A "Welcome to the Forum" confirmation is automatically emailed to you when you submit your registration form. This is a way to verify that we were given a valid email address. The confirmation email contains a Validation key that you will need to activate your account.
If you registered, but did not receive your confirmation email, chances are you mistyped your email address, or did not use a valid email address. (check here)
The general content of the confirmation email is shown below: (on the actual email the RED TEXT below will be customized)
1)
2)
Welcome, YourName!
You are registered with the new Farmingdale Forum with
Username: YourName
Password: YourPassword
Email: YourEmail@YourISP.com
To activate your account please visit the following URLhttp://a_very_very_long_URL_including_YourName_and_YourKey_will_be_here
Or you can go the page
http://a_URL_not_as_long_as_above_will_be_here
and enter Username: YourName, Validation key: YourKey
If you do not know what this is about, please contact the forum administrator.
http://this_last_URL_is_not_importantOnce you receive the confirmation email similar to the one above, there are 2 DIFFERENT ways you can activate your account:
1) Go to the first URL listed on the email (the very-long one). If your email does not show URLs as hyperlinks, you will need to cut-and-past the URL into your browser's Address (Location bar). This first URL will be customized for you, so, if you use it, you will not need to type in your Validation key. -- This first URL is the easiest choice if your email shows URLs as hyperlinks OR if you are familiar with "cut-and-paste".
- or -
2) Go to the second URL listed on the email (the not-as-long one). Keep in mind that the URL is case-sensitive, so, if you type it in your browser be sure to type it EXACTLY as listed on your email. This second URL will take you to a form where you will need to type in your username (YourName) and the Validation key assigned to you (YourKey). -- This second URL would be a good choice if your email does NOT show URLs as hyperlinks, AND you are NOT familiar with "cut-and-paste".
When you complete either one of the 2 steps above, you will reach the "Acceptance of the Rules Agreement". This "Acceptance" page lists the Forum Rules and includes, at the bottom of the page, a checkbox similar to the one below:
If you agree to accept our rules you will need to check the box and click on the "I accept the rules" button in order to be activated. Once you do that, anytime you want to Login, all you'll have to do is type your username (YourName) and your password (YourPassword).
If you do not agree to accept the Forum Rules, don't check the box! (in this case, your account will not be activated and you will not be able to Login)
We periodically try to purge our user database of usernames that have been REGISTERED but not ACTIVATED. When doing so, we may void any name that was not activated 5 or more days after its registration date -- the name will then become available again. (Please note that once a username is activated, even if the user doesn't log in often, the username remains reserved).
If You Forget Your Password
Once your account is Activated, if you ever forget your password, just go to the Login screen and enter your username -- leave the password field blank, and press "Submit". You will then be asked to type in your username again, and enter your email address (it must be the same email address you used to register). Your old password will be voided and a new password will be emailed to you. Use the new password to Log in, and immediately after you log in, you can click on "Modify your registration" to change your password to something you can remember.
Note: If you use the "Modify your registration" link to change your email address, you will have to go through the same "confirmation" and "activation" procedures that you did when you first registered.
