Forum Registration vs. AAW Membership: Clarification

[Ken Grunke]

There has been a steady flow of emails to the forum moderators regarding the letter sent to AAW members in September for registration in the AAW Online Member database, which is currently temporarily suspended. Please take a look at this AAW news article for more details on that:
http://www.woodturner.org/news/web_news.htm



Now, if you are desiring to register for this forum, the following will apply:

The username and password sent to AAW members in that September mailing is NOT intended for forum registration, and has nothing to do with this forum.

There is no formal connection between membership in the AAW, and forum membership, other than the fact that many AAW forum members are coincidentally AAW members. Forum registration is open to anyone with interest in the field of woodturning, actually ANYONE who abides by the basic forum rules as outlined here.

In recent times, the AAW forum registration process has been increasingly bombarded by spammers, scammers, and other ne'er-do-wells. So that the existing membership not be exposed to such unpleasantness, all new forum registrations are moderated until proved to be on the up-and-up.

Occasionally, a sincere woodturner-type registrant will be rejected by a moderator, most likely because the chosen username or email domain was obscure- or suspicious-looking. If this happens to you, give it another try and send a friendly note to the moderators using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of any forum page. A more personable username can make the moderator feel more comfortable about accepting your registration; in fact, many folks use their real names but that is not required.

The AAW forum moderators are volunteers, working on their own time to keep this forum a sane and happy place for woodturners to hang out. We are not affiliated with the AAW's business affairs in any way, shape or form. If you need to correspond with someone regarding Association affairs, please go to http://www.woodturner.org/info/ to find the most appropriate contact info for your situation.

Thank you, and please stick around--this is a great place for turners, AAW members or not!

 

[Steve Worcester]

While I am starting to doubt that anyone reads these messages before emailing me that they can't get into the forum because the name and password they were sent don't work, but here goes.

When someone registers to become a forum member, in addition to what Ken said, when I see a registration, that doesn't have a recognizable domain in the email address, I go to that domain to check it's existence. Certain ones are a given, those where I know they don't tolerate spam. Charter.net, RR.net, verizon.com are good examples of that.

If it is Russian, sorry, you're out. Legitimate or not, blame your spamming comrades. If it does not post a web page, your out. If it is a redirect, it gets dicey. Worse case, you are refused and you have to send the forum moderators an email and re-register. It is nothing personal, don't take offense, we don't hate you (yet), we just want to maintain the integrity of the forums and our "children".

Even better are those whose spam blockers will not allow my email address or the forum moderators through. Sorry, if your ISP doesn't have a way to allow you to accept or deny emails individually, you won't see our emails, even though we sent them.

Ken and Steve - your friendly neighborhood moderators

 

[Brian Hahn]

Good information. It seems like this item should be sticky.

 

[robert davis]

thank you ,,volunteers bob davis