• FAQ = "Frequently Asked Questions". It offers help in using the forum.
• Search presents a form where you can fill in words to look for. It helps you find any postings (messages) on the forum in which you are interested.
• Memberslist lists the people who have already registered.
• Usergroups does nothing on our forum.
• Register - click on this when you want to register to take part in the forum.
• Profile lets you see and change your own registration details - e.g. to change your password.
• Log in to check ... give your username and password to see if anyone has left you a private message.
• Log in - after you have registered you use this to enter the forum. You are asked for your username and password. You can arrange to log in automatically each time you visit which saves time and memory-stress!

3. When you have agreed to the terms the registration form appears.
You only need to fill in items marked with a star.
It starts:

• Username - type in the name you wish to use on the forum. This may, or may not, be your real name.
• E-Mail address - this is the address to which the automatic reply will be sent, so it must be a real one. Later you can choose whether or not to let other users see your email address. Do double-check that you have typed the email address correctly.
• Password - type a simple password which you can remember. You may be asked for this occasionally to make sure you are who you say you are. What you type does not appear only a star for each letter or number. This keeps your password secret from prying eyes.
• Confirm password - type it in again to be sure you typed it correctly.

The next two questions are designed to make it hard for robot programs ("bots") to sign up. Such programs are run by firms who try to join as many forums as possible to advertise dubious goods and services. We don't want them on our forum.

• Confirmation code the picture shows a series of letters in black on grey - the letters change for every registration. All you have to do is type in the letters you see.
• Can you read this? - answer by clicking in the circle beside "Yes".

• ICQ ("I seek you") - a system mainly used by people who access the internet using AOL.
• AIM ("AOL Instant Messaging") - a similar system.
• MSN Messenger ("Microsoft Net Messenger") - a system devised by Microsoft.
• Yahoo Messenger - a system mainly used by people who access the internet through Yahoo.

If you are a member of any of those schemes and wish to let people know how to contact you through them, list your details. Otherwise leave them blank.

• Location - type in where you are in the world - such as the name of your town or country. This can be interesting, but feel free to leave it blank.
• Interests - type in an interest such as "documentary" if you wish. Leave blank if you wish.
• Signature - In the panel you can type a standard signature line or two which will automatically be added to every message you put on the forum. It can save a few moments typing in future. Clever people use it to promote their interests by saying, for example, "Jim Smith - Shooting animals, but only on camera." Feel free to leave it blank.

Then the third section offers a set of choices. Click in the circle beside "yes" or "no" in each case.
How you answer these depends how private you wish to be:

• Always show my e-mail address - yes means a button will be on every message you send to the forum. People can click that to send you an email.
• Hide your online status - yes means your name will not be listed as being online when you look at the forum.
• Always notify me of replies - yes means that you get an automatic email sent to you when anyone replies to a message you have posted.
• Notify on new Private Message - yes means that you get an automatic email sent to you when anyone leaves a private message for you. i.e. a message no one else but you can see. No means you can check for such messages when you next log in to the forum. (See the links described at the top of this page.)
• Pop up window on new Private Message - yes means that with some systems a window will pop up on your screen, no matter what you are doing, when you have a new message.
• Always attach my signature - yes means add the text you entered in the signature box to every message you post on the forum.
• Always allow BBCode - yes means you can use various way of making your text stand out by adding colour, bolding, italicising and so on. This is easy to do and we recommend you use it.
• Always allow HTML - yes means you can use the conventions of HTML. This requires some knowledge of HTML , the code used to design websites. Most people say no.
• Always enable Smilies - yes lets you add those little face characters () to smile, frown, wink and so on. This is more useful than it sounds. What you write as a joke may not read that way - but adding a Smiley face can stress that you do not mean the words to be taken seriously.
• Board Language / Board Style - you should not modify these.
• GMT - click the little arrow to the right of the field and a list of options appears. Click on the one that is relevant to wherever you are in the world. GMT means Greenwich Mean Time.
• Date - leave it alone unless you are an expert!