Tips for using this "In Memory Of" forum

Hello, my friends.  Thanks to Tim and Lynda VeArd, also known as The Lighthouse Lady, we have a beautiful new page where we can immortalize our lost pets and/or beloved relatives.  No rules govern that.  If you miss someone dreadfully, be it a furry or feathered friend, a grandparent, a parent, or a beloved child, this is your page to share your memories.

When you first look around in here, it may seem a little strange, but no worries!  Read this post for guidance, and I think you’ll find it very easy. 

First of all, you need to register as a member.  Click on “register” in the upper right hand corner and fill out the form.  Pretty easy stuff.  You must first accept the rules and regulations of the page.  Then it takes you over to register.  You must create a username, a password, and give your email address.  After doing that, you’ll have to type in a code of letters that you see in a box.  This is to tell the site that you’re a real person, not an automated computer program sending spam.  Tim VeArd is looking out for us!  If you like, you can also fill out a profile, telling other members a little bit about yourself, but it isn’t necessary. 

Remember your username and password!  Write them down in a safe place like I did!  Then it will be simple for you to log in forever after.  

Once back at the main page, log in, then look at the center of the screen and click on “In Memory Of.”  The forum opens, and you can view the posts left by others or click on “New Topic” to post your own message. 

Posting is simple.  You just type your special story about someone you love!  It works much as it does on any bulletin board. 

If you want to post a photograph, Tim has made it super easy for us to do so, but it does take a few preliminary steps.  If you already have photos stored somewhere on line, other than on your computer, you can simply go to that site, highlight a photo, copy it, and return to your “In Memory Of” post to paste the link into your message.  Your photo should automatically appear.

If you don’t have digital photos stored on line somewhere, it’s super easy to do so.  Just go to Photobucket.  In your Internet search line, type photobucket followed by .com with no spaces after photobucket and the period before com.  I can’t do the entire URL for you so that you can simply click on it.  I don’t think this site allows URL’s to be posted in messages, for security and spam-prevention reasons. 

When you get to photobucket, you simply join.  It’s free!  Then you can click on Upload and then click on photos stored on your computer to upload them.  Once they are uploaded, you can highlight a photo, copy it, and return to your In Memory Of post (just leave it open so it’s a click away) and paste your photo link into the main body of your message.  The photos tend to come through very large, but I love that!  If you want to mess with shrinking them, that is fine, but I don’t think it’s necessary.

You can type part of your story above the photo, more of your story below it.  Or you can post several photos! 

Thank you, Tim and Lynda VeArd!  You are the most awesome friends to me and also to my readers!  Tim and Lynda also donated our chatroom, available to all members of my bulletin board.  They are so generous, and especially our Lighthouse Lady, for sharing her hubby’s time so generously with us.  Of course, Tim must also be thanked, but he tells me that his happiest moments in life are when he makes his Lynda happy, so there you go.  She’s evidently smiling when he devotes all these hours to all of us! 

A huge thank you to both of them. 

I am off to post a story about Kibbles, who hasn’t yet left me.  Nevertheless, her days are numbered, and until I get home to my scanner, my other lost furry friends can’t join her on this page.  I have no digital photos of them and will have to scan them in before I can upload them to Photobucket. 

Don’t feel intimidated by Photobucket.  I was really nervous because I’ve never done this, but I sailed through it, no problem.  I was amazed by how easy it is.

Big hugs,

Catherine