I've been here for over a year. Why can I STILL not see my chats or profile page?

[ALSF]

I hope this post doesn't come across as gripey, but I find it frustrating that I have been a contributing member of this community for a while and still am denied access to basic website functions. I get new chat alerts pretty frequently but can never check them. How long does it take to become a full member? Just wanted a little clarification on how that works. Thanks.

[bloom]

Regarding the chat, the numbers you're seeing aren't chat alerts, they're just how many people happen to be in the forum chat room at any given time. As for validation, you haven't met the requisite post count needed to be eligible for it. Here's the thread on How Do I Get Validated?. Hope that helps.

[ALSF]

Regarding the chat, the numbers you're seeing aren't chat alerts, they're just how many people happen to be in the forum chat room at any given time. As for validation, you haven't met the requisite post count needed to be eligible for it. Here's the thread on How Do I Get Validated?. Hope that helps.

Thanks! All right, that chat thing was definitely confusing me. Guess im not as popular as I thought

[AnteatersOnParade]

I hear you though; sometimes I feel like I've fulfilled the requirements stated in one place, only to get redirected to totally different requirements in another place. Or I'll get a non-answer as an answer to a question like if I ask about entry requirements to a forum, as an answer I;ll get a link to the requirements that I thought I was fulfilling. It gets confusing and I just learn that lurking is good.

[PuddinPop]

The link that Junia provided does basically tell you everything that you need to know about being validated.

Once a member has reached more than 50 posts, the Staff vet through the posts and if they are satisfied that the member has made a positive contribution then they will be validated. The Staff don't consider members who have active warnings for validation until they have expired, the same as they do not grant members extra privileges (like Adult/Youth Board access) while warnings are in place.

If you continue to post positively and adhere to the basic guidelines set out in that post then validation is normally quite quick.