Can I change my program schedule whenever I want?
Yes, you can change your program schedule any time. You can even change it more than once in the same day, if you are THAT inspired! In general, however, we recommend that you create a program and stick with it for two weeks or a month before changing it. Almost always, people find they get more out of a practice than they imagined in the beginning, but it often takes time to uncover an item's deeper benefits.
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If I change my user type to a Non-practicing buddy after being a practitioner, what happens to my program records?
Because non-practicing buddies do not have their own spiritual exercise programs, they do not have access to Bloom's Practice Records area. However, your latest program, all your journal entries, and any feedback messages you have sent or received are all kept in Bloom even after you change your user status -- as long as you remain an active Bloom user. If you change back to being a practitioner, you will again have access to them.
However, if you stop using Bloom altogether, your records will be deleted after four months. When three months have elapsed since your last log in, you will receive a courtesy e-mail. If you wish to keep your records for future reference and use, all you have to do is follow the link in the e-mail and log in.
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What happens to my program if I decide to stop using it?
If you stop using Bloom altogether, your records will eventually be deleted to make space for others who wish to actively use Bloom. When three months have elapsed since your last log in, you will receive a courtesy e-mail. If you wish to keep your records for future reference and use, all you have to do is follow the link in the e-mail and log in.
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Can anyone else read my records?
No one has access to your records in Bloom except you. Practitioners with feedback may send individual journal entries to a buddy or mentor for feedback. Unless you send a journal entry for feedback, neither your mentor nor any of your buddies will ever see it.
In order to view your records, another person would have to know both your user name and your password. This is because Bloom requires you to log in, entering both your user name and your password, every time you return to the program. To preserve the confidentiality of your program and journal, keep your password private, and change it as often as you wish. Also, log out of Bloom when you are not actively using it.
To minimize the risk of someone using Bloom if you forget to log out, or accessing your records through your browser's history feature, Bloom is programmed to operate in sessions no more than two hours long. Your current session ends when you log out, or two hours after you last logged in. No one can access your records after your session ends, without logging in again.
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I thought I sent a journal entry to my buddy for feedback, but when I open the journal entry from my listing of past journal entries, it shows no recipients selected. Does that mean it wasn't sent?
You can tell from the icon in the "feedback status" column on the Read & Edit Past Journal Entries page whether or not you have sent any journal entry for feedback. However, only the original journal entry can be accessed from that page. If you want to see the name(s) of the recipient(s) to whom you sent it, or read your feedback correspondence, you must go to the Feedback Requests & Replies page.
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What if I change my mind after sending a feedback message or a Bloom Mail message?
If the recipient has not yet read the message you can unsend either type of message.
Feedback messages are saved before you send them, so you can easily edit an unsent feedback message and re-send it.
Bloom Mail messages are not saved except as sent mail. If you unsend a Bloom Mail message, you must re-write it from scratch if you want to re-send it.
If the recipient has already read a feedback message, but not yet responded, you can delete the message, which will prevent them from replying.
If the recipient has already read a Bloom Mail message, deleting your sent copy will not prevent them from replying to the copy they received.
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There are no "print" buttons on any of the pages in Bloom. How do I print my program details, program calendar, journal entries, or messages?
Any page in Bloom can be printed using your browser's "print" command. The program details listing, program calendar listing, journal entry pages, and feedback messages pages are all "printer-friendly" pages that will print quite well.
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Is there any limit to how long I can use Bloom, how many items I can have, how many messages I can send, or how many journal entries I can write?
Currently, there is no limit on how long a person can use Bloom, or on how much data a person can maintain. As long as you are actively using Bloom, you are most welcome to use it as much as you want. Once the program has many longstanding users, limits MAY be established in the future to preserve optimal speed and ease of Bloom's functions. If so, you will be notified and assisted in preserving your valuable information.
However, if you stop using Bloom altogether, your records will be deleted after four months. When three months have elapsed since your last log in, you will receive a courtesy e-mail. If you wish to keep your records for future reference and use, all you have to do is follow the link in the e-mail and log in.
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What does it mean when I get an error message, and what should I do when that happens?
Generally, when you get an error message it simply means you gave Bloom an instruction it doesn't understand.
For example, Bloom is designed to navigate by clicking on-screen buttons. On many pages, you may also use the tab key to jump from button to button. When a button is highlighted, hitting the "enter" or "return" key on your keyboard will activate it. If no button is highlighted, hitting enter or return will usually have no effect, but it may sometimes produce an error message. (The only exception to this rule is the Bloom log-in page, where it is always okay to hit "enter" or "return" after you type in your user name and password.)
Also, you will get an error message whenever you click your browser's "refresh" button. This is because each page in Bloom contains database instructions that allow the following pages to load properly. Those instructions are sent to the database when you navigate through Bloom using the on-screen buttons, but not when you use your browser's "refresh" button. The page cannot load properly without those instructions, so the operation is aborted.
If you get an error message while working with Bloom, just click "OK" on the error message to make it go away, then continue where you left off. You will avoid problems if you follow the on-screen instructions and use the on-screen buttons and tabs to navigate from page to page.
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Since I shouldn't use my browser's "refresh" button, how can I reload a page?
If you want to reload a page to update the information displayed, you can click your browser's "back" button and then click the same tab or button you used before to originally arrive at the page. Or, on pages with user-selectable sorting options, you can click the "go" button beside the list of sort choices to refresh the page without leaving it. If you have entered information on the page, be sure you click the appropriate button to submit your changes before using any other method to refresh the page. Otherwise, your changes will be lost when the page refreshes.
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If I click my browser's "back" button, does that cancel or undo the changes I have entered?
Sometimes. If you click your browser's "back" button AFTER typing information but BEFORE clicking the "update" or "submit" or "save" button, your changes will be cancelled.
On the other hand, if you have already clicked a button that sends your changes to the database, clicking your browser's "back" button does NOT undo your changes. However, it is easy to become confused about this, because using the browser's "back" button can load a page that does not reflect up-to-date information. To avoid confusion and unnecessary extra work, we recommend that you refrain from clicking your browser's "back" button while working in Bloom.
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