Introduction and Instructions for Signing Up (16 Jan. 2008)
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INTRODUCTION Hi everyone. This is Richard, your instructor. Welcome to bulletin-board class! You can always access our bulletin-board (BB) class through our Web site's "BB" page, or you can bookmark this page--right now--by clicking on "Favorites" or "Bookmarks" at the top of this screen, and then following instructions. You will use this bulletin board every week for BB class. Good luck, and if you need help, email me (see www.richardjewell.net/contact.htm), call (612-870-7024), or ask in class. And remember to start out plenty early if you're not used to bulletin boards. They're simple to use once you learn how. Continue reading immediately below for instructions on signing up. Once you are signed up, please see (in the left-hand column) "How To Do the BB," "QUESTIONS--SET A" and "SET B," and "FAQs." Take care,
Richard SIGNING UP You can read the bulletin boards all you want: they are public BBs. However, to sign up, you must go through several steps. Beginners: Print these directions. (If you find it hard to print from this page, you may copy the directions, then paste them into a new MS Word page, and then print them.) Then go to the first page of the BBs. Read your printed directions as you sign up. Intermediate & Advanced Users: If you want, you can have two windows--and two Web site pages--running at the same time. Just bring up a new (2nd) Web window (Explorer, Netscape, etc.). Then have these directions showing on one page and the main BB page showing on the other. Then alternate--back and forth--between the directions and the main BB page. (You can alternate by using the buttons on the "Start" bar at the bottom of the screen.) The Steps: Start on the main page of our class BBs. Then follow these steps. - If you are entirely new to MSN and hotmail, look at the top of the left-hand column, and click on "Join Now." (If you already have an msn.com or hotmail.com ".NET Passport" username and password, you can skip to Step 8.)
- Then click on "Get a .NET Passport."
- In "Do you have an email address," answer "yes" and click on "Continue."
- In "Create credentials," write a real or fake email address. (Email addresses are not checked.) Then fill in the rest. Be sure to write down--or otherwise remember--your email address and password, as these will be your permanent username and password for getting into the bulletin boards.
- Fill in the "Review and sign Agreements" page. Click "I Accept."
- Click "Continue."
- Return to the BB by going back to www.richardjewell.net or the course home page and clicking on the BB link.
- Click on "Sign In." (You may need to click twice on it.)
- If you get a request for your year of birth, give a year that makes you at least 17 years old (so you don't have to get permission from a parent to see certain sites). Click "Continue."
- Then return once again to the BB by going back to www.richardjewell.net or the course home page and clicking on the BB link.
- Next, scroll down the page until you see "Tools" at the bottom of the left-hand column. Click on it.
- Then click on "Join this group."
- In the form that now appears, in field #1 you should enter your MSN "nickname." For this class, YOU MUST USE AT LEAST YOUR REAL FIRST NAME, AND YOUR LAST NAME OR INITIAL--e.g., "Richard Jewell." This is the only way I can identify you so that I may give you credit for attendance, and it also is how everyone in the class will know who you are, so please use your real name--and use at least your first name and last initial. (Note: There are tens of thousands of people signed up for MSN BBs, so you might have to try for a name several times--e.g., "Richard-Jewell," "Richard---Jewell," Richard_Jewell," "Richard-the-Jewell," "Richard/Jewell," "Richard/////Jewell," RichardJewell7777," etc.
- Also be sure that the "On the Web" button is marked. (Otherwise, you might get 40-80 emails a week from the BB in your email inbox.)
- Finish the sign up procedure and return to the regular BB page. If the top right says "Sign Out," that means you are already signed in, and you may write on the BB." (If the top right says "Sign In," then you must start by clicking on it to sign in.)
IF YOU MUST CHANGE YOUR NICKNAME If you signed up with a nickname like "xylo4527," "smit0005," or maybe "coolstudent1" or anything else that keeps me from identifying you easily to give you your attendance credit, please change your "Nickname" to your real first name and last initial. You can do that simply as follows: - After signing in, go to "Tools." (Scroll down to the very bottom of left-hand column; or sometimes you can find it in the top right area.)
- Then click on "View Your Member Profile."
- Then click on "Get your MSN nickname now" or on "Edit my profile"/"Choose an MSN Nickname."
- Then choose a "Public nickname." For this you MUST USE YOUR FIRST NAME and LAST INITIAL (or first name and last name). This is so I can give you credit, and so others know who you are. You might have to try several combinations to make it work: e.g., Richard J. (with or without a period), Richard-J, Richard_J, Richard-Jewell77, etc., etc. (This is because there are tens of thousands of nicknames registered on the MSN BBs.)
- This procedure seems to work for some people but not for others. If the BB system won't let you change your nickname, then you must start all over again, as if you had never signed up, and use a different email address (or even a fake one--this is never checked out by the MSN system, and doing so is not immoral or unethical) and sign up all over again.
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