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It is not necessary to be a registered user in order to read the correspondence in The Back Room. Those who wish to contribute, however, must first register.
Registration is a one-time only procedure. Click on the "New account" button to the right of the screen. This will bring up an entry form in which you are asked to provide a unique email address, a password and a unique user name. You will also be asked to agree to a policy code.
Submitting the form starts an automatic verification process. A message will be sent to the email address you have given, detailing your user name and password. Keep this message safely for future reference. The message will also contain a coded link, which will confirm your registration and take you to The Back Room. At this point you may start to contribute.
Subsequent visits
On subsequent visits to The Back Room you will need to click the "Log in" button on the right of the screen. Enter your registered email address and password. If you check the "Remember me" box on the entry form these details will be automatically entered for you.
To enter or change your preferences, click the "My profile" button on the right of the screen. You can choose the way you view The Back Room (number of threads displayed: Threaded View or Flat view); tell The Back Room to show or hide your email address; set a signature to appear automatically at the foot of your contributions; or provide details about yourself you may wish other contributors to know (these details are not obligatory - you can leave them empty if you prefer). You can also change your registered email address or password.
There are several forums in The Back Room:
Classifieds is the place to advertise your private motoring sales and wants. Please be sure to include an email address in your ad so that potential customers may contact you directly. Classified posts have a short life and are automatically deleted after seven days.
If it comes to the notice of the Moderators that this forum is being used by a trader to conduct a business, the advertiser's registration will be cancelled without notice.
Discussion is where you can exchange opinions with other contributors on any topic which is more or less loosely based on the theme of motoring, and is not technical in nature.
Technical Matters is a forum for discussion of technical problems and solutions, and where you can seek advice about a specific aspect to do with motoring. Contributions to this forum are retained and will form an ongoing resource to help and advise motorists.
The Moderators have discretion to remove or close a thread which they consider to have run its course, and also to transfer an item which they consider to be more suited to another forum.
The forums are moderated by Dynamic Dave, Smokie, Pologirl, & Pugugly. They may be contacted individually using the following email addresses:
Dynamic Dave: dave_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
Smokie: smokie_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
Pologirl: pologirl_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
Pugugly: pugugly_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
or collectively by emailing moderators@honestjohn.co.uk
Choose the forum which interests you from the top level of The Back Room.
Within each forum, the topics are displayed so that those most recently active are at the top of the list.
Within each thread, however, message titles are displayed in a hierarchy which appends the most recent contribution at the bottom of the list.
Items which have been contributed since your last visit carry a "new" flag.
To go to a different forum, choose from the pop-up menu at the top of the Back Room window. To return to the top level, choose "--The Back Room--" from the menu.
To start a thread, click the "New topic" button, enter the title of the topic, and then make your contribution. Once you have completed your message, click "Preview" to see how it displays and to check that you've made no typing errors. Once you are satisfied, or if you see you need to make changes, close the preview window and either edit your post or click "Post". Once posted, users will not be able to make any amendment to their contributions.
To add to a thread, click on "Reply to this message" in the message window. If necessary, change the title in the entry window. Where possible, to help other users read your message in context, click the "Quote" button to enter the text of the previous message in the entry window (you can then delete irrelevant text to keep your message concise). Then follow the Preview/Post routine described in the previous paragraph.