In order to participate in the forums, you must be a registered member and logged in. If you have not registered with the site and you wish to post a message, click the Register link at the top of the page.  Once you are registered and logged in, click on the Forum icon in the masthead bar.

Private Forums

• Most forums are open to the public for browsing. Any forums that are designated with the icon are Private forums.  In order to view these forums, you must have registered with the site, posted a profile page, and you must be logged in.
• Once you have registered and posted your profile page, you can view and post in private forums.

• You must be a registered member to post messages in the forum.
• You can either reply to an existing message or you can start a new thread. To reply to an existing message, just hit the "Reply" button when you are viewing a thread. To start a new thread, navigate to the forum in which you want to post. Then hit the "New Thread" button.
• You are now presented with the message form.  The required fields are denoted with a  in front of them.  These fields must be completed in order to post your message.  If any of these fields are not completed before continuing on, you will be returned to the message form to complete those field that are incomplete.
• Certain words have been prohibited from being included in messages. If you try to use any of these words, you will get an error message.
• Certain HTML tags have been prohibited from being included in messages. If you try to include any of these tags, they will be stripped out of your message.
• The Disable Autoformat checkbox located under the Message box is used to determine whether or not you want your text to be formatted.  If you do not choose to disable autoformatting, any carriage returns that you enter will be kept exactly where they are.  This will allow you to maintain spacing between paragraphs without having to enter HTML code.
• You can include special icons or smileys within your message. To do so, click on the Insert Icon link to the left of a message box. This will open a pop up window with a list of all available icons. To select one, just click on it. The icon list also includes the icon codes. Advanced users may want to make a note of these and just type the appropriate code directly within their messages. The code will be automatically replaced by the appropriate icon when a user views your post.

If you are logged in, you will see an "Edit" button within any messages you have posted. You can click on the button to edit your post. Once you have edited your post, the most recent edit date will be displayed at the end of your message, so that users will be aware that you have made a change.