Go on then - I'll write one too......... (hotshotsdesigns.co.uk/tooyoo/)

Member Name: triplecthegame

Product:	hotshotsdesigns.co.uk/tooyoo/
Date:	03/06/02 (82 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Meet friends, No More Off-topic comments!

Disadvantages: Pfffffffffffft!

I remember many moons ago when dooyoo introduced the 'Feedback and Suggestions for dooyoo' category - one of the items a few of us members requested was a guestbook a'la Ciao, and even more recently I've been vocal in my thoughts that the guestbook was the one area where Dooyoo were beaten by Ciao, but times change, members get too much time on their hands and sites like tooyoo pop up out of nowhere.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaages ago on a quiet little night I was visiting 'OpCom' (http://opinionated.community.everyone.net) when I saw a post by ILoveJackDaniels (here on in known as ILJD) claiming that he was bored so had set up a funky little site at http://www.hotshotdesigns.co.uk/tooyoo so that people could have their own Guestbooks with their dooyoo names - intrigued I went along and set up my own Guestbook and waited and waited - but back then there were less than 10 members with their own books but of course over the time more and more members have signed up and at the current moment in time we have a grand total of 256 members on the site.

* So what can I expect then? *

Well on your first visit to the site of course you have to set your own guestbook up - to do this just choose your username, password and give them an e-mail address and before you know it you'll have your own little message area - within minutes expect some welcome messages (unless you've signed up in the middle of the morning aka 4am).

After that you may want to do a little bit of setting up on your Guestbook - by this I mean you could change the colours if you want (very handy and much better than Ciao's Guestbooks - for example I currently have a nifty Red writing on Black Background Scheme), plus if you want to keep all secretive you can make it so that all your messages are hidden from everyone else.

Once you've got around this you may want to log in properly for the first time, Now a quick warning to you all - there
is a list at the top of the screen that shows everyone whos online - now thats a good and a bad thing, for if you want to end up in a conversation with just one member you could find yourself bombardd with messages from other members hoping for a quick chat - But don't panic! as there is an opportunity to log in 'invisible' so that then you can use all the features without being seen by any of the other members online, no problems at all!

* So what do I say to other members then? *

Well talk to them as you'd expect them to talk to you, but of course don't be stupid and start plugging your own opinions left right and centre eh? specially as good ole ILJD rocks so muchly that he'll just delete these messages straight away.

But being serious if you've got any questions you want to ask a member that you feel wouldn't suit a comments thread on an opinion then go for it on their tooyoo guestbook. Now as people on here know the one thing that used to nark me about dooyoo was off-topic comments on opinions - the old 'I am e-mailling you now' comments, surely the recipient would know that very soon by the fact that they'll recieve the e-mail?!?!? Anyway no longer am I narked as thats the one big thing tooyoo seems to have successfully done, these type of comments have gone onto tooyoo.

But I'll have to admit that I've found a couple of new friends all from comments left in tooyoo guestbook (I ain't freaking namedropping but for one of you - here, have a winkie ;o) ), and thats the biggest draw of tooyoo - there seems to be a community spirit unrivalled anywhere else in the world of tooyoo members, complete strangers who've never read each others opinions are now sat chatting away all because of a new website. I would have said that this was just an infatuation with tooyoo like children have with 'new toys' but its been going on strong for a while now and hopefully that won
't stop either.

* Is there anything else tooyoo can offer me? *

Oh my yes - 3 things stick to my mind and these are:

1. Private Message: You want to say something to somebody, but they don't have a private guestbook so anyone and their dog could see what you've said - no problem, tick a little box and you have a private message to send - which is handy when you're either talking about sensitive stuff or perhaps advising members of a cheat on site that they've just rated, very nifty.

2. General Message Area: One big chat-room, go there and watch as I argue with our resident Scotland fan during the World Cup (I told you I still ain't freaking name-dropping), but watch as some members play with smilies, or each other (ahem - guilty as charged m'lud), and often just a chance to have a laugh and a muck-around, all good if you're bored for an hour or so, just log onto tooyoo and proclaim your love to England Football Squad.

But also expect people to leave notices about sites they've set up - I personally used the general message area to promote 'Dooyoo Still Rocks' a fantasy football game (sorry its closed now but hey, I plugged didn't I?), another member whos set up various fun polls has also used the general message area to let us all know of it and also 'ILJD will use the area to advise you of new advances in the route of tooyoo research! All in all its just a handy place to go to.

3. Chat On!: Well I'm going to cheat you here and do a very short review - see theres also a ling to the OpCom chat-room, a chat-room I used to be a frequent visitor to - but not any more (for personal reasons), however if you want to chat to some dooyoo members in real-time without actually having to post what you're saying on a website - then maybe you'll find tooyoo/OpCom chat fine for you.

So tooyoo then, is it all its cracked up to be?, well hell yes it is - and
then some, I'd like to say that theres disadvantages to it but I'd be lying - oh there is disadvantages - I'll bet ILJD plugs this review in the general message area!

* Dedicated to Leisha (the Old English Sheepdog in my member picture) 17.04.93 - 30.05.02 *

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