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Now that I have gotten registered, will I need to re-register at each forum and will I use the same user name and password on each? I'd like to be prepared by knowing in advance what will happen if I open a different forum to post there.

And one special forum - the Mac Mini forum. It seems to have me already registered even though it won't let me post. Should I erase whatever is there and start over with what I registered here?

Thank you for help.
 

Slydude

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Once you log into Mac-Forums there is no need to log into each area or thread separately. In fact if you click the "Remember Me" option it won't be necessary to log in again. In most circumstances the forum will let you right in.

When you want to start a new topic/ask a question simply click on the section that seems most appropriate. A new page will load with a "Post New Thread" button in blue on the upper left side of the page. A page with then load with a box for you to type your question into.
 
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I am not exactly sure what you are asking but I will try to answer your questions. When you complete the registration on a forum site and thus create your username and password that will be the only login you need for that forum. When you login to the forum you can check the "remember me" box, you will not have to login to the forum on the computer you are using - UNLESS - you clear your browser cookies which will require you login again because that is how the site "remembers" you.

I am not sure what mac mini forum you are referring to but if it is not some sub-catagory of this forum and is another forum site that you say you can log into but can't post, I would investigate why you can't and are you sure you are logged in. Every forum I belong to will have a "Welcome lclev" or whatever user name I choose at the top of the forum screen to indicate my login has been accepted. I know of no forums that will let you delete an account once it has been set up but if you are logged in you should be able to edit your personal information or change your password, etc. If you just create a new account that could cause the account to be flagged and the administrator will question your account.

As for using the same login and password on all forums you belong too - not a good idea. Using the same user name would not be bad but the same password for each is never a good idea. Best safe surfing practices are to create a different strong password for every site. Some use password storing programs.

Is this what you are asking?

Lisa
 
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I am not exactly sure what you are asking but I will try to answer your questions. When you complete the registration on a forum site and thus create your username and password that will be the only login you need for that forum. When you login to the forum you can check the "remember me" box, you will not have to login to the forum on the computer you are using - UNLESS - you clear your browser cookies which will require you login again because that is how the site "remembers" you.

I am not sure what mac mini forum you are referring to but if it is not some sub-catagory of this forum and is another forum site that you say you can log into but can't post, I would investigate why you can't and are you sure you are logged in. Every forum I belong to will have a "Welcome lclev" or whatever user name I choose at the top of the forum screen to indicate my login has been accepted. I know of no forums that will let you delete an account once it has been set up but if you are logged in you should be able to edit your personal information or change your password, etc. If you just create a new account that could cause the account to be flagged and the administrator will question your account.

As for using the same login and password on all forums you belong too - not a good idea. Using the same user name would not be bad but the same password for each is never a good idea. Best safe surfing practices are to create a different strong password for every site. Some use password storing programs.

Is this what you are asking?

Lisa

I'll use this to say thank you to both of you and, at the same time, answer Lisa's comments. Lisa, I am also wondering about that Mac Mini forum. Let me give you the URL and see if that helps. Someone had told me how to do something and then said this might also help: http://discussions.apple.com/community/desktop_computers/mac-mini. It does seem to be quite different from this one I'm on now. It asks me what's on my mind and I fill it in. But then it acts as though I wasn't supposed to do that. For reply, I get what is probably a computer-generated response saying it will get back to me but it never does. It is just a form letter. I have received it three times in response to my three posts.

So, maybe it is not part of the user forums? OK. There is a long list of user forums. I certainly do not expect to use many of them but are you saying I need a different password for each that I do use? Or, did you think I meant all forums anywhere I go? I only meant these user forums. Since you talk of sub-categories, perhaps you are calling all of those one forum? I was calling each sub-category a separate forum. I was wrong?

Apple speaks a different language that I'll need to learn. Thanks to both of you again. hazel m
 
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MacInWin

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Hazel, the language is the same. Here at this website, you log in ONCE to get access. If, as Slydude said, you then tell it to remember you, it puts a cookie on your system that says, "Hey, you know this one!" and the board doesn't ask for your login again from that machine. Once into the website, you can go to any of the forums here freely.

That other place you listed is the Apple discussion forum, where people can post questions or comments. That is a totally different website, run by Apple, not the folks who own/run this website.

As a general rule, you should never use the same login password at two different websites. That is poor security practice. You should have a unique password for each website that uses login for access. Given that there are many websites you might visit (here, your bank, Amazon, etc., etc.) you may want to look at some third party software for password management. I use 1Password for that for me. It not only remembers my passwords, it has a component that can enter that information for me when it recognizes that I am on a login site it has seen before. And when I create passwords, it generates nonsense passwords for me that are very secure. I have it set for 13 characters long, mixing upper and lower case, numbers and symbols as a default. So I get passwords like "uPe3%KLp5tTvB" that are very hard to crack. And I don't have to remember them, 1Password does that for me.

I didn't mean to turn this into a tutorial on Security, or an advertisement for 1Password, sorry.
 
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Hazel, the language is the same. Here at this website, you log in ONCE to get access. If, as Slydude said, you then tell it to remember you, it puts a cookie on your system that says, "Hey, you know this one!" and the board doesn't ask for your login again from that machine. Once into the website, you can go to any of the forums here freely.

That other place you listed is the Apple discussion forum, where people can post questions or comments. That is a totally different website, run by Apple, not the folks who own/run this website.

As a general rule, you should never use the same login password at two different websites. That is poor security practice. You should have a unique password for each website that uses login for access. Given that there are many websites you might visit (here, your bank, Amazon, etc., etc.) you may want to look at some third party software for password management. I use 1Password for that for me. It not only remembers my passwords, it has a component that can enter that information for me when it recognizes that I am on a login site it has seen before. And when I create passwords, it generates nonsense passwords for me that are very secure. I have it set for 13 characters long, mixing upper and lower case, numbers and symbols as a default. So I get passwords like "uPe3%KLp5tTvB" that are very hard to crack. And I don't have to remember them, 1Password does that for me.

I didn't mean to turn this into a tutorial on Security, or an advertisement for 1Password, sorry.

I didn't mean the computer language is different but that learning to use it involves learning a new language. I think where you said <<Once into the website, you can go to any of the forums here freely>> clears it up for me. Knowing exactly what you call a forum and what you call a web site involves a new understanding. I can't explain it properly. I'll just have to let it soak in.

Thanks.
 
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MacInWin

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Hazel, when you are here again, look at the address bar for where you are (In Safari, that's the bar at the top where you type in where you want to go. It should say www.mac-forums.com and if you have it set to show the full address, it will then have "/something/something/something/#post<number>." The website is the www.mac-forums.com part and the individual forums are found in the part of the address starting with the "/" symbol. You don't need to know that, I'm just pointing out the parts of the address. As long as the first part (the www.mac-forums.com) is here, you are still on the website and are moving around the forums and menus. If you click on something an the www part changes, then you changed websites. At the Apple site you listed, the www.discussions.apple.com is the website and the /community.... is the detail address to the forum you were in at that website.

Does that help? Its like 123 Main street is the address of the building and Apartment 245 is the specific apartment IN that building. You can go from apartment to apartment and still be at 123 Main street, but if you go to some other address, that will be a different building.
 
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MacIn Win, you do have a way of making things so simple and understandable. And, yes, I did need to know that. I have had an inkling for a long time that there was more to those addresses than what I was seeing. While I was understanding the last part of the address, I had a very wrong concept of the first part - the web site. Thank you again.
 
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Hazel,

I checked out the link in your post #4. When I accessed it the item was listed "as not found may have been deleted." Just from what you posted I am concerned it was what is called a legitimate post. No forum should ever ask more information from you than a username you make up, a password you make up, and a valid email address - EVER!

The site is a valid forum site but I am willing to bet the post was a fishing expedition by so not so nice people. The fact they have emailed you several times using a form letter is not good and is never done by a legitimate site unless they are verifying your email (which can also be from the fishing people) or saying "Hello." I am wondering if they are fishing for potential passwords or password hints you may have used. If it were me I would be evaluating what information I provided and seriously considering changing any passwords or hints you may have used on a site that could have been derived from any information you may have given out.

I don't want to scare you but I do want to help make you a safer surfer. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Lisa
 
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Thank you both. Lisa, all it asked was what was on my mind - meaning what problem was I having. It did not ask for any personal information. The reason I got three is that I posted there three times. The three replies are duplicates which is why I think they were computer-generated form letters. Don't we get those from a lot of sites as simple acknowledgement of receipt? Even from non-internet companies.

In this form letter they also tell how post a thread in the Mac-Forums. That wasn't working until I decided to pretend I had never registered and start over. In view of what happened since and what I have learned I think I really had never registered here. I had registered at a different web site: https://discussions.apple.com...... web site.

All that said, yes I do have to change a password for other reasons. Must get that done today. Let's hope all is well and I'm on my way. Thanks again.
 

Slydude

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That might explain some of the confusion,

As far as the Apple forum is concerned once you post a message in their forum you do get a message each time someone posts an answer to your question. Clicking the link leads back to the thread you posted. It's very similar to the system that we use in this forum.
 
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That might explain some of the confusion,

As far as the Apple forum is concerned once you post a message in their forum you do get a message each time someone posts an answer to your question. Clicking the link leads back to the thread you posted. It's very similar to the system that we use in this forum.

Once you get things sorted out and know where you are, it's pretty much like a lot of forums, I think. I have seen only one forum that is slightly different in that it does not post the reply in the notification letter. That's fine as you're going to the site anyway.
 
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Thanks Jake and Hazel. I was interpreting what Hazel posted as having provided information. Whew! I was concerned. Glad it was nothing bad.

Lisa
 
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Thanks Jake and Hazel. I was interpreting what Hazel posted as having provided information. Whew! I was concerned. Glad it was nothing bad.

Lisa

You never know about my muddled wording! It did sound that way - just a stream of letters. Proof-reading is such a good habit. :)
 

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