While you do not use any account for just accessing lecture notes and other information, you will need an account if you want to read forum messages, or do any other subtantial things.

1. Do I need to create a password for my account?

No. It is not recommended for you to create a password. Instead, you are recommended to use a Google account (which you have automatically, if you have a ucsc.edu email account) for the login credential. Please follow the instruction at the login page (basically, just click the first button and follow the instruction).

2. I am feeling Déjà vu… do I already have an account?

You might. Click the “Login (or sign up)” button above. If you click the “more” button when you are in the login page, you can check if your email address is already registered here.

3. Do I need to divulge my name in my user name?

No, you do not. Some of you may prefer to remain anonymous with a clever (but non-offensive, please) pseudonym. Having said this, the majority of students seem to have no problem with hinting the real name in the user name.

I ask to not use another person’s real name as your user name. Such impersonation feels quite strange, whether that is for a good reason or not.

Sometimes, a student tendency to try too hard to hide behind an anonymous name could be noted—I think a plain approach is always much better than a strange approach.

More notes on the privacy of your accounts can be found here.

4. Can I register with a private email address?

The answer here would be rather No than Yes. Here is what I mean. I, the instructor, need to know who you are, and so if you use a pseudonym and a private email address in such a way that I cannot identify who you are, then it is a problem for me. Any web site like this can invite a spam user. For this reason, any strange account is disabled, periodically.