You may have noticed a new option in the sidebar for something called “Mingle”. This is a new plugin that turns the website into a Social Network. It includes the ability to create profile pages, user friending, profile page posts, profile activities, social comments, email notifications (with privacy settings) and a full directory of members.

If you have ever registered on CANN or accessed this site through a link on Facebook, you already have a profile on CANN. If you are not sure if you are registered or not, just go to the Directory page to see if you are there. Members who accessed CANN through Facebook were automatically registered here and assigned an alphanumeric code. It appears as your assigned user name, which is not very elegant. Because of that, I hid those Facebook accounts and you can register again using your preferred user name. So, give it a try and let me know what you think! Here is a summary of the features on Mingle:

• User Profile Pages
• Ability to Upload custom avatars (falls back on Gravatar)
• User Friending
• User Profile Posting (for friends)
• User Profile Post Commenting (for friends)
• Friend Activity Pages
• Full Member Directory
• Login & Navigation Widget
• Random or Recent Users Widget
• Email Notifications
• User Email Notification Opt-Outs