How To Join the VOC's Forum Website

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Graham Smith

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Step by step instructions on how to join our Forum Website…

Our forum website is fully responsive which means you can use a smartphone, tablet (iPad etc), laptop or desktop computer to view the website. Your device will automatically decide on the best way to display the content so it’s not too big or impossible to read because it’s too small.

Using your device’s web browser (Safari/Chrome/Firefox/Internet Explorer etc), enter
www.vincentownersclub.co.uk into the address bar and press return.

Once your browser takes you to the website, you can take a look around, but in order to look at all the material, and give you the best browsing experience, you need to undertake a few further steps. Don’t forget that at this stage, the website won’t recognise you as a Member of the Vincent H.R.D. Owners Club, and before we do anything else, we need to get you logged in or registered.

Towards the bottom of your screen, you should find something referring to ‘cookies’. Like most websites we use cookies, and in order to deliver a personalised and responsive service and to improve the website, we remember and store information about how you use it. This is done using simple text files called ‘cookies’ which sit on your computer. These cookies are completely safe and secure and will never contain any sensitive information, but they help keep you logged in (if you decide to register for the website). You can click on ‘Accept’ or if you want to find out more about cookies and what they do and how to disable them click on ‘Learn More’. If you’ve never registered for the forum website before, simply click on ‘Register’.

If you’re a Facebook user, you can click on ‘Register faster using Facebook’, and our website will automatically gather your personal details from your Facebook account, to save you having to type them all out manually. However, if you don’t use Facebook…

Type in your User Name — this can be anything you like (your nickname, your real name — absolutely anything (within reason!), as long as it’s over five characters). This is the name that will be shown with your messages. Once set, this cannot be changed, so choose your User Name wisely!;

Enter the password you’d like — then confirm it in the box underneath; It’s best to use a unique password for every website on the internet that you visit. It should be noted that on our forum website, your password is private, fully-encrypted and known only by you and the software. There is no way for any of the forum administrators* to find out what your password is.

Enter your e-mail address — so we can double check your personal details against the Club’s Membership database. This information will not be available to anyone except the forum administrators*.

Enter your Date of Birth — so we can double check your personal details against the Club’s Membership database. This information will not be available to anyone except the forum administrators*.

Enter your location — you can enter here whatever you like, your town, county/state or even just your country. It’s entirely up to you. The location you decide on will be shown to other website users.

Enter your Forename — so we can double check your personal details against the Club’s Membership database. This information will not be available to anyone except the forum administrators*.

Enter your Surname — so we can double check your personal details against the Club’s Membership database. This information will not be available to anyone except the forum administrators*.

Enter your VOC Membership Number — so we can double check your personal details against the Club’s Membership database. Your VOC Membership number is printed on your Membership Card or MPH Envelope (eg. 12345FG). This information will not be available to anyone except the forum administrators*.

Do you own a Vincent/H.R.D. Motorcycle? — This is primarily aimed at people who visit the website, but aren’t Members of the Club. This information will not be available to anyone except the forum administrators*.

Details of any Vincent/H.R.D. machines that you own — This information will be kept confidential, and is not viewable by other members of this website. The information that you provide here will be shared only with the Club’s Machine Registrar and Machine Researcher. Once shared with these two Club officials, the information is deleted from the forum website database.

Verification — The Series ‘A’ Rapide was known as the ‘********’ Nightmare? Obviously the answer is Plumber’s. This additional and manual step helps prevent automated servers from registering accounts on the website, and then posting ‘spam’ messages.

Finally, you need to agree to our ‘terms’ and ‘privacy policy’. You can click on ’terms’ and/or ‘privacy policy’ to find out more.

Once you’re happy with all your answers, you should click on ‘Register’.

Hopefully you’re now looking at a message saying ‘Your account is currently awaiting confirmation. Confirmation was sent to your e-mail address’.

You now need to head over to your e-mail software and you will find a message in your inbox — our e-mail server is really quick, and this message should come through within just a few seconds. Open the message and click on the button that says ‘confirm your e-mail’. Once you’ve done this, you’ll then be taken back to the website, and your account will be activated. It’s as simple as that! If you can’t find the confirmation e-mail, you might want to check your ‘spam’ folder.

Click on ‘Return to the forum home page’ and you should be taken back to the home page and you’re up and running!

Congratulations, you’re now registered to use the website, but you haven’t quite got full access to all the exclusive VOC Member material. However, you’re only a couple of steps away…

As you’re a VOC Member, you need your access to the website upgraded, so please visit this additional web page https://tinyurl.com/voc-website-upgrade (You only need to do this once, and as long as you never let your VOC membership lapse, you’ll never need to do it again.) On the form that will be displayed, simply fill out your name, VOC Membership Number, Your full postal address as registered with the Club (this is the address to where your copy of MPH is posted). Once finished, click on ’Submit’ and the form will be sent to one of the Club’s hard working volunteers. The upgrade is carried out manually and is usually completed within a couple of hours, but please do be patient. Once your access has been upgraded, the next time you visit the website, you’ll see a message saying that you now have full access.

That’s about it — it’s really simple and we’ve tried to make it as easy as possible so everyone can join. You only ever need to register once, and if you took the earlier decision to accept our cookies, your browser will keep you logged in. If for any reason you decide to log out and you forget your password, simply visit https://tinyurl.com/voc-lostpassword and follow the simple instructions shown.

If everything fails and you get completely stuck, lost and frustrated — before you throw your smartphone, tablet, laptop or computer out of the window, please give me a call on 07976 355 939, e-mail me at webmaster@vincentownersclub.co.uk or visit https://tinyurl.com/voc-help I promise that together we can work through things and get you sorted.

*Our forum administrators that have access to personal information held on our forum website database are as follows: Gill Lowinger (Hon. Secretary), Graham Smith (Webmaster), Peter Appleton (Hon. Editor), Ron Thomas (Membership Secretary), Simon Dinsdale (Machine Registrar) and Steve Doherty (ex-Hon. Computer Officer).
 
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