Welcome!

• The purpose of our Web Community is to make it possible for Shadows' Music fans around the world to keep in touch with each other easily and quickly, sharing and exchanging items of interest - news, pics, sounds, advice, contacts, links - whatever they need.
• It is not intended to replace other Shadows related web sites but to support them by offering the facilities that are difficult to provide on a traditional web site
• The Community has grown so quickly that we now need a little guidance for new members. (Don't forget that you can print out this page if you need to by clicking "Print" in the toolbar of Internet Explorer at the top of this window)....
• When you click on "Join" , you will be asked to take out a Passport if you don't already have one. This is to make sure that no one can come onto a site like this, use your name and e-mail address, then slander someone else!!
• Please fill in your Member Profile to tell others about yourself; how you got into all this; what your Shadows related interests are etc. Just click on "Member Tools" on the left hand navigation bar to get started once you've signed in.
• Please let other members see a working email address, so that if they want to make personal contact with you they can do so, instead of filling the message boards with comments which are directed to just two members. (I recommend keeping your original email address private but letting other members seeing  your Hotmail alias). Mail me (DavidMartin@hotmail.co.uk) if you have difficulty...
• Don't be shy..... we'd all love to hear from you and about you and your interests, but please sign your postings with your real name if not part of your site nickname. 
• The News and Views area has over 30,000 postings now all of which you can still read. It's a real treasure trove of information
  • If you click on News and Views, a list of Message Boards will be revealed. Click on the topic you want to go straight to - but remember that only messages on that topic will be displayed.
  • If you want to see all recent postings, then scroll down that list and click on the View All Message Boards link at the bottom.
  • If you want to see quickly what's new in the Community, then click What's New in the left hand navigation bar at the very top.
  • If you want to post a message, click Start a New Discussion,  give it a title, choose a heading from the Message Board drop down, and away you go... just follow the instructions to add a sound or text file, and do let us have your pics too!Most people just use General these days because it's easier to find.
  • If you want to post a reply to a message, just click on Reply.... you have to be a member to do all these things.
  • Do check out the Documents area. It's a boring title that we can't change, but inside you'll find a wealth of lyrics, magazine articles, chord charts and sound files.
• If there's something you need from this Community which doesn't appear to be here, then let me know and I'll try to provide it
• If a page refuses to appear, just click on the Refresh button on your browser and it should work! Check on the Frequently Asked section of the message board for helpful computer hints....
• Please keep personal comments out of your postings; comment on the sound, make objective remarks about whether the notes, the echoes, the pickups, the phrasing are accurate by all means....tell us whether you like the amp or not, but don't make remarks about persons or personalities either positive or negative; it just isn't what this site is for...
• In my view, the most important things here are:-
  • the music
  • helping people who want to play it through advice and tips
  • linking them together in fellowship
  • supporting events which promote the survival of the music
  • encouraging a new generation of young players to ensure its survival

  Please confine your comments and postings to these areas. If you wish to criticise each other, do it privately. If you wish to question or criticise the way the site is run, then mail me (my email address is openly published) and if you wish to email all the Managers so they all know how you feel then go to Member Tools to the left and you'll find a tool which will enable you to do so.

  It's worth remembering that most of the Asst Managers of this site represent all the Shadows Music Clubs across the UK . I've encouraged that deliberately - this has not been a personal site of mine for many years. The only "management facility" which is exclusively mine, is the right to delete the site. All the other management options are available to every other manager.

  So,  a personal request to members to be disciplined in what you post in the spirit of the bullet points above, and to Asst. Managers to be vigilant in deleting anything which you feel does not meet these standards

• Please think carefully about how you write. The written word is much more powerful than the spoken word because, unlike speech, it is permanent, and can be pored over time and time again searching for new inferences and nuances; speech, however, is transient, and mediated through tone of voice and body language and can always be modified quickly by "no... I didn't mean it that way!". When something is in print, no one can see you smiling, or judge your message by your body language. They only see the words you write. What you may think is funny might just cause offence to others.

• Finally, please treat everyone here with respect and good will .  (If you fail to follow these rules, your postings may be deleted and/or your membership withdrawn...)

Once again, welcome, and thanks for your interest and support...

David Martin