If you've identified a message board you'd like to join, click the "Register" link found in top-right hand corner of the forum you are visiting. This will take you to the registration page where you can begin to create your new account.
On the next page, you'll first be asked for your email address. Please enter a valid email address here as this will be what you will use to login to your account in the future. Once you have the email address typed in, click the continue button.
Once you've clicked the continue button, you'll be taken to another page which will request the following info:
Email: The email address displayed here will be the one you typed in on the previous page. Please double check to ensure that your email address was typed correctly. If you discover that you've typed in your email incorrectly, you can use the "Change Email" link found in the top-right hand corner of the Email address box and will be able to update your email to the correct address.
Create Password: Here you will set the password that you want to use for your account. Type in a password that's at least six characters in length. Be sure to use a password that is not only secure, but one that you can remember in the future when you need to login to your account.
Verify Password: Type in your password again in this box. Doing this will ensure that the password you typed in earlier is the password you intended to use for the account.
Your Name: Enter in your name in the box provided. The name you enter here will be used on your profile after your account is created.
Birthday: Using the respective drop-down menus, select your birth Month, Day, and Year.
Gender: Lastly, choose your gender from the drop-down menu provided.
Once all of the above info is provided, click the "Continue" button. On this last page, you'll be asked for two more things:
Forum Username: Type in the username that you would like to have displayed with your account. This will be what other members of the forum will see you as when your account is first created. The username is restricted to just letters and numbers, cannot contain spaces, and may not be longer than twenty characters in length. Once your account is created, you can change the way your name is displayed by modifying the "Display Name" in your forum profile.
Terms of Service Agreement: Here you'll be asked to review and agree to the Terms of Service which govern the use of ProBoards free forums. View the T.O.S. by clicking the "Click here to read the ProBoards Terms of Service" link found to the right; the T.O.S. page will open in a new window so your registration info will not be lost.
Once you've read and agreed to the Terms of Service, click the "Continue" button one last time. A CAPTCHA will pop up asking you to enter in the phrase as it appears in the image provided. Once you have the phrase typed in, click the "Submit" button. If everything was entered in correctly, you'll be taken to a new page to let you know that your account has been successfully created! This page also serves as the page to activate your account, which is done to verify your email address.
Account Activation
After you create your new ProBoards account, an email will be sent to the email address you provided earlier in the account creation process. This email will contain the activation key you will need to use in order to verify your email address and activate your account. If you did not receive your activation email, while still on the Activate screen, ensure that the email address displayed is correct and is free of any errors. If it is typed in correctly, use the "Resend Activation Email" link to have the activation email sent again. If the activation email still has not reached your email inbox, check your email spam folder to see if it was routed there. Otherwise, if the activation is still no where to be found, add noreply@proboards.com to your email contact and try the "Resend Activation Email" link once more.
If you are still experiencing trouble receiving your activation email even after adding our email address to your email contacts, you may want to consider using a different email address from another provider. You can change your email address with the "Change Email" link found in the top-right hand corner of your displayed email address on the Activate page. Otherwise you may want to contact your email provider for further troubleshooting.
Pending Registration
Some forum owners opt to restrict the forum registration process so that they can approve new member accounts before they can login and post with the account. This is the reason for why you may be directed to a "Pending Registration" page to let you know that you will receive an email notification as soon as your account has been approved. You might also have the option to leave a message with forum staff here as well, if it has been enabled for the forum you registered for. Once your account has been approved by a staff member, you'll be able to login to the forum to begin posting!