The Basics

Q. What’s in it for you?
A. A friend of mine bought a racing sailboat last year for $26,000. He has since spent lots more on it for repairs. It’s a great boat & I’ve even been on it but the only people that ever get to enjoy it are the handful of people on board. I’ve spent far less than that (so far) on this site & it has the potential of benefiting thousands. That’s good enough for me.
It’s part of my value system, the values my late parents instilled in me. Even my favorite hobby, the living history that takes me all over the east coast of the US, has public benefit.
But on a practical side, operating this service as a business means I DO get to do a lot of partying at a discount: business expenses are tax deductable.

Q. Is SinglesFocus.org a club?
A. No. It’s a communications tool. Specifically, it’s an events list/calendar & newsletter, Singles Advocate. It is also a rapidly growing scrapbook of singles events that it has had the honor to help promote. The list of contacted clubs (so far) is under Roll Call on the newsletter and clubs with links are also on the site’s Links page.

Q. Are there any dues?
A. There are absolutely no dues of any kind.

Q. Are you a Not-For-Profit business?
A. No. But all income is pledged for maintenance, upgrades, & promotions of the site. We will be posting a year-end statement to that effect.

Q. Why do you advertise?
A. It’s a matter of practical reality. This project just isn’t workable without money. Since we’re determined to keep it free to singles & event hosts the money has to come from somewhere. It’s doubtful we’ll ever break even but we’re hopeful.

Q. Do event hosts make a profit?
A. Some do & some don’t. Some events are hosted just for fun while others make it a business. Many are quite good at it either way. This site wants to serve the interests of single adults. It’s our experience that most singles want quality & popular events regardless of whether the hosts profit or not. However, this site makes no claims about the integrity of hosts. It’s up to each attendee to investigate. The best referrals are other singles.

Q. Does SinglesFocus.org host events?
A. Not at this time. But we plan to in the future. Our short term agenda includes supporting & co-promoting singles events that show promise of increasing the exposure of SinglesFocus.org.

Q. Can I get prints of the photos on the Photos page?
A. We’re not set up for that right now. Digital cameras have been used almost exclusively so far. However, so many requests have come in on this that we’ll look into some accommodation. If it’s practical we’ll consider it.
Events
Q. Who may post events?
A. Any host of a singles event or their agent. The host(s) do not have to be single but the required criteria for the event must be met.

Q. What Kind of events can be posted?
A. Almost anything goes that’s aimed at singles. However, it’s essentially parties we’re after. Bike rides, dinner & a movie, travel trips, dances, backyard barbeques, pool parties, etc., are all acceptable. Free association by the attendees are required. Seminars & classes are generally discouraged. Example: A church may host a dance or other social but a Sunday school class aimed at single adults is out. This is a party site. A family oriented event can be specified that includes the kids. See the Acceptable Uses Policy.

Q. How do I avoid over exposure of my event or drawing the wrong type?
A. While we know this to be a rare occurrence it is easily dealt with: Qualify your events! The Event subject block of the event list will hold 120 characters alone and the Details block will hold thousands more. It’s easy to limit attendees using either or both boxes with phrases like: “Must be a member of _____ club.”, “Must be between the ages of _____ & _____.”, “Limited to first _____ callers.”, “Must know _____ very well.” or “Must be referred.”, “must bring _____ to attend.”, etc.

Q. How do I edit my posted event?
A. When you submit an event and the event is accepted an Event Number is displayed. Write it down or print the page. To edit click on the Events Listing button. The sorter page with the dancing party guy will appear. About three inches below his feet you’ll see Enter Event ID. Do so & click Edit Existing Event. The page that appears next is similar to the original event submittal form. It’s more cryptic in appearance & text but you should be able to figure it out well enough to make basic changes. You may make as many changes as often as you like. You may want to do so just to increase your familiarity. A tutorial is being developed.

Q. My event appeared more than once on the list.
A. You may have hit the Submit button more than once. It won’t hurt anything to be posted twice. We can delete the extra entry via the Administration page.

Q. My event title on the Calendar View doesn’t make any sense.
A. The Calendar View reads only the first fifteen characters from the title block on the Events List. This is done to keep the Calendar itself from becoming overly long. Try editing your entry so that the base activity can be identified in those first fifteen characters. You can always add more (or duplicate) characters beyond that for clarification on the List View. Clicking on the calendar’s date number gives you a short list view for that day anyway.

Q. How come the Calendar View isn’t sort-able by area?
A. Two different programs are talking to the same database. It’s a minor miracle this works at all. However, development is ongoing and a solution may yet be found.

Q. My map doesn’t appear.
A. Try typing in only the street number and street name in the address field & possibly varying the abbreviation. Leave the city & state names for their designated blocks. Sometimes we have to settle for a best guess. If an alternate form of the address is displayed click on it to see if it’s close to where you want to be. You may have to make several attempts. Sometimes it’s better just to provide a map of the general area or none at all. The Expedia software isn’t perfect but it’s a freebee that came with the package. We’ll upgrade it when practical.

The newsletter, Singles Advocate®

Q. Why should I subscribe to Singles Advocate?
A. We want to be able to help sponsor & promote the events that YOU are interested in. We stand a much better chance of achieving that if we are all on the same page. With nothing to lose & so much to gain it makes sense to hang in there with us so that you get the big event info along with the rest of us. We have a lot of great plans in work.

Q. Is there a fee to get the newsletter, Singles Advocate?
A. No.

Q. May I forward Singles Advocate?
A. Yes, and you are encouraged to do so. However, we also encourage you to encourage your recipients to subscribe as they will get the info in a more timely manner & allow our data base to be more accurate.

Q. Is my E-mail address secure?
A. Absolutely! CH&A goes to great pains to achieve this. Each edition of Singles Advocate is mailed to each address as a separate action. The program is repeated each time as if the next address were the only address. No bulk mailing takes place.

Q. What do I do if my E-mail address changes?
A. Simply click on Unsubscribe at the top right of the newsletter while the old address is still valid. You may subscribe from as many different addresses as you like.

Q. What is the purpose of the questionnaire for the newsletter?
A. As you can see the questions are very few & broad in nature. We are trying to get a general picture of demographic dispersal. If subscription becomes lopsided in one area we can adjust our promotion in an attempt to compensate.

Q. May I submit an article for Singles Advocate?
A. Yes. We offer no guarantees of publication (Who does?) but it’s easy to do. Just send us a simple Word document. You may even imbed or attach an image if you like. Don’t worry about fancy format. We do that. Just use basic text please. It goes much faster that way for both of us. Short articles are best. Humor is encouraged. Present or future happenings are relevant. Past events may be interesting but our readership has too short of an attention span for that. We want party info soz we can git out de doe.

And Finally…

Q. What’s in the future for SinglesFocus.org?
A. Our goals are many. In addition to having many events posted at any one time by many hosts around the state we plan to be involved in promoting, co-hosting & generally supporting well attended, high quality & affordable events throughout Florida. If you become aware of any quality events that can use extra promotion please let us know of them.
If you have any general questions not displayed here please pass them on to us at . Thanks!