Problems logging in?

[Admin]

If you can't log in to the messageboard, or to the Members Area, of the MMOC website, please read the following page before getting in touch with us for support. Almost every issue is down to simply not reading the page correctly and trying to login using the wrong form. If you still need help after reading the help page, please try to be patient - I have a life too, you know

http://support.mmoc.org.uk/index.html

[Blaketon]

Not exactly a problem logging in but I simply cannot find anywhere where I can alter the setting to show that I AM a member of MMOC.

[simmitc]

As it's not a logging in problem, then it should be a new topic However, we try to help, so after you have logged in, look at the top right where you will see you name. Click and from the drop down, select profile.

Once the profile is displayed, near the centre of the page click "Edit profile", and that's where you can chnage it.

[Blaketon]

I can't see it

[simmitc]

OK, that's a definite problem, this is what it should look like:

Capture.JPG (13.12 KiB) Viewed 12057 times

I can't think of any justifiable reason why you should not be able to edit your own profile, but the button is missing. Clearly a permissions problem; I'll ask Mike to look at it. Apologies for the inconvenience.

[Admin]

Short answer: I think I've fixed it - Blaketon, if you'd like to attempt to change your profile now, you should have the [Edit Profile] link alongside your username which will allow you to change the setting. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Long answer: Like all the little 'quirks' that arise with our board, the huge majority of the time taken is not in changing the setting, it's finding out what has made it happen in the first instance. Why wasn't that particular user allowed to change a profile setting? Well I have a 'normal' user profile too, so I logged into that one instead and the Edit Profile link was present and correct. Okay, what makes me different to Blaketon? Eventually I discovered that my 'normal' profile and Blaketon were members of two different groups of members - users, and registered users. Why are there two groups for the same thing? Who knows - it's lost in the mists of time before me.

But that's what set me looking in the right place, because I discovered a setting that isn't the same between the two - Edit User Profile. In one of the various updates that are issued for the software our board is running was a modification that disabled the ability for users to edit their profiles until they had reached certain criteria, apparently to prevent spammers registering and then filling their profile fields with spam links. That update rolled by some time ago, but the modification was among a huge list of bug-fixes and code edits and modifications that are rolled into every upgrade that the board does, and No, I don't sit and go through them each time they come out and try to identify changes - I have other tings to do too! It would have been easier to track down but for the fact that this particular update didn't upset things, it simply provided the ability for profile field editing to be turned off for some users. Only later in a different update did phpbb decide in its wisdom to change the default setting for a particular set of groups, from 'can change profile' to 'cannot change profile', and the default setting on our own board for 'users' was set to that group type, while for 'registered users' it wasn't!

If I hadn't noticed that my normal permissions profile and Blaketons were in different groups, I'd still now be looking for the cause - only blind luck found it. And that's how it usually happens, a user tells me something isn't working, and I put on my Sherlock Holmes hat and go digging. Sometimes it's immediately obvious, most times it takes an hour or two, occasionally I never actually find out what happened or why. I usually devote some time to it and have a good look, but then leave it and go and do something else instead to clear my head and come back to it later, but I hope that's an insight into the nightmare of looking after this board! I'm not bemoaning my lot - well, not today anyway - I'm simply explaining that my simply wanting to put something right isn't necessarily enough to make that change happen, and if (okay, when) I get crotchety it's usually a mix of frustration that I can't find the answer and/or irritation with myself for not spotting the solution earlier! Here endeth the lesson

[Blaketon]

I've still got the same page, without a button. It has crossed my mind, that since I am using an older operating system, could that be a problem? I don't pretend to understand how these things work (Yes I can operate a computer and have even created a few simple, non database websites) and unless a computer is needed for a particular task, I avoid them......that's partly why I will not run a modern car.

[Admin]

You should be good to go now Blaketon

[myoldjalopy]

Ever since I joined this forum I have been able to log in automatically. But now I have to input my name and password every time, even though I tick 'remember me'. Can this be put right again?
Thank you.

[Blaketon]

You should be good to go now Blaketon

Yes all's good now. Many thanks.

[Admin]

Ever since I joined this forum I have been able to log in automatically. But now I have to input my name and password every time, even though I tick 'remember me'. Can this be put right again?
Thank you.

I think this might be a security setting in your own browser rather than something on the board, but I'll see if I can come up with it.

[myoldjalopy]

Thanks Mike. I haven't changed anything in my browser that I'm aware of.......

[Admin]

Okay, I've done some reading up, and it seems to be pretty much as I'd said before to be honest. It's a cookie issue locally to your pc, possibly caused by your AV software

[myoldjalopy]

Hey, I fixed it! I remembered I had been mucking about with my security settings and after your last message I went back and fixed it! Woo-hoo!