How do I change my e-mail address, password, and answer the profile questions?

You can change the information you provided when you signed up, including your e-mail, home address, birthday, about me description, and search preferences that describe who you are looking for (which are used for the My Matches search) by clicking on the Edit Signup Information option which is accessed through the My Profile menu. (If you would just like to change your search preferences, you may also do so using the My Search Preferences option located under the Searches menu.) You may also temporarily hide your profile here.

Also under the My Profile menu, you will find the Edit My Profile option which you can use to change your answers to your profile questions, such as your basic information, appearance, work and education, lifestyles and interests, and values. Please note that some questions are considered mandatory and require an answer from you before leaving the page. You can return as often as you'd like to later update your answers.

You can change your password on the Change Password page which is accessed also through the My Profile menu.

What is the purpose behind Chat (Instant Messenger), how do I get benefit from it?

Chat is a faster way of communicating with other members who are online. When you send a message, the recipient can see your message immediately and can reply. It's a much more interactive way of communicating with members than e-mail.

Additionally, we will occasionally have special guests on chat to "drum-up the conversation." We want members sharing their thoughts on a deeper level, and engaging special guests on chat will help "nudge" you a little, while giving you great opportunities to learn new ideas.

To use chat, you must be a Silver, Gold, or Platinum member - Free members do not have access to chat services.

How does "My Matches" work?

My Matches works according to your search preferences. It provides you a quick way to view your most likely matches. If you would like to change your search preferences, you may do so using the My Search Preferences option located under the Searches menu.

When someone messages/e-mails me, where does the e-mail go and how do I respond?

When a member sends you a note, it goes straight into your onsite message Inbox. We then send an e-mail to your personal e-mail address to let you know that it's there.

To read the note, simply login to the site and go to your Inbox. If you decide to write back, simply click "reply," write your own note, and send away. Your note will go straight into the member's onsite Inbox, and we'll let them know it's there with an e-mail to their personal e-mail address. Gold (annual) and Platinum members get the added benefit of receiving an automatic e-mail when their message has been read.

All communications with other members stay within BrainCrave so that you never have to give out any personal information until you feel completely ready. Then, when you are, you can exchange phone numbers and even meet in person.

Please don't send your personal information until you have exchanged at least 3 messages. E-mail addresses will be automatically removed until 3 messages have been exchanged. This policy reduces abuse of our members and makes your experience more rewarding and enjoyable. Members who abuse this policy will have their memberships terminated without refund.

How do I hide my profile?

You can temporarily hide your profile from appearing to other users by selecting "No" to the question "Other members can see my profile (choose No to hide your profile)?" You will find this question on the Signup Information tab of the Edit Signup Information page which is accessed through the My Profile menu. Keep in mind, however, that members who are most active on the site keep their profile visible because it increases their chances of connecting with others. You never know - someone special may be looking for you and never get to find you if your profile is hidden.

When I suspend my membership, does it end my subscription? Can I put my subscription on hold?

No. Once you purchase a subscription, it will remain active for the remainder of your initial term.

How do I post my free profile?

It's so simple... and fun... and thought-provoking! Post your free profile today.

What are your guidelines for answering questions in my profile?

BrainCrave reviews each and every profile to increase your chances of meeting quality matches. We periodically revise our guidelines, so please refer to this page for updates. We may reject profiles or specific answers to profile questions that contain any of the following:

• Abusive language of any kind, including vulgarity, racism, illegal activity, etc.
• Any direct contact information, including e-mail addresses, URLs to other dating sites, ICQ/instant messenger IDs, phone numbers, full names, addresses, etc.
• Unauthorized use of copyrighted or trademarked material
• Business or political advertisements or solicitations
• Foreign languages (to effectively monitor profiles, we require our members to write in English)
• Material that exploits or solicits personal information from individuals under the age of 18
• Overt solicitation for sex or descriptions of sexual activity, anatomy, etc.

BrainCrave does not accept content from:

• Incarcerated individuals
• Individuals under the age of 18

Also, please don't forget that we strongly encourage our members to write thoughtful responses to the profile questions. This dramatically improves your chances to find the match that fits best with your personal philosophies of life. To encourage this, BrainCrave will also review profiles for content that may be limited in depth or value to our targeted members. If you need help writing your profile, don't hesitate to e-mail us at profile-services@braincrave.com. Additionally, personalized writing support is available to our annual Gold and Platinum members.

My profile was placed in pending status by profile-review@braincrave.com - why?

We describe our target BrainCrave membership on the About Us page. Our membership is seeking profiles that are different from those found on many other online dating websites. Our members want high-quality profiles. Ergo, as we mentioned above, BrainCrave reviews all profiles for content that may be limited in depth or value to our community. We also encourage our members to read our article "Dating online? Watch that ad!" In it, you will find great tips for improving your "personal ad."

Some users might receive a message from us indicating that your profile was put into pending status while we await required changes to your profile. As we mention in our welcome message upon registration, you have 7 days from registration to complete the remainder of your profile (i.e., the required questions). Some of the reasons we might put your profile into pending status include:

• Spelling errors/Typos
  
• Grammatical errors (which also include capitalization and punctuation)
• Inconsistency between answers in your profile (including pictures)
• Misplaced answers (e.g., describing who you'd like to meet in the About Me section)
• Incomplete profile answers (including required questions that are left blank)
• Answers that appear not well-thoughout or insightful
  

We place your profile in pending status because we don’t want you to feel rushed, as giving you the time you need to better complete your profile benefits us, benefits our membership, and benefits you. While your profile is in a pending status, you will be able to modify your answers but you will not be able to use the other features of BrainCrave. Additionally, while in pending status, your profile will not be visible to other members. To edit your profile answers, choose the menu option My Profile and select View Profile. In the blue header bar of every section (e.g., personal details, basics, lifestyle and interests), at the far-right, you will see a small icon depicting a pen and paper. Clicking on this icon will take you to the individual questions where you can edit and submit enhanced answers.

If you need help writing your profile, please consider upgrading your membership to one of our other plans. Personalized writing support is available to our annual Gold and Platinum members. You can learn about the many benefits offered to our Gold and Platinum members by reviewing the Upgrade Membership page.

Why am I not getting very many responses? Why are my search results limited?

First, if you don't have a photo, add one today. In fact, add many! Statistics prove that profiles with photos are up to 15 times more likely to receive attention than profiles without. (If you have photos that are too large, need to be cropped, or need to be modified (e.g., removing someone's face in the picture), feel free to send them to us and we'll do it all for you!) Also, be sure you're checking for responses at the e-mail address you gave us when you signed up. If you're not receiving any responses at all, you may have a "Spamguard" in place that is preventing e-mail from reaching you. Check with your service provider.

We know it's disappointing when you're unsuccessful searching for that elusive ideal match. It frustrates us too! In fact, we take partial responsibility for your lack of viable matches, and we intend to do something about it.

Being a relatively new website, and with a process of selective member recruitment, we're not always going to have members in your search area. We'd like your help in changing that. So we'll make you this offer: for every member of the opposite sex that you help bring into the BrainCrave community, we'll give you 3 months of free Gold membership. Better yet, for the 3rd member that signs-up based on your recommendation, we'll upgrade however many remaining weeks you have in your Gold membership to Platinum AND give you an additional 6 months free Platinum membership with the Platinum annual benefits! Help us help you! Now for the fine print:

1. You must send us an e-mail at help_us_grow@braincrave.com with the e-mail address of the member you have suggested sign-up.
2. The new member must complete all required questions and, as with any BrainCrave profile, all answers must be approved. See above for profile guidelines.
3. The new member must remain a member for at least 30 days.
4. Once the new member has been enrolled for 30 days and has an active profile with all required questions completed, we will send an e-mail to the new member asking for the e-mail address of the person who recommended them to BrainCrave. Once they provide your e-mail address that you used to enroll with us, we will credit your account with your free membership. (We do not send out your e-mail address or name to other users to help maintain your security and privacy.)
5. For the 3rd member, you will receive our Platinum (annual) membership, which includes all the benefits of our Gold (monthly) membership and our personalized profile-enhancement services!

How does BrainCrave protect my privacy?

Relationships are private. We plan to keep it that way. All of the communication on BrainCrave is private, secure, and anonymous - we will never show your e-mail address or any personal contact information to any other member.

I'm a free member and received an e-mail/message from another member. Do I have to be a Silver, Gold, or Platinum member to reply?

Free members may send a birthday message to a member on his/her birthday. (Members having birthdays on that day will appear on your home page.) Free members may also send messages to Platinum members. (To determine if a user is a Platinum member, simply click on Send Message while viewing the member's profile.) Otherwise, only Silver, Gold, and Platinum members may send messages. Free members are able to send winks and read e-mails received. Free members are not able to see messages that they've sent. Why not sign-up for one month, contact some members, and get some results?

What is this e-mail I received about members winking at me?

Winks are a way for members to "break the ice" and let you know that they liked your profile. Each time someone winks at you, an e-mail is sent to notify you of his or her interest!

How do I wink at someone?

Once you've posted your free profile, you can wink at members you like by viewing their profile and pressing the Send a Wink link in their profiles.

Do I have to be a paid subscriber to wink at someone?

No! You only need to have posted your free profile.

I want to message/e-mail someone – what do I do?

Once you've found someone you're interested in by viewing their profile, press the Send Message link in their profile. Free members may send messages to Platinum members. Otherwise, you must be a Gold, Silver, or Platinum member to send a message/e-mail. By only allowing message/e-mail communication between members, we are able to create a more secure environment with like-minded people looking for relationships.

Why does my e-mail address keep getting removed from messages?

We strive to make your experience as fun and safe as possible. In order for us to do this, we need your assistance and understanding. One of the top complaints about the internet today is e-mail spamming and solicitation. To help prevent this problem from happening to you, please do not include any personal contact information (e.g. e-mail address, telephone number, IM username) in your messages until you know with whom you are communicating.

When you send your personal contact information on the first message, you run the risk of sending this information to an account designed to gather information and sell it to spammers. (Though we do our best to ensure all users are valid through a rigorous screening process, there's always the potential that we are misled as well.) We do not want this happening to you. In order to ensure that your experience is fulfilling, we require that you send a few messages back and forth to each other before you swap personal contact information. To facilitate this, until you have exchanged 3 messages with another user, we automatically remove any e-mail addresses that you include.

How can I block another member from e-mailing me, winking at me, or seeing my profile?

Visit the member's profile and click the Add to Banned List link.

I blocked someone, but want to receive communication from them again. How do I unblock someone?

Select Bans through the My Lists menu. Find the user you'd like to remove from your Banned List and select the checkbox next to his/her picture. Then click the Remove button.

How do you protect member integrity?

Not that protecting member integrity isn't important, but we don't just do it for your benefit - we also do it for ours. Protecting member integrity helps us add value to you. We strive to present only profiles of real people who are on BrainCrave for the right reasons. BrainCrave reviews all profiles before they are posted, as well as when they are changed, but we rely on users like you to improve the overall BrainCrave experience for everyone. Thank you.

Sadly, we aren't always able to catch everything. If you receive an inappropriate/spam message or see a profile that seems suspicious in any way, please notify us. You can do this from the bottom of any page by clicking the Feedback link. Additionally, when viewing a mail message, you can alert us by clicking the Spam/Inappropriate button at the bottom of the message. This information is reviewed immediately. If you want to report someone and need to locate the member again, search by user name, then report your concern.

Some situations require more information than others. If a profile just appears "fake" to you, no additional information may be necessary and you can simply report it. In these cases, if someone receives enough complaints and/or is found, after careful review, to have posted a fraudulent profile or sending spam/inappropriate messages, they will be blocked from the site. More serious issues require detailed information so that we may determine if they require a more thorough investigation. If you feel this issue is very serious, we request you give us an Abuse Report by e-mail us at abuse@braincrave.com.

Unsure what to submit? To help clarify, Please report any of the following:

When to Report a Concern through the Feedback Link (at the Bottom of Every Page)

• If anyone requests money
• If anyone tries to sell you merchandise or services. A solicitation is an offer to sell something to someone. Our Terms of Service strictly prohibits the use of this site/service for the purposes of solicitation. Please notify us immediately if another member sends you links to a pay-to-view site or includes instructions about how to call a 1-900 telephone number. Also report invitations to join other singles sites, e-mails about modeling opportunities, or attempts to sell merchandise or services.
• If someone tries to offer you a job or another “unique opportunity,” especially in another country
• If someone's profile text or e-mails claim they are not actually in the location their profiles states (e.g., they are really in Russia or Nigeria)
• If someone's profile just does not "add up" (e.g., the picture doesn't match the information)

Tip: Many fraudsters seek men in a very large age range, or men 40-60.

When to submit an Abuse Report by e-mailing abuse@braincrave.com

• If a member sends you harassing or offensive e-mails
• If you know minors who are using the service
• If you see inappropriate profiles or photos on the site, or if you receive inappropriate photos via e-mail
• If a member behaves inappropriately after meeting in person
• If a member violates any other BrainCrave policy

What's this promotion about writing articles on what I think?

Though our article "What are your deep thoughts? Send us an article for publication!" explains the details, as we've mentioned, we're trying to "nudge" you into sharing your deep thoughts with others. By doing so, we believe that you will spur conversations that will provide opportunities for everyone to learn more and enhance your dating experience. Our About Us page explains our goal to facilitate your thoughts on these topics... topics that spawn your own insights and those of your potential matches around the way you think, the choices you make, and the actions you take. We are targeting a different clientele than most mainstream websites. Though we'd love to see the quantity that we know is out there, the members we seek are those of high quality. What you write in your profiles is important. But if there are other topics on which you want to share your thoughts, submitting articles is a great place to do that (not to mention get free Gold membership status!).

What are some tips to remember when creating my profile?

The number of replies you get from other members will depend greatly on the quality of your profile. Here are some helpful tips (and we suggest reading "Dating online? Watch that ad!" for some other great tips to profile writing. Also, don't forget that Gold (annual) and Platinum members get personalized profile-enhancement support! See the Upgrade Membership page for more details.

• Upload a photograph - in fact, MANY photographs: People like to see who they're writing to: profiles with photographs get up to 15 times more clicks as profiles without them. You can upload a photo from a digital camera or a scanner. If you don't have access to a scanner, we can do if for you (for a nominal fee). We're also happy to help you edit your pictures as necessary.
• Create a catchy title for your profile and place it as the first sentence in your About Me section: When members search listings on the site, the first few lines of your profile is listed under your name. As a general rule, profile titles like "Hi!" do not catch people's attention, where as more personalized titles do.
• Think before you write: Feel free to write as much as you want in your profiles. Tell other members about yourself in as much detail as you're willing to provide. In fact, we suggest going out on a limb - really put your true self out there. Don't just write about your likes and dislikes, write about your dreams, your inspirations, your fascinations. The better your profile describes your true self, the more likely it is that others will read and respond to it. If you can't think of anything right away, you can always add more later. And don't forget to fill out the optional profile questions - these will also help other members get to know you even better.

What are your different membership options?

Visit the Upgrade Membership page for more details.

I'm a Gold (annual) or Platinum (annual) member and want some help writing/updating my profile - who should I contact?

Please e-mail us at profile-services@braincrave.com and include your username. You may also instant message/chat with us using Skype (username braincrave.support, or just click the "Skype us" link below) or call us at (773) 789-9065.

How can I contact BrainCrave?

You may click on the Support Request or Feedback links below, or you may e-mail us at support@braincrave.com. If you prefer to speak with someone directly, you may phone us at (773) 789-9065 or Skype us at braincrave.support: