Navigation

I've tried to make it easy for people to find their way around my site. The graphic at the top of each screen will take you to the forum starting page. There is also a link there which will take you to ZBS. Below that are a few lines of text, and then a row of graphic links. This row is the menu bar.

• Home - the main homepage of the site: www.whirlitzer.org Although the forum is the primary purpose for this site to exist, it is not the entire site. There are also Archives, a Chatroom, and Personal Email accounts available, among other things.
• Forum - the main starting page of the discussion forum
• Help - Where you are now
• Search - Use the search function to find a phrase or keyword in a post on the forum. The search function only works within the forum, not on the rest of the site.
• Chat - There is a chatroom available, but it is seperate from the forum and must be signed up for seperately.
• Profile - You can edit what information you are willing to share with other members, from the minimum requirements (username) up to very elaborate details.
• Notification - make sure you keep up with what's happening by asking to be notified when someone posts a new reply to one of your posts.
• Login - If you see this button, you are not logged into the system, and any posts you make will be marked as "guest".
• Logout - If you see this button, you are logged in.

The Signup Process

• How do I sign up?
• Why should I sign up?

Posting

Contacting Other Members

How do I sign up?
In order to become a member of this forum, click on 'register', which is located at the right end of the menu bar. This will take you to the signup page, where you can fill out the information the Whirlitzer needs in order to recognize you.

Why should I sign up?
As a member of the Whirlitzer, you have access to things that a guest does not. Specifically, you can send and recieve private messages from other members. A guest can only read and reply to posts on the forum. If that is all you wish to do, then you certainly don't need to register. You will still be able to interact with the group. All your posts will be marked as 'username' (guest).

What happens if I do sign up?
All members are expected to behave themselves. If you post material that is inappropriate or offensive to the other members, your posts can be edited or deleted altogether, depending on the severity of the offense. If needs be, you can be banned. But this won't happen to you, because you would never do anything to get yourself thrown off the best board on the net, now would you? Of course not.

When you register, you must provide a valid email address. From the first time you log in as a registered member, and at any time after that, you have the option of whether you wish that email address to be visible to the other members of the forum or not. Any time that you are logged in, click on 'profile' on the menu bar and you will be taken to a screen where you can edit your profile. You can give as much or as little information about youself as you wish (beyond the minimum requirements). There will be an option there that you can select which will make your email address invisible to everyone except the Administrator. Other optional features available to you are:

• choose an Avatar. (an image that will be on all your posts)
• type in your own catchphrase. (below your avatar)
• type in your own signature line. (at the bottom of your posts)
• indicate your gender.
• tell other users your AIM, YIM, and ICQ nicknames/numbers.
• select your time display. (make the forum display your local time)