FAQ

Hopefully, you'll find your answer here. If not, please use our contact page.

How does this site work?

The basic approach is to identify a common destination (e.g., a school), and then people who are interested in doing a carpool post their start locations. Members can look at a map and easily find other people who are nearby, or going in the same direction. Then members use the site to send messages to each other to organize into carpools/travel groups.

Won't other people see where I live?

We don't share your actual address with other members. (It is possible for the administrators to get your address.)

Also, when your location is displayed on a map, it is not shown exactly. We show your location as the center of a geohash that your location is actually in. Basically, we display your location on the map near your actual location.

And, of course, if you really do not want to share your exact address with us, you don't have to. You can put in something vague like just your city, or perhaps a near-by cross street. This will just make it harder for other members to judge if you are a good candidate for a carpool.

Why do I need an access code?

This is to ensure that only people authorized by administrators can become members.

(Administrators are advised to rotate access codes from time to time.)

Where/what is my username/password?

In order to make things simpler, we do not use a "normal" login/password. We just send you a link that you can click to sign in.

We realize this is kind of unusual, and frankly experimental. If you think this is a bad idea/stupid/whatever, please let us know.

(Do not share your sign-in link. It is effectively your "password".)

Why is my name "Joe Smith 1234"?

So that other members can distinguish you from "Joe Smith 4321". The only way members have to distinguish other members on the site is by their name, so it needs to be unique.

There are a lot of common names in the world. Rather than forcing you to figure out/find a unique name when you sign up, we just pick a unique number and stick it on your name.

If you'd like to change it, you can go to your profile page and enter a new name. (If your new name is not unique either, you'll get another number appended, again.)

Are you going to share/sell my personal/contact info?

No.

We, like you, are concerned with our privacy and how our online data is used.

Actually, ride4all will automatically delete your information after a while. Your posts will expire, and then we will delete the information a little while after that. (When things will expire depends on configuration.)

It must be noted that administrators of your ride-share board (e.g. the administrators at your school) do have access to the data your data on ride4all, including your address and your email/phone number that you use to sign in.