Since there are so many new members and folks who are reading and posting anonymously, we thought it would be a good idea to post a note regarding registration, HOW to do it, and WHY you should do it and what you get out of it.<br><br> In order to register, please press the “new user” button that is on the button bar of most screens. This will bring up the information box where you will enter the information. First, you will need to pick a logon or “user name”. Your logon/user name CANNOT contain any spaces. If you want to use a logon/user name with spaces, substitute the space with an underline, as in my user name, which is Carol_Hill. The box below your user/logon name is where you need to put in your email address. This email address is NOT published anywhere by US but it is necessary for the email notifications available through the software. Also it will be this email address which the software will use to send you your temporary password. You cannot sign on as a registered user until you receive your temporary password, and YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE YOUR TEMPORARY PASSWORD UNLESS YOU PUT IN A VALID E-MAIL ADDRESS. Many folks forget to put in their WHOLE e-mail address, or misspell their email address and therefore never receive their password. For example, if your e-mail address is “maryjanesmith@aol.com” and you put in “maryjanesmith@aol”, that’s not a proper email address and you will not be able to properly register. The temporary password is issued automatically by the software within 10 to 20 SECONDS from when you attempt to register. Therefore, if you do not receive the email with your temporary password within a few minutes, something has gone awry with your attempted registration. Please send an email to [email] Admin@Traveltalkonline.com [/email], and we will try to figure out what the problem is and get you set up. Once you receive your initial password, you have the ability to modify your profile and change the password issued by the software. You normally should go in and change your password, as the initial password issued by the software would be very difficult to remember, as it is totally random letters, usually a mixture of upper and lower case letters. However, your logon/user name is NOT changeable after you complete the registration. In addition, please remember that your logon name and password are case sensitive–if your password is “STMARTIN”, the software will NOT accept “stmartin” as your password.<br><br> Yes, we hopefully we will benefit from an increased number of registered users in an indirect way, I suppose, in that we can use those figures to try to help us obtain more advertising. However, the benefits to YOU are much greater. The benefits to you include the following:<br><br> The number one way that you benefit is that, whenever you come back onto the BB, any new posts since the last time you signed on are marked as “new”. Lately, there have been quite a few new posts on the BVI and the SXM BB. Now, the most recent posts are, of course, listed first on the BB, unless you have changed your profile preferences to display them in a different order. However, if a post has, say, 10 replies, but only one new reply since the last time you signed on the BB, you would have a “new” by the only new reply, and you can go right to that reply and read it if you wish and be on your way to the next note, as opposed to having to look through the posts to see the most recent date and time.<br><br> Another important benefit is having a direct link to the SXM and BVI travel calenders (which more of you folks should use to be able to meet up while on vacation) on your page, as opposed to having to go to the main traveltalkonline page to find it. <br><br> Also, if there are a lot of messages (which sometimes there are these days! ), you can "mark all messages as read", so that they don't show up as new ones the next time you come back to the BB.<br><br> You can, if you want, create a profile on yourself for others to see, along with a picture of your choice, along with a link to your personal home page. If you want, you can list an email address for folks to contact you directly.<br><br> If BOTH parties are registered members, you can send private messages. The beauty of a private message is that neither one of you needs to have your email address listed publicly on the BB in order to receive or send them. A private message is just that–private–no one can see it besides yourself and the intended recipient. You can use it to communicate instead of email if you prefer or if the other person does not have an email address listed. You can use it to discuss questions or matters that, for whatever reason, you don’t wish to post publicly on the BB. When you send a PM to someone, unless the other party has switched off the email notification of messages (which folks really should NOT do), they will receive an email stating that they have a PM. When they sign on to the BB the next time, the “Check Private” feature will be illuminated in red, as a reminder. Two differences between PM’s and email, however, is that you do not have the ability to see a PM that you have already sent (unless you save it somewhere on your own hard drive) and similarly, if someone responds to your PM, their response does NOT include your original note that you sent to them, so you need to remember what you talked about in your original note!<br><br> For SXM and BVI folks, when you are a registered user, there is a direct link to a listing of all the cruise ship arrivals in St. Maarten or BVI for the current month at the top of the page.<br><br> ONE MAJOR THING you DON’T need to worry about if you register–<br><br> UNLESS YOU PUBLISH IT YOURSELF IN YOUR PROFILE SECTION or put it in a note on the BB, your email is not listed anywhere on the BB. No one can contact you directly by email as a result of your registration on the BB, other than TTOL staff. We do not disseminate your email address to anyone for any purpose. You will not receive additional junk mail or harassing direct email as a result of registration. If you were to receive some type of a harassing PM from another BB member, just let us know and we will resolve that situation speedily.<br><br> I’m sorry this note is so long, but we feel the information is important in order for folks to be able to use and understand the bulletin board. If you have any questions, please feel free to send an email or PM to me or Eric, Bob! JeffC, RaySnow, Nutmeg, or Eva.<br><br>Carol<br><br><br>