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Newsletter
The Free Beer and Hot Wings Letter is the official newsletter of FreeBeerandHotWings.com. It is free to subscribe to the newsletter. You do not need to be a VIP Member to receive the newsletter.

There are two versions of the newsletter:

  • HTML. Your newsletter will feature color, graphics and special formatting. This format will work with most e-mail programs.
  • Plain Text. Your newsletter will be sent in plain text only, free of any formatting. This format works fine for any e-mail program, especially older programs and webmail interfaces.

You must subscribe to the newsletter in order to receive it. If you have successfully completed the subscription process but you are still not receiving the newsletter, there could be several reasons why:

  • Storage space
    Has your email inbox run out of storage space? Clean out your inbox to make room for new messages.
  • Spam filtering
    Do you use a spam filtering program or software? Make sure that newsletter@FreeBeerandHotWings.com has been added to your whitelist or address book. Because our newsletter system is automated, we cannot respond to human reply request systems such as Matador or EarthLink's Spam Filter. You must set these systems to allow newsletter/mailing list deliveries. Otherwise, after bouncing twice, your email address will be removed from our mailing list.

    Your incoming email may be filtered and you might not even know it. Almost all high-volume ISPs such as Yahoo!, Hotmail, MSN, and Gmail automatically filter for spam and put messages suspected of being spam into a "Bulk" or "Spam" folder. Check this folder for our newsletter and identify it as "Not Spam." This should prevent the newsletter from being accidentally thrown out in the future.
  • Heavy Internet traffic
    Sometimes heavy Internet traffic can prevent us from successfully delivering the newsletter to you. If you suspect that messages aren't reaching you because of problems with Internet congestion, consult your ISP directly for additional help.
  • VIP Membership
    If you were subscribed to the newsletter prior to becoming a VIP Member, sometimes your VIP Membership can reset your newsletter preferences. To fix this, unsubscribe from the newsletter and then re-subscribe.
  • Changed email address
    Perhaps you have changed your email address and we are unaware of the new address. To fix this, subscribe to the newsletter using your new address.
  • AOL email
    We recommend not subscribing to the FreeBeerandHotWings.com newsletter using an AOL email address. AOL's ability to deliver newsletters is faulty, and AOL refuses to fix the problem.
You can make changes to your newsletter preferences, including the email address that the newsletter is sent to, at any time. Changes will be made effective immediately.

A/V Issues (Downloads, Podcasts, Streaming)

PC Downloads

Internet Explorer

To download an MP3 file to your computer, right-click on the link or button for the file you'd like to download, and select Save Target As...

Firefox

  • In Firefox 2.0 or higher, go to "Tools -> Options -> Content / File Types -> Manage...". In Firefox 1.5, go to "Tools -> Options -> Downloads / Download Actions -> View & Edit Actions".
  • Select the "MP3" file type entry and click 'Change Action...'
  • Select "Save them on my computer".
  • After doing this, you will not need to right click on the "MP3 Download" link; just clicking on the link will open up a save prompt.

Mac Downloads
To download an MP3 file to your computer, first try simply clicking the link. Newer versions of Safari and Firefox will automatically detect the type of file you're attempting to download and will ask you where you'd like to save the file. If this doesn't work, hold down the mouse button or command-click on the link or button for the file you'd like to download, and select Save Link As...

If you are still having problems with downloading MP3 files even after trying these steps, contact Customer Service with a detailed description of your problem so that we may further assist you.

Podcasting
Podcasting is a method of delivering multimedia content to iPods and similar devices. Podcasts allow users to automatically receive new content as it is published. Subscribing to a podcast allows you to listen on your iPod or MP3 player any time or place that it's convenient for you.

VIP Members of FreeBeerandHotWings.com are each assigned a unique podcast URL. The URLs can be found here: http://www.FreeBeerandHotWings.com/podcasthelp

You will need to download and install podcast subscription software of your choice on your computer, and then copy and paste the URL(s) for the podcasts that you wish to subscribe to into the software.

We recommend using iTunes for your Podcast. Here's how to add FreeBeerandHotWings.com podcasts to iTunes.

  1. Download iTunes to your computer (PC or Mac).
  2. Install iTunes on your computer.
  3. Once installed, open the iTunes player.
  4. Go to http://www.FreeBeerandHotWings.com and log into the site with your account information.
  5. Click on Podcasting to find your unique podcast URLs. You can click on the "Add to iTunes" buttons to automatically subscribe to a Podcast.
If clicking on the "Add to iTunes" button does not automatically open iTunes and subscribe you to the podcast, then:
  1. Highlight the entire URL and copy it by right-clicking and selecting "Copy" (or type CTRL + C).
  2. Open iTunes and go to Advanced > Subscribe to Podcast...
  3. In the prompt box, paste the URL you copied (right-click in the box and select "Paste," or type CTRL + V).
  4. Hit OK. You have successfully subscribed to your Podcast.

If you find that your podcast is not updating successfully, please try logging out of your account and logging back into your account on FreeBeerandHotWings.com.

If you find that you are only getting the 10 minute sample podcast, please check your membership status to confirm that you are registered as a VIP Member. You may also try unsubscribing from the podcast and following the steps above to subscribe again.

You do not need an iPod or iTunes to use podcasts. All of our podcast files are encoded as MP3 files, the most universal audio format for listening on various devices. You can listen to each podcast file using almost any computer audio application, including iTunes, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, WinAmp, etc. You can even burn MP3 files to a CD so you can listen to them in your car or at home on your stereo. You can also transfer these files to any portable media device like the iPod or other MP3 players.


Message Boards

FreeBeerandHotWings.com Message Boards are only available to VIP Members.

By default, your name will appear on messages that you post in the Message Boards. You may change the name that appears on the Message Boards by changing your "Greeting Name/Nickname" in your Member Profile. Additional information from your profile will not be visible on the Message Boards unless you choose to make more details public.

If you find that there is another member that you do not wish to communicate with, click the "Block" button that appears on any of his or her posts. The offending member's posts will then be masked. You may view a list of the members that you have blocked at any time.

While we do not actively "moderate" the Message Boards, if a situation warrants, we will remove offending posts or ban offending members as per the Usage Agreement that all members must read and agree to abide by. If you find there are postings on the site that do not comply with the Usage Agreement, please click the "Report" button on the offending post and explain the situation. We will take action if necessary.


Site Features
Poll
The Free Beer and Hot Wings poll is located on the homepage of the site. It is located on the right side of the homepage. The question changes intermittently; there is no set time frame for the poll question. The Poll is unscientific, and anyone can vote. Only one vote is counted per visitor.

System Requirements & Software

We recommend that you meet or exceed the following minimum system requirements in order to ensure a quality experience on FreeBeerandHotWings.com.

  • Windows 98, 233 MHz Pentium II processor, 64 MB RAM
  • Mac OS X 10.2, G3 processor

FreeBeerandHotWings.com also uses the following software:


Screen Resolution

To change the screen resolution in Windows, right-click the desktop and choose Properties. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Settings tab. Drag the Screen resolution slider to the right to increase your monitor's resolution. Choose a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or higher for best results. Click "Apply" and the new settings will take effect.

To change the screen resolution in Mac OS X, under the Apple menu, select System Preferences and choose Displays. From the "Resolutions" list, select a resolution of 1024 x 768 or higher. The new resolution will be applied immediately.