VeggieConnection.com Overview

Overview

VeggieConnection.com is a community of vegetarians and vegans seeking friendships, pen-pals, and romance.

How to Connect

1 Search (on home page) to find partners near you. Even free members may search our entire database!

2 Contact those of interest via e-mail.

3 After exchanging a few messages with someone you click with, agree to meet.

Searching

Click Search on our Home page for a list of members matching your search criteria. Click a member's username to view their detailed profile.

Your search criteria (distance, age range, etc.) may be viewed/changed by clicking Search Edit Search Criteria from the top menu bar.

Contacting

You may contact members by sending an e-mail or greeting card, or by replying to a message you've received:

e-mail
Sending a personal e-mail requires either (1) a paid membership subscription or (2) tokens. *

Most members purchase a membership subscription, available in a variety of durations, from 1 month to 1 year. A subscription allows you to contact as many members as you wish during your selected subscription period.

If there are few members near you that pique your interest, you may prefer to pay-per-contact with tokens. With T Token e-mails you both can correspond back and forth for free for 90-days from the last reply (the correspondence can potentially continue indefinitely!)

greet
Send a free pre-written "greeting card". These are intended to be ice-breakers to get a conversation going, however beware -- some members ignore, or even block, greetings and prefer e-mails only. So use greetings with caution. E-mails work best.

Replying

While reading a message in your Mailbox, you may reply in three ways:

E-mail
Send an e-mail reply. You may send an e-mail reply if:
  1. you're a Silver or Gold member or using T Tokens, or
  2. the sender is a Gold member, or sent you a T-mail (T Token e-mail)
Greet
A Greeting may be used by Free members unable to e-mail or when you'd like to send a quick pre-written response.
Decline
Send a polite No Thanks. ( Free members can send these.) Please use when applicable — members appreciate closure.

To subscribe, click Subscribe, or to purchase tokens, click Buy Tokens, both on your home page.

Communication via a Subscription or Tokens (T-mails)

The majority of our site is free… including browsing for partners, uploading photos, viewing detailed profiles / photos, even replying to Gold and T Token e-mails is free! However, only subscribers (or T Token users) can ① initiate e-mail contact, and ② reply to Silver members. For the best results, a subscription is the way to go. (T Tokens are only OK if the number of people you wish to contact is very very low.)

Subscription - Flexibility to send up to 50 e-mails/day

To communicate with the most members, a time based subscription is the best choice. Subscriptions are available in a variety of durations, and both recurring and non-recurring subscriptions are available.

Subscription Pricing

My Membership Who may I communicate with?
Gold
  • I can e-mail all members and reply to all members.
  • All recipients (even free members) can read Gold e-mails and reply!
Silver
  • I can e-mail all members and reply to all members.
  • Silver & Gold recipients can read and reply.
  • Free members must upgrade, or use tokens, to read Silver e-mails and reply.

Silver is lower cost because both sender and recipient must be members to communicate. Silver members may upgrade to Gold, after purchase, if desired.
Free
  • I can read Gold and T Token e-mails for free and reply for free.
  • I would need to upgrade (to Silver or Gold) to read messages from Silver members or reply to them.
  • I cannot send e-mails, unless it's a reply to a Gold or T Token e-mail.
Effect of Subscription Activation and Expiration
  • Effect of Activation: All messages sent prior to your subscription activation will automatically be upgraded to your current membership level and remain that way until your subscription expires. All e-mails received, including those received prior to your subscription activation, will be readable.
    Examples
    1. Sent e-mails: If you upgrade to Gold on June 1, all messages sent prior to June 1 will upgrade to Gold (i.e. recipient may reply for free). Messages you've sent will remain Gold until your subscription expires.
    2. Received e-mails: If you upgrade to Gold on June 1, all e-mails, even those received prior to June 1, will be readable until your subscription expires.
  • Effect of Expiration: Your rights as a paid subscriber exist during your subscription period only. Premium features do not linger beyond your subscription expiration.
    Examples
    1. Sent e-mails: E-mails you've sent as a paid member revert to Free status when your subscription expires. As you're now a Free member, your recipient would need to be Gold to read them, if you choose not to renew.
    2. Received e-mails: If you receive Silver or Free e-mails during your subscription but don't read them, they'll be unreadable after your subscription expires.
  • Reading "read" e-mails: any e-mails you've read at any time will remain readable regardless of your membership level (until deleted or they pass our e-mail retention period, below.)

Tokens (T-mails) - Communicate with just a few members

T Tokens may be used to send one-off e-mails. However they're only economical for extremely low volume, say 1-2 members per month. For communicating, a subscription will usually be far more economical than tokens.

Token Pricing / Buy Tokens

Tokens - Special Features

T Tokens may also be used to enable special features:

Gift
You may send another member a Gift – an attractive or touching image (photo) to express your interest or appreciation. Gifts received are featured on the receiver's profile.
Special Delivery
When you send a message, you may mark it Special Delivery to receive special attention.
  • Your message will appear before standard messages at the top of the recipient's Inbox.
  • Your message is highlighted with the icon.
  • The recipient will be told a *SPECIAL DELIVERY* message was sent to them.
C Delivery Confirmation
When you send a message, you may mark it for C Delivery Conformation – we'll e-mail you when the recipient reads your message.

E-mail Retention

Messages are retained in your Mailbox according to your membership level:

Free Messages in your Mailbox are retained for 90 days.
Silver
Gold		 Messages in your Mailbox are retained indefinitely, as long as your Silver or Gold membership remains in effect. If the sender or recipient closes their account, the e-mail is retained for 90 days following the account closure.

Deleted messages are retained for 30 days. Moving a Deleted message to the Purged folder will remove it immediately.

How do I know when I receive a new message?

When a member sends a greeting or e-mail :

  1. The message will be copied into the sender's VeggieConnection.com Mailbox Sent box and recipient's VeggieConnection.com Mailbox Inbox, and
  2. A "You Have New Mail" notice will be sent to the recipient's VeggieConnection.com registered internet e-mail address (along with the sender's profile photo, if one).
  3. We remind members (at their internet e-mail address) every 7 days over 30 days (4 times) if any Inbox messages remain unread.

How do I read my e-mails and reply?

  1. Click My Mailbox (home page or from the top menu bar)
  2. Click the message you wish to read.
  3. Click while viewing a message to reply.

See Membership Subscriptions - Communication above for read/reply capabilities.

Further Help

Most questions may be answered by clicking Help in the top menu bar and asking a question. From there you may also contact our staff.