posted 10-07-2015 05:18 PM            

I've just posted my first post to this forum. I have to say I found it quite extraordinarily complicated to jump through all the hoops required - and I speak as one who has posted to a number of fora.

Having applied to register (with a gmail a/c, which appears to be banned, so had to email direct rather than via the onsite form), I was given a password, and tried to login; easier said than done ! Why is there no 'login' link on the home page ? I had to use the 'search' button to find one, and I've no idea where it is if I need to find it again. And having gone through all the 'do's and don't's for New Members, there's no login there either; 'register' simply takes one round in circles.

I then found instructions for newcomers to post photos on a new part of the site reserved for photos. The last post appeared to have been a single one in 2014, so I assume everyone else has been baffled by it, as I was. In the end I posted the photos, as I have elsewhere, with the usual 'img' '/img', which tinypics helpfully puts in for one, and the pics seem to have appeared with the post on the correct forum.

I certainly don't wish to appear ungrateful or rude; there is obviously a huge amount of expertise among your members, which I hope to tap into; but having spent an hour or two trying to find my way round it, I was very nearly completely deterred from posting anything at all- and as an honest response to your own post, I felt I ought to say that maybe others have been too!

posted 10-07-2015 05:19 PM            

....I was given a password, and tried to login; easier said than done ! .....

There is no need to login until you attempt to post. What were you trying to login to?

....Why is there no 'login' link on the home page ? .....

There is no need to login until you attempt to post or enter a private forum. You only need to use your user id and password to post or to enter a private forum (with prior approval).

....I had to use the 'search' button to find one, and I've no idea where it is if I need to find it again......

Not sure what you were trying to do or what you used search to find??

....And having gone through all the 'do's and don't's for New Members, there's no login there either; 'register' simply takes one round in circles......

Sorry to sound like a broken record..... There is no need to login. You only need to use your user id and password to post or to enter a private forum

.....simply takes one round in circles......

What circles?

As to why there are band email domains - See:
Forum Spam and your email address

Thank you for your insights and we hear your frustration but don't really feel we understand your explanation.

posted 10-07-2015 06:09 PM            

You've done a good job posting including photos. I see you also successfully logged into the Silver Salon Forums Photo Gallery.

posted 10-12-2015 09:40 AM            

This site is wonderful, with knowledgeable members and a tremendous amount of information about very esoteric areas of silver. As someone who is very shy by nature, I felt quite intimidated about posting, in an "I'm not worthy" kind of way! Perhaps those of us obsessed with old silver skew to the introverted end of the spectrum, and find it harder to "break in" so to speak.

I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to share a piece in my collection, but my technological backwardness makes posting pictures quite a chore. Getting a decent picture (especially of the marks,) getting the picture from the camera to the computer, then from the computer to an online site, then sizing it correctly, then figuring out how to link the pictures - and then learning that the only site you've figured out how to use (photobucket) is somewhat frowned upon.... Try not to laugh, but to some of us it really is that much of a project!

This is by far the best site about collecting old silver, you've created an incredible place here. None of this is meant as criticism, just as as a possible explanation for some of the lack of participation that you've identified.

(I have an interesting old Gorham perfume flacon for a chatelaine that I've been meaning to ask about. Perhaps I'll work on getting some pictures of that today!)

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Lisa