Not a suggestion, a question.. "The Members Dock"

[MGC]

In the most recent Wooden Canoe, #239, it is noted that members should have received a password to access whatever is hidden behind the locked door.
I knew that assembly attendees had been given access. The mention in Wooden Canoe motivated me to take a look.
Without a password, I figured I could back my way in by asking for a password reset, but my email was not recognized.
Now I'm really curious about this rollout and when it will take place? Or has it and whatever was sent as notification has landed squarely in my spam folder. I'm going to take a look there next.
Mike

 

[Benson Gray]

I believe that it is taking Colleen longer to manually setup over a thousand accounts than she originally expected. My suggestion is sit tight and wait patiently if you don't find anything in your spam folder.

Benson

 

[Michael Grace]

This is correct - Colleen is working to set up the accounts. Her goal was to have the BIG task completed prior to the latest issue of the journal arriving in mailboxes. She is working toward completion.

 

[MGC]

Thanks Benson, Michael.
Nothing in the spam folder so apparently the challenge of predicting completion of what is certainly a major data entry task and timely publication of the announcement is in view.
I manage a 600 plus member list and I can totally appreciate the challenge and especially if each account must be dealt with. After a few hours of that sort of effort, the brain goes numb, the fingers get dumb and mistakes happen.
I'm in no hurry for this. I've lived a happy and healthy life without it, but I was (and am) curious to take a peek at this gem.
Mike

 

[Colleen Hovey]

Hi Mike. Thanks so much for your patience and for understanding what a huge task this is! Everything we've done with this project has been a massive learning curve, and the process of adding members is no exception. It is definitely not as simple as first expected.

You were added this morning, so you should have your email now. I'm excited to hear what you think of the new section of the site! I'm also looking forward to completing this process so we can move on to adding more features in the future!

Enjoy the site!!
Colleen
WCHA Webmaster

 

[MGC]

Hi Colleen,
Thanks for your follow-up. I just received a notification to create a password to access "the dock". I was able to create a password and I did log in, at least to a landing page. I was not able to access any of the listed content so I am unable to comment about it, at least not yet. Here is a screen capture of the landing page message.

A question.....I noticed that membership renewals will (may) be managed inside the member access area. That makes sense. What I am curious about is how that affects gift memberships? If I am the person paying for another member as a gift, will I have an opportunity to update that before they are locked out from the "members only" access?

 

[Colleen Hovey]

Hi Mike. I think I have it fixed now. Go ahead and try again when you have time. Be sure to let me know if it works or if you're still having issues. I really appreciate your help!

As for the gift memberships, I will discuss this with Annie and get something figured out. Thanks for bringing that possibility to my attention!

Colleen

 

[MGC]

Hi Colleen,
That did the trick. Thank you. So far so good. I skipped around a bit and liked what I found. The catalogues are nice to access. I found a canoe I bid on last year that went a bit higher than I cared to spend. All good.
If the membership renewals can be addressed through that access, that would be great, but applying the 80/20 rule, it was going to require tiptoeing through the tulips one way or the other.
Mike

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Please clarify - we currently log in to the Main site with a Password, will we automatically be logged into this new area?
or will we have to log in again with the same or different User name and Password?

 

[Colleen Hovey]

Hi Dan. In the past there has been no login for the WCHA website. Only for the forum. All of the features of the website that were free before will still be there and accessed without a login, but WCHA members have a whole new section of the website that is only accessed through a paid membership.

Forum members will still use their usual password to access the forum.

Let me know if that doesn't answer your question! I hopefully understood correctly what you're asking.

Colleen

 

[Benson Gray]

Please clarify

The description from the most recent journal is attached below. The new area at woodencanoe.org has a new username and password but it seems to automatically remember me so I haven't needed to log in every time. This username and password is different from the one you setup for this forum at wcha.org as Colleen mentioned. Let me know if this doesn't answer your question,

Benson

 

[Colleen Hovey]

So glad that worked Mike! Enjoy!!

 

[Todd F]

Now I am more confused than usual...will wait to get an e-mail about logging in etc.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

So - we will have 1 user name and password for the Forum and a 2ed user name and password for the New Pages? Or is there a plan to make these the same and/or connected?

 

[Michael Grace]

Dan - the forums and the website are two separate things. They are connected only in that the forums are linked to the website. Access to the website requires no login at all - it is free and open to the public. The members-only area is part of the website and it requires credentials to enter (hence "members-only"). It is not part of the forums. Therefore, separate logins are required, but you can certainly use the same name and password for both platforms if you wish.

 

[Dan Lindberg]

Thank you.
I always considered (apparently wrongly) the Forum and the Website one and the same.

 

[David Satter]

I think this all sound great! But another login and password to remember yes I know my computer will remember it for me....sometimes it does. I can build a boat but I'm not to good with tech stuff.

 

[MGC]

I think this all sound great! But another login and password to remember yes I know my computer will remember it for me....sometimes it does. I can build a boat but I'm not to good with tech stuff.

OK, time for my Practice Safe PC lecture.
Yes, you may opt to allow your browser to store your passwords. Many people do. You may also do the same thing with your mobile devices, phones, tablets etc. There is a bit of a security risk you introduce by doing that. It's counter intuitive to think that letting a bot snag your WCHA PW would compromise your internet security, but human nature is that we tend to try and simplify what we are not comfortable with, so people use the same password on everything. Your IRA/401 pw, is it the same as the one you use for the WCHA forum? Is your Amazon PW, the same one you use for Ebay? When you bid on an online auction, is the PW the same one you used to buy varnish from Jamestown Distributors?
Best to have a PW for each app you use and to never allow the device to save them. I use a password saver app on my hand phone to track them. It is "on the cloud" so if I lose my phone, buy another, whatever, my PW's are there for me. If I use a forum or log into something often enough, eventually my braincell captures the PW and (this is amazing) remembers it. I try, and no one should, ever let a device store your login information. Do not make a habit of writing PW's down. Someone could walk off with your entire profile if they find that list
There is a prince in (name a place) who is struggling to feed his herd of racing camels who needs cash donations to pay for special feed and veterinary care who is counting on snagging a few more PW's, credit card numbers and addresses today. Don't make it easy for him.
I'm not paranoid, just very careful.

 

[Dave Wermuth]

Passwords and user names, and all that require too much band width from this old man. I suspect the majority of people have a spiral note book with a hundred user names and passwords that we can't remember and we also let the device store them for us as long as we can.

Circling the drain......

 

[David Satter]

Braincells? I've been sanding, painting and varnishing for 30 years. In reality I am pretty good with a computer. I just don't have the erg to advance my computer skills. I'd rather work on a canoe. I am a little old school though. I'm fine with a wooden boat and a cedar bucket.