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What can be considered a treasure of Russia?

TreasuresRussia.com social network is created for those who are interested in exploring Russia and loves Russia. Whether a site or a point of interest should be regarded as a Russian treasure is decided by TreasuresRussia.com community.

Russia’s natural resources are definitely in the list of candidates: mountains, volcanoes, forests, seas, rivers and lakes, islands, flora, fauna, geology, underwater world, waterfalls, glaciers, national parks and reserves, fields and plains.

The unique culture and history of multinational Russia’s people is very likely to be considered as a treasure: arts, clothing, handcraft, homecraft, dances and ballet, painting, museums, expositions, and national cuisines.

Many Russian cities, towns and villages deserve to be called a Russian treasure for their colors and architecture. Temples, churches, mosques, kremlins, palaces, railway and underground stations, theaters, monasteries, monuments and memorials, bridges, timber buildings – all could be part of this treasure. Industrial architecture shouldn’t be omitted here: power plants, factories, dams, ports, shipyards may find their deserved places on TreasuresRussia.com network. Even ruins may expose their special charm, character or historical value and could be nominated as treasures.

Science and technology also have its treasures: observatories, telescopes, radio telescopes, high-voltage labs, nuclear reactors, particle accelerators, spaceships, satellites, airplanes, ships, deep-sea research vehicles – it’s up to you to decide!

Russian weapons always helped Russia and its allies to protect security and independence. Some of them represent genuine treasures: historical swords, sabers, guns and rifles, revolvers, knifes and daggers, modern tanks, missiles, battleships and submarines, jet-fighters, helicopters, strategic bombers and ballistic nuclear warheads.

Russian people are the main and unquestionable treasure of this country. They are responsible for the country’s successes and failures, Russia’s history and future, and Russia’s prosperity depends on their hard work and wise decisions.

Who can nominate a Russian Treasure?

Anyone can register and publish descriptions and pictures of Russian treasures. Registered members can invite their friends and colleagues and extend the list of Russian Treasures with their help.

What is the structure of TreasuresRussia.com?

TreasuresRussia.com social network is a bilingual platform for socializing, sharing experiences, pictures and discoveries directly related to Russia. The website can be accesses by two domain names: TreasuresRussia.com and СокровищаРоссии.РФ.
The structure of TreasuresRussia.com network is close to symmetrical. The majority of website pages have both Russian and English versions. Exceptions are media galleries, group forums and personal award lists. Uploaded pictures will appear only in the media gallery of the currently accessed language version of TreasuresRussia.com website. Same applies to the groups forum posts. This functionality allow users to create personalized media galleries and forum topics for Russian- and English-speaking audience. Awards are also specific to the TreasiresRussia.com website language version where the necessary criteria were met.
The website is divided into the following sections:
• Sitewide chronicle
• Member areas
• Groups
• Awards

Structure: Sitewide chronicle.

Sitewide chronicle page

Sitewide chronicle page shows the cumulative activity of all members. Registered users can publish status updates and pictures, or filter the activity stream by various criteria directly from Sitewide Chronicle page.

Structure: Members’ area.

TreasuresRussia member’s area

Upon logging on users are automatically redirected to the personal chronicle in their member area (e.g. TreasuresRussia member area). Member areas consist of the following sections:

• “Chronicle”: member’s personal chronicle.
All member’s activity updates, comments, etc. are posted to the member’s personal chronicle. This section works in a similar way to sitewide chronicle, but contains only messages published by the account owner. Other members are able to comment on owner’s posts.

Personal chronicle content can be filtered by various criteria. Filtering is enabled by navigating to the appropriate subsection:
“My Chronicle”: This subsection contains all member’s activity.
“Mentions”: This subsection lists all status updates where the account owner was @-mentioned.
“Following”: This subsection lists all status updates of the members whom the account owner is following.
“Favorites”: All status updates added to Favorites will be shown in this subsection.
“Links”: This subsection contains all links created by the account owner.
“Friends”: Friends’ activity updates will be shown in this subsection.
“Groups”: All activity updates for the groups where account owner has a membership will be shown here.

• “Profile”: member’s profile.
Members can check and update their profile details and avatars in this section.

• “Notifications”: system notifications will appear in this section.
This includes friendship requests, group invites, new subscribers, incoming messages, etc.

• “Messages”: holds all messages sent and received by the owner.
New messages are also composed here.

• “Friends”: lists members you established friendship with.
Here you can also approve or reject new friendship requests, see the list of friends currently online, cancel existing friendships, start or stop following members.

• “Following”: lists members you are currently following.
Status updates of the members you’re following will appear in the “Following” subsection of the personal chronicle.

• “Followers”: lists members who decided to follow the account owner.

• “Groups”: lists the groups where account owner has membership.
It’s also possible to check new group invites and create new groups here.

• “Forums”: group forums’ topics and replies created by the account owner will be shown in this section.
Here you can also search across groups’ forums, review the list of favorite forum posts/topics and check forum subscriptions.

• “Send Invites”: send e-mail invites to your friends and mates who are not yet using TreasuresRussia.com social network.
In the process of composing new invites you will be given the opportunity to include a list of groups which might be interesting to your invitees. Alternatively you can check the list of emailed invites and cancel any outdated one.

• “Gallery”: upload, view and edit your pictures.
You can organize pictures into albums and manage those albums.

• “Settings”: update your account’s e-mail and password.
Fine-tuning of email notifications is also done in this section.

• “Links”: create and manage links to TreasuresRussia.com pages and external resources.

• “Awards”: lists virtual awards earned by account owner.
Awards are automatically granted to members who has fulfilled requirements described on the Awards page.

Structure: Groups.

Groups tree

Groups are designed in a similar way to member’s area, but posting to groups is allowed to all group members – not just its owner. Group’s subject and its type (open, private, with/without a forum, etc.) are defined in the process of its creation and can be modified later. Groups are organized hierarchically. A group can have one or more subgroups and in its turn can be a subgroup of a higher level group. As a result groups are forming the groups’ tree.
Each group consists of the following sections:

• Chronicle – the group’s activity page.
Group members can post updates here according to the group’s subject.

• Forum – a place for group members to start discussions.
Group members can start topics and post replies according to the group subject. Group forums are meant to be accessed only by registered group members and by default are hidden from unregistered visitors. Members can publish direct links to forum topics making them readable by everyone.

• Members – group members directory.
Check the list of group members, send friendship requests, start following other members.

• Member groups – create a subgroup for the current group (if allowed by group settings).
A list of existing subgroups is also available in this section. This section becomes active only for group members.

• Send Invites – invite members to join the group (if allowed by group settings).
Open groups’ members can invite other registered users to join the group. This section becomes active only for group members.

• Gallery – manage group’s pictures and albums.
Upload pictures, organize them into albums (if allowed by group settings), manage albums.

• Manage – update group settings or delete group.

Group admins can edit the following group settings:
• Group’s name and description.
• Group’s confidentiality settings.
• Upload and edit group’s avatar.
• Manage group’s members.
• Manage subgroup creation permissions.
• Manage group’s albums creation permissions.
• Enable or disable group’s forum.
• Delete the group with all attached content.

Structure: Awards.

Awards page

Awards are automatically granted to members who fulfilled predefined requirements. The list of awards and requirements is available on the Awards page Earning awards allow members to capitalize on their activity by converting it into social status.

Can I use TreasuresRussia.com as an alternative to a standalone website?

TreasuresRussia.com personal chronicle is designed as a blog and can be regarded as an alternative to a traditional website. Using TreasuresRussia.com is especially advantageous for tourist or travel start-ups, freelance guides, photographers, smaller hotels and guesthouses, entertainment and recreation centers, national parks and wildlife reserves, museums, etc. as it allows to save on website development, support and promotion costs.

How to use TreasuresRussia.com as an advertisement platform efficiently?

Publishing interesting unique content regularly is the key to successfully using TreasuresRussia.com as an advertisement platform.
Similarly to a standalone website it’s important to post unique and quality texts and pictures to the chronicle on a regular basis. Try to describe your experience or a visit to a point of interest emotionally and captivatingly. Don’t forget to insert keywords your potential customers will be looking for during a web search. Try to use most of those keywords within the first sentence.

Avoid posting a single huge status update monthly, better divide it into several semantically complete parts of 1-2 paragraphs containing 4-5 sentences and post those parts 2-3 times a week. This will help keeping your status updates noticed by readers, won’t get them tired or bored of long reading and will bring them back to your chronicle for the next part of your story.

Always accompany texts with pictures. Make sure you upload photos with meaningful descriptions and names, e.g. StBasilsCathedral.JPG instead of IMG_335.JPG.
In case you already use another social network, blog or forum, don’t just link to the existing posts, better repost the existing content to TreasuresRussia.com chronicle and upload pictures to the gallery.

How to use social networking for building customer relationship and increasing business exposure?

• Invite new and existing customers to TreasuresRussia.com social network
• Establish friendships
• Ask for posting reports and giving feedback on your services in TreasuresRussia.com chronicle
• Stimulate commenting on your Chronicle updates and giving suggestions
• Encourage sharing and reposting to other social networks, forums, etc
• Promote inviting friends and sharing experience with others
This will help growing a customer base, improve customers’ awareness of new and legacy products and services, and allow you to learn you customers.

How else can I use my TreasuresRussia.com account?

Use your TreasuresRussia.com account as a business contact, e.g.:
• Put your personal chronicle URL on your business cards.
• Use it in TV commercials.
• Supply it in online adverts.
• Insert it into email signatures, documents’ headers and footers, etc.
• Make links to your chronicle from other WEB resources: social networks, forums, blogs and bulletin boards.
Use your TreasuresRussia.com personal chronicle as a traditional website: attract and grow your audience, keep your customers involved and cared for, advertise your products and services. If at some point you’ll decide to move on to a standalone website, you’ll be able to redirect your audience to this new resource simply by creating an appropriate link. This approach will help bringing a newly created website with low initial traffic up to speed much quicker and cut expenses on promotion and advertisement.

What are the advantages of using TreasuresRussia.com compared to other social resources?

• TreasuresRussia.com social network is a bilingual platform. It is targeted at establishing business links between Russian- and English-speaking parties and therefore is perfectly positioned for helping tourists looking for Russian experience and travel businesses working with Russia finding each other.
• TreasuresRussia.com is a thematic website and in many cases can better attract and target the audience compared to common social networks and forums.
• Search engines often rate thematic websites higher compared to non-thematic ones. This further increases the chances your customers will find you on TreasuresRussia.com social network.

How do I register?

Registration page

• Navigate to the registration page by clicking the Register link.
• Fill in the required fields of the registration form.
• Type in the CAPTCHA code from the picture into the captcha field. If the code is not readable, refresh it and try again.
• Click “Complete Sign Up”.
• Check your incoming mail for the automatic email with activation link. Follow the activation link.
• After completing the activation you’ll be able to access TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.

What if I haven’t received the activation email?

Check the content of the SPAM folder, occasionally activation emails may end up there by mistake. Alternatively complete the registration using a different email.

How to recover a lost password?

Password reset page

• If you try to log in using an incorrect password you’ll be automatically redirected to the login page with “Lost your password?” link. Follow this link.
• Type your email and CAPTCHA code from the picture into the appropriate fields and click “Get New Password”.
• Check your inbox for an automatic email containing instructions on how to reset your password and follow those instructions.

How can I update my personal profile details?

Updating profile details

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Navigate to Profile section of your member’s area.
• Navigate to Edit subsection.
• Update “Personal info” and/or “Business Info” details where necessary.
• Click “Save Changes” when finished.

What is the best practice for filling in personal profile details?

• When filling in your personal profile details do your best to be brief and informative.
• Don’t leave any fields blank.
• Evaluate the keywords your potential customers will use when searching for your services and use those words in your profile data where and if appropriate.
Example:
You represent a travel agency offering bus tours around Moscow.
• Type in your company name into the “Business name” field, e.g. “Moscow Bus Tours”.
• Type in the company description into the “Business description” field, e.g.: “Moscow Bus Tours is helping visitors to see the best sites of Russia’s capital”.
• Type in the description of your services into the “Services” field: “Conducted tours to Kremlin, all major museums, Ostankino tower, Moscow Metro (Underground)”.

How can I upload an avatar?

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section. • Navigate to Profile section of your member’s area. • Navigate to Change Avatar subsection. • Click “Browse” and select the .jpg file containing the avatar. File size is limited by 98kb. • Click “Upload Image”.	Upload avatar
• Crop the avatar to your preferred size by adjusting the crop area and clicking “Crop Image”.	Crop uploaded avatar

How can I submit a status update to the chronicle?

Submitting a status update to the Chronicle is possible both from the Sitewide Chronicle page and from the personal chronicle section of the member’s area.
To post an update from the personal chronicle section proceed with the following steps:
• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Type your new status update into the “What’s new” field.
• Optionally attach pictures using the “Attach Files” button.
• Click “Post Update”.

Posting a status update from personal chronicle section

Submitting a status update from the Sitewide Chronicle page is performed in a similar way to posting from the personal chronicle section.

Submitting a status update from Sitewide Chronicle page

How can I mention another member of the network in my status update?

@-mentioning another member

To mention another member of TreasuresRussia.com in your status update type “@” followed by the login of the member you want to mention, e.g. @treasuresrussia. @-mentions with valid logins are automatically converted to hyperlinks navigating to the personal chronicle of the mentioned member.

How can I create an album in my gallery?

To create an album: • Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section. • Navigate to the Gallery section of your member’s area. • Click “Options”, then “Add Album”. “Create New Album” popup will appear.	Create new album
• Enter the name of the new album and click “Create Album”.	Name new album

How can I upload a picture to the gallery?

To upload a picture to the gallery follow the instructions below: • Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section. • Navigate to the Gallery section of your member’s area. • Click “Upload”. • Using the “Album” menu select the album you are wishing to upload the picture to. By default all uploaded pictures are assigned to “Chronicle Photos” album. • Click “Select your files” and select the files you are willing to upload. Alternatively drag-and-drop those files to the “Drop your files here” area.	Select files for uploading
• Click “Start Upload”.	Start upload
• Wait until the upload will be completed. Depending on the size and amount of uploaded files the upload may take some time. For better upload performance use JPG files with 800×600 resolution. It is also recommended to rename files to meaningful filenames prior to uploading, e.g. StBasilsCathedral.JPG instead of IMG_335.JPG.	Wait for upload completion

How can I edit a picture?

To edit a picture: • Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section. • Click the selected picture. A lightbox popup will appear. • Click “Edit” within the lightbox popup.	Edit a picture
• To update picture’s name, description and album, edit appropriate fields in the “Details” tab.	Update name and description
• To crop/flip/scale or rotate a picture navigate to the “Image” tab and click “Modify image” .	Start the mini-editor
• A mini-editor will appear where you can perform necessary actions on your image. • Click “Save” to apply changes.	Edit the image

How can I embed a Youtube video?

Embedding Youtube videos

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Copy Youtube video URL into the clipboard.
• Paste Youtube video URL into the status update.
• If necessary, provide additional comments.
• Click “Post Update”.

How can I invite a friend to join TreasuresRussia.com community?

Inviting friends

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Navigate to the Send Invites section of your member’s area, then to Invite New Members subsection.
• Enter invitees’ emails one per line. Up to five emails can be listed at a time.
• Optionally you can customize the invite message and select groups to include into the invite.
• Click “Send Invites”.
Note: to see the list of sent invites and to cancel any of them navigate to Sent Invites subsection.

How can I establish friendship with another member?

Add friend

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Navigate to the personal chronicle of the member you wish to establish friendship with.
• Click “Add Friend”.
The member you sent a friendship request will get a notification and in case he approves it he will be added to your friends list.

How can I accept a friendship request?

Accepting incoming friendship requests

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Navigate to Friends section of your member’s area, then to Friendship Requests subsection. You will find a list of incoming friendship requests from other members here.
• To approve a friendship request click “Accept”, to deny click “Reject”.

How can I follow a member’s activity?

Following a member

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Navigate to the personal chronicle of the member you wish to follow.
• Click “Follow” to start following the selected member.
The member will be notified of a new follower, your name will be added to his “Followers” list and member’s name will appear in your “Following” section.

How can I see who is following my activity?

Followers list

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Navigate to “Followers” section of your member’s area. Here you will find the list of members who are following you.

How to find out who @-mentioned me?

Mentions list

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Navigate to the “Mentions” subsection of the personal chronicle. You will see a list of status updates where you were @-mentioned.

How can I send a private message to another member?

Sending private messages

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Navigate to “Messages” section of your member’s area, then to “Compose” subsection.
• Enter recipient’s name or login into the “Send To” field.
• Complete the subject and the message body.
• Click “Send Message”.

How can I join a group?

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section. • Navigate to the group you are planning to join. • Depending on the group’s type click “Join Group” or “Request Membership”. • In case of a public group you’ll immediately become its member.	Join a group
• In case of a private group you’ll be given an option to comment on your membership request. • Click “Send Request” when ready. Note: You’ll become a member of a private group after your membership request will be approved by the group’s admin. Joining hidden groups is by invitation only.	Private group membership request

How can I post a status update or reply to the group?

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Navigate to the group you plan to post an update to.
• Enter the status update into the “What’s new” field.
• If necessary attach pictures using the “Attach Files” button. Attached pictures by default will be uploaded to “Chronicle Photos” album of the group’s gallery.
• Click “Post Update”.

Posting updates to groups

• Posting group updates can also be done from the sitewide chronicle page. Target group in this case is selected using the dropdown “Post in:” menu. Group’s membership is required for posting.

Posting to groups from sitewide chronicle page

How can I create a new group?

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section. • Navigate to the group you plan to create a subgroup for. • Navigate to “Member Groups” section, then click “Create a Member Group”. A 7-steps group creation dialog will be started.	Start group creation dialog
• Step 1: Name. Enter the name and description for the new group and click “Create Group and Continue”.	Step 1: Name
• Step 2: Member Groups. If necessary you can change the parent group and subgroup creation permissions for the newly created group here. Click “Next Step” when done.	Step 2: Member Groups
• Step 3: Settings. Privacy options: choose between public/private/hidden group. Invitations permissions: choose between All members/Group admins and mods/Group admins only. Click “Next Step” when done.	Step 3: Settings
• Step 4: Forum. Enable or disable a forum for the created group. If you want the newly created group to have a forum, tick “Yes. I want this group to have a forum”. Click “Next Step” when done.	Step 4: Forum
• Step 5: Avatar. To upload an avatar for the newly created group click “Browse”, select the file and click “Upload Image”. Crop the uploaded avatar by moving the crop frame to the desired position and clicking “Crop Image”. Click “Next Step” when done.	Upload avatar Crop avatar Avatar successfully uploaded
• Step 6: Gallery. Choose who can create albums for the newly created group: All Group Members/Group Admins and Mods only/Group Admins only. Click “Next Step” when done.	Step 6: Gallery
• Step 7: Send Invites. Choose TreasuresRussia.com members to be invited to the newly created group either by ticking their names from the suggestion list of by searching members via the “Search for members to invite” text field. Click “Finish” when done.	Step 7: Send Invites

How can I create a new group’s forum topic?

Creating a new forum topic

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Navigate to the group of your interest, then to the forum of the chosen group.
• Enter the title of the topic into the “Topic Title” field.
• Enter the content of your new topic.
• Enter topic tags into the corresponding field.
• Select topic type: Normal or Sticky.
• Tick “Notify me of follow-up replies via email” box in case you wish to receive email notifications.
• Click “Submit”.

How can I invite a member to join a group?

Send group invites

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Navigate to the group you want to invite new members to.
• Navigate to “Send Invites” section.
• Tick the boxes against the suggested members you wish to invite in the “Select members from the directory:” list. Alternatively type invitee’s login into the “Search for members to invite:” field.
• Click “Send Invites” when done.

How can I upload a picture to group’s gallery?

• Log into TreasuresRussia.com using your login and password. Upon successful login you’ll be automatically redirected to your personal chronicle section.
• Navigate to the group’s gallery you want to upload a picture to.
• Click “Upload”.
• Select the target album with a dropdown selector. All pictures are uploaded to the “Chronicle Photos” album by default.
• Click “Select your files” and select files you wish to upload. Alternatively drag and drop files you want to upload to the “Drop your files here” area.

Select files for uploading

• Click “Start Upload”.

Start Upload

• Wait until the upload will be completed.
Note: Depending on the size and amount of uploaded files the upload may take some time. For better upload performance use JPG files with 800×600 resolution. It is also recommended to rename files prior to upload to meaningful filenames, e.g. StBasilsCathedral.JPG instead of IMG_335.JPG.

Wait for upload completion

Treasures of Russia: points of interest, attractions, places