Creating an account

1. Click on the "log in/ create account" link at the top.

2. Give yourself a user name that you want to appear on your blog and all the comments you post.  Your username should be one word (not a phrase and no spaces), it should not contain an underline or other punctuation to connect two words, and it should be relatively short—not more than 10 letters.  Do NOT use your NYU ID or your entire name, first and last—you'll want more privacy than that.  There's no need to use numbers (unless someone else has used the same name already).  So use your first name or a nickname or the name of a literary character, an author, whatever.  It's a bit of a problem to change user names, so give this a little thought.  You might take a look at the user names from previous students, on the Blogroll page.

3. Fill in the information about the the course you're taking your name, adviser, etc., all of which will be kept private.  

4. Select an avatar image.  This image will appear by your username in various places, just to help readers remember you.  After you create your account, you can return and change the avatar or upload an image of your own.  If you do upload an image, keep in mind that avatar images on the site are small, so head shots work best.  

5. At the bottom of this create-account page, you'll see an option for your personal contact setting.  Check the box if you want users of the website to be able to send you an email using the contact form.  Note that your email address does not appear anywhere.

6. An email message will be sent to you in a few moments.  It will either say that your account is awaiting or approval, or it will give you a temporary password.  Click on the login link, and copy and paste in your password.  Once you're logged in, click on the "edit" tab and change your password to something you can easily remember

7. Once you log in, the process is complete. You will not receive a confirmation or any further messages from the website.  You can proceed to create your first blog entry.  

8. When you log in, you can change your password and other account information by going to “my account > edit” and entering the changes.  You cannot change your user name without administrative help.