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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What kind of stories should I post?

The stories you post are up to you! Toldaly was first envisioned as a way to share family stories with future generations and preserve the meaningful stories with those who matter most to us. However, we quickly learned that stories are shared equally amongst friends and some stories merit sharing with the entire world! So, keep it PG-13 if you can, and share your portion of the human epic as you see fit.

2. How do I record a story in Toldaly?

To record a new story, click the + button at the bottom of the screen. This will allow you to record stories “freeform” or “Respond to prompt”. If you have a story ready to tell, try freeform. If you need ideas, try Respond to prompt and find a prompt that inspires you.

3. How do I tell a Great Story?

All great stories have just a few key elements. If you follow this pattern, your story will be sure to resonate with your audience. 

  • Day-to-Day – Who are you? What were you doing at this time in your life? Where were you living? What was your Day-To-Day life like?
  • Event – In every great story, there is something that happened to change the character’s life (that’s your own life!). Tell about that Event.
  • The Adventure: After the Event, every story has a period of time that is the result of that event. It is a struggle, and adventure, a quest, or a series of life moments that were triggered by the Event. Share those!
  • New Day-to-Day – The Event & Adventure in the story changed your life in some way (or a game, or a business situation, or a night out). After that Event & Adventure, your life/night/game took on a different, or New, Day-to-Day

Here is an example in short:

  1. Day-to-Day: A 19-year-old young man is in his second year of college. He and a group of friends from a student organization on campus go out country dancing every Thursday night. Over the last year, he became one of the best dancers in the bunch and he is single.
  2. The Event: Our hero is taking a little break between dancing with the girls and talking to a friend who is a few years older. As they are looking across the floor, the friend says, “That’s Laurie, she’s a freshman and she’s too young for me, but she sure is cute.”. Our hero turns to him, slaps him on the shoulder, and says, “Well, she’s not too young for me!”, and he proceeds to ask her to dance. He wows her with his dancing prowess and teaches her some new moves. Thankfully, she grew up a dancer and she picks up the dancing very quickly.
  3. The Adventure: Over the next couple of months, our hero makes sure to visit Laurie’s dorm regularly, get to know her friends, and talk with her whenever he can. He makes sure to dance with her every chance he gets and, eventually, asks her on a date. They continue to dance and date. They fall in love and our hero asks Laurie to marry him.
  4. New Day-to-Day: 31 years later, they have been married for 28 years, have 3 kids, and will live joyfully ever after.
4. I would like to preserve my family’s stories. What is the best way to do that?

The ideal way to preserve family stories is for each family member to create their own account in Toldaly. Then, each family member will record their own stories and share those stories in the Circles that will enjoy that story. Any user can share their story publicly as well if they choose. You might have an aging family member who doesn’t want to create their own account. In that case, you can simply record the story on your own account and share appropriately.

5. What is a Circle and who should I add to my Circles?

A Circle is simply a group of people that have something in common. A family unit makes sense, but so does a team or group from high school or college. Some users have created Circles for their fraternity brothers or sorority sisters. Churches have created Circles to share testimonies with their members. 

6. Can I share a story with multiple Circles?

Yes! It is possible that a family story spans across multiple family Circles. For instance, I might share with my mother’s family Circle and my father’s family Circle if the story involves someone in both Circles. Additionally, you can share with your Circle(s) and share publicly.

7. Why don’t my stories show up instantly in the app?

When you publish a story, we start working on the backend of the system to move that story to the places it needs to be. Further, at times, there is some story validation and screening that takes place. Normally, your new story will show up in the app in a matter of minutes. 

8. How do I invite people to see my stories?

Story sharing can be done by clicking the up arrow at the top right of a story. From there, you can choose how you want to share the story link. Additionally, if you plan to share multiple stories with individuals, you can invite them to one of your Circles. 

9. Can I make a story private after it is made public?

Yes! While viewing a story that you uploaded, click the Edit icon at the top. This will allow you to go back through the sharing options. Find “Publish to” and change your publishing preferences. You can also Delete a story there if you wish.

10. Why can’t I comment on stories?

Our great desire is that Toldaly will be a place where understanding is fostered. Our observation is that too many of the comments posted on social media platforms are hateful, angry, falsely positive, and likely fake.  While we do not allow comments anywhere in the application today, we reserve the right to add comment capabilities in the future.

11. Can I tell fictional stories?

Yes! However, we ask that you label your fictional stories with the tag “#fiction” and then add, at least, another tag to label the type. For instance, “#comedy, #drama, #adventure”. 

12. Why must a user be 18 to join Toldaly?

Evidence shows the perils of social media on young people. Many countries restrict the time young people can use social media. We believe this to be wise. At this time, we want to do everything we can to ensure we do not contribute to the perpetuation of the problem and establish a platform healthy for all involved. We reserve the right to lower the entry age to what is legal in the countries in which we operate. If we do this, it will be after much consideration and care.

13. Why was my story removed from the app?

As noted in our Terms of Use, we strive to keep Toldaly a PG-13 environment. We will lean to decency and wholesomeness over freedom of expression. Stories that are blatantly sexual in nature, and stories that promote harmful or hateful behaviors will be removed without explanation. Please see the Terms of Use for more detail. In general, let’s make Toldaly a place where everyone is comfortable!

14. How can I report content I believe is offensive?

We are doing our best to filter all content that violates our policies. If you discover a video that contains content you believe violates those policies, please email us support@toldaly.com. Include the description of the video and the username associated with that video.

Can I delete my account entirely?

If you would like to delete your account, and all content you have posted, please email support@toldaly.com. Include your username and email. We will verify your email and complete the task as soon as possible.

If you simply wish to remove one, or several, Stories, go to the Story you wish to remove, unpublish it, then delete the draft. This will instantly remove your content from the application network.