As of 9 August, 2005 over 190 individuals have registered for the new Biometric Consortium Bulletin Board (BCBB). We recognize, as has been pointed out to us earlier, that registration doesn’t imply endorsement…however, we believe that will come as increased usage breeds greater familiarity with the new system. We encourage you to begin using the BCBB for the correspondence you would normally send via LISTSERV. As has been pointed out in previous LISTSERV posts on different topics there is always initial resistance to new technology or new processes. The only way to truly assess the worth of the new technology/process is to give it a fair trial. While we are in a transition mode it would be beneficial to all, you the users and we the administrators, for the new system to get as much use as possible so that we are familiar with its strengths and cognizant of improvements which may be required BEFORE THE LISTSERV IS SHUT DOWN.
There have been a number of instances where potential users had difficulty in registering. In a few cases where potential users are having technical difficulty with registration we are working with them to isolate and resolve the problem. However, most sign on problems can be easily resolved by following the instructions emailed to the LISTSERV in late August and provided on the Biometric Consortium website http://www.biometrics.org/html/bcbb.htm... For example:
• A number of LISTSERV members thought they would be automatically registered in the BCBB and were frustrated when they could not get access. As was pointed out in earlier correspondence LISTSERV members, as well as non members, have to register with BCBB.
• Some new users wrote to us saying they were not receiving email notifications of postings. As described earlier, users must register for email notification with those forums or threads for which they want to be notified. One must sign up for email notification of postings for each forum or thread.
• Some members were confused by the “member status flag --“junior” or “senior. This feature is used to track the number of postings a member made to the BCBB and, as the number of postings has no real meaning, the feature will be deleted.

For those of you who may have missed or misplaced the earlier set of instructions the following are offered:

To apply for membership in the BCBB log onto: www.bcbb.biometrics.org
1. A BCBB message screen will appear directing you to log on or register
2. Click on “register”
3. A BCBB rules screen will appear. Please read the rules and, if you agree, check “I Agree” and click on register
4. A registration screen will appear. Create a user name and a password as instructed
then go to “additional information” and provide the requested information
5. Continue on to provide additional profile information requested. Next enter your email preferences and click on “complete registration”. [NOTE: FOR APPLICATIONS TO BE SUCCESSFUL ALL REQUESTED INFORMATION MUST BE ENTERED. IF ANY INFORMATION REQUESTS ARE NOT FILLED IN THE REGISTRATION PROCESS WILL NOT COMPLETE.]
Once your registration has been approved (usually within 24 hours) you will be notified via email.

The new BCBB is comprised of “Categories” [i.e.: Biometrics in the News is a “category”]; “Forums” [i.e.: “Contract Announcements” is a forum within that category] and “Threads” [i.e.: the posts that appear within each Forum are “threads.”]
After you have logged into BCBB completing the following steps will enable you to subscribe to forums or threads of your choice, and will allow you to be notified when new threads and/or posts are made within that forum.
• Login into BCBB
• If there are one or more Forums that you wish to subscribe to, click on the specific Forum.
• Once the Forum opens Click on Forum Tools on the right hand side of the screen
• Then Click on Subscribe to this Forum.
• Then you will be prompted to select a notification type. There are three choices:
o No email notification
o Daily Updates by email
o Weekly Updates by email
• Once you select an email option click Add Subscription
• If there are more Forums that you wish to subscribe to, follow the same procedure

Completing the following steps will enable you to unsubscribe from a forum of your choice, and will remove you from the notification list for that forum.
• Login into BCBB.
• Click on UserCP on the left hand side of the screen...
• A list of all subscribed forums will come up.
• Locate the Forum you wish to Unsubscribe from.
• Then Click on Unsubscribe from this Forum underneath of the one that you wish to unsubscribe from.

Should you wish to subscribe to specific threads with a Forum [i.e.: you do not wish to subscribe to all the threads in a particular Forum] complete the procedure as follows: to subscribe to a thread of your choice, and receive notification new threads are posted:
• Login into BCBB.
• Click on the Thread that you would like to Subscribe to.
• Once the Forum opens Click on Thread Tools on the right hand side of the screen
• Then Click on Subscribe to this Thread.
• Then you will be prompted to select a notification type there are three choices:
o No email notification
o Instant notification by email
o Daily Updates by email
o Weekly Updates by email
• Once you select an email option click Add Subscription

Completing the following steps will enable you to unsubscribe from a thread of your choice, and will remove you from the notification list for that thread.
• Login into BCBB.
• Double Click on the Thread that you would like to Unsubscribe from.
Once the Forum opens Click on Thread Tools on the right hand side of the screen
• Then Click on Unsubscribe to this Thread

The FAQs (on the left hand side of the page) should answer many of your questions about using this bulletin board. For example: the section on User Maintenance answers such questions as:
• Why should I register?
• Does this forum use cookies?
• How do I clear my cookies?
• How can I change the information in my profile?
• What is the signature for?
• I lost my password, what can I do?
• How do I add a custom status to my profile?
• How do I get a picture under my username?
• What are the buddy and ignore lists?
General Forum Usage will answer such questions as:
• Can I search the forum
• Can I send email to other members
• What is private messaging
• How do I use the Member List
• How do I use the calendar
• How do I rate a thread
• What are referrals
• Etc…
The Reading and Posting Messages section addresses:
• Email notification
• Attachments
• Message icons
• Etc.


Future updates will be posted to the BCBB in the “Biometric Bulletin Board Suggestions” forum. For the few who are still having technical registration problems we will send the update to them directly via email. There will be no more updates posted to LISTSERV.

Regards,

BCBB Support