Please note: the following information is simply my own opinion based on personal experience as a "ring surfer", "ring member", and "ring mistress". It is offered here in hopes that it may help others in selecting or running a web ring.

So, you've built a wonderful web page or entire site (or someone did it for you). Now you would like to share that site with the World Wide Web. Or possibly you're looking for a way to meet other Christians for fellowship and encouragement. Web rings are a great way to do that - as long as the ring is run properly. I hope to give you some tips on "checking out" a web ring "before" you apply for membership.

#1
- Most important of all is pray for God's guidance and let the Holy Spirit guide you in making a decision.

#2
- Find an appropriate ring for your site.
(a) If your site is 100% about cats it really isn't going to fit into a dog ring. "Christian Rings" are much the same. If your site is a personal home site it really isn't going to fit into a Christian business site ring or vice versa.
(b) There are however many Christian Rings that welcome and are made up of sites of a variety of different Christian sites.
(c) You may also want to check "beliefs" within a ring. Many Christian rings accept members of many different denominations but others are made up of sites supporting only one.

#3
So now you have found a ring you believe your site would fit into now you need to check that ring.
(a) Visit the home page for that ring. If they don't have a home page my suggestion is you move on to another ring. If a ringmaster is serious about their ring they will provide public information about that ring.
(b) Don't stop at the main page - check the whole site and sites they may be linking to. Keep in mind that when you send "Aunt Millie" to your site she may visit a site you are linked to not knowing it's not more of your site. Will she be shocked at what she finds?
(c) If your allergic to pine trees would you build a house in a neighborhood lined with pine trees? Same goes for web rings, if you have a family friendly, Glory to God site do you really want to send your visitors to sites that promote non-Christian beliefs?
(d) I believe that a serious minded Christian web ring owner will have 3 main features.

*** An example of this I came across not to long ago. A "on the surface" Christian ring, the home page for the ring carried a few scriptures and claimed to "love our brothers and sisters". I was shocked, upset, and saddened when I found linked from that page the ring owner's personal web page - teaching astrology to beginners! Need I say more?

#4
Now, the final test - what kind of sites are presently members of that ring?
(a) The quickest and easiest first step to doing this is to find the "list of members"" Every web ring I've ever seen has one! If you found the ring threw a "ring code" on a web page you most likely will see options such as "next", "previous", "join", and "list". Click on "list" and you will be taken to a page with at least - site name, web address (url), and a brief description of each site. Read those! The site owners write these descriptions when they applied for membership. The owner is telling the world in a few brief statements what they feel is most important on their site. If you see words like astrology, tarot, witches, pagan, or fowl language of any kind you certainly do not want your Christian site sending visitors to these sites. Find another ring - there are 1000s of true Christian rings out there.
(b)If the descriptions all look acceptable then take at least a few minutes and visit a few of the members sites. This serves two purposes.
1. It gives you a feel for the site and the ring. Check and see what content they have on their site and what other rings they belong to - you already know they belong to the Christian ring you are considering joining. But, how would you feel if along with that one "good" ring they also belong to 10 say lesbian type rings? There are many out there who do this, are not Christians but join Christian rings to give their site "approval", to spread their non-Christian beliefs by infecting Christian rings, or just to get traffic to their sites.
2. If/when you join the ring you'll have some since of familiarity. Most rings that are geared towards fellowship and joining together will send announcements to all members when a new member joins. Often this will bring many visitors to your site, guests signing your guest book, or emails welcoming you. You'll be amazed when/if you go to send a thank you how nice it is when you say something like "thank you for welcoming me to XYZ web ring, actually before joining I visited your site and liked it so much I decided to join". I can tell you, you've just almost instantly made a new best friend and a fellow brother or sister in Christ was made to feel special.

I know this seems like a lot to digest at one time but believe me, it can be well worth the effort. Several of my nearest and dearest friends I met threw Christian web rings!

Additional tips for Ring Leaders:
#1 Sites placing ring codes on 1st page of site send to the ring more visitors.
#2 Ring codes placed more than 1 or 2 spots down on a "rings page" will send next to zero visitors to the next site in the ring. Few people will take the time to wait for all the graphics to load and will most likely start surfing the first or second ring on the page - you have lost visitors.
#3 1 ring code not in place or working properly will STOP the ring from working properly. There are some ring services that will automatically check this for you but not all do.
#4 A well-maintained ring will require regular "checks" both for content added after acceptance and locations of ring codes. The larger your ring the more time will be needed to do this or additional help.