Q: Can anyone access this site?
A: For all sorts of reasons, it is restricted to people with some connection to Mary Hare Grammar School, particularly alumni and staff members (past and present). If this includes you, please read on...
Q: How can I sign up for a Reader Account?
A: By clicking on "Create an Account" (look at the left hand side of the screen; it's under the Login section). Then simply follow the instructions. The Display Name can be anything you like. The email address you supply should be a valid one, as you will be sent an email (usually straight away) containing a web link to click on to complete the registration process. The password, of course, is confidential (I can't see it), so choose whatever you like. As for the Username, again it's up to you, but if you subscribe to the Mary Hare History Forum it would be helpful for me if you could use the same username here as you do for the forum - this helps me to identify genuine alumni or staff members from Mary Hare, and thus helps me to keep the spammers out. Please note that you will not be able to access the site straight away, because after you create the account I have to manually activate it; if I am not at my computer, I obviously can't do this, so it may be a while before I get around to it!
Q: I'm having problems getting a Reader Account. Help!
A: Please
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Q: OK, I've got a Reader Account. How do I log in?
A: Where it says "Login" at the left hand side of this page, enter your User name and Password, and click the Login button. If you click the "Remember me" box, you won't have to do this every time you visit this site.
Q: I'm in! Where on earth do I start?
A: If you carry on and read the rest of these questions and answers first, it should start to make sense. If you just want to get started at the beginning (September 1957, when I was born), please click here. (You must be logged in for this to work!)
Q: How do I find my way around?
A: The posts are ordered by year and month. To locate a month, just follow these steps:
- At the left of the screen are some yellow folder icons. Click on the words "Mary Hare Diary" next to one of these icons. A list of years will be displayed.
- Click on the year you require. A list of months will be displayed.
- Click on the month you require. The posts for that month are now displayed (in reverse order, with the oldest at the bottom of the page).
Q: Why are the posts in reverse order, with the more recent ones at the top?
A: Because that's the way blogs are meant to be read. They are essentially a journal, with new entries being added frequently. People logging in each day to read the latest post don't want to have to scroll all the way to the bottom to find it. It's a right pain wading through months of posts when you first arrive, but once you've caught up it'll make more sense.
Q: What's a blog?
A: It's short for "web log". It's like a journal or diary, and people use them for all kinds of things, such as keeping friends and family up to date with their activities, or for sharing their thoughts about their favourite footie team, etc. In this case, it's just my way of telling the story of my years at Mary Hare.
Q: What does "Search" do?
A: You can use this to find all posts containing a certain word or phrase. For example, if you enter "Christmas" into the white box and click on "Go", the page will display a list of all the posts containing the word "Christmas".
Q: How can I submit comments to a post?
A: By clicking on "Leave Comment" beneath the post in question. You must be logged in to do this.