Have Something to Say? Speak Up!

by Paula Eisenberg

(September 24, 2002) Interactive. Immediate. Real.

Those words describe the forums here within the Gazette's website. Do you have an issue you'd like to discuss with your neighbors? Want to get the attention of local politicians? (Read what one of them had to say about the forums.) Use our Speak Up forum to reach out to the community. Bring up a new topic, or just weigh in on topics already on the board.

Like everything else here, use of the forums is free. We do ask, though, that you register before you post. Don't worry: the information you give us is safe with us. We will never give or sell your name or email address to anyone. We encourage you to use your real, full name as your posting name, but that's not required. We realize that discussing sensitive local issues can be a bit daunting for some people. If you'd rather have anonymity, you may use a pseudonym, but please do not use a "handle." In other words, Joe S. is fine, but Baseball Fan isn't. We find that using recognizable names keeps our forum civilized and comfortable for everybody.

Most online forums require registration. Take the New York Times, for example. In order to use their forums, you must register and give quite a lot of personal information, including your age, job title and even household income level! All we ask is that you use your real name and a valid email address for registration. You may keep both hidden from public view, if you wish.

We hope we've helped you understand our registration policy, and we hope you'll join in the discussions. Please go to the main forum page and click on the "Please Register" link on the right, above the forum list. Or click here. Then follow these simple steps to register. You might want to print this out for reference.

• Read the acceptable use policy, and and click Accept.
• On the next screen, enter the name you'd like to use in the forums (remember, no handles!), and fill in the other information. The red asterisk means this is required information.
• Scroll down into the preferences area. You can change these if you like.
• When finished, click Submit Registration.
• Now you can login with your new username and password.

To read a message, click on the View All link next to the top message header. To reply to a message within the "thread" of messages, click on the Reply link at the bottom of the message.

To start a new subject/topic, click on the Post icon .

It's a good idea to just ramble around in the forum for a while, getting used to how it works. It's OK to try a test message, too. We'll come along and delete obvious test messages, so don't worry!

Remember: registration is required to post a message, but not to read messages.

We hope you'll enjoy this brave new world of communication. Please let us know if you have any trouble with the registration process, or any concerns or questions.

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