Registering
To register - there is a yellow box at the top right-hand corner that says "New Member Click here to register".  Click on "click here" to register. 
You will be asked for your "user name/alias" (which can be your whole name, a nickname, your initials....anything you want to put there).  You will also be asked for a password, which you will be asked to type in twice.  You will also be asked for your email address.  To register, you have to answer those questions (don't worry about your email address being visible - it shouldn't be.  I have instructions to make sure that your email address isn't visible if you don't want it to be, which I will post below).
There are several other questions that are optional (you don't have to answer them if you don't want to).  The questions are:
Full Name
Homepage
Location
Biography/Details
Signature (this is what will be at the end of your posts)

Once you answer the required questions (and optional questions if you want), click on "Register now".  You are now registered.  When you leave the webpage, you have to option to stay "logged in" or you can "log out".  If you "log out", you will be asked for your user name/alias and your password when you return.

Once Registered
Once you are registered and signed in, there are several things you can do.  First, you can view your own profile.  (Make sure you are logged in - you should see your "user name/alias" at the top of the Main Page if you are signed in - one of the yellow boxes at the top of the page will say "Logged in as" and your user name.)  From the Main Page, click on "User Details" (Underneath the two top yellow boxes, there is a series of five more yellow boxes - one that is empty and the other four say "Main Page", "List All Users", "Search, "User Details).
This will take you to your own personal profile.  Above the personal profile box in the right hand corner, it says "Edit Profile Click Here".  Click on "Click here".  You will be taken to a page where you can edit and change your information.  At the very bottom of the Edit Profile page, there is a line that says "Email Visible to Other Members" with a drop down box next to it.  The drop down box contains three options: "Yes, email visible", "No, and don't accept email", and "No, and accept email anonymously".  Choose the one you want.  There are other things on this page you can change, too.  Once you've finished making these changes, click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page.

- You will eventually receive an email telling you that your registration has been activated.  If you fill out the email information correctly, you should receive the notification immediately.  If something about the email address you've posted is incorrect, the system will put you into a "pending status" and I will have to activate your registration.  Once I manually activate your registration, you'll receive a notification email.  I don't know for sure what the notification email says (I know that it will be from "activeboards"), but you may have to click on a link to activate your registration.

List All Users
As a registered member, you can view the profiles of other registered members.  Click on "List All Users".  You will be taken to a list of the names of registered users.  Click on the name of the person's profile that you're interested in visiting - more than likely, you will be given 2 options - "view profile" or "send an email".  Click on "view profile".  You will be taken to that person's profile.   When you reach that person's profile, you can read about them.  You can also contact them via private messaging from that page, too.  To see instructions on how to use private messaging, go to the "Life in Holly Grove" forum.  You will find a post that says "Private messaging on the board".  Instructions for this are available there.

Forum and Topic Icons
There are icons that show if there are new posts or topics.  The icon for new posts is simply "new".  I believe you have to sign in to accurately see these icons.  When you sign in, the message board will remember the last time you signed in and will show the "new" icon next to posts and topics you haven't seen yet.  I'm not sure how this works if you aren't registered or don't sign in. 

 

You can reach the Unofficial Holly Grove website by clicking on the link for it at the top of the page or you can click here:

http://home.comcast.net/~dfletcher20/hgtown.html