This page explains how to register and use the membership facilities once logged in.

Registering

Go to the top of the page and click Register. You will be taken to a page where you will be asked to type in a username and a password, screen name email, URL and medium.

Once you have entered these details you need to type in the letters and numbers you see above the submit button. This is called a captcha and is an added security feature.

Click the submit button. A message will be sent to the site administrator who will check the data and activate your account. When this has been done you will receive a confirmation email.

The username identifies you on the computer.

You will need the password to access your account.

The screen name (which can either be the same or different to the username) will represent you on screen.

The URL is the address of your web site if you have one.

Using Your Membership

When you have registered you can access your control panel via the forum. You can only access this once your registration has been accepted and your account activated at which point you will receive an email from the webmaster as soon as possible.

There are four areas that you can access. Your Public Profile, Your Control Panel, Member List and Private Messages. These are found at the top of the page.

Your Public Profile - This is what other members see, containing information about yourself, contact links, image, personal information, site statistics and status. This information you input yourself, as much or as little as you wish, via Your Control Panel.

Your Control Panel - This page gives you your account statistics an menu on the left hand side with the tools to edit your personal settings and manage information.

Personal settings can be edited here. Your entire profile, your signature which follows any message you post, or email. An Avatar is an image that represents you in postings plus other settings and preferences. The email setting allows you to control how much communication you may wish to engage in.

Under Utilities you can view a summary of your forum entries and control who you may or may not want to communicate with.

There is also an area for private messages and for your notepad where you can store notes and information.

Member List - This gives you an overview of the membership and direct links to their emails, URLs (web sites) etc. You can link to the members' profiles and from here also post private messages directly to whoever you wish.

Private Message - This allows you to send, receive and manage messages online from other members. Take this as an internal messaging system.