Word of the Week:
New word
every Sunday!
4 Weeks to use
each word!
Use this word in a poem, in some     way.


Forgot password?    Register

Frequently Asked Questions

 
  1. Registration
    1. Do I have to register to use this site?
    2. You must register to post articles, comments, or likes, to complete polls and surveys, and to suggest words and/or site features. You do NOT need to register to read site content or to join the mailing list.
    3. Can I connect to your site with my Facebook login?
    4. You may use the Facebook connect feature to register and log in with your Facebook account. Please read the Privacy Policy for information about third party privacy.
  2. Your Account/User Information
    1. How long will I stay logged in?
    2. If you check the "Stay logged in" box when you log in, you must have your browser set to accept cookies. If you do, you will remain logged in until one of the following happens:
      • - You log out
      • - You delete your cookie
      • - You delete your account
      • - The webserver or database server gets rebooted (usually after maintenance)
      • - Something magical happens
      If your browser is set to reject cookies, then you can't stay logged in for longer than a typical session. To remain logged in on a per-session basis, you must accept session cookies. Sessions expire after 2 hours of idle time.
    3. How can I edit my pseudonyms?
    4. After logging in, click the "My Profile" link at the top right of the page. Click the "Pseudonyms" tab, then select the pseudonyms you want to delete, and click the "Save" button. Any jingles that used the deleted pdeudonyms will now show your first and last name instead. You can't actually edit your pseudonyms, but you can delete ones you wish to change, then go back and edit the appropriate jingles by assigning a new pseudonym.
    5. How can I delete my account?
    6. To delete your account, after logging in, click the "My Profile" link at the top right of the page. Click the "Delete Account" tab, READ THE NOTE, check the box, then click the "Delete My Account" button. What happens next?
      1. You will receive an email asking you to confirm the deletion of your account. This step is to ensure that YOU are the one asking for deletion, not somebody else.
      2. Click the link in the email to come back to the site, then click the "Go ahead and Delete" button. At that point the deletion process will begin.
    7. If I delete my account, what information about me will you keep?
    8. If you delete your account, we will keep NO data submitted by you (except likes). Your profile (name, email address, photo, pseudonyms, jingles and comments) will be deleted, as will all likes and comments that other users made on YOUR jingles. Your likes will NOT be deleted, but since likes are not attributed to likers, this doesn't matter. Likes are not deleted so that jingles do not lose their like count when somebody leaves the site. Your email address will be removed from our mailing list, unless you check the box that indicates you wish to stay on the mailing list after deleting your account.
    9. How do I change my password?
    10. After logging in, click the "My Profile" link at the top right of the page. Click the "Edit Profile" tab, and fill in the form to change your password (make sure you abide by the password requirements for a secure password). Click the "Save" button to save your changes. Note that if you are using Facebook to log in, you can't change your password on this site. You must change it on Facebook.
  3. Your Content
    1. How do I see all my jingles?
    2. After logging in, click the "My Profile" link at the top right of the page. Click the "My Jingles" tab. All jingles submitted by you will be listed in reverse chronological order, grouped by year and date. Comments and likes for each jingle are shown next to the jingle title.
    3. How do I see all my comments?
    4. After logging in, click the "My Profile" link at the top right of the page. Click the "My Comments" tab. All comments submitted by you will be listed in reverse chronological order, grouped by year and jingle.
    5. Can I delete my jingles or comments?
    6. Yes. There's a little "x" in the upper right-hand corner of each of your jingles and comments. Click this "x" to delete the item.
  4. All About the Jingle Club and Writing Jingles
    1. What is the point of this club/web site?
    2. The Jingle Club was created in 1895 by my great-grandfather to give restless children (and adults) something creative and mentally challenging to do with their time. The Jingle Club kept the family entertained for generations, but fell out of currency as more modern entertainments became more available. I believe that the Jingle Club has the potential to be a fun little creative game, and that the time has come to share it with a much larger group of participants. I developed this web site to invite the world to share in the game developed by my ancestors.
    3. What is a jingle (in the context of the Jingle Club)?
    4. A jingle is a poem. It is not an ad, which is what people often associate with the term "jingle." In the original Jingle Club, poetry was fairly classical and well-defined, but still had a great deal of variety in terms of meter, rhyme, construction, spacing, lyricism, and content. Nowadays, writings classed as poetry encompass many additional forms. But the bottom line is, a jingle is a poem.
    5. Do my jingles have to rhyme?
    6. No. But they should be recognizable as poetry. Prose does not count. If you wish to submit stories or essays around a particular word, you may join our sister site, the 21st Century Story Club.
    7. Am I allowed to submit prose instead of poetry?
    8. No. This site is specifically for poetry. If you wish to submit stories or essays around a particular word, you may join our sister site, the 21st Century Story Club.
    9. How does the Word of the Week work?

    10. Each week a word will be chosen from a list of words submitted by members and administrators. If you submit a poem in a given week, you will be able to choose from the current word or any of the previous three words. This gives busy people more time to use a particular word.

      You MUST choose a word, and you must use that word in your jingle, in some way, at least once. The word may be in any tense or use any dictionary definition of the word. If a word can be used as a verb OR a noun or any other part of speech, you are free to use any or all of them. If readers can't figure out how you've used the word, they can flag your jingle, and you will be "challenged" to show how you used it. The site will be better if posters just follow the very simple rules and use the word they've chosen.

      Once a word is used as Word of the Week, it will be available for 4 weeks, then it will be out of play. Words will not be reused.

    11. Who picks the Word of the Week?
    12. The administrator(s) will select words randomly from a list of words submitted by registered members.
    13. Why can't I just use my own word?
    14. The idea is for everyone to write a poem using the same word. This makes it more interesting, to see how different people respond to the same writing challenge. If you want to write using a particular word, submit that word to the random word list by clicking the "Suggest a Word" link and filling in the form.
    15. How can I use the Word of the Week in my jingle?
    16. The idea is to write a poem around a particular word. The word can be used directly in the poem, or the poem could be about the word (without actually using the word), or the word could be hidden in the poem, as in an acrostic.
  5. Copyright
    1. Who owns the copyright on my posts?

    2. You do. Each time one of your jingles is published on this site, it will contain a copyright notice at the bottom (e.g., Copyright 2011 John Doe). This is generally sufficient to secure a US copyright for works published in the US. To protect your work from infringement, you should follow the official US copyright registration procedures.

      The 21st Century Jingle Club does not lay claim to any of your writing, but by posting your jingles here, you grant us a non-exclusive right to publish them on this site.

      For more information on US copyright law, check out the FAQ on the US Copyright Office web site. For countries outside the US, check with your own governments' copyright laws.

    3. How can I protect my posts from copyright infringement?
    4. For an excellent description of US copyright law and procedures, see Copyright Basics on the US Copyright site. If you reside outside of the US, your copyrights will be governed by your own country's laws.
  6. Web Site Questions
    1. Why is the "Most Popular This Week(Month)" list showing items from last week(month)?
    3. Why can't I comment on other people's comments?

    4. This site is not intended as a forum for discussion. You may comment on another person's writing (preferably in a constructive manner). The idea is to direct your comments to the author and/or the submitted piece, not to the other commenters. Otherwise, focus would be removed from the jingle and turned on the comments, which is not the goal.

      And on a more practical level, the web site has limited resources, and I would rather see them used to provide a home for jingles, than to store discussions.

    5. I have ideas to make this site better. How do I tell you about them?

    6. If you have constructive suggestions to improve the web site, please fill out the contact form and let me know about them. I am always willing to hear positive suggestions for improvement!

    7. I got an error. How do I report it?

    8. Most errors are trapped by the web site software, and emailed to an administrator. As soon as such an error is reported, I will get to work on fixing it. Occasionally, however, an error occurs and bypasses the notification system. If you see an error happen repeatedly (over days, not hours), please report it using the contact form.

    9. I found a typo. How do I report it?
    10. If you find a typo, please let me know about it by filling out the contact form. And thanks for heads up!
  7. General Questions
  8. Flagging Inappropriate or Offensive Content
    1. What kind of material can be flagged?

    2. Flaggable material falls into 3 general categories:

      1. Spam: If it looks like spam, acts like spam, or smells like spam, please flag it. I think most web users these days are familiar enough with spam to identify it. For example, anything posted as a jingle (or comment) that contains a link, scripting, code of any sort, looks like an ad, clearly promotes a product or another web site, etc. Probably spam, please flag it.

      2. Not a jingle. If the post isn't a poem of some type, and/or doesn't use the designated word in some way, or in some other way violates the spirit of the Jingle Club, you can flag it for review.

      3. If it violates the Terms of Use in ANY way, go ahead and flag it.

    3. How do I flag a jingle?

    4. If you believe you have a reason to flag a jingle (please do not do this lightly), click the "Flag" link in the lower left-hand corner of the jingle box for that jingle. Select the reason that corresponds most closely to the reason you are flagging the material. An email will be sent to the administrator, who will then review it for flaggability. Note that the administrator may or may not agree with your flag. If she does, appropriate steps will be taken.

    5. If I flag a jingle, will the author know it was me?

    6. No. There is no reason to reveal that information, so we won't.

    7. How often can I flag a jingle?

    8. Please only flag jingles when it is absolutely necessary to maintain the smooth operation of the site.

    9. May I flag someone who writes jingles I don't like?

    10. Flagging a jingle just because you don't like it for some reason is strongly discouraged. Freedom of speech, and all that. You should only flag a jingle that violates the Terms of Use of the 21st Century Jingle Club web site, or that does not use the designated word in SOME way, or that is clearly spam. please ALWAYS flag spam.

    11. What happens when a jingle is flagged?

    12. When a jingle is flagged, an email is sent to the administrator, along with the ID of the post in question, and the reason code for the flag. The administrator will review the post and verify that there is a violation. If verified, the following steps will be taken:

      • In the case of spam, the post will be removed and the poster warned not to post spam again. If the poster DOES post spam again, that poster's account will be deleted.
      • In the case of not using the word, the poster will be notified that there is a problem with the post, and will be given a brief time to fix it. If the post is not fixed in the allowed time, it will be removed.
      • In the case of violations of the Terms of Use, posts will be summarily removed and the posters warned. A second violation by a given user will result in that user's account being deleted.
  9. Ads
    1. Why do you have ads on this site?

    2. I'm trying to make money. I won't be making a LOT of money, but every little bit helps. At the very least, I hope that ad revenue will cover the expense of hosting the web site. Especially if LOTS of people use it and it needs more and more expensive resources. :)

    3. Can I buy ad space on this site?

    4. At this time, I have no plans to sell ad space directly, but if you're really interested, send me a contact form and we can talk about it.

  10. Mailing List
    1. If I join your mailing list, what kinds of email will I get?

    2. Mailing list subscribers will receive notifications about changes to the web site (like new features, if any), notifications about changes to the terms or privacy practices (I don't anticipate any, but you never know), or special offers of an as yet unknown nature. I don't expect that there will be a whole lot of mailings of this sort.