Is anyone else experiencing deleted PMs?

[TheEmperor]

I have received email telling me that I have received a PM from other user. When I log into read my messages, there is nothing new there.

 

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

Also, my HT blog has not received any new comments since the second procedure, which is odd given that I got a steady trickle of messages before.

 

I have disabled my blog for the time being.

[Sparky]

Havent had that, but everytime I re-visit this site I have to login again, it wont keep me logged in and this happens on all 3 of my computers.

[TheEmperor]

Yeah, that is annoying too.

 

And sometimes pages dont load.

[mattj]

I also had the same thing happen with a PM. What I think it is is that there were two parallel PM systems, one reached by sending a PM from a user's forum profile, and the other through the social network bar at the top. Bill has since removed the forum PM system making any PM's that were sent via that method unreachable. There was once a way of reaching PMs in the blue bar, alongside the 'member list', today's posts', etc.

 

The two separate log-in routes (one forum, one social network) are, I think, also the cause of the issues surrounding staying logged in. Only one has a 'remember me' option to check.

[TheEmperor]

The site is so clunky now that I didn't spend much time analyzing it. Half the time I cant even get into the forum to post.

[Sparky]

hopefully it will get sorted, kinda miss the old site atm, because it was stable, also when i'm not logged in and try to post a reply, it doesnt take me back to the topic i was on, it takes me to the homepage which isnt even the forum.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Guys,

 

I posted a topic about private messaging and spammers about a week ago which explains why you may have received an email about a private message that's no longer there. See "Spammers and Private Messaging" for more information.

 

I'm sorry you guys seem to be having issues, but it would be helpful if you'd report them to me individually by sending me an email at help@hairtransplantnetwork.com so we can look into them further.

 

Understand that anything new takes some getting used to and will have some bugs to iron out. We are in the process of fixing a few remaining bugs and have over a dozen enhancements we will be making in the coming months. Some of these bugs, including more direct integration between forum members and their social profiles were created by a recent upgrade to the forum software (some of which, Matt discussed in his post). We are working on fixing these bugs and making accessing member's social profiles and sending them private messages from the forum even easier.

 

Many of these bugs and enhancements have been discussed at "Welcome to Your New Hair Loss Forum and Social Community - Updates Featured Here". I encourage you all to read them and provide any additional feedback to make this community better.

 

Sparky,

 

You don't have to login each time. Make sure you login from the main site www.hairrestorationnetwork.com and click the "remember me" feature. I haven't had to login in weeks! Apparently if you start out on the forum, there is a separate login area without a "remember me" feature. We will be eliminating this so that all logins go through the same place, with the obvious "remember me". What other issues with instability are you having? Everything is running smoothly for me.

 

TheEmperor,

 

When did you last have a problem with the site not loading? We initially had some issues when we went live, but these issues have long been resolved. I'm on the site constantly and see no issues of the site locking up. So you know however, we did have an issue with our site's security being compromised this past week which caused problems while we were working to restore the site. See "Community Down Time due to Security Breach" for more information.

 

Matt,

 

What you're referring to was only an issue for 2 days. This community only has one private messaging system which is utlized by clicking on "Messages" or a user's social profile above. Sending private messages from the forum will be made easier in upcoming enhancements.

 

Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

TheEmperor,

 

Regarding your patient website, I see the last comment was made in December, 2009. Blogs receive a lot of traffic, but it's typically members of this community who post the most comments. As you update your patient website, I encourage you to post new forum topic (or reply to an existing one) letting people know you've updated your website. This will provide you with the greatest chance for feedback and support. It would also help if you update your social profile by going to "Profile" > "Edit Profile". You can even link to your patient website under the "Hair Loss Story" tab.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[Bill - Seemiller]

For those members who login via the forum, I've added a "remember me" box that once clicked, you won't have to login again.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Bill

[Sparky]

I click on that remember me box everytime but it never does, tried it on 3 different comps, dunno what causes it though.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Sparky,

 

3 different computers? Really? I've had dozens of people test this and it works just fine for all of them. I've also tested it using 3 distinct browsers.

 

Since the "remember me" box works via cookies, make sure your browser allows cookies.

 

Also, please send me the URL where you normally log in just in case there's something the programmers missed.

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

[monkey]

Same here, remember me has never worked.

Tried logging in from both the main page and the forum page.

[Hans - Webmaster]

Odd, I have also tested it on a number of platforms and browsers and it always works for me. Do realize that if you leave the site by clicking on the "logout" link, your "remember me" will be removed automatically. If you just close your browser and then come back to the site, then it should work fine.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Monkey,

 

As our webmaster said, the "remember me" feature works as long as you don't logout when you leave. Your browser also has to be set to allow cookies.

 

Also, so you know, the "remember me" box on the forum login has only just been added yesterday. Additionally, the "remember me" box didn't work initially but has since been fixed. Thus, there's a possibility that you weren't utilizing the "remember me" box when it was working.

 

If you (or anyone else having this problem) want additional help, please provide me with the following information:

 

1. Operating System

2. Browser you are using (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.)

3. Version number of the browser

4. Whether or not cookies are enabled (if you know)

5. The exact URL you are logging in from.

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill

[TheEmperor]

While we're on the subject, I was shocked that the change password dialog is NOT secure http. It would be very easy for observers to hack user's passwords.

 

I would not expect this from an OTS solution, but this site has a "home grown" feel, and not in a good way.

 

I know it is alot of work to switch forum software, but I think you made a bad decision with this package and should consider switching to something more secure and less buggy.

 

I have the same problem with it not remembering passwords. And after logging in, it takes me back to the main page, not the thread i was reading, so I need to find the thread again if I want to respond.

 

Up until two days ago, pages were not loading. I'm not going to help debug this mess, I will recommend that you find a better package.

Edited May 19, 2010 by TheEmperor

[Bill - Seemiller]

TheEmperor,

 

The tone of your posts on this thread are very negative. Frankly, you seem much more interested in complaining than helping to solve any potential problems you are experiencing.

 

This is a hair restoration community, not a bank. The old forum wasn't encrypted with SSL and neither is this one. No other hair loss forum I've seen is encrypted either.

 

I'm sorry you are having problems, but since the "remember me" has proven to work for the vast majority of users, there is most likely an issue with your computer. As long as your browsers are accepting cookies and you don't logout each time you leave the site, you shouldn't have to keep logging in.

 

We are not switching packages, so either be part of the solution by providing us information that can help us...or stop complaining.

 

Bill

[monkey]

Hi Bill,

 

Windows Vista

Firefox 3.6.3

 

Logging in from main homepage, ticking box, and just closing browser after (not logging out from the link) - yet when I load browser back, logged out. Cookies are on.

 

In case of cookie corruption, I did clear them manually using the Web Developer toolbar, but alas to no avail.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Monkey,

 

I appreciate the additional information so we can work on troubleshooting this potential issue. Like you, I use Windows Vista and have Firefox version 3.6.3. Everything appears to work fine for me.

 

Can you check a couple of settings for me? When you go to "Tools" and "Options", can you tell me what your cookie settings are? See a screenshot below of how they should appear for the "remember me" feature to work in Firefox. I've circled the areas in red that apply. It's imperative that "keep until" is set to "until they expire".

 

 

Also, when you click "Show Cookies", do you see one for "hairrestorationnetwork.com"?

 

Best wishes,

 

Bill Seemiller

[hairthere]

I have had no issues at all with the site using my iMac.

[monkey]

Hi Bill,

 

Yes - all those settings are the same, and the cookie is there. I don't have this issue with some other sites though. Appreciate this is gonna be really hard to troubleshoot, and if I am the only one having the problem, best just leave it - I'll log in each time.

 

I'll give IE a shot though, see if that helps.

[Bill - Seemiller]

Monkey,

 

Can you tell me which URL you are logging on from? Since we have a few different domain names that point to this community, there's a possibility that clicking "remember me" on one domain and then returning on another will cause this issue.

 

I was informed by our programmers that one of our redirects was temporarily turned off to fix other issues but has been turned back on. I'd encourage you to log out, log back in using the "remember me" and let me know if it's working for you now.

 

Sorry for the inconvenience,

 

Bill Seemiller