Can't Seem to Sign In

Have you tried moving past the "welcome back" page instead of going back? I think it still acts like you aren't logged in on the "welcome back" page, but if you navigate elsewhere, you will see your member ID appear in the top right corner. Try navigating forward after the welcome page and tell me what happens.

Well I just posted an answer, but now it seems to have gone away somewhere. Let me see if I can get a current page to appear again.

One of my pet peeves is having to duplicate postings from memory when the originals vanish (somewhere, somehow) between here and the host server; so this time I won't. All that you suggest was tried to no avail. It's as if the Welcome-back page is the only thing working but, evidently, it is correctly working incorrectly?

I had thought about trying form the "original" machine, albeit that I have logged in successfully from a different different machine before. But wait! (I then thought.) It occurred to me to check my In box for (weekly) "CR4 Digest" emails. (Perhaps it's a problem with how I'm accessing the site . . . from some overlooked, subscribed-to email alerts. But, what's this? I find that there are no weekly digests in my In box. This would seem to suggest that my credentials have somehow been altered by the host . . . which might explain things if I am both a member and not a member at the same time. So I will see what happens if I try reset password. And I'm wondering if this might have something to do with the departure of the original cadre of site editors/managers?

This just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. I decided to re-register my password using the avatarname/password reset page. I received the reset email and link. then entered and submitted a password, after which I received a page telling me the password had been registered and that I was "logged on." However, just like before with the "Welcome back" page (and any subsequent requested page, then or now) my avatar name does not appear top-right in the red bar . . . only the Login|Register button.

I think I try next to see if I'm online using Who's Online site index button.

Before attempting to locate myself online as either myself or as guest, I instead checked the member list and was confronted with a few surprises:

First, that that membership "index" (i.e., the name-link listing) has two significant design flaws:

• This list(s) is/are not alphabetically indexed.
• The list page increment/decrement feature (which includes first, last, next, previous selection buttons) permits page advances/retreats of only two pages at a time . . . on a listing of hundreds and hundreds of pages to cover memberships in the tens of thousands!
• . . . the increment/decrement flaw being evidence by the fact that current page is shown in the middle of a five-page radio button range, ostensibly to allow next-2 or previous-2 page movements in the index . . . but which is a disadvantageous advantage in that doing it that way unnecessarily duplicates the next/last page buttons with the adverse trade-off of impeding progress through the very long overall list.
• . . . the correct functionality being: that depending upon the direction of the last most recent page increment or decrement request, the current page indication should be at the first or last position, respectively, in the page selection range--to maximize (to increment by 4 or decrement by 4) the rate of page advance/retreat through the overall listing.
• But, I digress.

Second, that it is such an arduous process to find any longstanding member; to find members above browser or contributor status; it was as if looking at a young as opposed to a long-established web site.

Anyway, I was in fact at long last able to find my member name, still with Guru attribution, in the member list. From there I decided to proceed with checking "Who's Online"—there another surprise awaited me.

Base in past experience, I expected to find either my Member name or my generic name, Guest, at the location, "Who's Online"—as shown in the Location column. But, this time, not only did I not find my Member Name shown as being on Page "Who's Online," I also was not able to find any Guest on Page "Who's Online," either. The closest Guest location I was able to find (which was not a viewing of a home, profile, or posting-type page) were a few Guests ascribed as using a Search page; whether that ascription is normally used for guests trying to see who's online, I am not able to say.

I am, however, able to say that I was/am not online in Who's Online but am online elsewhere where it does me no good.

Any suggestions what to try next; and how?

Thanks

CA

PS: I am documenting this entire ordeal by this stepwise process with an intent that, if unable to resolve the problem (my logon and, now, the above said member list defects), I will be able to provide the URL record of my corrective efforts to site managment... and avoid duplicative effort if it comes to that.

Okay, I think I've solved it . . .pending checkout on the other, newer machine.

As stated above, I "test accessed" the site using the "original" system which signed onto the site, this time making sign-in attempt using a password vault directory—just to be sure. What appeared next was the same "faux-logged-on" Welcome Back page, again with no avatar pic, or name at upper right, only the Log-In and Register buttons. This time, however, I noticed that only the Register button was active! No response to Log-In button hover or click.

I wondered if that could be due to some kind of new (automatic-logon-via-email-link) feature . . . something that would work even though I generally do not store "Remember Me" cookies. However, just to make sure I had a current page, I ordered a refreshed page. That caused both the Log-in and the Register buttons to become active.

Next, rather than repeat the Registration attempt above described, I decided to look in the navigation pane (screen right) for a Contact Us link and take the problem up the chain. Lo and behold, at the bottom of the pane what do I find but another instance of my Avatar name, showing me as current and active in the Logged-In section of the pane but, this time, my avatar name contained an active, imbedded link! I clicked it and received my profile main page where I found (where I possibly overlooked or disregarded it before) a hyperlink-imbedded invitation to check (and possibly join) an evidently new feature: User groups. This time I heeded the invitation and clicked, whereupon a page pertaining to infra-country in addition to "proprietary" groups appeared, and upon which also appeared my Avatar name exactly where it should have been all along: at the upper right page corner.

Evidently that new-site-feature hurdle must be surmounted (the invitation must be cleared) before full access to "member prerogatives and controls" is restored. So it remains only to check out logon on the other OS terminals.

As for why the ever burgeoning site has been broken into national (language?) user factions, that would be an If that possibly not even the site designers fully know for sure. Apart from the obvious language issue, one might conjure images of government "home security," or even censorship at work. Or the monitoring for proprietary-rights or technology-transfer (and mayhem transfer) attempts. But that's for another forum to speculate about.

Thanks again to all for our success in finding the answer to my question.

Once again,

. . . CowAnon, aka Guest

Well, it looks like I am back to Guest again, now that my login attempt on the newer (the above Guest) machine has failed. This time when I received the false Welcome Back page, and called my profile page, the message in red about joining a group did not appear. When I attempted the link to my mail page, a page returned with the message that my avatar was not logged in; and likewise with the other Welcome-back page, provided link . . . to edit profile I think it was. I was able to find a link to groups, but with read-only capability . . .and no facility for joining or proposing a new group.

So now I seem to be right back where I started, or to where I tried but wasn't able to start . . . signed on using this laptop, that is.

Any assistance or suggestions are welcomed and very much appreciated.

Cordially

the Guest fleetingly known as CowAnon

CowAnon, I understand how frustrated you must be...

... but I find your storytelling style quite entertaining. I will get some more popped corn and soda, and await your next installment of your quest. Keep us posted!

We may be able to make a movie out of this!