "What's Cool"-type list. It supersedes these by incorporating two artificial intelligence technologies: neural net and collaborative filtering. The combination of individual and group feedback is an extremely powerful mechanism for filtering outthe "junk" on the Internet. With a Wire utilizing both filtering technologies, you get the best online information in the least amount of time.

  5. What is neural net filtering?
    Using WiseWire, you evaluate each piece of content using a simple graphical rating bar. With a surprisingly small amount of rated content, your Wire is able to accurately learn your preferences (however subtle they may be) and deliver better quality information every time you use the system. The more you use WiseWire, the better it gets!

  6. What is collaborative filtering?
    Your Wire uses feedback from others to help predict how valuable information will be to you. The Wire leverages the feedback of whole communities in a process called collaborative filtering. Collaborative filtering takes into account the fact that information rated highly by one person is likely to be useful to other people with similar interests. In this way, the Wire takes advantage of the combined opinions of the online community.

  7. How do I use WiseWire?
    Your Wire collects documents and puts them in its storage bank -information organized by topic. As you view documents, a rating bar is displayed on the left side of your screen. If you like what you see, click the top of the rating bar. If you don't like it, click the bottom of the rating bar. If you choose, you may also give more specific feedback regarding the particular author or source. The rating bar provides a continuous range of rating values which allows for a fine degree of feedback. Over time, your Wire builds an accurate profile of your interests and delivers more valuable information to you.

  8. What about privacy?
    The WiseWire Corporation believes that privacy is critical to the integrity of the Internet. We will not reveal information connected to your identity to anyone without your consent. In fact, WiseWire doesn't even require your name or street address, but only your year of birth, gender, zipcode, country, and e-mail address. You will not end up on any advertiser mailing lists (electronic or otherwise) as a result of subscribing to WiseWire.

  9. Do I need to download any software to get WiseWire running?
    WiseWire is a Website-based service and requires no special client software. To subscribe to the service, you simply go to our Web site and switch on. WiseWire's basic service is absolutely free. A premium service will soon be available that includes expanded customization and a wide variety of premium content for a small fee. WiseWire can be viewed using Netscape Navigator 3.0 or higher, Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher, or America On-Line 3.0 or higher.

  10. How do I sign up for WiseWire?
    WiseWire's Web site URL is:
    http://www.wisewire.org
    To sign up for WiseWire, you will need to provide your e-mail address. You are also required to select a member name and password for access to WiseWire. Once you have completed the sign-up screen, click on the Plug Me In! button.

  11. I can't switch on to WiseWire.
    Please be sure that you are typing in the exact member name and password that you provided to WiseWire when you plugged in. If you continue to have problems switching on to WiseWire, please contact WiseWire Customer Support. Please remember, you must be using a browser version that supports frames. WiseWire has certified the following browsers to work with the service: Netscape Navigator 3.0 or higher and Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or higher. Other browsers, such as America OnLine 3.0 or higher should work, but have not yet been certified.

  12. I forgot my member name / password.
    If you can't access WiseWire because you forgot your username or password, simply select the WiseWire Password Helper. You can request that we provide you with the member name and password associated with your e-mail address. We will e-mail you quickly with this information. However, be aware that because we are sending your password to you via e-mail, your password may no longer be secure. We strongly recommend that you then switch on to WiseWire and change your password immediately.

  13. How do I change my password?
    From your WiseWire Home PowerBox, select Member Information. Type in your current password, then your new password twice in the appropriate boxes. Click on Save Your Options to submit the change.

  14. How do I find out about new releases to WiseWire ?
    If you wish to receive announcements about new WiseWire services via e-mail, please make sure that the Box in your "Options" is checked. If you do not wish to receive announcements, please make sure the box is blank.

  15. My email address has changed. How do I change it in WiseWire?
    Contact WiseWire Customer Support. We will change your username and password to correspond to your new e-mail address, and delete your old e-mail address from our database.

  16. My home address has changed. How do I change it in WiseWire?
    From your WiseWire Home PowerBox, select Member Information. You may make any changes to your personal information, then click on Save Your Options. Remember, WiseWire does not require your name or street address, only your year of birth, gender, zipcode, country and e-mail address.

  17. Why can't I rate Headline News stories?
    WiseWire provides this feed as a way to bring you the top stories from national wire services in a timely fashion. The stories appearing here are not personalized; therefore the rating bar is not provided.

    Questions About Wires

  18. What are Wires, and how often are they updated?
    Wires are intelligent assistants that gather documents on specific topics from the net. For example, a Wire can focus on a specific interest, sport or hobby, investments, travel to a particular city, or aspects of your job. Each Wire is delivers documents on that topic to its storage bank. As your Wire finds relevant articles, its storage bank is updated. Usually, your Wire's storage bank keeps a total of 60 or so documents ready to present to you. Because your Wire is continuously adding documents to your storage bank, we encourage you to check it daily.

  19. How do I add a Wire?
    From your WiseWire Home PowerBox, click on Add a Wire. From here, you may browse the available Community Feeds. These Wires have been "taught" by many users over time to deliver quality content.

  20. I tried to Add a Wire, but it did not do anything.
    From your WiseWire Home PowerBox, click on Add a Wire. From here, you may browse the available Community Feeds. These Wires have been "taught" by many users over time to deliver quality content.

  21. I did not find a topic of interest by browsing the catalog.
    We are always adding new Community Feeds. Please check back periodically.

  22. How many Wires can I have?
    As a subscriber to basic WiseWire service, you are entitled to have a total of six Wires. Of those six, you may create one personal Wire from scratch. The other five must be plugged into Community Feeds. A premium service will soon be available which will allow you to have more Wires.

  23. Where do the documents come from that make up my Wires?
    Your Wire works around the clock, scouring the vast resources of the Internet to filter information from a wide variety of content sources. The largest sources are the World Wide Web and the USENET newsgroups ("net news"). Additional articles are gathered from newswire and other premium information services, such as Reuters. Any kind of electronic media can be filtered using the WiseWire technology. If there is a specific content source that you would like to see added to WiseWire, please e-mail us at WiseWire Customer Support.

  24. There's not enough Web content in my Wire.
    Your Wire may select a Web source that may be highly appropriate to your Wire. However, much of the content on the Web is "static" in nature. When the Wire re-visits that site, it does not select the same Web page again because nothing has changed since it was originally selected. News Wire feeds are, by nature, more dynamic because topics are constantly changing. In the case of Net News, there is an on-going dialogue, so it may be more likely that your Wire will choose documents from these sources.

    Because of the inherent differences in News Wire feeds versus Web content versus NetNews, WiseWire is investigating alternatives in managing the unique subtleties of each.

  25. Is there any way to tell WiseWire that I want to receive content from ONLY newgroups or ONLY web sites ?
    Currently there is no direct way to do this. By rating documents either high or low from a particular source, you can influence your Wire. Also, source hints can steer the Wire in a particular direction, but there is still a good likelihood you will receive content from both newsgroups and the Web.

    We are considering adding an enhancement in a future release of WiseWire that allows you to specify the source type for individual Wires.

  26. No Community Feed exists that matches my interests. Can I create my own Wire?
    If no Community Feed exists that matches your interest in a particular subject, you may create a personal Wire from scratch. This innovative feature allows you to build and design a personal Wire to surf the Internet for information related to your topic of interest. Enter the Wire name that you wish to create in the appropriate box and click Create. You are required to enter a description, which will further define the scope of thisWire. You are also required to enter at least one keyword; however, the more keywords or sources you give as hints, the more focused the search will be. Basic service customers are allowed to create one personal Wire from scratch.
  27. Can the Wire I created get promoted to the Community Feed?
    Yes. Initially, you will be the only person using this Wire. Later, if your Wire becomes adept at finding great documents, the editors at WiseWire Corporation may, at their discretion, promote your Wire to Community Feed.
  28. I am no longer interested in the topic of one of my Wires. How can I change to another Wire?
    You cannot directly change from one Wire to another. If you currently have the maximum number of Wires, you must first Delete the Wire, which is available in Change My Wires from your WiseWire Home PowerBox. Then click on Add a Wire.
  29. Can I reset a Wire to zero training, so that my Wire starts from scratch?
    You can do this by deleting the Wire, and adding it again. You can create one Wire that is not plugged in to a Community Feed. The effect of this is that the Wire will start fresh, and all previous learning will be lost.

  30. How do I remove a Wire?
    If you have an unwanted Wire, click on Change My Wires. A box will list all of your current Wires. Click on the Wire you wish to delete, then click Delete Wire. Remember, when you delete a Wire, any learning your Wire has accumulated about that topic is lost forever.

  31. I tried to Remove a Wire, but it did not do anything.
    Any function that causes your screen to refresh, such as Delete a Wire, requires the use of Javascript. You must have "Javascript enabled" on your browser's options for this function to work.

    Questions About Documents

  32. I am getting documents that are inappropriate to my Wire.
    If, after providing feedback to your Wire by rating documents, you continue to receive content unrelated to your Wire's topic, you may need to Teach your Wire. Click the Change My Wires button. Highlight the Wire you wish to teach then click Teach My Wire. You may enter key words or sources (Web site URLs or NetNews newsgroups) that may likely contain content appropriate to your Wire. You can also suggest poor words to your Wire that are unrelated to the Wire content, but still may appear in the context of key search words. Likewise, you may wish for your Wire to avoid documents from a particular source; enter those sources in the poor source box.

  33. Can I rate a document by subject line, without viewing the document?
    Currently you cannot rate a document just by viewing the subject line and not the contents of the document. The concern with adding this feature is that it will introduce noise into the learning algorithms. The best example of this is: You may have a "Stocks" wire, and receive a document Titled - "re: Make Money Easy!!!", which you naturally assume is a pyramid scam spam. However, the response may be "Instead of putting your money into this scam, here are examples of stocks that have performed well, with the ROI given." You would have rated that low, when in fact part of the document would have been right on target. Admittedly, this example may be far-fetched, but it illustrates the danger of applying ratings based on the title alone.

  34. How do I view a document without the WiseWire frame?
    Once you have chosen an article to view, you may read the article within the frame of the WiseWire service, or you may choose to open the article in a new window. Simply click on View Document in New Window, located in the top frame. This will fire off a new session of your browser, this one without the WiseWire frame and banner. You will need to return to your original window to rate the document.

  35. How do I bookmark the URL of a document in my Wire?
    You will not be able to bookmark a document within the WiseWire frame. If you try this, you will bookmark the WiseWire frame and not the document it contains. If you have a WiseWire document that you would like to bookmark, you must first View Document in New Window. Once you have the document loaded in a new browser session without the WiseWire frame and banner, you can add a bookmark to your browser.

    To add this document to your Netscape Navigator bookmarks:

    1. In Netscape, select the document's URL

    2. From the Netscape pulldown Bookmarks menu, select Add Bookmark.

    The document's heading should then appear at the end of your Netscape bookmarks list.

    To add this document to your Microsoft Internet Explorer favorites:

    1. In Internet Explorer, select the document's URL

    2. From the pulldown Favorites menu, select Add to Favorites.

  36. I tried to view a document in my local newsreader, but it couldn't find the document.
    The originating source of the document may have chosen to remove the document, perhaps due to the date. Although you are unable to read the document in your newsreader, your Wire has stored the document in its storage bank for your review.

  37. How do I print a WiseWire document to my local printer?
    You will not be able to print the document within the WiseWire frame. Simply click on the button View Document in New Window, which will fire off a new session of your browser, this one without the WiseWire frame and banner. From this window you will be able to print the document by selecting the Print button on your Web browser.

  38. I am getting the same document multiple times in my Wire.
    Your Wire uses filters to avoid updating your Wire with the same document from different sources. However, if the same document is posted at different times to the same newsgroup by the author, your Wire will interpret this as different documents, even though the article is the same. Also, multiple responses to a posting are treated as different articles, because each response adds something new to the thread.

  39. I have linked to another Web page from WiseWire. What document am I really rating?
    The rating you give is applied to the original document you selected from your document list. As this document is rated, you are also rating the set of links that this page represents.

  40. I rated a document before I was finished and my Wire removed it. Can I get it back?
    Once a document is removed from WiseWire, the only way to return to it is by using the Back key on your Web browser. For this reason, we recommended bookmarking the documents that you may wish to return to.

  41. I rated a document and my Wire removed it, yet my total number of documents still says 30.
    The Wire document list will display the top 30 documents within each Wire's storage bank, based upon expected relevancy. Your Wire may have additional documents for your review. Upon reading and rating a document, that document is removed from the list. If additional documents are available, the next most relevant document will move up in the queue, and your list will still show 30 documents. The number of documents displayed will only decrease when your Wire's storage bank contains fewer than 30 documents.

  42. I rated a document and my Wire removed it, yet my total number of documents reported increased.
    It is possible for the number of documents listed to increase, even though a document was removed. Your Wire is constantly searching the Internet to bring you relevant documents. Therefore, the total number of documents may fluctuate as documents are both rated (and removed) and added to your Wire's storage bank. To get an accurate count of the number of documents in your Wire's storage bank, frequently press your browser's Reload or Refresh button.

  43. Clicking Skip Unread Documents did not do anything.
    Any function that causes your screen to refresh, such as Skip Unread Documents, requires the use of Javascript. You must have "Javascript enabled" on your browser's options for this function to work.

  44. I incorrectly rated a document. Can I change my rating for that document?
    Once a document is rated, your Wire evaluates and stores that rating. Just as a document that was removed can be recovered by selecting the Back key on your Web browser, you can rate an article a second time. Both ratings will be stored, so it is not recommended to rate an article more than once.

  45. How do I know what rating I gave to a document?
    The rating bar is based on a scale of 0 - 10, with 10 being the highest (an article you really like) and 0 being the lowest (an article of no interest to you). By clicking on the section of the rating bar to indicate the rating you wish to assign to this article, your Wire recognizes and rates the document accordingly. Your Wire does not display a specific digital rating, because comments, sources, and other factors are taken into account when calculating a rating.

  46. A document was good, but I did not like the author. How should I rate it?
    Rate the content of the article honestly. If you liked the article, rate it high. If you did not like the article, rate it low. If it was just OK, rate it somewhere in the middle. If you did not like the source or author, there is a place in the comment section to rate this characteristic, separately. It may seem like a contradiction, but it's entirely possible to rate a document highly and yet comment that you did not like the author. Your Wire is intelligent enough to differentiate and process this information properly.

    Questions About Browsers

  47. When I click the Back arrow on my Web browser, it seems to go back several pages.
    Different versions of the Netscape browser behave differently when the back arrow is pressed while the browser is displaying a set of frames. The older Netscape browsers go back to the page that was displayed immediately before the frame was brought up. This can seem like a large jump back if the contents of individual frames have changed.

    The newer Netscape browsers deal with this situation in a much more intuitive fashion. They keep track of the changes in the contents of all frames on the screen and unwind them in reverse order of display. WiseWire has certified Netscape Navigator 3.0 to work with the service, and Navigator 2.0 should work, but has not been certified. Navigator 1.0 will not work because it does not support frames.

  48. How do I make WiseWire my home page?

    To make WiseWire your home using Netscape Navigator:

    1. From the Netscape pulldown Options menu, select General Preferences.
    2. Select the Appearances page.
    3. In the "Startup" section of the page, click the Home Page Location button and enter http://www.wisewire.org/ in the text entry box under the button.
    4.Click on the OK button

    The next time you start Netscape or click the Home button you'll go directly to WiseWire.

    To make WiseWire your home on Microsoft Internet Explorer:

    1. In Internet Explorer, go to the Address: http://www.wisewire.org/
    2. From the pulldown View menu, select Options.
    3. Select the Start and Search pages page.
    4. Select the Use Current button and then the OK button.

    The next time you start Microsoft Internet Explorer or click the Home button you'll go directly to WiseWire.

  49. How do I add a bookmark for WiseWire ?

    To add WiseWire to your Netscape Navigator bookmarks:

    1. In Netscape, select the following location: http://www.wisewire.org/
    2. From the Netscape pulldown Bookmarks menu, select Add Bookmark.

    "Welcome to WiseWire!" should then appear at the end of your Netscape bookmarks list.

    To add WiseWire to your Microsoft Internet Explorer favorites:

    1. In Internet Explorer, select the following location: http://www.wisewire.org/
    2. From the pulldown Favorites menu, select Add to Favorites.

    "Welcome to WiseWire!" should now appear at the end of your favorites list.

  50. Did WiseWire's UI team ever create a Secret About Page even though it was against company policy?

    Yes, they did... But we're missing Rosilyn Rusli's picture. Q? Where are you now? We need you.

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