How to use this site

First of all please bear with us. This is a new site and we are all still learning to use it. This page will continue to develop as we get your feedback and discover more about how to get the best out of the site. There is a thread on the forum for reporting any problems, asking for help and making suggestions.

Signing up
Click on the sign up box in the top right hand corner of the main page and follow the instructions. You will then need to wait for your request to be accepted. If anyone is struggling with this there is a step-by-step set of instructions (with pictures) here.

Main page
This page always comes up first when accessing 40sWalkersNorth. If you want to add or RSVP an event, participate in chat or the forum or access “my page” you will need to be signed in. If you just want to see what’s been going on you can do this without signing in.

Code of Conduct and Safety Policies
Links to these are in the left hand column on the main page. Please ensure you have read and understood these before participating on the site or in any events.

Walk gradings
These are the grades, of walking and scrambling that are used solely by 40sWalkersNorth. We follow our own simple way of describing the walks /scrambles that we do.There is nothing "over the top" of ordinary hill/ mountain walking unless specifically stated.

My page
This is your page and you can customise it as you wish. You can choose colour scheme and privacy options, load your photos, see which events you are attending and more

Adding photos
We have limited capacity on this site so
Please load into albums rather individual pictures (as we did on the MSN site)
Please only load pictures connected with 40s walkers walks and events (you can use Google Picasa or similar to share personal and holiday photos)
Photos should be less that 50kb

Resizing photos
If you don't already have Irfanview, you can download it from here. Once you have Irfanview installed
1. Open an image.
2. Go to menu Image->Resize/Resample. You will be presented with a dialog box that allows you to reduce the size of the image by entering the dimensions. Or you can choose one of the standard dimensions by clicking on the Half button.
3. Go to menu File->Save as, choose JPG and save as new file.
4.Look at the file size of the new file. If still too big, repeat the steps, using smaller pixel size and/or lower quality, etc. IMPORTANT: Make sure that you either choose the File->Save As option or have already taken a copy of your graphic file, otherwise you may end up reducing your one and only copy of your photo. An old Irfanview Online Tutorial can be found here

Forum
Please use this for any discussions about walks, ideas, events, gear, requests for information etc. Walk reports are a great way of thanking the leaders, keeping a record of where we’ve been and what we’ve done, inspiring for the rest of the group and the best advert for 40s! If you have a real ambition to go somewhere, post it here, because there may well be others who want to go there as well. But please make sure you have read the code of conduct before using the forum and in particular please remember that the forum is not a place to conduct personal arguments or air grievances about other members. Posts of this nature may be deleted.

Events
Use this to view a list of events. If you would like to attend you can indicate this using the RSVP facility.

PLEASE ONLY RSVP IF YOU ARE ATTENDING.
PLEASE DO NOT USE THE "MIGHT ATTEND" OPTION.

If you do use this option it will be at the walk leader's discretion whether they expect/ wait for you.

Adding an event
This group was founded and thrives on the basis that individuals are willing to put on walks or organise events. Anyone can put on an event, even if it’s just your local Sunday walk you can bet there will be half a dozen others who would sign up to explore a new area or just meet other members. If you are unsure or would like any help with this any of the managers or experienced walk leaders would be delighted to offer advice or assistance. However, please be aware that managers reserve the right to query or even veto an event if they feel it is way beyond the usual remit of the group or if it is potentially too dangerous. (see safety policy for more information on this) You can add an event by clicking on the “add event” box in the top right hand corner and fill in the information requested. Please make sure you have read and understood the safety policy and the walk gradings also that you have included information about the grade, distance etc to help people decide whether to attend. Finally you will need to say whether there is a limit on numbers. Once you have posted event only you can edit it. You have the option to freeze RSVP or stop new attendees joining once your limit is reached so you will need to monitor this yourself if you are capping numbers on a walk.

Weekend events.
If you are putting on a weekend event with walk(s) and leaders to be decided over the weekend please post a single event. If you are organising separate day walks over a weekend you will need to post them as separate events.

Managers you can contact are
Pete (Perfect) Hogan
Sue (Red Mini) Anderson
Kev (Walking) O’Hanlon