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USCF Forums Tutorial
Disclaimer: The rules of the USCF Forums may change and
the following instructions may quickly become obsolete. Hopefully
even with a few future changes the following instructions will
remain a good guide.
To make full use of the USCF Forums you must go through a 2-step
process (some forum material is available to all users without
going through this process, but for the "good stuff"
you'll need to complete the following steps).
- Register for the Forums and wait for email notification of
acceptance (it may take a few days for you to receive the acceptance
message)
- Log in to the Forum.
Step One: Register
Go to the Forum web page at: http://www.uschess.org/forums
You may want to bookmark this Internet address, since the US
Chess web site doesn't seem to provide a link to the Forums at
this time.
At the top of the page click on "Register" (see illustration
below, link at the far right)
This link will take you to a page asking you to agree to conditions
of use. At the bottom of the page click on the appropriate link.
The following example shows the link you'll probably check. If
you click the bottom link you probably won't be able to go any
further.
After accepting the terms of the conditions of use you will be
shown a Registration page. The first four fields are required.
I also recommend filling in your USCF ID. This may become required
in the future and may also be used by the forum software to determine
what you can do.
The "Username" field will be used for your login and
will be displayed with all the messages you post, so choose it
well. I recommend using a username that clearly identifies you
such as FirstLast name (such as JohnSmith without any spaces).
However, you can choose anything that hasn't been used by another
user. If you do try to use a username already chosen by another
user, the system will probably ask you to choose another username.
Be sure to specify a working email address. Enter a password you
can remember (you may want to write down both your username and
password to be sure you don't forget them). Re-enter the password
in the "Confirm password" field to be sure you typed
it correctly. Remember, passwords are usually case-sensitive,
so upper and lower case letters must be entered exactly the same
way when you log in ("Password" is not the same as "password").
You can safely ignore the remaining fields in the "Profile
Information" section of the form, but it is useful to enter
something in the "Signature" field. This information
will be automatically added to the bottom of all your postings.
I usually specify my full name, location (city,state), chess organization
information and URL of my home page.
Note: you may go back at any time and change information
in your "Profile", so if you don't get everything right,
you can always change it later.
After you fill in the information click on the "Submit"
button at the bottom of the page.
At this point you must exercize patience and wait for approval
to use the Forums. Eventually an email will arrive to notify you
that you may now participate in the USCF Forums. If you didn't
enter your email address correctly, you may never get that notification.
Step Two: Log In
Go to the Forum web page at: http://www.uschess.org/forums
Click on "Log in", as shown below.
A log in page will be displayed. Enter the user name and password
you previously specified when you registered. This log in process
won't work till you have been accepted, so don't try it till you
have received your notification email that you have been registered.
I also like to check the checkbox "Log me on automatically
each visit" so I don't have to log in every time I go to
the Forums. After clicking the checkbox and entering your Username
and Password, click on the "Log in" button. If you forget
your password, click the link "I forgot my password"
and the system will email you your password.
If you entered your Username and Password correctly, after clicking
"Log in" you'll be able to visit all the USCF Forums.
The one you'll probably be interested in is called "USCF
Issues"
Log out
When you are through you may choose to log out. This is recommended
if you are using a "foreign" computer, such as at a
hotel or Internet Cafe. You don't want someone else to come along
and use your login to access the Forums (what might they post
in your name?). Of course, in your own home you will probably
choose not to log out. If you checked the "Log me on automatically
each visit" checkbox when you logged in you can turn off
your computer and come back a day or two later. When you go to
the Forums again you'll automatically be logged back in. You can
tell you are logged in because the "Log in" link won't
be there ... instead it will say "Log out [username]".
To log out just click on that link. See example below.
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