Maybe not exactly in the middle, but under the photos, you will see a box that says
Welcome to the AAW Forums.
If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.
There is also the register link on the top left. But I was referring to the hyperlink as shown above. Either works, or at least starts the process.
The process goes something like this.
You click on the link, it takes you to a Forum Rules agreement that you have to have to click the box to agree to.
You fill out the form and are sent an email that you must
1) Get through your SPAM filter
2) Must click on the included link to verify your email address.
( We get about 50/week that never get or acknowledge this email and they are deleted)
This only places you in my administrators Queue.
A few times a day, I go through and look at this queue. If it is a Gmail, Yahoo or other non-known domain mail account, I Google the email address to see if they have left messages around the globe particularly on Russian websites, etc. or come up as known SPAM email addresses, those get declined. If they haven't used a real human name, or added extra letters and numbers, they get declined also.
If they seem like a real name, the get approved.
Either way, an email is sent to them telling them they were declined (form letter) or approved (form letter).
Declined, the letter tells them so, and most likely because they didn't use a verifiable address or used a pseudonym and that they should re-apply and send me an email.
Approved, they are sent the letter telling them so and they can go forth and type.
All approval or denials are done by me as you must have administrative privileges.
No I do not check it against the AAW membership database, that would be a bigger pain, and you don't have to be a member to join here anyway. While the AAW does pay for the site, it is open to all as we want you to learn, contribute, see what a great and viable resource the AAW is, and join the AAW!
The incidence of actual denials because they are SPAMMERS is pretty low now, about 10 a week. The amount of users using their name with numbers (eg. BobSmith411) is about the same as pseudonyms, 10 or so a week. A few just won't use their name and go on, but most comply (conform?) and then get to lurk with the ability to post.
