Registration How-to

In order to leave comments here, a reader must be a registered user of Blogspot. I've adopted this policy to keep chaos to a minimum, as allowing anyone at all who wanders in off the street to comment led to a rather ugly atmosphere around here.

(Post on going to registered users only policy here.)

However, it's a simple process to register. Here's how.

First, click on the "x number of comments" link below any post. This will pop up a smaller window with a blank box in which to type your comment. Below that you will see the words "This blog does not allow anonymous comments."

This is a bit misleading as Blogger considers anyone who is not a registered user to be anonymous apparently. Anonymous in this sense means that they don't have to pick and stay with a user name each time. They can post as "anonymous", or pick a different name every time they post. This is handy for some purposes, but it quickly leads to really irresponsible comments and frankly, I'm sick of dealing with them.

The misconsception may be that if you register with Blogger, you will no longer be anonymous. This is simply FALSE. When you register, the only information you provide Blogger is a user name of your choice, a password of your choice, and an e-mail address, which I believe can be totally fictitous as well if you wish as they don't use it for communication or verification. And it's never revealed to anyone unless you choose to do so.

When you register with Blogspot, they assume that you're setting up a blog of your own, but you don't need to. You can simply follow the process up to that point, not create a blog, and you're still registered.

The process is simple and consists of only a couple steps.

First, after you've opened the comment window, under "This blog does not allow anonymous comments", you'll see a little button and the words "blogger". This is for registered users to post under their user name. Ignore that unless you're already registered. In that case, enter your user name and password.

Just under this, you'll see "No blogger account? Sign up here." Simply click on the "sign up here" link.

This will open the "Create an account" window where they'll ask you to choose a User Name, a Password, a Display Name and to enter an e-mail address.

Try to pick a unique user name, as there's millions of users and it may be difficult to find one that hasn't been taken. This is the name you'll be known as to Blogger.

Don't worry if it's kind of odd, as you'll be able to pick a different Display Name to display with your posts.(no spaces allowed in the user name or password) Pick a password, then enter a Display Name. This is the name which will show up with your comments. Then either enter your e-mail address or make one up.

Check the little box to indicate you accept the terms of use and then click the orange "Continue" button.

I've noticed that sometimes it reports that the User Name you've picked is already in use, when in fact you're already registered. So after entering your user name, password, Display Name, and e-mail address, go back and open a comment window. If the registration went through, it will show you signed in as the User Name you chose. If so, you're done! Just close the registration window and write down your user name and password if you wish.

If you go back to the comment window and it doesn't show you as signed in with the User Name, you'll have to go back and try entering a different one. (and you'll have to re-enter your password each time, unfortunately) After each try, go to the comment window and see if it's registered your User Name. Once you see it there, you're finished!

From that point on, if you're logged in (you stay logged in until you log out, if you allow cookies) and you click on the comment link below a post, it will show that you're signed in as your User Name and you can easily post comments (after filling in the word verification thing).

If you ever find that it doesn't recognize you as being signed in, you'll have to type your user name and password in the spaces provided in the comment window and it will then sign you in and you'll be able to leave a comment.

It's really quite simple, and you do NOT have to create a blog unless you want to.

These instructions may sound daunting, but I wanted to explain all the steps in as much detail as possible.

If you run into a snag or have any questions whatsoever, feel free to contact me via the e-mail link in the sidebar and I'll be glad to help.

I know you have things to say and contribute to the blog, and I don't want readers prevented from commenting simply because they're not comfortable with the simple registration process.

I invite your views and comments, the more the merrier. Follow these directions to get started.