Members Only Discussion Forums   **** Click here to go to the forums **** These forums are for members of the Ocala Sportsman's Association only. If you are a current member in good standing then you can register and use the forums. Registration Process: 1. To register click the link above which will take you to the forums. On the log in page click the "Register" link and fill out the registration form to register. 2. The registration form that you fill out will go to the Forum Administrator/Webmaster for verification of your status as a valid member of the OSA. 3. Once we have verified your membership your registration will be enabled and you will then be able to view and use the forums using the link at the top of this page or you can go there directly by going to ... http://www.osarange.com/forum/ Please Note: During registration you may use either your real name for your username or a nickname for your username. Regardless of which you choose you will still be required to enter your real name in the registration form. If you register using a nickname your real name will not appear any where on the board. No user will be able to see your real name. The real name section will only be visible by the administrator to verify your status as a valid member of the club. This is not a public forum. The only people that can view these forums are registered valid members and only after they have logged in. Therefore there is not as much need for anonimity as with other public forums on the internet. We will not approve any registration unless we know who you are and that you are a valid member. Registration/verification only has to be done once. After you are registered you can go directly to the forum page using the link at the top of this page or go there directly. The forums are located at ... http://www.osarange.com/forum/ If you are having problems logging in to the forums please read the notice below before contacting me for help! If, after reading the notice below you are still having a problem then you can contact me using the contact page here. Thank you, Steven Whitaker Website Administrator

NOTICE!!! If you are having problems logging in to the Member Forums or the Members Only section of the website please read below.

I have had a few people telling me that they are having problems using or even logging in to the forums. The most common reason is that some people think that the "Members Only" section of the web site is the same as the "Member Forum". It is not. They are two totally separate things. People try to use the user names and passwords interchangeably and that doesn't work. Both areas are separate and distinct from each other have nothing to do with each other and use different passwords and user names. The user name and password for the Members Only section of the website you get from the treasurer when you join the club. That information is given to you on the same piece of paper that you get the combination for the facility gate. It is also posted in the member discussion forums in the Website Information forum.

The user name and password for the forums you get when you register for the forum.

Regarding problems registering with junk/disposable "web based" email addresses

The problem:
If you use a web based email address such as gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc... or the like and you try to join the forum your registration will fail and you will get an error that says that you are trying to register with other than a local email address. There is a reason for this.

The reason:
I have had a problem with hackers trying to register for our forum with false names in order to try to gain access to our forum. This is always done using one of these bogus disposable web based email addresses. These companies do nothing to verify the user. They allow anyone from anywhere to acquire one of their email addresses. Armed with one of these bogus email addresses a person can sign up for anything that requires an email address.

If I try to block that email address they just go and get another one. Since these companies do nothing to verify the ID of the user that user can get an unlimited number of bogus email addresses and I can't possibly block them all.

The solution:
These bogus web based email addresses are not local. They are global. Anyone from anywhere in the world can get one. Conversely ISPs (internet service providers) are local companies only. ISPs give every one of their customers at least one email address. Also ISPs verify the identity of their users and they remove any user that abuses their email address or uses their email address for any bad behavior. So if someone screws around with a legit ISP based email address I can contact that ISP and that person will lose their email privilege. Everyone that is online has an ISP. If you connect to the internet you are doing so through an ISP. Every ISP gives its customers at least one legit email address. So therefore if you are attempting to access the forums you do have a legit email address from your ISP.

So therefore I have blocked access to the forums for anyone using one of these web based, disposable, easily faked, bogus email address and I have limited access to only local email addresses from local ISPs. For example: If you are using Cox Cable as your ISP you will have at least one email from Cox cable such as "user@cox.net" or something like that. This email address will work fine for registering for the forums.

If you still choose to use one of the web based junk email addresses it will fail. If, for whatever reason, you must use that email address then contact me and I will see what I can do. But of course my first question will be "Why don't you just use the email address that your ISP gave you?" It is much easier that way.

I regret that this is necessary, and I do apologize for any inconvenience that this causes, but I ask that you be patient and work with me on this in order to preserve the security of our forum. Without this step it would be impossible to make sure that only valid members in good standing have access to our forum. And that is necessary for people to feel free to communicate.

Have no fear. If you are a valid member in good standing I will get you registered for the forums.