Scroll down the front page of the site and you will see a section called “Join Write Out Loud”. Give your name, email and a password and click on “Sign up”. You will be sent an email asking you to confirm your details. Replying to that email activates your account.

Please Note: Once you have joined do not attempt to join the site again with the same email address. Use the Login facility instead.

Make sure that you are trying to Login and not trying to sign up again. Are you sure you are using the same email address as when you originally registered on the site? – Check your profile to make sure. Are you sure your password is correct? If the problem still persists contact info@writeoutloud.net

Log in using your email address and password (or join up if you haven’t already). Click “My Account”. Click on “Update your gigs”. Fill in ALL the event details including the venue’s Post Code. Then click on “Submit gig”. Details of the gig will be sent to the site administrator for acceptance onto the Gig Guide. Once the gig has been accepted the owner (whoever submitted the gig) can update the details as required

Log in using your email address and password. Click “My Account”. Click on “Update your gigs”.You will now see a version of the Gig Guide that contains only the events that you have entered. Click on the event that you want to update, make the changes as required then click “Update” to save the changes. Note: if you have a regular event (e.g. monthly) you will be asked whether the changes are to be made for one or all of the events - select as appropriate

Log in using your email address and password (or join up if you haven’t already). Then click “Poets’ Showcase”. Click “Post My CV” and complete the form. When you are satisfied with what you have written click “Submit Profile” and your profile will be queued for acceptance by the site’s Administrator. Once your profile has been accepted you can update it at anytime.

Log in using the email & password you used to create your profile then click “My Account” (it’s at the top of the screen). Click on the 'Profiles' tag. Click “Update Poet Profile” Make the changes to your profile then click “Update profile” to save the changes.

You cannot delete your own profile. Write to admin@writeoutloud.net and they will delete it for you.

Log in using your email address and password (or join up if you haven’t already), then click “Discussions”. Click on one of the discussion areas e.g. “General” then click “New Topic”. Choose a meaningful name for your topic (so that people will know what it is about), type in your message and click on a suitable avatar (head).

Log in using your email address and password (or join up if you haven’t already). Click “Discussions”. Click on the general discussion areas you are interested in e.g. “General”. Then click on the specific topic you are interested in. Type in your message and click on a suitable avatar (head).

Log in using the email address and password you used to create the discussion posting. Click “Discussions”, click on the general discussion areas you are interested in e.g. “General” then click on the specific topic you are interested in. Scroll down to find your posting and select “Edit” or “Remove” as required.

Log in using your email address and password. Click on the object that you want to make a comment against (e.g. a Poets’ profile, a photograph, a news item, a blog etc.), scroll down past the item to find the “Comments” section, type in your comments and click on “Add Comment” to post it.

Once you are logged in you can make comments against: certain items on "Features", a Photo Gallery in “Galleries”, an individual photograph or video in a Photo Gallery in “Galleries”, a Poet’s profile, a blog entry (if comments have been allowed by the owner), after other comment(s) against any of the above.

Log in using your email address and password and note you must have a profile on the Poets’ Showcase. At the top of the screen click “Make Blog Entry”, fill in the boxes as you please and add a photo if you like. Click “Add Entry” to post the Blog into the Blog section of the site.

Log in using the email address and password you used for creating the Blog. Go to the Blog section of the site and scroll down to the blog you are interested in and click on edit or remove as appropriate.

No, as long as you are a member of the site and are logged in you can do any of these things without having a profile on the site. You do need to have a profile on the Poets’ Showcase to post blogs.

The Features section of the site, like News, is a managed part of the site and content is decided upon and inserted by an editorial team. If you have an article that you feel could be used in this section, please send to dermot@writeoutloud.net. Members can, of course, post articles (such as reviews) in Discussions without any editorial intervention.

Firstly, Log in using your email address and password.

Now click on “Users Online: n” (where n is the number of users currently logged in to the site). If you want to chat with anyone who is shown as online click on the word “Chat…” that appears against their name and complete the “Invite” box that then appears and click the “invite” button.

An invitation will then be sent to the person you have invited and they have the option of accepting or declining your offer.

Watch the status condition on screen.

If status is “Waiting” the person you are trying to chat to has not yet responded – note that sometimes people close their browsers when they have not logged off, in such cases they are shown as online until the system times them out i.e. the “Waiting” status may not change for a little while. We suggest you give the person 2/3 minutes to reply and then click “Finish Chatting”.

If the status changes to “Declined” then the person you have invited has declined the opportunity to chat, please don’t pester someone if this happens click “Finish Chatting”.

If the status changes to “Online” then the other person has accepted your request for a chat and you can follow the on-screen instructions to chat. At the end of the chat click “Finish Chatting”.

Check that you are logged in to www.writeoutloud.net. If you are then this is someone inviting you to chat with them. You can either accept or decline the request, it’s up to you. If you accept then follow the simple on-screen instructions on how to chat.

The last winner of Write Out Loud’s Poem of the Month competition chooses the next winner by trawling through all the poet’s profiles and looking at the work contained in “Samples”. So for your work to be considered it has to be in the samples section of your profile. Once a poet has won Poem of the Month their work is excluded from further competitions.