(Or Frequently Asked Questions)
General Questions
Dirtyroad. What is it?
This has been briefly explained. See about Dirtyroad for a briefly description.
Dirtyroad is a Hospitality Network which offers you the possibility for host and get hosting for free.
Besides that Dirtyroad offers you a space for your activities, like a Blog.
You can maintain your own Blog including not only text but also photos and videos.
You can get friends alla facebook and then follow their activities in their blogs.
Is Dirtyroad for Free?
Dirtyroad is for free Forever.
Meaning that we are not never ever ask for money neither for registration nor monthly or yearly fee is going to apply.
Nevertheless we ask you for a donation in order to maintain Dirtyroad up-and-running.
Just think that we have running costs like hosting, mailing, maintenance, etc.
Can anybody become a member of Dirtyroad?
The only restriction is a minimal age of 18.
Other than that there are no restrictions – everyone who likes to travel, wants to share stories of his/her adventures in your motorbike, and would like to meet interesting people is invited to sign up.
Dirtyroad is a great way to meet friendly and like-minded motorbikers from all over the world.
How do I join?
Just go to sign up.
Fiil the form and you will get an activation link per Email. After activating your account you can access to Dirtyroad.
After registration you will get an activation link via Email.
When your account is activated you can use all Dirtyroad functionalities.
That is, you can receive requests for hosting , you can search for places to be hosted, you can contact other members of our community, send and receive friend requests and so on.
Don’t forget to maintain your Blog.
Is Dirtyroad exclusively for motorbikers?
The idea of Dirtyroad is to be member of a community, to meet people like me or you. That is, to get in contact with people who loves motorbikes. To share experiences of motorbiking. This is the people we are addressing.
Nevertheless you can host whoever you want at your place.
But if you want to be hosted you should be a Dirtyroader, meaning somebody who owns and drives a motorbike.
What is hospitality exchange?
Hospitality Exchange is a form of accommodation whereby visitors stay in a house or apartment of a local of the city to which they are traveling.
It is altruistic in nature. Homestay is a broader notion encompassing hospitality exchange (when it’s free) and equivalent forms for accommodation that are not free.
Dirtyroad as well as many other networks like couchers.org, Trustroots, BeWelcome etc. are examples of hospitality exchange.
Wikitravel as an article referring the advantages and disadvantages of Hospitality Exchange.
How do I find a host?
Just from the Dashboard or from the Map Search search for the city you plan to visit and you will find who if some Dirtyroaders are living there.
Get in contact with them by sending a message and wait for their answer.
Is as easy as that.
If I register, do I have any obligation?
Not at all.
Nevertheless think that Dirtyroad intention is to be a hospitality exchange network.
Meaning that from time to time you might get requests for hosting somebody.
But back to your question. No, you have no obligation.
Is Dirtyroad an alternative for Couchers, BeWelcome or TrustRoots?
In some sense yes. As we already mention under Is Dirtyroad exclusively for motorbikers?
if you want to be hosted you should be a motorbiker.
How is Dirtyroad financed?
How will you prevent this platform from ever becoming a for-profit like Couchsurfing™ did?
As we already mention under Is Dirtyroad for free? this network is Forever for Free.
This is our compromise. In fact we share the thinks of couchers.org regarding what has happen with Couchsurfing™. See The profit incentives of Couchsurfing™ article.
Dirtyroad primarily be funded through donations. From large organizations like Wikimedia to smaller models like YouTube content creators earning money through Patreon, there is ample proof that donations can be a sustainable and scalable revenue model. People are extremely willing to donate for services and content that they themselves appreciate, and want to see thrive for other people’s sake.
Then the answer is don’t worry. Dirtyroad is and will remain For Free. forever. Period.
How To
How can I donate some money to help out?
Nice that you are asking yourself how to support us.
Dirtyroad has costs. We have running costs like hosting, domain, mailing, maintenance, etc.
We have also costs for graphic design, programming, proof reading, UI design, etc.
Some of them took us endless (really endless) amount of time. Some of them we have to paid.
For collaborating with Dirtyroad just go to Donate
For the time being the only way we have to donate us some money is via PayPal.
How do I report a member that violates the rules?
Good question.
We are working on a capability for Report, Suspend and Block a user.
For the time being just contact us.
How can I help?
Nice that you ask! You are welcome! Really!
Just contact us.
How can I get in contact with you?
How can I place myself or change my location on the map?
After your registration you got an activation link via email.
After your first login you got automatically forwarded to your location (Profile → Location).
There you have a Map with a Pin like this
You can zoom in or out until you get to the Location you want to set.
Dragging the pin to that Location and that’s it.
Again. We are NOT saving your real address. We are only saving the position of the pin using its coordinates i.e. Latitude, Longitude).
How do I edit my profile?
Very easy. Just click
Profile → Edit
From there you will see 3 Buttons. These are Basic Information, Hosting Information and Networks.
Each of them allows you to change that information.
For changing your profile photo go to:
Profile → Change Profile Photo
Your profile photo will be used on your profile and throughout the site. If there is a Gravatar associated with your account email we will use that, or you can upload your own image.
For changing your cover image just go to:
Profile → Change Cover Image
How do I give feedback to you?
The easiest way to give us some feedback is using the feedback form we have prepared for.
Just go to:
How do I get verified?
Just click
Profile → Pending Verification
Somebody from our team will get in contact with.
Verification is a very time consuming activity. Just wait. We will contact you.
How can I collaborate with Dirtyroad?
Your collaboration is welcomed. We have short and long term plans.
For example, we plan to make Dirtyroad multilingual and therefore we need translations (and translators).
On the other hand we have not only one-time costs, like software licenses but we have also running costs, like hosting, geolocation service, maintenance, mailing,
software licences, etc.
Please if you find this site useful, your monetary collaboration is welcomed.
For those who have their own homepage would be nice if you can add a link to our homepage.
Just copy/paste the following
html code
:
<a href=”https://www.dirtyroad.org” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>
<img src=”https://www.dirtyroad.org/img/dirtyroad.png” alt=”Dirtyroad”>
</a>
It will be displayed as follows:
Thanks!
Technical Questions
I found a Bug. How I can report it?
Hmmm. A bug. Ok. We have prepared a form for Reporting Bugs.
The Bug Reporting Form has 3 fields:
- Report Title
Please, give us a short description. - What has happen?
Describe what this misbehavior has happen. Which steps did you follow in order to reproduce it. - What Should happen?
Please, describe the expected behavior.
And thanks for helping us to improve Dirtyroad.
May I change password or update my email?
Sure! Just click
Profile → Settings → General
From there you can change your Email address as well as your password.
Your current Password is required to update your email or change current password.
If you forgot it then click Lost your password.
We have provided a Generate Password button which will generate a strong password.
It is up to you to accept this generated password or to use your own.
May I control the Email notifications I am getting?
Of course! Just click
Profile → Settings → Email
from there you have full control of which notifications are you going to get.
Notifications are divided in 4 blocks:
Activity
A member mentions you in an update using “@<your username>
A member replies to an update or comment you’ve posted
Messages
A member sends you a new message
Members
Someone accepts your membership invitation
Friends
A member sends you a friendship request
A member accepts your friendship request
You can decide to get (or not) an email in such a case.
May I remove my account?
Well, it is a pity that you want to leave us. Nevertheless we are providing a way to erase your account.
Just click
Profile → Settings → Delete Account
But wait. You have to be aware that deleting your account will delete all of the content you have created. It will be completely irrecoverable.
Take it into account and understand the consequences.
May I export my own data?
Sure. Just click
Profile → Settings → Export Data
From there you can request an export of your personal data, containing the following items if applicable:
- Personal information
- Comments
- Media
- Forms Submission Data
- Extended Profile information
- Activity Data
- Friends
- Friend Requests (Sent)
- Friend Requests (Received)
- Private Messages
- Notifications Data
- Personal settings
If you want to make a request, please click on the button Request personal data export.
You will receive per email a link for downloading it.
Which is the URL of my Blog?
First remember that your Blog is visible for anybody who has URL of it.
Assuming that your Username is ralp (why not?) your Blog will be accessible via the following URL:
https://www.dirtyroad.org/members/ralp/buddyblog/
How do I know that you are not giving my address to third parties?
After your registration you got an activation link via email.
After your first login you got automatically forwarded to your location (Profile → Location).
There you have a Map with a Pin like this:
You can zoom in or out till you find your location.
The coordinates of your location (i.e. latitude, longitude) is the only information we are saving regarding your address.
We do NOT save your address at all. Therefore we cannot give it to any third party.
On the other hand we do save your Email address. It is mainly used for different purposes:
- Activation of your account,
- Password lost,
- Some News,
- Notifications
And that’s all.
For managing which Email notifications are you getting please read May I control the Email notifications I am getting?
Our compromise is NOT to give your Email address to any third party.
Is there a Forum?
Up to now we have decided not to have a forum. In fact there is plenty of forums at the Internet and we think that it is not necessary yet another one.
Perhaps if the user feedback is big enough we can set a forum.
Nevertheless we have plans for opening a Facebook channel which it is not yet done. We will inform you when this have done.
Is there a mobile App?
For the time being there is no mobile App.
An App is at our roadmap.
Nevertheless our site is built in as responsive and has been tested in phones and tablets.
Just open a browser at your phone and point to dirtyroad.org
May I control the visibility of my personal data?
Yes of course! You have the control of the visibility of your own data. Just click
Profile Settings Profile Visibility
Information visibility may have 4 different values:
Everyone, All members, My Friends and Only Me
Your Personal Data is divided in three blocks: Basic Information, Hosting Information, and Networks.
Some Information like your Username is visible for anybody and you cannot change it.
Hosting Information is visible for Everyone.
You can change the visibility of your Network Information as you want.
I want to upload a picture and I got a message “An error occurred in the upload.”
Well, this could be due to different reasons. Most commonly is due to the size of your picture. Reduce the size of your photo and try again.
Check also your connectivity. Try again later, most probably is going to work.