Welcome To Our New Members	Tips for managing BAENmail
Scam updates - Cashier's Check scam	Tips for AOL Users
Are you listed in BAEN's business directory?	Tips for Mac/Safari Users
Leap-Frogging / Managing your ads	Tips for reducing spam
Tips for getting the most from your ad	Tips on navigating our site

9/1/09 - BAEN Newsletters can now be viewed online at http://www.bayequest.info/static/newsletter.htm.

8/20/09 - Photo Of The Week upgraded to include self-serve tools. Users can now upload and edit their own photos and text directly from their control panels.

6/1/09 - Site Upgrades: New and modified classified ads now display instantly - no more time delay between submission and publication on our live ad pages.  Editors will continue to review all ads to ensure they display to their best advantage. Added Beginner and Husband to searchable Discipline menu, added searchable Free flag to highlight horses, items and services offered free of charge by advertisers.

2/5/09 - BAEN will be off-line starting around 6:00 pm.  On Thursday 2/5 our host services provider LunarPages will move BAEN's dedicated server to a new location. During this move BAEN and several of its sister sites will be off-line for a minimum of 3 hours beginning around 6:00 pm. While our server is down, you will get an error message if you try to access our site. Thursday is usually a quiet night at BAEN (which is why we requested it), but we apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. We'll stay in close touch with LunarPages during the move and keep you posted on our message boards, which will be unaffected by the migration.

1/14/09 -  BAEN's new look was launched successfully. Please let us know right away if you encounter any non-working links, error messages, typos, etc. - this is a work in progress and we'll continue fine-tuning the site in response to your feedback. If your favorites or bookmarked links take you to an "old" BAEN page not displaying the new look, no worries -- for at least the next week "old" and "new" BAEN will mirror each other with identical content. But you'll want to update those "old" links as soon as possible. Please see our site index http://www.bayequest.info/static/contents.htm, or write to info@bayequest.com for assistance.

5/8/08 BAENmail glitch repaired - all email services are functioning normally.

4/18/08 - Update. All of the bugs related to Wednesday's software upgrade have been repaired, with the exception of the "Wanted" radio button on the main ads jumping-off pages. Until this is repaired you can still view wanted ads by selected the Wanted option on our Advanced Search pages.

4/17/08 - Update. The BAENmail and ad ranking/display glitches have been repaired, with two exceptions: When users visit the Horse For Lease and Stallion categories, the system may display only Horse For Sale ads. The Wanted radio button under Horses For sale/lease/stallions may display only horse for sale ads. We hope to have these repaired very soon. If you notice any other difficulty while browsing, searching, posting or revising ads, please alert us right away at info@bayequest.com. If you responded to a BAEN listing by clicking the 'send email to advertiser link' between 5:00 a.m on 4/16 and 5:00 a.m. 4/17, we recommend you send the message again as a 'backup', as we're unable to confirm that BAENmail sent during that time period was processed properly.

4/16/08 - Last night our host services provider loaded upgraded database software onto BAEN's dedicated server. This upgrade has resulted in glitches in the display and ranking of some Classified Ads; users may also have trouble sending/receiving BAENmail. Our engineers are working to repair this glitch as quickly as possible. Thanks everyone for your patience.

Site Update, 3/4/08 - BAEN has successfully completed a minor upgrade to its CLASSIFIED ADS Advanced Search forms. The advanced search form will now remember and automatically enter all criteria entered during the previous search. To start a new search using different criteria, click the 'Empty form' button at the top. This upgrade is the first step towards creating a true 'Save Favorite Searches' feature for registered BAEN users, targeted for implementation in mid- to late Spring '08.

"Cash ier's Check" Scam. Click here for more information on this very common Internet scam.

If you receive a suspected scam/spam message, forward the entire message to info@bayequest.com along with you comments. We'll add the sender to BAEN's mail filter. You can then delete the original scam message without responding, just like you would any other unwanted email message.

IMPORTANT Warning to AOL Users! DO NOT report BAENmail messages to your ISP as spam. The BAENmail message is coming from BAEN's server, NOT directly from the scammer. Reporting BAENmail to AOL as spam results in BAEN's own IP address being blocked, which means you and other AOL users will be unable to receive email responses to your ads.

Reminder to All Vis itors: If you post on our site or send email to BAEN, set your Internet Protection/spam-filter/firewall software to allow messages from BAYEQUEST.COM, BAYEQUEST.INFO, and BAYEQUEST.NET. As ISP's and businesses ratchet up new protections against spam and viruses, those of you who send and receive email through BAEN may find that legitimate messages are not getting through. BAEN depends on email to communicate with its users, and we reply to every legitimate email we receive. If you don't hear back from us in response to a message, your firewall/spam filter may be the culprit. You may find that Internet-based email accounts such as Earthlink, Yahoo and HotMail that allow you to set your own filter preferences are helpful.

IMPORTAN T NOTICE TO AOL USERS: Because AOL is extremely aggressive in blocking perceived spam (click here for Google search results on this topic), legitimate messages to AOL addresses from BAEN's email server may be blocked. If you have signed up as a registered user and posted Classified Ads or other information on our site, BAEN will send you automatic messages containing your login info., CLASSIFIED ADS confirmations including your ad ID number, charge receipts, and BAENmail inquiries from visitors who are responding to your ads. If you're not receiving these messages, or if you've sent email to BAEN and not received a reply, AOL is the most likely culprit. If you are writing to us from an AOL address, please include a daytime phone number in your message so we can contact you. To make sure you receive legitimate email message from BAEN, we recommend using a non-AOL email address (for example, a free web-based email address such as Yahoo or Hotmail) when registering or posting ads. You can update your email address in your use record and ads at any time from your user control panel. Please call 800-943-8883 if you need assistance, we're happy to help.

Are you a "Leap-Frogger"? Revising or renewing Classified Ads daily in order to move them up to the front of their categories is called "leap-frogging" , and while it's not currently against our site rules we discourage it because it doesn't work in the advertiser's favor. While it's tempting to try and keep ads at the front of the line, our visitors are very savvy and can see right away who's overusing the revision tool. They regard these ads as "trouble" and email complaints to us, because leap-frogging makes it harder for them to find the truly new ads. For this reason visitors are less likely to patronize leap-froggers.

In the 10+ years we've been running this site we've been able to observe patterns of buying and selling, and advise our users to save themselves the trouble and revise (not renew) their ads no more than once or twice a week unless they're dropping their price or marking an ad Pending or Sold. Our popular Advanced Search feature makes it easy to find ads regardless of the date they were submitted or revised. Your ad will do just as well and our visitors will be much happier. Thanks for your support.

Automatically submit an identical copy of your photo or text ad submission to our sister site SCEN www.socalequest.com, simply by checking the green box on your BAEN ad's confirmation page (see example at left). Increase your ad's exposure in our lucrative Southern California market and take advantage of unlimited FREE SCEN photo ads during our promotional period.

The "copy to SCEN" feature applies to new ads being submitted to BAEN for the first time (the green SCEN check box appears on the final approval screen). Unfortunately we can't apply it retroactively to ads that have already been submitted. But you can log in to SCEN at www.socalequest.com/member.php and submit your photo ad directly; either way, your SCEN photo ads will be FREE of charge. Note: If you don't yet have a user account on SCEN you'll need to sign up first at www.socalequest.com/reg_user.php.

Scam Updates: Exploring all the Internet has to offer can be great fun and very profitable, but it pays to have some "street smarts". Please see important information on Internet scams, including updates on the ubiquitous "Cashier's Check Scam" and other recent scam news. We urge you to learn how to recognize scam pitches and take appropriate steps to protect yourself.

BAE N's database features the spam-busting tool BAENMail. But there are further steps you can take to protect yourself against spam. See our tips on preventing spam.

Attention, all Equine Businesses, Clubs and Associations! Are you listed in our public business directory? Search here, and if your organization is not listed please see easy instructions on how to add or contact us for assistance. There's no charge for this service if your business or organization is located in California. Don't see your favorite business or organization listed? Let them know and help us spread the word. Thousands of visitors search BAEN daily looking for products and services in their area - make sure they can find you!

Attentio n, Mac/Safari Browser Users: Our parent company Extend, Inc. is working to resolve an incompatibility problem between Mac's Safari browser and our Classified Ads' php programming. Please note it's not Mac per se, and not all Safari users are affected. If you have difficulty accessing our site using Safari, please try IE, Netscape, or Opera. Can't access our control panel or secure pages? BAEN will post and edit ads directly for you. Use our Safari-friendly secure form at https://secure.azc.com/dvsmith/orderphoto2.html to submit a photo ad. If you're submitting a text-only ad, no need to use a form; just email your text directly to info@bayequest.com along with your instructions and we'll post it for you.

Have questions or need assistance? Check our Classified FAQ, write to us at info@bayequest.com, or call 800-943-8883 during regular business hours. We're happy to help.

Tips on navigating our site: Having difficulty viewing a page? Not seeing the most recent ads? Not receiving BAENmail? Please check the following:

• Simple Fixes:

      - Erase your Temporary Internet Files - this can greatly improve the performance of your browser and should be part of your         regularmaintenance routine.
      - Clear your browser's history.
      - Refresh the page 2-3 times in your browser. Allow the page to download completely before scrolling or clicking on links.

• Set your browser and/or Internet Security software to allow cookies from bayequest.info. For more information on how we use cookies, please see BAEN's privacy policy.
  
• Turn off ad-blocking on this site . Many individuals and business networks are using Internet protection/ad blocking software such as Norton NIC, Google, etc. and leaving all default features turned on. These ad-blocking programs can interfere with your ability to navigate this and other web sites by hiding or disabling legitimate links. If you see blank spaces instead of "Submit new text-only ad", "Submit new photo ad", "Classified Ads", "Horses For Sale", etc. or if the links don't function, then ad-blocking software is a likely culprit. Symantec's Norton Internet Security and Firewall software is the #1 offender; it's included with many new computers and comes with ad blocking turned ON by default. You can turn off Norton NIC ad-blocking for a specific web site and leave it on for others.
  
• Turn off anti-popup software on this site . Many links in our Classified Ads open in a new browser window so you'll never get "lost" from where you started. If you have anti-popup software running on your computer, please set it to allow popup windows while navigating our site. BAEN never uses popups to deliver advertising.
  
• Are you a Safari user? BAEN has discovered a conflict between Mac's Safari browser and our Classified Ads' programming. We're working to locate and fix the problem. In the meantime please use Internet Explorer, Netscape, or Opera to browse our site.
  
• If you have anti-spam software screening your email, please set it to allow email from the domains BAYEQUEST.COM and BAYEQUEST.INFO.