Frequently Asked Questions
CONNECT 56000 — Welcome to the G33Z3R BBS, sysop online.
Type HELP or just read on. ▒▒▒
44 ENTRIES ON FILE
C:\FAQ\01> What is G33Z3R Radio?
A nostalgic time capsule of the music that defined the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s — pick a vibe, rediscover songs, and share the memories attached to them. It's about the feeling a song brings back, not just the track.
C:\FAQ\02> What's “G33Z3R Online” / the portal?
An optional mid-90s makeover. Flip the portal skin on (in the header display controls) and the site dresses up like a dial-up online service: a channel rail down the side, a Welcome screen with the day’s picks, and a “Keyword:”jump box to teleport anywhere. It’s the same site underneath — purely cosmetic and opt-in. You can pair it with an optional retro screenname for the full “sign on” feel.
C:\FAQ\03> What's the Mail channel? (You have mail)
When someone replies to a memory you posted, it lands in your Mail— the 📬 channel in the portal (and the “You” menu). No inbox to manage and no email address; it’s just the replies to your stuff, waiting for that “you have mail!” moment.
C:\FAQ\04> Do you host or stream the music?
No. We don't host a single song. Every "play" button is a one-tap link to search that track on the platform you already use — Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, YouTube, Amazon Music, or Pandora. You listen there; we handle the nostalgia.
C:\FAQ\05> Do I need an account?
Nope. Browse, favorite, build mixtapes, and post memories with no sign-up — your favorites and in-progress mixtapes live right in your own browser. If you want a name on your stuff you can claim an optional retro screenname(bound to your Secret Frequency, not an email) — but there’s still no PII, and posting anonymously stays the default.
C:\FAQ\06> What are “memories”?
Every song asks one question: what does this song remind you of? Share the drive, the dance, the heartbreak, the summer — post it publicly (anonymously if you like) and read everyone else’s on the song’s page. You can also addressa memory to someone (“💌 for my daughter,” “to my younger self”) — turning it into a message worth handing down.
C:\FAQ\07> What's “Remembers” / Memory Collections?
When a memory answers a themed prompt — first concert, summer of ’89, the one that got away — it collects with everyone else’s into a Memory Collection. Browse them by feeling, not just by song — a whole wall of strangers remembering the same thing you do.
C:\FAQ\08> Are my favorites and mixtapes saved?
Yes — favorites and your in-progress mixtapes save on the device you’re using, with no account needed. To carry them to your phone or another computer, save your “stuff” to a secret 4-word code (we call it your Secret Frequency) and enter that code on the other device — no account, no email. And when you publish a mixtape it also gets its own shareable link anyone can open.
C:\FAQ\09> Can I keep my stuff across devices?
Yes — that’s the Secret Frequency. Tap the 💾 save button in the header to turn your stuff (favorites, mixtapes, badges, and game stats) into a memorable 4-word code, then enter that code on any other device to bring everything along. No login, no email. There’s no password reset, though — if you lose the four words there’s no way to recover that stuff, so write them down somewhere safe.
C:\FAQ\10> I'm on a public or shared computer (library, school, work) — is that safe?
Yes — when you enter your 4-word code to bring your stuff over, pick “Public / shared computer”. In that mode nothing is saved to that computer: your favorites and mixtapes live only for that session and are wiped automatically when you close the browser, and the device is never remembered. A reminder bar stays on screen with a “Sign out now”button so you can clear it the moment you’re done. (Heads up: in public mode you stay signed out, so anything you post is anonymous.)
C:\FAQ\11> How do I sign out or remove my stuff from a device?
On your profile (/me) under On your other devices, tap Sign out of this device — it wipes your favorites, mixtapes, and screenname off that browser and stops it syncing. Nothing is lost: your cloud copy is safe and your 4-word code brings it all back. To delete the cloud copy entirely, use Erase my cloud copy— that releases your screenname back to the pool (you can re-claim it later if it’s still free) and un-names your public posts, and it can’t be undone.
C:\FAQ\12> What are badges?
Little achievements you unlock by exploring and collecting — digging through themes, building mixtapes, leaving memories, keeping a game streak, and more. They live on your Badges shelf and ride along with your stuff when you sync it across devices.
C:\FAQ\13> What are stickers? (and how are they different from badges?)
Badges are earned — they fire on their own when you hit something. Stickers are found. There are 25hidden around the site, and each one sits somewhere it belongs: a joystick in the arcade, a boombox at the station, an 8-ball on the Hot Seat. Spot one, click it, it’s yours. They’re not scattered at random — they’re placed, so they’re actually huntable. Your sheet lives in your binder, and the ones you haven’t found yet show as silhouettes. Collecting all 25 means wandering the arcade, the Mall, the station, the graveyard and the era tools — which is the whole idea.
C:\FAQ\14> What eras and genres do you cover?
Four decades across 45+ themes — grunge, hip-hop, hair metal, disco, Motown, new wave, punk, country, college rock, industrial, two-tone ska, and more — plus the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 for every year from 1960 to 1999. Browse them by decade, by genre, or favorite the ones you love.
C:\FAQ\15> Is there a music quiz?
Yes — the G33Z3R Quiz shows you a hit and you name the year, the artist, or the song(or play Mixed). Pick the decades you actually lived through with the era chips so you’re never quizzed on years before your time, then share your score.
C:\FAQ\16> Are there games?
A whole arcade at /games — quick stuff like Trackdyl (the daily blurred cover), Word Search, Hangman, Higher-or-Lower, Pin the Year and Trivia Jukebox, plus full-on retro games: Mall Crawl, B-Sides, Crossfade, Tapeworm, Wax Muncher, Deep Cuts (a dungeon crawler), Riff Raid(a run-and-gun), a couple of platformers and a fighter. There’s also G33Z3R Goons — a collect-and-battle card game: open packs, build a crew of three, and take on the G33Z3R DJ. Several track your streaks and stats, playing earns you badges, and high scores post to the leaderboards.
C:\FAQ\17> What's the Mall?
A nostalgia gift shop — vinyl, gear, and books for the eras you love, at /mall. It’s affiliate: we link out to where the thing actually lives (no checkout, no cart, no scraped prices), and as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Your Mall personalizes the shelves from your stuff — your favorites, your top artists, your decade — and there’s a daily Blue Light Special and a Gift Finder. We never put shop links on the Memory Wall.
C:\FAQ\18> Can I see if an artist is still touring?
Yes — most artist pages have a 🎤 Still Touring?section listing upcoming concerts, plus the tribute bands and members’ solo / other-band shows playing nearby. Song pages show an On Tour chip when the artist has dates, and theme pages surface which acts from that scene are on the road. Tour info comes from Ticketmaster, and the Ticketsbuttons link out to buy — we may earn a small commission on those, the same as the Mall. It’s free, never gated, and always a teaser that links out to the real ticket page. And right below it, 🎟️ Ticket Trail is the “then” to that “now”: search historical setlists on Setlist.fm (a link out — we don’t host setlist data) and save a concert memory like “I was there” or “had the shirt.”
C:\FAQ\19> What's my profile and the “Backstage Pass”?
Your profile is a 3-ring binder— the one you hauled to school, except this one’s yours. Your avatar, screenname, away message and years live on the cover; inside are the pages: favorites, mixtapes, memories, badges, your sticker sheet, and the rest of your stuff. The Backstage Pass is the shareable card version: your generational label, your vibe, and your stats, built entirely from your stuff and ready to screenshot or share.
C:\FAQ\20> What's People / the Backstage Crew?
A pseudonymous “who’s around” at /people— recent members by screenname and what they’ve been up to. No accounts, no fake “5 people online.” You show up once you’ve claimed a screenname and left a memory or published a mixtape.
C:\FAQ\21> What's Versus / “Song Twins”?
Two takes, one vote. Versuspairs a song with its cover (or the original it’s based on) — tap either cover to hear a 30-second preview, then pick which you like better — plus Song Twins, where a modern hit meets the catalog classic it borrowed from. A fun way to trace how a riff or a hook traveled across the years.
C:\FAQ\22> What are Top Lists?
Fan-voted rankings of the best of the era — Top 50 Artists of the ’80s, Top Grunge Bands, Top Slow Jams, and more, at /lists. We seed each list from the catalog; you vote entries up or down and even addsomeone we missed — they drop in at the bottom and ride up on votes. The order is the crowd’s, not ours.
C:\FAQ\23> What's Backtrack?
The world around the music. On year and song pages, Backtracksets the scene — the movies, TV, headlines, prices, fads, and tech of the moment — so a song doesn’t just play, it drops you back into the room you first heard it in.
C:\FAQ\24> What else is there to dig into?
A few more rabbit holes: the Liner Notes (a fresh weekly zine), the G33Z3R Gazette (retro news from the wire), the Year-End Countdown (a year’s #1s, counted down), the Music-Age quiz (the year your taste really belongs to), Pass It Down (build a cross-generation mixtape to hand off), the Crate (an endless discovery feed of songs, memories, and status posts), and the Theme Catalog of public themes (mixtapes) other people have made. Deeper still: Now Showing (the movie soundtracks that raised you, with trailers), the Retro Graveyard (a memorial to the venues, studios and record stores we lost), the Meme Vault, and the G33Z3R Blog.
C:\FAQ\25> What's the “What's spinning?” wall?
A quick status you can post at the top of the Crate— what you’re playing or the memory it stirs up — with emoji and an optional GIF, and you can tag the song it’s about. Posts are public, tied to your screenname, surface as cards in the feed, and fade after 48 hours. Grab a screenname to post; manage or delete yours on My G33Z3R.
C:\FAQ\26> What's The Liner Notes?
A fresh zine every week, built from the catalog: artist spotlights, year-in-music retrospectives, chart flashbacks, theme deep-dives, Cassette Clash match-ups, and In Memoriam tributes. Flip through it like a magazine — no account needed.
C:\FAQ\27> Are there chat rooms?
Yes — live chat roomsby decade and scene (the lobby, the ’80s room, the Cipher, Headbangers, and more). Reading’s open to everyone; grab a screenname to post (with emoji, text emoticons, and GIFs). Each room shows a real “🟢 N here now” headcount, lines are screened and auto-cleared after a while, and Report / Mutehandle anything off.
C:\FAQ\28> Can I message other members or add buddies?
Yes. Add members to your Backstage Crew from their profile, then send private messages. By default you only get DMs from people you’ve added (you can open it up or turn it off), every thread has Block + Report, and there are no read receipts. Pseudonymous screennames only — no email, no PII.
C:\FAQ\29> What are Events — listening parties, trivia, countdowns?
Members host Events that everyone shows up to at a set time, each with a real format: a Listening Party (tune the whole room to the same live station, or pace a setlist together), a Countdown Reveal (#N → #1, one at a time), Group Trivia (the same question to everyone, with a live leaderboard), or a Mixtape Jam (everyone builds one tape together). Each event has its own live chat and countdown. Claim a screenname to host one.
C:\FAQ\30> What's the People's Tape?
One mixtape the whole site builds together. Anyone adds a single song from any song page (look for “📼 People’s Tape”) — no song twice per side; when a side fills, a fresh one starts. Listen at /mixtapes/community.
C:\FAQ\31> What's the Question of the Day?
A quick, no-wrong-answer music poll — one tap, then watch where the room lands. A new one every day on the home page and at /qotd.
C:\FAQ\32> Can I react to memories and mixtapes?
Yep — beyond the 💜, every memory and mixtape has an emoji reaction bar (🔥 ❤️ 😂 🎶 🥹). One of each per person; counts are public, but who reacted is never shown.
C:\FAQ\33> Are there leaderboards?
The arcade high-score games post to leaderboardsunder your screenname (opt-in — claim one and your scores post automatically). The weekly boards reset every Monday so there’s always a fresh climb; if nobody’s posted to a game yet this week, its board shows the all-time best instead, so you can always see what to beat. The daily-puzzle boards (longest streak, total solved) never reset.
C:\FAQ\34> I came back and saw a “while you were gone” note — what is that?
The welcome-back digest: a one-line summary of what happened while you were away — replies to your memories, unread messages, reactions, and what your Backstage Crew posted. It only appears when there’s something new, and “✓ Caught up” clears it.
C:\FAQ\35> What's the Birthday and Graduation stuff?
Two ways in by your own timeline: Birthday shows the No. 1 song of the year you were born, and Class of… builds the soundtrack to your middle-school, high-school, first-car, and early-adult years from your graduation year. Set your years once on your profileand both pages default to you. There’s no dead end, either — born after 1999 or before 1960 still gets a result: the Time Machine bridges you to the era of your youth (the revivals your generation brought back, or the #1 in the house you grew up in).
C:\FAQ\36> What does the “Tune In” button do?
On themes whose era and genre resolve to a station, a Tune In drawer deep-links to free internet radio (SomaFM, TuneIn, iHeartRadio) and artist-seeded stations on Pandora and YouTube — so a few themes won't show it. We don't stream audio ourselves; these open real stations you listen to there.
C:\FAQ\37> Is there a radio I can actually listen to here?
Yes — tap the 📻 boombox in the corner for free internet radio (SomaFM and Radio Paradise) matched to the eras and genres, and it keeps playing as you browse the rest of the site. The volume slider works, and there’s a real graphic EQ — flip the EQ button on and the five sliders actually shape the sound (it works on most stations). As always, we host no audio of our own — these are real, licensed stations.
C:\FAQ\38> What's Retro TV?
Retro TV is a channel-flipping CRT: turn it on and surf channels of music videos by theme and decade, complete with vintage commercial breaks. Lean back and let it play. (Nothing video-related loads until you switch the set on.)
C:\FAQ\39> Can I turn a mixtape into a real playlist?
Yes — on any playlist or shared mixtape there’s a “📼 Take this tape with you”box. Copy the tracklist (or use the one-tap Spotify option when it’s set up) and build it in your own Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or YouTube library — free, no account needed on our end.
C:\FAQ\40> How do I follow G33Z3R on Spotify?
We curate branded G33Z3R.com playlists on Spotify, with more added all the time. Look for the “Follow” link in the footer, or the G33Z3R.com playlist pinned at the top of a theme page when one's ready.
C:\FAQ\41> Can I change how the site looks?
Yes — tap the sliders control in the header to dial in the vibe: light or dark mode; render themes as cassettes, vinyl, or CDs; swap the display font; and toggle effects like CRT scanlines, VHS glitch, the idle screensaver, era relics, neon glow, and a master mute. There’s even a full Web 1.0 / GeoCities skin if you want it to look like 1995.
C:\FAQ\42> Do you track me or sell my data?
No. No cross-site tracking, no ads following you around, and no account required. Memories are anonymous, and we hash IP addresses for spam control rather than storing them. The only things kept on our server are the things you choose to post or save. See our privacy policy for the details.
C:\FAQ\43> Is it free?
Completely. No account, no paywall, no catch.
C:\FAQ\44> How do I report a memory or get in touch?
Every memory has a ⚑ report button. For anything else — removing a memory you posted, a question, or feedback — email info@g33z3r.com.
C:\SECRETS> psst… this old box is hiding things.
There are easter eggs tucked around the site — little surprises, old-school codes, a hidden room or two — and each one you find unlocks a secret ??? badge on your badge wall. We won't tell you where. Keep your eyes (and ears) open. 🥚
C:\> ▋