Trouble Getting Registered ...

[Carol the Dabbler]

I spent most of last week trying to register for this forum. As I went along, the registration page put green check-marks next to my display name, my password, and my email address -- so I figured everything was OK. I typed in the security code very carefully, then clicked on Register. It reloaded the same page. Everything I had typed in was still there, along with a new security code. I figured I must have mis-read the security code, but I didn't get any further with the new code -- or the next one, or ....

I emailed Scott Adams, and his best guess was cookie and/or firewall problems. I checked through thousands of allow/block settings, and deleted everything with the word "celiac" or "gluten" in it. Still no better.

Finally, I got to wondering whether those green check-marks knew what they were talking about. I tried a different display name -- still no go. I went back to my original display name and tried a different email address -- and I was in!

I emailed Scott, telling him my best guess is that something in the software is assuming there are no hyphens in email addresses (even though hyphen is not listed as an illegal character). He is notifying the software manufacturer. Meanwhile, if you're reading this because you're having trouble registering, and if your email address contains a hyphen (the address I normally use for forums is Carol-the-Dabbler@whatever), then try an address with no hyphens in it. (The same thing may apply to a few other special characters.) Good luck!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Update: Scott says he registered using an email address containing hyphens, and had no problem. Now I'm thinking that my original email address may have failed because of its length -- 32 characters total.

The registration page does not specify any maximum length for email addresses. But even though the green check marks thought my address was OK, there may be one or more places in the software that assume the address is shorter than 32 characters.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Second Update: I finally got up nerve enough to go to "My Controls" and try changing to my preferred email address -- and it worked! I still don't know exactly what the registration software didn't like, but obviously the address-change software doesn't have the same quirk.

So if you're having a mysterious problem with getting registered -- the software gives everything a green check-mark, but when you click on the final button to register, you just get kicked right back to the registration page -- try entering a different email address. And if you don't want to continue using the substitute address for this forum, there's a good chance that you'll be able to change to your preferred address later.

[nikki-uk]

Second Update: I finally got up nerve enough to go to "My Controls" and try changing to my preferred email address -- and it worked! I still don't know exactly what the registration software didn't like, but obviously the address-change software doesn't have the same quirk.

So if you're having a mysterious problem with getting registered -- the software gives everything a green check-mark, but when you click on the final button to register, you just get kicked right back to the registration page -- try entering a different email address. And if you don't want to continue using the substitute address for this forum, there's a good chance that you'll be able to change to your preferred address later.

Success at last!!

Come to think of it - when I registered I couldn't use my 'normal' email address - I had to use a gmail account.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Come to think of it - when I registered I couldn't use my 'normal' email address - I had to use a gmail account.

Nikki -- maybe we can figure out what the problem is. I certainly don't expect or want you to post your actual email address (the one that you couldn't use), but could you describe it? How many characters is it, total? What punctuation marks does it contain (other than the @ sign and some dots)? Is there anything at all unusual about it?

[nikki-uk]

Nikki -- maybe we can figure out what the problem is. I certainly don't expect or want you to post your actual email address (the one that you couldn't use), but could you describe it? How many characters is it, total? What punctuation marks does it contain (other than the @ sign and some dots)? Is there anything at all unusual about it?

Nothing unusual

24 characters - all alphabet - lower case no dashes - very boring!!

I thought it might have been because the last part was co.uk whereas gmail is a .com