The userid you make up. It can be almost anything, 4 to 8 characters long, no spaces and lowercase. It will show next to your articles so choose something you don't mind readers seeing. Your first name, last name, email, phone, and fax are only for the Joplin Independent's ability to contact you if we have a question about any of your submissions. No one else will ever see this info, unless you decide to post it in your profile. Your password has the same requirements as your userid , but readers won't see this one. That's all we need.
Thanks, Joplin Independent Staff.