The Smoke Ring Frequently Asked Questions

The Smoke Ring is a comprehensive directory of Barbecue related web pages devoted to the enjoyment of cooking and eating Barbecue. It is a continuous loop of websites with Next and Previous buttons that take you from one site on the ring to the next. Since it's conception in 1998 The Smoke Ring has achieved exceptional notoriety as a source of Barbecue-related information on the Internet and as such attracts a lot of Web traffic.

In addition to being a directory of barbecue sites, The Smoke Ring also provides extensive information about barbecue, including how to articles, recipes, news, and more. We also host a very active online forum.

As long as a website contains content that is related to barbecue, grilling, or outdoor cooking, maintained by the owner, and directions set forth by the Ringmaster are followed, any website can be a member of The Smoke Ring.

There is no charge for becoming a member and listing your site in The Smoke Ring directory. Membership is free!

The Smoke Ring is a directory of barbecue related web sites. If you don't have a website then by definition, you can't be a member of the ring. If you want to join our barbecue community where you can discuss and learn from others then register with The Smoke Ring Forum If you prefer an email discussion group, join The Smoke Ring Google Group

In addition to containing Barbecue content, the member website must also display The Smoke Ring navigation links. More detailed rules are available on the Join page.

The navigation links are used by web surfers to navigate from one site in the ring to the next. If a site doesn't have the links, a broken ring exists. The page containing The Smoke Ring links is the first page a web surfer will see when arriving at your site via the ring.

No. Web ring navigation links are not the same as "Link to Us". To be a member of The Smoke Ring you MUST have a complete navigation bar on your website that includes the Next, Previous, Next 5, etc. navigation links.

On a regular basis a program called a "Crawler" attempts to access each site in the ring and checks if the site is still active and the navigation links are still there. If links are not on the page or the website is inaccessible, it will be moved back into the queue and you will receive a notification email. If you don't respond to the email within a reasonable time period, your site will be removed from the queue. If you move the links to a different page on your site, your domain name changes, or your email address changes, you need to notify us or update your information in The Smoke Ring database.

Go to the "Members Only" area on The Smoke Ring website, enter your site ID and password. You will be taken to the form containing details about your website. Click "View HTML text" button. Copy

Go to the "Members Only" area on The Smoke Ring website, enter your site ID, submit. The password will be emailed to the address you entered when you joined.

Every site in the ring has a unique id that identifies it. The site id appears in your ring navigation links.

If you are a member of The Smoke Ring and you have the ring navigation links on your site, move your mouse over one of the ring navigation links, like Next. Look in the status bar at the bottom of your web browser and you should see the URL for that link. It will look something like: http://www.thesmokering.com/next.asp?id=xxx The number following id= is your site ID.

When you add navigation links to your website, send mail to the Ringmaster telling him your site is ready. If you forgot to send this email, the "Crawler" will detect that you now have the links and you'll be added to the ring. Don't pester the Ringmaster until it's been sitting for at least a week.

1.Enter the "Members Only" area on The Smoke Ring website.
2.Enter your site ID and password.
3.In the form containing details about your website, make all necessary changes.
5.Click "Save Changes".

Go to Advertising page. It should all be there.

There is a bug (feature?) in FrontPage when you copy HTML from a web page and then paste it into your page it displays the HTML instead of the formatted text. Try this workaround. Copy the HTML for the ring navigation links and paste them into a text editor  like Notepad. Then select and copy the text in Notepad and paste it into your page.

You can customize your navigation bar to match your website look, but the navigation bar must be functional, Next, Previous, Next 5, etc. and all other links that are part of the standard navigation bar must be in place. You can change the color, font, etc. or rearrange the layout to fit the style of your site.

When a new site joins the ring, it appears at the top of the list on the first page of The Smoke Ring member directory. As new sites are added to the top of the list, a site moves down until it eventually gets pushed onto the second page. We are considering adding the ability to purchase placement of your site on the first page of the directory. If you would be interested in such an arrangement, please contact us for information.

Your site doesn't become an official member of The Smoke Ring, and show up in the ring directory, until you have placed the ring navigation links on your site and notified us that they are in place. Your site membership will then be activated and your site will immediately appear in the member directory and the navigation links on your page will become functional.

The search catalog is updated on a regular basis separate from the ring directory. If you just recently joined the ring then your site probably hasn't yet been added to the search index. Just wait a few days and try again.