General questions

What is Twick.it?

What is a Twick?

Does a Twick belong to anybody?

How can I support Twick.it?

Are you the new Wikipedia?

Is Twick.it an Italian company?

Questions concerning registration

Can I valuate Twicks without being logged in?

Can I create several accounts?

Which information should I present in my profile?

What do I have to consider when creating my username?

My username is already being used. What can I do?

I have forgotten my password. What can I do?

After registration I have not received an e-mail with the link of approval. What now?

Questions concerning handling

Can other users see who has given a valuation?

Can I explain a topic several times?

Can I valuate a Twick several times?

Can I change my valuation of a Twick?

Has Twick.it got criteria of relevance?

How can I add a Twick to my favorites and remove it from my favorites?

Which links are allowed?

I am very unhappy with a certain Twick. What can I do?

Which behaviour can lead to a blocking of my account?

Questions concerning functions

How do you determine the most popular Twick?

Why do I have to confirm my Twick twice?

How is the tag-cloud created?

Why are some topics typed wrongly?

How can I change my picture?

General questions

What is Twick.it?

• Twick.it is an explain engine. Here you find short explanations for topics written and valuated by users. An explanation is also called Twick.
• By analysing keywords Twick.it can display semantic connections between topics and explanations (tag-cloud, topic tree and related topics).
• Concept and code of Twick.it has been developed by Markus Möller and Sean Kollak.
• When registering every user accepts the Twick.it general terms and conditions (AGB).

You find more information about the concept of Twick.it in our blog. At the moment most articles are available in German only. We will translate them as soon as possible.

What is a Twick?

• Explanation of a topic in 140 characters or less.
• A link which offers additional information may be added.
• A Twick can and should be valuated by other users.
• A Twick can be edited by its author until it has a positive valuation sum (bigger than 0). This allows improving Twicks which are not formulated well or contain typing errors. When reaching a positive valuation sum a Twick can no longer be edited – otherwise it would lose its original meaning.

To receive as many positive valuations as possible your Twick should be intelligible, precise, up-to-date and entertaining. In our blog category Tips4Twicks we present tips for twicking (currently only in German).

Does a Twick belong to anybody?

Just as well you could ask: To whom does speech and knowledge belong? Twicks are User Generated Explanations of topics, formulated for all users with the idea in mind to create a general encyclopaedia of human knowledge.

• Knowledge and speech belong to all humans as they are created in the act of communication, by sharing. The same applies for Twicks.
• The author of a Twick is honoured through his gravatar and individual information he can present in his profile.
• When entering a Twick in the Twick.it database users confirm the acceptance of our general terms and conditions (AGB).

How can I support Twick.it?

Every serious act improves the quality of Twick.it! So:

• Write good Twicks
• Valuate Twicks
• Report misuse
• Comment and develop our ideas in the blog
• Tell your friends
• Bookmark topics and Twicks
• Create new applications with our API
• Use the Twick.it widgets

Are you the new Wikipedia?

No. Twick.it is not a competitor but a supplement to the online-encyclopaedia Wikipedia. There are important differences between Wikipedia and Twick.it:

• In Wikipedia many authors are working on one article. This leads to Editor War. In Twick.it everybody can write his own explanation of a topic. The users alone (not administrators) decide on the best possible explanation.
• Short and sweet: That is the principle of Twick.it. The diversity of explanations offers a quick and up-to-date overview of relevant information concerning a certain topic. Wikipedia on the other hand offers very detailed information.

Is Twick.it an Italian company?

• No. Twick.it is a project of Markus Möller and Sean Kollak. Both are German.
• The domain Twick.it is located in Italy. By using the domain .it we want to motivate users to join in actively, to write and valuate explanations.

Questions concerning registration

Can I valuate Twicks without being registered?

• No. Only if users are registered we can make sure that they do not manipulate Twick.it by valuating Twicks several times.

Can I create several accounts?

• Yes. You can create an account with every valid e-mail-address.
• CAUTION!
  Users who create several accounts and systematically valuate a certain group of Twicks will be blocked.

Which information should I present in my profile?

• When registering a Twick.it account only your username and e-mail-address are required. This allows us to associate a Twick with its author and prevent spam. All other information in your profile is optional.
• For your username you can use your real name or create an artist name.
• CAUTION!
  It is forbidden to Twick in a name which harms personal rights of another person.

What do I have to consider when creating a username?

• The username must not contain an @-sign or empty space, it must not start with punctuation marks and is limited to 255 characters at the most.
• If you want to twick anonymously you should create a fictional username.
• CAUTION!
  You are not allowed to use a name of a real person such as “Bill Gates” or “John F. Kennedy” if this is not your real name. It harms personal rights and is illegal.

My username is already being used. What can I do?

• Nothing. First come, first serve. A name such as “Markus Möller“ is not unique. Whoever registers the name first may use it for twicking.
• EXEPTION!
  If you can prove that a person illegally twicks using your name please contact the Twick.it administrators. The account will be deleted and the username can be used for a new registration.

I have forgotten my password. What can I do?

1. Click on “Forgot password“
2. Enter your username and e-mail-address
3. You receive an e-mail with a link of approval
4. Click on the approval-link
5. Your receive an e-mail with a new password which you can change

This process ensures that only you can reset your password.

After registration I have not received an e-mail with the link of approval. What now?

Please make sure first that the registration mail has not landed in your junk mail. If you have not received it:

• Click on “Send registration mail again”
• Enter your username or e-mail-address. We suggest using the e-mail-address so you can make sure that you have not made a mistake when registering originally.
• The registration mail with the link of approval will be sent to you again.

Questions concerning handling

Can other users see who has given a valuation?

• No. Whether positive or negative valuation: No user can see who judged a Twick.
• This anonymity will prevent discussions as well as mutual positive or negative valuation.

Can I explain a topic several times?

• Yes. But you may only write 2 Twicks about a certain topic within 24 hours.

Can I valuate a Twick several times?

• No. You can valuate a Twick only once.
• CAUTION!
  Users who create several accounts and systematically valuate a certain group of Twicks will be blocked.

Can I change my valuation of a Twick?

• Yes. New and better explanations are being made constantly and your opinion concerning a topic might change over time. Therefore you can change your valuation of a Twick any time – as often as you like.

Has Twick.it got criteria of relevance?

Yes. But only the users decide what is relevant. Every topic of general interest that does not oppose laws or the Twick.it terms (AGB) may be explained. Topics and Twicks which no user shows interest in will be deleted automatically from the databank according to these simple rules:

• If a Twick does not receive one positive valuation within 12 months it will be deleted automatically.
• If a topic does not receive a second Twick within 12 months it will be deleted automatically.

Twick.it reserves the right to modify these criteria of relevance with increasing numbers of users.

How can I add a Twick to my favorites and remove it from my favorites?

• If you like a Twick click on the star symbol. Immediately the Twick will show up in your favorites.
• If you do not like a Twick anymore click on the star symbol again. The Twick will be removed from your favorites automatically.

Which links are allowed?

• Basically you can link any website, blog or URL. The linked source should contain relevant information to the topic you explained.
• CAUTION!
  If you misuse the link function Twick.it reserves the right to block your account.
• Please do not use short-URLs as users cannot see where the link leads to. Short-URLs are not forbidden but not wanted either.

I am very unhappy with a certain Twick. What can I do?

Since it is so easy to use Twick.it it will be subject to spam, nonsense and misuse. We are dependent on your help to give bad explanations a negative valuation and report misuse.

• Twicks which you don’t like but describe the chosen topic should be given the thumbs-down. They will vanish into insignificance.
• Twicks which do not belong into an encyclopaedia can be reported as misuse. Click on the skull symbol and chose a category. Every user can report a single Twick as misuse once. If the Twick is reported as misuse by several users it will be deleted from the databank automatically. Twick.it reserves the right to block accounts of users who repeatedly misuse the website.

Before reporting misuse you should consider that everybody is entitled to share his knowledge. The diversity of explanations is important to Twick.it.

Which behaviour can lead to a blocking of my account?

• If you create several accounts to systematically valuate a certain group of Twicks.
• If you behave totally destructive – for example you give only negative valuations without formulating your own explanations.
• If your choice of words is vulgar, discriminating or racist.
• If you insult people.
• If you twick in the name of a real person which you are not.
• If the content of your Twicks or links is illegal or pornographic.
• If you twick spam or inappropriate advertising.
• If your link always lead to irrelevant sources.
• If you spread lies in your Twicks.
• If you automat or manipulate Twicks or valuations.

Questions concerning functions

How do you determine the most popular Twick?

• The most popular Twick is the one with the best relation of positive to negative valuations. This Twick will be listed at the top in subsequent queries.
• Actuality beats age: If two Twicks have the same valuation sum the one that has been added more recently will be displayed higher in the ranking.

Why do I have to confirm my Twick twice?

• Before you enter a Twick into our databank you should reread it to avoid mistakes and errors. This improves the quality of Twick.it for all users and prevents the need for later editing.
• Moreover the second confirmation offers a good protection against automatically generated spam mails.

How is the tag-cloud created?

• The tag-cloud displays the 10 words which are used most often when describing a certain topic.
• A set of fillers, swearwords and punctuation marks are filtered from the tag cloud.
• Words which are repeated in a Twick are only counted once.
• If a user has written several Twicks to explain a topic only the one with the better valuation sum will be analyzed for the tag-cloud.

Why are some topics typed wrongly?

• The user who first explains a topic decides whether it is written in capital letters or not.
• Additionally a spell check is committed when a new topic is being explained. It automatically defines whether a certain topic is written in capital letters or not.

Nevertheless mistakes can occur when explaining a new topic.

How can I change my picture?

The pictures next to the Twicks are gravatars. Twick.it automatically checks if you have a gravatar for your e-mail-address or the Twitter-account which you have stated when registering.

• You can create a gravatar at www.gravatar.com for every valid e-mail-address. Depending on which e-mail you use to twick the appropriate gravatar will be displayed next to your Twick.
• Alternatively if you are already using Twitter and stated your Twitter-account in your profile your Twitter-gravatar will be displayed.