Homes summary

Your Home is a place which you control. It contains a Room and Connections list where people may gather. When someone joins a Room they are automatically connected to everyone else in the Room. When someone joins a Connections list, it merely displays their name there, allowing others to request connections or send messages. (Like an opt-in buddy list).

The server supports a new type of object called a "Contacts List." When you are joined to a Contacts List, you remain a member even when you are not logged on. Currently, only the server administrator can create Contacts Lists. If a List is Contacts, the Join button will say "Join Contacts List" and those members who are online will show green dot.

In order for people to find your Home, you may create a link to it on the public directory. Find a "Neighborhood" (city icon) where you wish your Home to appear, and right-click on it. You will then see an option to, "Show my home here," if the neighborhood allows it. If you don't see that option, it means you are not allowed to locate your Home there.

Some Neighborhoods will not show Homes when they are empty. In this case, you will see your own Home as a dim gray house when it is empty, and no one else will see it at all. When you or someone else joins your Room or Connections list, your Home will become visible to others.

You can also tell someone the permanent address of your home, e.g., "home.tim.1234". If they type your permanent home address into the Places section of their address book, it will allow them to find your Home regardless of whether there are any links to it on the public directory.

Home Links
You can build your own neighborhood by creating links from your Home to other people's Homes. To create a "home link," right-click on the home you wish to link to, and choose "Add to home links". Their Home will then appear within yours. However, no one can show a link to a Home without the owner's permission. When you create a link to another user's home, it will initially appear gray, and no one else will see it until the owner grants permission.

In your own Home, you will see a folder called "Links to Me" which shows all of the places that have links to you. If an icon is grayed out, it means that link is not currently visible to others. To activate a link, right-click on it and choose, "Allow this link to me". You can later change your mind and choose "Prohibit this link to me".

Who can visit your home
You can control who visits your Home by where you make it visible. If you do not create any links to it from the public directory, only people who know your permanent home address (e.g., home.tim.1234) can find it. If you do create a link, you can hide it at any time by right clicking on the link and choosing "Hide this link" (or "Prohibit this link" if it was created by someone else). This will prevent new people from finding it. However, anyone who had saved a shortcut to that link in their address book (e.g., "ivisit.net/Friends/Tim's Place") can still find it, even when the link is hidden. You must delete the link (right-click on it for options) to prevent any saved shortcuts from working. To prevent anyone from entering your Room or Connections list (even if they know your permanent Home address), you can right-click on the Room or List and choose "Lock". This will prevent any new members from joining your Room or Connections list. Right-click and choose "Unlock" if you wish to admit new visitors.

You may also ban particular people from entering your Home. To do this, right-click on their name and choose "Ban from here". To allow someone back into your Home, you can open the "Banned Users" folder and drag their name to the trash. Bans will also expire automatically after a certain period of time. To remove someone temporarily, right-click on their name and choose "Remove from here." They will be allowed to re-enter in 15 minutes.

If you wish to allow other people to ban people from your Home, you can add them to your Moderators list. To do this, right click on their name, and choose "Allow to moderate". Or, you can open the Moderators folder, and type their user name in the text entry area at the bottom. To remove a moderator, open your Moderators folder and drag their name to the trash.

You may also link your Home to the ban lists created by other users. If you link to a ban list, it means that anyone who has been banned from that Home is automatically banned from yours. To link to a ban list, right-click on the Home you wish to link to and choose "Link to ban list". To remove a ban list link, open the "Ban Links" folder in your Home and drag the item to the trash.

Adding information text
If you wish to add information about your Home which others can read, right-click on your Home and choose "Add info text." You may then type text into the address book window, and press the back arrow button when you are done. After you press the back arrow you will be given an option to choose a title for the announcement and save it on the server, or to cancel. To edit your information/announcement after you have created it, right-click on the title, make changes, and then press the back arrow key, to save or cancel.