Note that folks only need to register to post things on the forum
- as an un-registered guest they can browse the forum in most areas.


I have revised the joining rules slightly to reflect improved registration measures. 
From the user agreement...

BEFORE YOU ARE GRANTED ACCESS TO POST IN THE FORUM, YOUR ID MUST BE ACTIVATED.

NORMALLY ACTIVATION IS DONE BY YOU, IN REPLY TO AN EMAIL. 

SOMETIMES THE FORUM IS SET FOR ADMINISTRATOR APPROVAL OF IDS, AN ACTIVATION PROCESS WHICH MAY TAKE UP TO A WEEK TO COMPLETE, AT THE DISCRETION OF THE ADMIN STAFF.
WE ARE SORRY FOR ANY DELAYS, MADE NECESSARY BY PAST SPAM POSTING ATTACKS.

You have the ability, as you register, to choose your username. We advise that you think carefully as to the format of your username, as your username and email address will be used to assess whether the registration is genuine or from a robot. 

Without a valid email address, you cannot complete your registration.  If the email address or username appears suspicious, the account may be banned or even deleted without warning !

Your password must contain at least 8 characters and use both upper and lower case letters as well as numbers, it should not include your username.  Choose something complex and unique as a password for your account, to prevent account theft.

With the user account you are about to register, you agree to never give your password out to any other person.  You also agree to NEVER use another person's account for any reason. 

You agree, through your use of this forum, that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, adult material, or otherwise in violation of any International or United States Federal law. You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless you own the copyright or you have written consent from the owner of the copyrighted material. Spam, flooding, advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are also forbidden on this forum.

Note that it is impossible for the staff or the owners of this forum to confirm the validity of posts. Please remember that we do not actively monitor the posted messages, and as such, are not responsible for the content contained within. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information presented. The posted messages express the views of the author, and not necessarily the views of this forum, its staff, its subsidiaries, or this forum's owner. Anyone who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to notify an administrator or moderator of this forum immediately - please send a Personal Message to either "Michael" or "John Peck".

The staff and the owner of this forum reserve the right to remove objectionable content, within a reasonable time frame, if they determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, please realize that they may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. This policy applies to member profile information as well.

You remain solely responsible for the content of your posted messages. Furthermore, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the owners of this forum, any related websites to this forum, its staff, and its subsidiaries. The owners of this forum also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or any other related information collected on this service) in the event of a formal complaint or legal action arising from any situation caused by your use of this forum.

After you register and login to this forum, you will be able to fill out a detailed profile. It is your responsibility to present clean and accurate information. Any information the forum owner or staff determines to be inaccurate or vulgar in nature will be removed, with or without prior notice. Appropriate sanctions may be applicable.

Please note that with each post, your IP address is recorded, in the event that you need to be banned from this forum or your ISP contacted. This will only happen in the event of a major violation of this agreement.

Also note that the software places a cookie, a text file containing bits of information (such as your username and password), in your browser's cache. This is ONLY used to keep you logged in/out. The software does not collect or send any other form of information to your computer.

I assume this refers to the recent spate of spam postings, including some picture features,
for which we are very sorry.

As you may know, Michael normally checks the forum during the day, while I'm more of a night-person.
As soon as either of us sees offending material, we remove it, ban the user (and IP etc).
In my case I'm more likely to be dealing with my other websites than watching
this one every day - you can always reach me swiftly with a personal message which
will pop up in my normal email as a notification copy.

For the time being at least, I've changed the permissions so that each new registration will now have
to be approved before activation for any posting.  The time between postings must be
at least 15minutes now as well.  This will spare us all I hope from any more lying down on the job 

The DeadLetter section is now an Administrator-only area, where we can move offending
posts for further analysis and perhaps private amusement.