Basic registration Info

Registration with the Dance Gypsy is very easy, requiring very little information. Once registered you may add additional information about yourself as a performer, update your bands, or dances and special event. All fields on this form are required:

Login: This is the name by which the Dance Gypsy will know you. It is not revealed to any outside person. Login names must have at least 6 characters but no more than 30. They can include any letter or number and the underscore character (“_”)

Note that once the basic information is accurate, many users will not need to log in more than once or twice a year. Select ID and password that is very easy for you to remember. Unless your memory is much better than mine, anything obscure will be forgotten.

Password: Like any other site, the password provides your security. Do not tell your password to any other person. It may also be from 6 to 30 characters and is case sensitive.

Confirm password: This must be the same as the password and is simply an assurance that there were no typing errors.

First and Last names: These are (almost) obvious. Do not include any punctuation or non Anglo-Latin letters (e.g., no ø or ñ ). generally it is best to use the name by which most dancers and dance organizers know you. However this is not essential because performers may include aliases on their performer listing. Performers may also override this name later for public display purposes (e.g. O’leary or då).

Email: All users must have a valid email address. This address will be used to send you your confirmation (which is needed before you can log in). Please note that email is the primary (indeed often the only) means for communicating with the Dance Gypsy. Please do not use a throw away email address. This address is not published for the public to see and the Dance Gypsy does not sell address lists nor send (or even encourage) spam of any form. Any time you change your address you will need need to enter the Dance Gypsy update pages and change the email. Confirmation simple assures that the address is correct because it is such an essential tool.

Please note that only one user account can be associated with any one email address. Also only one user account can be associated with any one performer.

Problems in registering.

There are some answers for the most common problems reported to the Dance Gypsy.

#1. There are no labels on the input windows on this page.

By far he most common problem people experience with registering is that the form appears and there are obvious input windows — but with no apparent labels.

To the extent of my knowledge, this problem occurs only in older (6.0 or older) version of Microsoft Internet Explorer. The bad news is I cannot address the problem directly as Microsoft no longer supports those versions (I cannot even get a version for testing). The good news is that there are at least 2 “work-arounds”:

a. Use any other browser (e.g. for “Windows” users, use FireFox, Opera, Chrome, Safari, iCab, or even IE 7.0 or IE 8.0; for Mac users, use any browser)

b. You can fill in the fields “blind folded” by using the following list as a guideline for filling in the form. The input fields are (in order):

• login ID (make one up)
• password (make one up)
• confirm password (repeat it)
• first name
• last name
• email
• confirm email (repeat it)

c. For an image of how this page looks in other browsers, see this image

(hopefully someday either MSIE 6.0 will go away or I'll figure out a real patch to fix it),

#2: I registered but it will not let me log in.

The second most common problem is unreceived confirmation messages. When you register, a confirmation message is immediately sent to your email address. This message is an essential part of the registration process (it weeds out the robot entries, and yes robots are attempting to register every day). It is impossible to login until you acknowledge this email (don’t worry: it takes only one click)

Unfortunately, this message can sometimes be missed. Sometimes spam filters move it to your junk mail folder; other times the newly registered user may simply not realize it is there (or that it is important). When the message is not seen, you will not respond and you can’t log in.

The solution: find the message, and follow the link contained therein. It is just a link back to the Dance Gypsy login page, but it contains the information to activate your account. After you click the link, you will find yourself at the login page. Just log in with the information you provided at the registration.

If the link does not work for you: copy and paste the entire link into your browser address line.

No message?: If you cannot find the message, try looking in your junk mail folder. It will have been sent to the email address you used in registration, and will have the title “Welcome to the Dance Gypsy’ and was sent at the time of registration. If you still can’t find it, write to the Dance Gypsy and we can send you another copy.

#3.I forgot my registration info:

On the login page there is a button labeled “I Forgot”. Click that button, and you will be guided through a reset process. You will need to know your email address plus either your password or your login ID. If you know the password we will remind you of your ID (via email at your registered address). If you know the logon ID, we will give you a new password. Note that since the password is new, you will not be able to login until you have re-activated the count (following the link from the letter). Also note that the password will be ugly — the first thing you will want to do is change it to something you are more likely to remember.

#4: I don't know if I am registered or not

That question is harder to answer, but the following may help"

• Registration is relatively new: first became possible for performers in late 2007, and for festival organizers in early 2009. So don’t spend time figuring out if you registered 5 years ago.
• You do not need a separate account for each hat you wear. For purposes of registration, a musician account and contact person account are the same.
• If another person in your organization has an account, you can still ask for — and use — your own. Don’t worry about what the previous person with your job may have done.
• Although some accounts were pre-created for performers, that mistake was not repeated with festivals or monthly dances.

#5. I want to use the same email as my spouse

Sorry, we can't help you with this one. We use the email address as part of our confirmation process, and require a unique email address for every user.