We are going to address this to our newer members since those of you who have been with us for some time, probably don't share some of these same concerns.  Of course, these mini writeups may help clarify some of the details, rather than concerns, that you may have always wanted to understand.

When you register on the Forum, you select a member name and a password and provide an e-mail address for us to verify that you are who you claim to be.  The process may appear to be complicated but it serves one critical function.  It guarantees that no one else can set up a Forum account using your e-mail address to be humorous, fradulent or malicious.

Before granting permission to post, we verify who you are by sending an e-mail to the address you registered with.  That e-mail contains certain information that you must cut and paste and send back in order for the process to complete.  If you can't gain access to the e-mail address you provide, you CANNOT finish the registration process.

Just this week, we received a very nasty e-mail from an individual demanding to know how we can operate with absolutely no security.  Someone used his e-mail address, picked a member name and a sick password we will not repeat.  Since he found this verfication e-mail in his inbox, he took that to mean that anyone could sign him up and post whatever they wanted to and make him look foolish.  What he didn't understand is that ANYONE can start the registration process with bogus information, we can't control that.  However, since they could not gain access to his personal e-mail account, they could not complete the registration process.

That, in a nut shell, is why it is a multistep process to gain posting rights.  It sounds overly complicated but it serves a real purpose.  NO ONE, other than you, can use your e-mail address to get on this Forum unless you have given them your e-mail password.

The process is automated.  No person including us, sees the registration taking place.  Forum Admin CANNOT see or access any file that contains your member password during the sign up period or now when you are an active member.  Additionally, passwords are ENCRYPTED and cannot be understood by us even if we tried to figure them out.

Assuming we had the time, interest and knowledge to even attempt to hack your password, Forum Admin does not have physical access to the computer.   It is located in Texas.  Even physical access to the computer would still mean that we would have to have the knowledge to DECIPHER the ENCYPTION.  We are good, but not that good.  IT DOES NOT HAPPEN.

Many of you have written to say that you forgot your password, could one of us send it to you.  The answer is NO because of the reasons just given.  We can't send you something we don't have!!  The system has a lost password icon located on the sign in screen, and you have to go through another complicated process to reset it.  That process uses the same verification method described above.


There is one function we could perform to help you out.  We can change your password to something simple, tell you what it is and then you could log on and immediately change it to something private again.  It is common to e-mail you a password such as XXXX.

Now wait a minute, you just said you don't have access to our passwords and now you say you can change it to XXXX.  Hear us out.  If we wanted to gain access to your member name, we could surely make the password XXXX and then log on to do so, but the problem is that after we  have done that, we have NO idea what it was originally!  Therefore we cannot set it back.  Our effort to gain access without your knowledge would cause us to be caught red handed!!

YOUR PASSWORD IS YOUR PASSWORD AND IF WE WERE TO TAMPER WITH IT, YOU'D KNOW.  WE NEVER RESET AN ACTIVE ACCOUNT MANUALLY UNLESS YOU ASK US TO AND WE DO IT TOGETHER.