Some of the content on this web site is of a nature that it should only be visible to club members. An example is the course notes from Martin's tutorials.

So how do we know whether you are a club member or not?

If you are logged in we have some information about who you are. When you create an account, you have to provide some information about yourself, such as your email address. You are also asked to give your real name, although there is no means of forcing you to really identify yourself. You may also provide your ABF number. Again, not compulsory, but it may be helpful to us at some time if you do so.

The email address you provide however must be valid. You will receive an email to this address after creating the account, and the account will not be activated until you have responded to the instructions in that email.

The site administrator regularly checks for new user accounts, and if he recognises the details as a Tamar Bridge Club member, will upgrade the membership class to "club member". You should be notified by email (to the address you gave when creating the account) when this happens. If you have not received an email to say your account class has been upgraded after, say, 2 or 3 days please email info@tamar.org.au and let us know.

This may be an appropriate place to say a few words about the signup and login processes.

You "Signup" (create a user account) by clicking on the [signup] link under the login box on the left hand side of every page. Fill in the information requested, and wait for an email verifying your email address. Then do as it says.

The username can be anything you choose, but unless you want to remain anonymous, it could be something which will identify you to other club members, but not to the world at large. Such as your first name, or your initials. For your own convenience it is best to make it short and easy to type, as well as easy to remember.

I recommend that you select the "Hide email address" option. Otherwise your email address will be out there on the World Wide Web for the web wide world to see, and address-harvesting robots to suck up. If it gets harvested, you will get SPAM, and probably lots of it.

Once you are registered, it is probably a good idea to check the "Remember Me" box in the login panel the first time (or next time) you log in. This will usually log you in automatically on future visits, saving you the hassles of remembering and typing your password. There are some catches though. This works by recognising the computer you access the site from, so if you change computers you will have to enter your username and password. Software upgrades or changes, either here or on your computer, might cause you to be forgotten.

If you do forget your password, use the Forgotten Password link in the login panel. It will take you to screen which will allow you to get the password emailed to you.