Leave Comments and Join Private Journals Using Your E-Mail Address as a Screen Name

Hi folks -- here's how people who don't have an AOL or AIM screen name can comment in your AOL Journal, be added to the rosters of your private Journals, and even create Journals of their own: They just have to register their e-mail address and use it as a kind of screen name.

Even though you can get a free AIM screen name at AIM.com without having to download anything, some people don't and won't do it. By registering their e-mail address to use as a screen name, it's a lighter, quicker process.

How to Register Your E-Mail Address as a Screen Name
Say you don't have an AOL or AIM screen name, your e-mail address is foo@example.com, and you want to leave a comment in an AOL Journal or view a private Journal. When you try, you'll hit a registration screen. Click the link to Get a Screen Name (trust me on this):

Two variations of "Get a Screen Name"

On the next screen, choose the option that says "Use an existing e-mail address as a Screen Name" and click Continue:

Fill out the form. You'll just need to confirm your e-mail address, choose a password and security question and a few other details, then agree to the terms of service and prove you're not a bot:

After you successfully register, you'll get an e-mail to the e-mail address you registered with. Click on the link in the e-mail, and you'll activate your account. Then, the next time you get asked for a screen name and password, sign in with your e-mail address (foo@example.com) and the password you chose:

Signing in using your registered e-mail address as a screen name.

After you've signed in, you'll be able to leave comments (and do a bunch of other things, below).

Using Your Registered E-Mail Address With Private Journals
If you're a Private Journal owner, here's what you do for people without Screen Names who you want to read your blog:

1. Tell your friends to claim their e-mail address as their screen name (as outlined above)
2. Add that e-mail address (the full address, with the "@" sign and all, like foo@example.com) to your private Journal's roster.
3. When your friends sign in using their e-mail address and password, they'll be able to read your Private Journal.

(This eliminates some of the back-and-forth of adding a new AIM screen name to your roster.)

A Few Notes:
Now, when people register their e-mail addresses as a screen name, it's still a registration process -- it's just a little faster than getting a regular screen name, and it still requires you confirm the e-mail address (so you prove who you are).

It's similar to the registration processes you see in some other blog platforms, like Wordpress or Blogger, when the blogger doesn't allow anonymous comments.

A few other things:

* Once you register your e-mail address for use as a Screen Name, you can also use it to create a Journal of your own, get Alerts, use AOL Pictures and more. (You can't sign into the AOL software with it, though you can use it with AIM.) However, not all AOL products support these kinds of screen names, though we're working on it.

* Since you're using your screen name as an e-mail address, there will be places where the e-mail address will be visible. For example, if you register "foo@example.com" as a screen name, and use it to create a Journal, the URL for your Journal will be: journals.aol.com/foo@example.com/nameoftheblog

* For comments in AOL Journals, you'll see the part of the e-mail address before the @ sign, followed by the ellipsis (foo@...). However, hovering over the name will show the full e-mail address. This puts you on the same footing as AOL screen names, since AOL screen names are also e-mail addresses.

* These types of screen names, where you register your e-mail address as a screen name, are known internally as ONS, or Open Name Space IDs. However, we don't refer to it externally as ONS. This is a big hassle to write about, since I have to keep saying "screen names where you use your e-mail address as a screen name."

Hope this helps.

Thanks -- Joe

Tags: screen names, ons, aol journals