WVEC.com | News for Hampton Roads, Virginia

Membership-Related Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does WVEC.com require a membership to access certain sections of the site?
2. What is a cookie?
3. Why does WVEC.com use cookies?
4. What information will you be tracking along with my cookie?
5. What are you doing to protect my privacy?
6. Will I receive unsolicited e-mail if I accept your cookies?
7. Will I receive unsolicited e-mail if I sign up on your site?
8. How can I remove myself from your database?
9. What if children try to register on your site?
10. What happens if someone is not truthful in the signup process?
11. Why is all information required on the membership form?
12. How are you going to use this information?
13. Are you going to sell or share my personal information?
14. How long are you going to keep this information?
15. Will you be using my name or e-mail address to solicit anyone else?
16. Will my e-mail address or name appear anywhere on your site?
17. How can I change my account information?
18. I requested a new password, but it was never sent to me.
19. I am a member, so why am I being asked to sign up again?
20. Why does the system not accept my e-mail address?
21. I want to change my password. What do I do?
22. I don't want to be contacted by advertisers. How do I get my name off your contact list?
23. How do I unsubscribe to a newsletter or other products?
24. How secure is this membership process? Will anyone be able to steal my e-mail or contact information?
25. If you are customizing your content to me, does this mean that I don't get to see some of your site?
26. How do I get a question answered that is not in the FAQ?

1. Why does WVEC.com require a membership to access certain sections of the site?

When you complete WVEC.com's simple one-time membership process, you receive instant access to all areas of our site without needing to sign up again. Plus you gain access to our many news subscription services, interactive features and new products.

At the same time, your membership helps us better understand you, our customer. Like other Web publishers, we're collecting information to deliver targeted editorial and advertising content that might be of interest to you. By knowing just a little bit about you, we can begin building our site that's more informative and tailored to your interests. In addition, we can better define our customer-base and make our site an attractive advertising option for advertisers.

WVEC.com is dedicated to providing you with a highly interactive and personalized experience while also protecting your information. We share aggregated information such as the percentage of women vs. men that visit our site, how many visitors are of the age 40 - 50 years old, and so on.

For further details about our privacy guidelines, please see our Privacy Policy. We respect your privacy and will safeguard your personal information. Thank you for your help in making our site a better place to visit.

2. What is a cookie?

A "cookie" is a small piece of information that enables us to automatically recognize you as a member when you return to WVEC.com.

By seeing your cookie, we can instantly determine your preferences and make your visit quick and easy.

3. Why does WVEC.com use cookies?

Cookies help identify you and your access privileges on our site. When you sign on to WVEC.com, we set a cookie that tells us who you are. If you choose the option to "Save Your Password," we use a cookie to allow you to log in to WVEC.com automatically without entering your membership password each visit. This "permanent" cookie will remain on your hard disk indefinitely, until you click the "Sign Out" link on our homepage or delete your cookie file. If you refuse to accept our cookies, we have no way of knowing whether you are a member; consequently, you must accept cookies to enter certain areas of our site, or else you will need to continue to sign in to enter secured areas. We never give out information to others about individual usage of our site. For more information, please read our Privacy Policy.

4. What information will you be tracking along with my cookie?

WVEC.com, like many other web publishers, tracks the activities of visitors to its site. This activity is tracked for many reasons – such as monitoring ease of use of a site and tracking popularity of particular sections. WVEC.com uses this information to determine which pages are more valuable to you and to our advertisers. Your account information combined with your activity on our site will provide additional information that allows us to create a more interesting and enjoyable site. This will also allow us to continue to make WVEC.com an attractive advertising medium for our advertisers.

5. What are you doing to protect my privacy?

WVEC.com is committed to respecting the privacy rights of our visitors. We realize you are trusting us with personal information. To protect it, we have adopted a set of strict regulations and guidelines – our Privacy Policy. We share aggregated information such as the percentage of women vs. men that visit our site, how many visitors are between the ages of 40 and 50, and so on with our advertisers so that they can better target their advertising messages. In addition, your information is safely stored behind a secure system that is inaccessible to outside parties. For further details about our privacy guidelines, please see our Privacy Policy.

6. Will I receive unsolicited e-mail if I accept your cookies?

If you have opted to receive special offers and exclusive promotional material, you will be sent customized information via e-mail. If you would like to be included to receive e-mail announcements about exclusive discounts and special offers from WVEC.com or our advertisers, please log in at http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/registration/membercenter.jsp and click on e-mail options. If you're currently receiving special promotional e-mail and would like to discontinue that service, simply update your choice, by going to http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/registration/membercenter.jsp and clicking on View My Account. You can cancel delivery at any time.

7. Will I receive unsolicited e-mail if I sign up on your site?

If you have opted to receive special offers and exclusive promotional material, you will be sent any customized information via e-mail. If you would like to be included to receive e-mail announcements about exclusive discounts and special offers from WVEC.com or our advertisers, please go to http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/registration/membercenter.jsp and click on e-mail options. If you're currently receiving special promotional e-mail and would like to discontinue that service, simply update your choice by going to http://www.wvec.com/sharedcontent/registration/membercenter.jsp and clicking on View My Account. You can cancel delivery at any time.

8. How can I remove myself from your database?

To completely delete your account, please sign into the MemberCenter by clicking on the "MemberCenter" link located at the top right-hand corner of the Web site. When prompted, enter your e-mail address and password, and click on the "Go" button. You will be taken to the MemberCenter home page.

Under the "Help Center" section, you will see a link called "Delete my Account." Click on this link. Next, click on the link "Delete My Account."

Please be aware that by deleting your profile, you will remove all information about yourself from our database. If you return to our Web site or wish to subscribe to a newsletter, you will be asked to sign up again.

9. What if children try to sign up on your site?

In order to be compliant with the Childrens' Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), WVEC.com does not gather or store information from anyone 13 years old or younger. The moment we identify that someone is 13 or younger, we stop them in the signup process and offer them other options for accessing the information or service they are requesting. We also immediately discard any personal information gathered from the child. For more details regarding our compliance with COPPA, please see our Privacy Policy.

10. What happens if someone is not truthful in the signup process?

Your answers help us to tailor advertising and editorial content that will interest you. The information that you provide on the signup form is our primary means of tailoring content. False or misleading information will result in a Web site that is not as interesting to you.

11. Why is all information required on the membership form?

We respect your privacy and realize that there may be information that you would rather not share with anyone. Knowing that, we are safeguarding your personal information and respecting your privacy. We are asking for information needed to build a site that is more personally relevant to you and tailored to your interests. And we are asking for information that is valuable to our advertisers. By capturing information about our customer-base, we give our advertisers a better understanding of who is viewing their advertising.

12. How are you going to use this information?

We plan to use your information in two ways. First, we want to tailor the news, information and advertising to you based on your profile, your interests and needs. By offering you a more personally relevant Web site experience, we hope you will continue to find our Web site of value.

Second, we want to meet the needs of our advertisers so that they will find our sites an effective advertising vehicle. By capturing information about our members, we give our advertisers a better understanding of who is viewing their advertising.

13. Are you going to sell or share my personal information?

We share aggregated information about our members with advertisers so that they may better target their advertising on our sites. By sharing aggregate information, we can better define our customer base, making our site an attractive advertising option for advertisers.

14. How long are you going to be keeping this information?

WVEC.com plans to keep this information as long as you are an active member of the site. If you do not return to the site for 12 months, we will remove your account information from our active database.

15. Will you be using my name or e-mail address to solicit anyone else?

We will use your name or e-mail address to offer another person a special offer or promotion ONLY if you give us permission to do so. From time to time, WVEC.com runs promotions where we invite you to tell your friends about WVEC.com. These promotions are strictly voluntary. You are never required to participate. And, your participation does not affect access to our Web site or your newsletter subscriptions.

16. Will my e-mail address or name appear anywhere on your site?

Yes, your member name will be used that you input during the signup process as well as if it is part of a legitimate news story.

17. How can I change my account information?

To change your account information, click on the "MemberCenter" link located at the top right-hand corner of the Web site. When prompted, enter your e-mail address and current password, and click on the "Go" button to sign in. You will be taken to the MemberCenter home page. There are four sections that will help you modify your account.

Click on the appropriate link that is necessary to modify your account information and follow the instructions. The system will automatically update itself once you've made your changes. If you are still having problems, please contact us at 214-977-7082 or 1-866-400-5750, between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday (CST). A customer service agent will be able to assist you.

18. I requested a new password, but it was never sent to me.

When you use the "forgot password?" feature, our system automatically generates a new, random password for you and sends it to the e-mail address you specified. Because this is an automated process, some e-mail providers view this as spam or junk mail. Some e-mail providers classify these e-mails as spam, junk or bulk e-mail.

If you requested a password and did not receive it, please check your "spam," "junk" or bulk folders for an e-mail from helpcenter@belointeractive.com. The subject line is "Your new password." If you do not find an e-mail from us, please contact our customer service center at helpcenter@belointeractive.com, because the e-mail may have been automatically deleted.

19. I am a member, so why am I being asked to sign up again?

One reason you may be asked to sign up again is that the cookies we use to recognize members may have been deleted or may have expired. You do not need to go through the entire membership process; you only need to sign in again.

To sign in, look for the shadowed box with the title "Already a member?" located on the right-hand side of the membership form. Enter your username and password, click on 'Go' and you will automatically be taken back to the original page you were reading. You now have access to the entire site.

Another reason you may be asked to complete the signup process again is for a contest or SMS but this should only occur once.

20. Why does the system not accept my e-mail address?

Please check your e-mail address for accuracy. If correct, you may already be a member with us. Click on the "Forgot Password?" link on our membership page (in the "Already a Member?" box). Enter the e-mail address you used to sign up and click "Submit." A new password will be e-mailed to the address you typed in. If you can't find your new password in your e-mail box, please check your spam, junk or bulk e-mail folder. The password may have been falsely identified as possible spam material. If you are still having problems, please contact us at 214-977-7082 or 1-866-400-5750, between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday (CST).

21. I want to change my password. What do I do?

To change your password, click on the "MemberCenter" link located at the top right-hand corner of the Web site. When prompted, enter your e-mail address and current password. Then click on the "Go" button. You will be taken to the MemberCenter home page. The first section is called "My Account." Click on the "Change Password" link and follow the instructions. Please note that your new password must be six characters long.

22. I don't want to be contacted by advertisers. How do I get my name off your contact list?

To change your contact information, click on the "MemberCenter" link located at the top right-hand corner of the Web site. When prompted, enter your e-mail address and current password, and click on the "Go" button to sign in. You will be taken to the MemberCenter home page. The second section is called "My E-Mail Options." Click on the "Contact Options" link and follow the instructions. If you choose, you will not longer receive e-mails from advertisers. If you are still having problems, please contact us at 214-977-7082 or 1-866-400-5750, between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday (CST).

23. How do I unsubscribe to a newsletter or other products?

If you're currently receiving an e-mail newsletter, alert or special announcement e-mails, and would like to discontinue, click on the "MemberCenter" link located at the top right-hand corner of the Web site. When prompted, enter your e-mail address and current password, and click on the "Go" button to sign in. You will be taken to the MemberCenter home page. The second section is called "My E-mail Options." Click on either the "E-mail Subscriptions" or "MySpecialsDirect" link and follow the instructions. Once you submit your changes, your updated information will be saved.

Please know that you may cancel delivery at any time. Allow two business days for processing. If you are still having problems after a few days, please contact us at 214-977-7082 or 1-866-400-5750, between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday (CST).

24. How secure is this Membership process? Will anyone be able to steal my e-mail or contact information?

Our Web site signup process is very protected. We take extraordinary steps to ensure that our Web site is protected from hacking or other illegal activity. Your membership account is included in that protection. WVEC.com is a legally protected product of Belo Corporation and we will use all the measures at our disposal to protect our product and our customers.

25. If you are customizing your content to me, does this mean that I don't get to see some of your site?

No. Membership ensures that you will have access to all sections of our Web site. Customizing content means that we make easily available to you the kind of content and advertising that would be of interest to you.

26. How do I get a question answered that is not in the FAQ?

We welcome your feedback and would be happy to answer any questions. Contact us directly through our Help Center Feedback Form.

You can also contact us at 214-977-7082 or 1-866-400-5750, between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday (CST).

/ HelpCenter

MySpecialsDirect