How to Register on the ForumIt has come to my attention that a lot of our members are not using the forum because they do not know how to use it. I will take the blame for that, I should have explained what a forum is and how it works a long time ago. I will correct that problem right now. I will do my best to explain everything in detail so that anyone who is not familiar with forums and how they work will feel comfortable when using our family forum. I will also make a short version so that you will have a choice as to which one you want to use. Before we start, be aware we are experiencing some difficulty with the registration process. About 90 percent of the time the registration process works perfectly, but every once in awhile someone will not receive the registration confirmation in their email. This can be caused by a number of things. Many times your ISP (Internet Service Provider) has what is called "spam filters" which will attempt to "screen" your email for all sorts of junk mail and get rid of it. This "junk" mail goes to a special folder called "junk mail" or "spam mail" or whatever else your ISP has decided to call it. Additionally, many people have software on their computer that does essentially the same thing, it filters out possible "junk mail" and sends it to a special folder where you can read it if you wish, or you can just delete it. If you do not get the registration confirmation email within a few minutes of registering, you will need to find this folder, locate the email and click on it. The rest will be self explanatory. If you cannot find the folder with the registration confirmation, then please email me and I will activate your account manually. Just remember that if you email me, be sure to let me know what your "login" name is so I can find you in the forum database. Recently, we have been plagued with people registering and then posting what is commonly called "spam". Spam is when someone registers and then posts links to sites that try to sell you stuff, or get you join another website, stuff like that. We are working on setting the forum up so that the first 3 posts a new member makes will need to be approved before anyone can see it. Once we approve the first 3posts, then you will be able to make all the posts you want without having us approve them. By setting it up this way we can hopefully "screen" members to make sure they are legitimate family members and not somebody out to "spam" our forum. We may or may not do this, it has a tendency to discourage legitimate family members from registering and posting, but it also helps to prevent "spam" which is what we want to accomplish. We just want you to be aware that if you cannot see your first 3 posts as soon as you post them, just wait a few hours and check back again to see if your post is there. We try to check the forum to see if there are any posts to approve at least once a day, and most days we will check it more than once. Like we said, we may or may not implement this, but if we do, then you know the reason why you can't see the post right away.
Short VersionGo to the forum
Long Detailed VersionA forum is a web site that you can go to and you can read the information you find there. But more importantly, a forum gives you the opportunity to add your own input to the web site. You can answer questions, you can ask questions, you can offer your comments or your suggestions to others, you can start a discussion on a variety of subjects, and in short, you can do practically anything you want to do, within reason. You can even upload pictures for everyone to see if you want to. In short, the forum affords the membership the ability to take an active role in what goes on within the Windemuth Family Organization. When you click on "Forum" on the main web site, you will be taken to the Windemuth Family Heritage Forum. Once there you will be able to read the posts that are already there, but you will not be able to make posts or view pictures until you register. Registering is not difficult, will only take couple minutes, and it is completely free. To register, you will need to look at the top right of the main forum page and find the word "Register", or if you prefer, look toward the bottom left of the main forum page and you will see the word "Register". Click on the word "Register" and you will be taken to another page that has a short three paragraph "Do's and Don'ts" that you will need to agree to in order to continue. It isn't like you are signing your life away, it is just telling you not to use bad language, things of that nature. Just where it says "I agree to these terms" and you will be taken to another page where you actually begin the short registration process. The first question you will see is, "Username". This is where you will enter the name everyone will see whenever you make a post. We prefer it if you use your regular name rather than some off the wall name like "Catfish" or something like that, but this is not a hard and fast rule, you are free to use whatever name you want. For example, I use "james.wintermute" for my username, but again, you can use whatever name you want. The second thing you will need to fill out is your email address. This MUST be a legitimate email address. You can use your regular email address, or you can set up an email address at Yahoo or wherever, but in any case it MUST be a legitimate email address that you can access. I will explain why shortly. Keep something in mind here. We do not sell your email address or anything like that so you have absolutely nothing to worry about by giving us your email address. The third thing to fill out is a confirmation of your email address. Again, this is very important, and please be careful not to screw it up, and I will explain why in a minute. The 4th thing to fill out is your password. You can use letters and/or numbers in your password. I suggest that you use a combination of both. Be sure to write down your username and password so that you will remember it, then keep it someplace safe. If someone should find your username and password you will not lose your bank account or anything like that, but someone may makes posts in the forum using your registration and you may not take kindly to that. The 5th thing to fill out is to confirm your password again. No big deal, this is so that if you made a typo the first time you entered your password , when you enter it again and it doesn't match the first time you entered it, you will be asked to retype it. The next thing is the language, but you don't have a choice for that, you get British/English and that's it. Then comes Time Zone, and all you do is go to the far right and click on the little down arrow and then click on the time zone that you live in. This will ensure that you will show the correct time when you are on the forum. Not a big deal, but it would be nice if the time were correct when you are on the forum. Now comes the only part that can be a little bit tricky. The last thing you need do is answer a very simple question. The question is designed to be something that any person would know, but a "spambot" will not be able to find the answer on the Internet. The reason for doing this is because we sometimes gets what is called "spambots" that come to the forum and try to register so they can post all sorts of adds for Viagra, or sex toys, or whatever else they may want to advertise. In an attempt to keep them off our forum, we have come up with this system. Okay, now that you have finished with the registration process, you need to click on "Submit" and then another page will pop up. The reason for you giving a legitimate email address is because you will be sent an email automatically which will contain a link back to the forum. This is another way we catch those SpamBots and defeat them before they can advertise their crap on our forum. When you get the email, which should come within a minute or two of you clicking "Submit", you will need to open the email and then click on the enclosed link. Once you do that you will get another page that says you are registered and you are ready to begin joining in the discussions and making posts about whatever you want. Hopefully this will get you thru the registration process without any problems. I know my explanation is a little lengthy but I wanted to explain it in detail because if you have never done this before it can be a little intimidating. If you need to know how to navigate the forum, start topics and make posts, please read "Forum Navigation" located just below "Forum Registration". |