LW & Part 15 Message Board
ABOUT AUTHENTICATED AUTHORS

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Welcome to Authenticated Authors. This new approach allows our Message Board to offer features that were once unique to more elaborate forums. What's so different? If you simply want to read the Board--nothing! Nobody ever has to sign up to read, or to post a plain-text message, either. All the basics work exactly the same as before. But, if you want to attach screen captures, or insert live links, or format your text a bit, now you can do all those things!


HOW IT WORKS--THE SHORT VERSION

Posting as an Authenticated Author first requires signing up (see below), and thereafter is extremely simple. Authentication adds one quick step to the regular message writing process. All you have to do is type in a few extra characters after your name when you write your message, either from the Message Posting Tool for new posts, or in the Post Followup form of an existing message. Basically, it's your name, followed by a # sign, then a password that doesn't show to the reader. Shazam...you're authenticated.

Then, any http or https URLs you type in your message will be automatically converted to live links. Most HTML or BBCode text formatting tags will work. Any IMG tags (for pictures you host on your own website, Photobucket, etc), will be included in your message and the picture will appear to the reader. And, once your message is confirmed on the Board, you can add file attachments! A Reference Page detailing the usable tags and features is available.


HOW IT WORKS--THE DETAILED VERSION

How do I sign up? Registration to become an Authenticated Author is via the Sign-Up Page. Before you go there, here's a brief summary of what to expect. First of all, the sign-up form itself consists of three parts:
- Section I: Very basic information about you...your full name, where you're from, and your e-mail address so we can send you confirmation when your registration is accepted. These three fields are required. There is also an optional Comments field where you can add further information you may deem relevant, or give feedback about the Message Board or the sign-up process. Your name will be visible to other members in the Authors List, but your comments and email address in Section I are covered by our privacy policy. We do not sell or share your email information with anyone.
- Section II: Enter the key word that you will use in the Name field of all your authenticated posts. If you have a ham call, that makes the best key word of all, because it is unique to you. Your town might be another possibility--for instance, our Louisiana HiFER correpondent Ed always includes "Slidell" with his name, so that might be a good choice for him. Or it could be a part of your name that you always use in your posts...preferably some less common part, but one that you always write in the same way (if you call yourself Bob one day and Robert the next, that won't work). In short, the key can be any word you might reasonably include alongside or within your name, as long as you always remember to use it.
    You'll also select your password here. This needs to be be something you can remember easily, because we can't look it up later. We don't have a lot of rules about passwords because this is not a high-security feature. How strong you want it to be is up to you, although you might not want to use something too obvious, like your ZIP Code or your ham call (much better to use your call sign as the key word instead of as a password). Here are the only two essential rules:
· Only letters and numbers can be used in passwords at this time; no punctuation or spaces.
· Passwords must not be the same as anyone else's. The software will check for that during the sign-up process.
- Section III: Your Public Profile, if you want one. Any information in your Profile will be visible to other users of the Message Board, but it is strictly optional. You can enter a brief description of your station if applicable, your hobby interests, your website address, etc. You can simply skip this part if you don't want a profile at all, or if you'd rather wait until a later time.
 
 When you're done, click Submit to send your sign-up information to the board moderators. We found automatic registration wasn't very secure at all with the former Community Forum, so we will be using manual approval. However, this new method should still be faster than the e-mail registration we used before, because your request ties directly into tools the board moderators already use, and does not depend on spam-paranoid email servers that may refuse to talk to each other at crucial times.

After a moderator has approved you, generally in less than 24 hours, you may receive an e-mail to let you know. If you don't receive such a message by the next day, check the Authors List to see if your name is on it yet. If so, you've got full posting privileges!

How Do I Post Authenticated Messages?

Example - A fictional member named Homer, who somehow managed to pass his amateur radio exam, usually just types "Homer S." in the Name box when preparing to post ordinary messages. But when he wants to include formatting or links, he also uses his Authenticated Author key and password. Pay particular attention to the Name box:

Name :  
Subject:

Your Message:

When Homer posts his message, everything to the left of the separator (including the key word) shows up in the "Posted by" line, but the # and his password do not. [Click here to open in a new window.]

· The key Homer elected to use in authenticated posts is W9DOH, his ham call ("mmmm, ham"). He could have opted for his city or state, part of his name, or any other word. It just needs to be something he will use in the Name field every time.
· The "pound sign" (#) is a separator between the visible name information and the hidden password (aka a tripcode).
· His password is "donut"--admittedly, not a very strong password once you know his name is Homer, but this is not intended as a particularly high-security area. The important thing is that it be something he will always remember.

This, then, is the format for authenticated posting:   (name) key # password   The key can be anywhere left of the # amongst the rest of the name. The password (and only the password) must be on the right. Spelling counts, but not capitalization. Everything else is fairly flexible. Homer could have achieved the same result with any of the following:

HomerW9DOH#donut         W9DOH Homer in Springfield#donut       homer w9doh# DONUT
W9doh #Donut

As long as the key is somewhere to the left of the "#" and only the password is on the right, all is well.