FAQs + answers

[ROOMMATE.3]

What IS this site?

A 100% free place to find a roommate.

 

Free roommate search, browse roommate ads, look at rooms for rent, all features free, no charges anywhere, not even hidden away in the fine print. Even if you really wanted to, you can't give us your credit card information. We won't accept it. Not for anything.

 

 

What is this site NOT?

It's not an extremely structured experience. It's a "free for all" way to find a roommate. "Free for all" as in free, no charge. Also, free for all as in, that's what it is.

 

You can place roommate adverts, find rooms for rent, all for free, but your roommate advert will only be as good as YOU make it.

 

We have several advice sections we recommend browsing for best results. To successfully find a roommate here will require a bit of thought, a bit of actual typing, and some ability to read and follow instructions.

 

For those looking for a more directed roommate search experience with an in-depth questionnaire covering all manner of relevant questions to ask when looking for a roommate, we can also recommend: RoomieMatch Roommates - Find a roommate without SCAMS, SPAMS, or SCUMS - we take out the trash for you. Exclusively human-moderated roommate service. Free roommate search and cheap roommate search options, detailed roommate matching profiles. US and Canada.

 

 

How do I find a roommate here?

Look for the buttons up top under "100% free roommate search:  step by step."

 

After your advert passes human review, you can revisit The Roommate Feed as often as you like to check for potential roommates of interest.

 

 

 

How do I sign up?

General tips in addition to the exceedingly basic but often adequate steps in the buttons above:

ONE

Have a valid and currently active email address before trying to register. In addition to just having the email address, you have to know what it is and be able to type it correctly, no typos.

 

If you're not sure how to type your email address (not just your screen or user name or User ID, but the whole entire email address), we'd strongly recommend finding out before you try.

 

All email addresses contain an "@" sign and at least one period, and exceedingly few start with "www," because those are URLs, folks.

 

(Yes, we know, many of you are saying, "Yes, I know. I can read." You might be surprised.)

 

 

TWO

Your email address must not only be valid in a general sense or be able to accept mail from some senders, but also specifically be able to accept mail from:

roommates@roommateroommateroommate.com

 

Most major email providers these days DO employ "spamblockers," and all of them make mistakes in blocking email from time to time (meaning, send email to a "Junk" folder when you really didn't consider it junk . . or just plain delete it for you entirely).

 

No, we DON'T send spam, but any site that sends a lot of email gets spamblocked periodically due to email provider spam paranoia. Even if you're NOT AWARE you have any spamblocker active or don't recall requesting anything like that, most email providers do this by default and not necessarily with your permission.

 

So we strongly recommend placing:

@roommateroommateroommate.com

on your "whitelist" (also known as Contact List/Safe Sender List/Custom Sender List/Allowed Sender List/Address Book/Friends list/Buddy List) BEFORE trying to register. "Whitelist" simply means telling your email provider to accept all email from a particular email address, however you do that with your email account.

 

If you really can't figure that out for your particular email account on your own, instructions should be available directly from your provider. If you or your email provider has employed any form of spamblocker that rejects your validation email, you won't be able to finish registration and post here.

 

In addition, some email providers are now allowing an opt-in process where users can require any new and not-as-yet-whitelisted sender get an email directing them to a website where they can type in digits/letters to "confirm their identity." We don't respond to those. It's all up to you on your end and your end alone to make sure you can get our email, or you won't be able to find a roommate here.

 

After you fill out the registration form, you will be sent an automated validation email confirming your registration and requiring you to click on a link before you can continue.

 

If your email account is working properly and you followed the instructions above, this email should arrive more or less instantaneously. If there is some sort of delay, still probably within a couple of minutes.

 

If you attempt to register and the email the forum sends to confirm gets blocked or rejected for any reason, you won't be able to confirm the validity of your email account by clicking on the link, and then you won't be able to place an advert and continue finding a roommate.

 

 

 

I tried to sign up, but never got my email?

If you tried to register and still haven't received your validation email after several minutes, check your Bulk/Junk/Suspect/Spam folder. 

 

In addition to following the instructions within that email, use the interface to reidentify that email as Not Spam or you risk other emails from us being deleted or lost.

 

If it has been awhile and you didn't follow the instructions regarding whitelisting first, were never able to find your validation email anywhere (meaning, your email provider blocked/deleted it entirely without your permission) . . . you'll probably have to try registering again with another email address. You'll probably want to read the instructions before trying again.

 

How do I add my roommate advert?

Buttons up above.

 

 

How do I find a roommate/message potential roommates?

After following the buttons above, there will be a BRIEF DELAY FOR HUMAN REVIEW.

 

You can't view member profiles, reply with questions to other adverts, or privately message other members until you add an advert that passes. We will message you if and when it does.

 

While we regret that the brief delay may be frustrating for some, human review IS actually necessary to shield the sincere from a barrage of dirty rotten spammers and complete and total idiots.

 

AFTER your roommate advert passes human review, you'll be able to browse other roommate adverts and message whomever you like.

 

You will be sent an email when we send you a message. You can also check for messages while signed using the menu up top right. (If you see "sign in" up there rather than your username, you need to sign in first.)

 

After approval, click "find a roommate" up at the top, pick your metro area, browse the potential roommates, then message those who interest you.

 

 

How do I reply to others?

You can reply to other adverts by hitting reply after the advert and adding something publicly after their post as a question, and/or privately messaging the advert's author. You privately message someone by clicking their username to view their profile, then clicking "Message." 

 

If it's a question that might interest anyone other than yourself, like "How much is the rent?" (if they didn't already include that, obviously), you may want to hit reply to their advert in the forum to ask, because that conversation could be useful for others too.

 

If it's a conversation that's not for everyone else, like, "I'm interested in your room, can we meet for coffee?" it'd be much more clever to send the person a private message instead.

 

Again, as per the above, hitting reply to an advert in the forum and including your contact info that way is not recommended. Privately messaging inside the forum first is recommended, then move to another form of communication only when you feel more comfortable with someone.

 

(Again, since everything is free anyway, it's much more clever to save offsite contact info for those with whom you're willing to privately message, not absolutely everyone. Even if you actually want everyone in here now to have your cell number, you might not want someone showing up later to get it, see? Sticking with private messages first, you're in control. Including your email address or phone number in a post for the rest of the forum as well, you're not.)

 

 

 

What else will you email me if I sign up?

We will NOT send you anything other than the email required for your voluntary participation here except what YOU choose. Nor will we ever sell or share your email address with anyone else except if required by a court of law. No one. Else. Ever. We promise. 

 

So that means that WE who run this site will not CHOOSE to send you any email other than that required for your participation.

 

But YOU have options about how/how not to get email from our system automatically and/or personally from anyone else browsing it.  They're in the boxes next to the roommate adverts.

 

First, if you post an advert, folks that read it and are interested may message you personally about your availability as a roommate and/or your room available (but that would be the point, right?). You will be sent a notification via email when another member messages you. You can edit that via your notification settings, but we would not recommend that, as it's obviously helpful to know if a potential roommate is trying to get in touch.

 

In addition to that, you can elect to have the system send you messages when you have replies to your own. (Or, you can just drop by and look on your own whenever it strikes your fancy, the follow option is just a convenience for those that would like that.)

 

The volume of notifications you can/not receive is UP TO YOU.

 

 

 

What do I do when I've found my roommate(s), and don't need to look for any more for the time being?

Please let us know.

 

You'd do that by replying to any email we've sent you and letting us know you are no longer looking, or by messaging us in the forum itself. You can message us by selecting the MESSAGE ROOMMATE.3 tab at the top, then selecting "message" or the envelope icon. You do need to be signed in before you can message.

 

What we will do in response is delete any and all current roommate adverts you have posted, but leave your registration, any messages sent or received, and all other privileges intact. That means whenever you need a roommate again, all you have to do is come back and post another advert. You would NOT have to sign up all over again.

 

In the meantime (meaning, when you do NOT have an advert posted) no one new will see your profile or perceive you as currently looking for a roommate.

 

If you sent messages that have not yet received a reply, it's possible one of your recipients still may. If that happens, it would be swell if you could simply and politely reply that they missed out on your roommate opportunity this time around.

 

 

 

I can't seem to edit my advert.

No, you can't. As per the Guidelines, our human-moderation also means you can't edit after submission. Since this site is completely free AND human-moderated AND we always have some dirty rotten spammers to hose off, we can't keep moderating the same adverts over and over again. 

 

So whatever you need to say? Say it BEFORE you hit the post button.

 

 

 

Should I include my personal contact info inside my advert?

As per the Guidelines, after your advert passes human review, you will be able to use our messaging system to contact potential roommates.

 

It's clever to use that FIRST then WHEN and IF you decide you like someone, THEN provide additional contact info directly to that person.

 

It's NOT WISE to put it directly in your advert; it's wisest to CHOOSE who you'd like to have additional contact info. 

 

(And yes, the messaging system is 100% free too. No charge whatsoever to use it, no need to try to "sneak anything in" to avoid charges, because there aren't any anyway.)

 

So again, we recommend adding your advert here as a way to INITIATE contact with potential new roommates in INITIALLY a more anonymous way, to correspond at least briefly with any person of interest via those more anonymous mechanisms to ascertain what you think of them, if the person in question is someone you think you'd like, whether they might be appropriate for what you're looking for, etc., and then meet them in public first at least once BEFORE you provide them with more personal contact info like your work or home phone or how to get to your house.

 

We're pretty much recommending what we think most of your mommies would say, because hey, most of them probably know best.

 

You're an adult, your adult choices prevail in your own life, and you and you alone are responsible for them. We're not responsible for any outcome as a result of posting an ad here, you are.

 

But we would recommend being clever about it by following our recommendations above.

 

 

 

What are the absolute posting guidelines to avoid deletion of my advert?
From the Guidelines: "For maximum social success, your roommate advert should convey not only the bare bones specifics, but also your general literacy, mental capacity, and overall desirability. 

 

In other words, please enter helpful stuff so others may decide if they might like YOU as a roommate.

 

Helpful stuff = others will care enough to contact you, or respond when you contact them. NO helpful stuff = your advert will be deleted.

 

NO you can't just say, "Contact me for more details." You have to include some helpful details here TOO, or your advert won't survive our idiot check.

 

To keep those dirty rotten spammers hosed off, URLs will be rejected. Please share some actual words about your actual roommate situation actually here.

 

While we ain't yer momma, you should know that excessive profanity will never be clever in a roommate advert.

 

This is not for dating or sex. It's for roommates. Anyone too dense to grasp that essential difference will be deleted, unceremoniously. (That means we won't email you to tell you that you're too much of a dumbass to stay listed. Go perv someplace else, numnuts.)

 

Also, if you sound otherwise insincere, ill-intentioned, or just WAY too insane? NO to that noise too."

...

This should really go without saying, but for some it might not, so here it is.

 

Adverts need to be about FINDING ROOMMATES.

 

Also, to reiterate the above, in addition to any other advert that's not on topic, we will DELETE any adverts that seem primarily sexual or romantic in nature. We are NOT a dating service, please don't be a socially incompetent asshat and try to use us as one anyway.

 

By our definition, "roommate" does not equal sexual/romantic partner, long or short-term or anything else. We don't mean "roommate" in a cheap or cheesy X-rated movie way, we mean it in the more business-oriented financial arrangement way.

 

Despite whatever open-mindedness you may feel as to how all your life's various relationship(s) may ultimately turn out, if you're primarily thinking of roommate as a euphemism for something you're hoping will be more than "just friends" at the outset, you need to go elsewhere.

 

Any thinly disguised request for sexual contact suggested as a "roommate" situation will be regarded as completely asinine as well.

 

There are a kawillion other sites out there that actually ARE specifically designed for sex/romance/hookups, please go patronize one of those instead.

 

If we see an ad that isn't mostly about finding a roommate or is inappropriately sexual in nature in addition to that, we will delete it.

 

We won't ask you about it, we won't request additional clarification, we won't give you notice, we will just delete it.

If you persist in posting inappropriately, we will ban your IP and report you to your service provider. Please don't waste your time and ours with that tacky nonsense.

 

 

 

Do you have any advert posting recommendations other than the Guidelines?

Why yes, yes we do. 

 

First of all, there are several helpful advice sections you can read, for roommate advice in general as well as ideas about stuff to post. (links are always at the bottom)

 

Second, you don't HAVE to be interesting or descriptive.

 

You don't have to provide any cool details about yourself, what your interests are, what you like, what you don't like, the unique ways that you are actually an individual.

 

You don't have to tell anyone about how you would be a great roommate . . . or at least, a non-offensive one.

 

You don't have to tell others what you'd love in a great roommate, or dislike in one you found . . . less than great.

 

You don't have to tell anyone why it is they'd want to live with you or at least accept living with you rather than all the other folks they could potentially pick.

 

You don't have to provide any encouraging or attractive details about the place you have to share, or why it is that anyone would want to live in your particular residence. You don't have to provide practical details about cost, location, amenities.

 

No, you don't HAVE to do any of that.

 

But no one else has to respond to YOU, either.

 

This is a freeform situation, folks. The upside to this service is that all options and all uses are entirely free.

 

The downside is that no one is holding your hand or directing your experience in a very structured way, it can only be what you make it.

 

To the extent you fail to actively explain why anyone in their right mind would want to choose you and/or your place for their lifestyle, they probably won't. If you don't take a few minutes of your time to tell someone why they might want to reply to you, you're not providing any readers any motivation to take a few minutes of theirs to do so.

 

 

 

What about profanity?

From the Guidelines: "While we ain't yer momma, you should know that excessive profanity will never be clever in a roommate advert." 

 

Mostly, we don't recommend it. It makes a bad first impression on some people, and if you make a bad first impression, your response rate and ultimate ability to find roommates in a timely fashion will probably suffer accordingly.

 

We do think profanity has its limited place in life, usually in expressing oneself in extreme situations or sexual situations. However, if you think your roommate ad should constitute one of those, you are probably not following the Guidelines and your advert will almost certainly be rejected.

 

We won't delete for small amounts of profanity, but if your ad is just chock full of four letter words to the point of sounding so ridiculous we think it's a waste of time for other readers, we'll kick it to the curb.

 

 

 

Can I post photos of myself and/or the place I have to offer within my advert?

Yes. While adding your advert, you attach those files. 

 

But do keep it tasteful. Anything else will be viewed as idiotic.

 

In other words, explicit photos are not welcome and any posting or referencing of such will result in the deletion of your entire advert, not just the photo.

 

By "explicit" we mean anything that couldn't appear in a PG-rated movie. Since we don't require consent to possibly view photos of an "adult nature" prior to entering this forum, it would be extremely rude to surprise anyone who didn't consent with some of those sort of photos anyway.

 

Please don't be extremely rude.

 

Meanwhile, extreme rudeness toward anyone who might otherwise have considered you an appropriate roommate choice would also be idiotic, in addition to extremely rude.

 

Please see the "absolute posting guidelines" above for more clarification on the differences between a dating service and this forum.

 

 

 

Will my email address be shared with other members/potential roommates?

No, no one other than we that run the website have any direct access to your email address as a result of registration here. 

 

You'll be sent a message at the email address you used to sign up if someone messages you, but anyone contacting you initially will only be able to message you via the site, not email you directly. No other subscriber will get your email address, unless/until you give it to them YOURSELF.

 

Email addresses are also not accessible to search engines or bots. They're kept completely private.

 

We also will NOT be sharing your email address with anyone else, ever. No other companies, no other "offers" or ad lists, no "trusted partners," nobody else unless required by a court of law, ever.

 

 

 

Will spammers get my email address as a result of registering/posting a roommate advert here?

NO. 

 

Registering for this forum and adding your advert in and of itself will NOT expose you to spam and/or contact by third parties not from this site or registered with it as a potential roommate.

 

Your email address is required to register, but only used for email from the system. It's not provided by US to any other members (they have to use the messaging system to contact you, and that doesn't display your email address), and it's also not accessible to search engines and bots.

 

We will NOT send you anything other than the email required for your voluntary participation here except what YOU choose. Nor will we ever sell or share your email address with anyone else except if required by a court of law. No one. Else. Ever. We promise.

 

Yes, that means we won't sell or share your email address with any other site, third party, organization, mailing list, company, nothing and nobody whatsoever. No "trusted partners," nobody at all. Email addresses shared with the site stay right here.

 

Obviously, if you get to know another member and want to provide them with your email address and/or any other contact info, YOU certainly can. And then obviously, others can see the content of any advert you placed (but that would be the point, right?).

 

But when and if you share your email address with anyone else and exactly what you share in your advert(s) is entirely up to you, within our Guidelines.

 

Once advert(s) are deleted, they will no longer be published or accessible anyplace on our site. We will not retain information from those adverts for any future use.

 

 

 

I received a message from another member here, and there's something wrong with it.

. . . I think someone trying to use this service to do something other than find a roommate, someone is sending messages that are explicit and/or severely idiotic, etc.

 

 

While signed in, please message us and let us know. You can message us by selecting the MESSAGE ROOMMATE.3 tab at the top, then selecting "message" or the envelope icon.

 

You do need to be signed in before you can message.

 

In your message, please be EXTREMELY SPECIFIC about exactly what the problem was, and the USERNAME of the person you are reporting.

 

We will investigate and delete anyone doing anything whatsoever against our Guidelines. Thank you in advance for your effort in keeping this a good place to find a roommate.

 

 

Privacy Policy

Registering for this forum and adding your advert in and of itself will NOT expose you to spam and/or contact by third parties not from this site or registered with it as a potential roommate. 

 

Your email address is required to register, but only used for email from the system. It's not provided by US to any other members (they have to use the messaging system to contact you, and that doesn't display your email address), and it's also not accessible to search engines and bots.

 

We will NOT send you anything other than the email required for your voluntary participation here except what YOU choose. Nor will we ever sell or share your email address with anyone else except if required by a court of law. No one. Else. Ever. We promise.

 

Yes, that means we won't sell or share your email address with any other site, third party, organization, mailing list, company, nothing and nobody whatsoever. No "trusted partners," nobody at all. Email addresses shared with the site stay right here.

 

Obviously, if you get to know another member and want to provide them with your email address and/or any other contact info, YOU certainly can. And then obviously, others can see the content of any advert you placed (but that would be the point, right?).

 

But when and if you share your email address with anyone else and exactly what you share in your advert(s) is entirely up to you, within our Guidelines.

 

Once advert(s) are deleted, they will no longer be published or accessible anyplace on our site. We will not retain information from those adverts for any future use.

 

 

 

Terms of Service/Legal Stuff/You're a Grownup . . . Right?

In using this site you agree not to hold its authors responsible for anything at all. 

 

We hope it will be a useful tool for you, but as an adult, it's up to you to make your own adult decisions about what to do with any information within, and you accept your very own adult consequences for those decisions.

 

We cannot recommend or endorse any member of this site as necessarily a fine roommate (although we certainly hope they shall be).

 

Please also remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted.

 

We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message.

 

The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this website. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary.

 

You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this website to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law.

 

You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this website.

 

Our software uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a personalized experience when you browse this site.