Having trouble with our site? We're here to help!
This is Debbie, editor of the paper and the closest we come to having a web guru/geek. Yes, I have built websites before but it was a long time ago in a place far, far away -- and the worldwide web was a much, much safer place! Wow! These days one does not simply walk into web design without some type of security software. Then you can sit back and say to the myriad hack attempts: Go ahead, make my day! [See hack/hackers below.]
Because I work overnights, I can't always jump online to answer your questions or solve your problems until I wake up. 🙂 So I've written this help list, which I hope will save you having to wait for me and my irregular sleeping schedule.
Scroll down ... especially on mobile device/phone
If you are trying to register or log in on a tablet or, especially, a cell phone, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the form. The password section is farther down below your screen view and very easy to overlook in your eagerness to get to our content. So scroll down until you see the end of the form. It will prevent the agony of the lost password, which brings us to...
Lost password?
Lost Password now works as it should.
Originally, what we had here was a failure to communicate. If you recall, our website security software was fighting with our subscription software's security. Clicking on Lost Your Password sent you into a never-ending loop because the email it sends you contains a link to a different log-in page. That page always says your username or password is incorrect -- even when it's not. You can't break yourself out of this loop. [Yeah, ask me how I know.]
Reset password
You can always ask me to reset your password. The new password is magic that happens behind-the-scenes. No, I don't know/have access to your passwords! [OK, technically, I do. But there are far, far better things for me to do than sorting through a database.] But I can make the software generate a new one that will work. The software will spit out a nonsense string of letters, numbers and punctuation <--- because that's harder to hack*. So email me [either support or subscriptions at movinformer.com], I'll confirm you're a subscriber paid or free -- again, security against tricksy hackerses -- then I'll copy and paste that new password into an email and send it to you.
You must copy* that new password and go to this log-in page, then paste* that password into the appropriate box. That will take you to the Welcome page, which displays some of your user account details then your user profile. If you see the Welcome page, you are logged in and will have access based on your user level which is basically, paid subscriber. Everything can be changed EXCEPT your username.
Continue SCROLLING DOWN and you'll see New Password, which is where you can change your password to something you likely will remember. I suggest you scribble it on a piece of paper first because it doesn't allow you to see it when you type it in a second time to confirm it. [Yeah, again, ask me how I know.] The longer your password, the stronger it is-- 6 is barely adequate, 8 is better and 12 or more is approaching great! Also boosting strength are a mix of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and punctuation/symbols. More protection against hackers.
*HACK / HACKERS: What do ya get when a slew of remote / work-from-home tech workers suddenly need to find another job? Apparently it's a rabid horde of work-from-home online hackers or hacker wannabes -- or so the numbers suggest. 1,500 attempts in a day. HAH! We've now auto-blocked over 3,000 in 4 hours from a single IP address multiple times -- and that was the count after they were blocked. 20,000+ from a single IP in 24 hours. We'll surpass 40k this month [Thanksgiving to Christmas 2022] easily as we dash toward 30k for the week. Too bad I didn't keep a list of all of the far-flung countries from which the site has received traffic, be it good or bad or blocked. We've upgraded our hosting so this should not be a factor to legitimate traffic. We've also turned off the free subscriber option because they were all registering and planned to hack the site or spam in comments. Fake emails for registration were a dead giveaway! So you've been spared that. A paid subscription still lets you register, of course.
[With a fond backward glance here's the original version of hack attempts for this site about three years ago: "This site had about 1,500 attempts from all over the world in just one month! At least the first 720 of those was someone -- from Hungary, if I recall correctly -- trying to guess my password to gain control of the site. Yeah, that sounds like small potatoes but we hadn't even told y'all there was a site yet! Plus, the first update about 18 months later: UPDATE: Oh, how I now long for those quiet days! The site averages 1,500 every week now. We've even had days that topped 1,500 tries. I surmise it's because we are a media site and still fairly new since we are just into our third year online. UPDATE: Volume 10, however, for print! Woo hoo! Ahem.]
*COPY: To copy with a mouse, highlight the text, right click and select Copy OR after highlighting the text hit the Control and C keys at the same time. On a mobile device, using either your finger or a stylus, press down until it gets highlighted. If only part of it is highlighted, tap Select All. Then tap Copy.
*PASTE: Place your cursor where the copied text is to go then either right click and select Paste OR hit Control key and V key at the same time. On a mobile device, press your fingertip or stylus where text is to be inserted and hold until Paste appears, move your finger/stylus and tap Paste.
Registration versus log in
If the page you are on keeps telling you that your username and/or email are already in use, then you are already registered on the site and need to log in on this page. There is ALWAYS a link to the subscriber log-in page at the bottom of every page on the site -- second item in the Meta box.
The first item is Register, which should only be used once -- IF you register on the site as a free subscriber. [Remember, free subscriber registration is currently disabled.] This is also very similar to the page to which PayPal returns you after you have paid your subscription fee. Likely in the return from PayPal some parts will already be filled in, be sure to SCROLL DOWN to set your password!
Actually, as I'm placing a link to this Help page on our Register and Log-in pages [again, SCROLL WAY, WAY DOWN], I've realized that each has a link to the other down by the Lost Your Password option. So if it's telling you your username/email and password are already in use, then click on Log in. However, it's possible you haven't registered, so go back to the register page and enter your information. And, if all else fails, ask me to send you a new password to get you in.
Locked out?
This is most likely to happen when you are trying to enter your password from memory on a new device. [Altogether now: Ask me how I know!] No problem! Shoot an email to one of my [too] many email addresses. When I wake up, I'll flush/reset some, um, settings and unlock you so you can enter your existing password. If you can't remember your password [Yeah, that part about remembering passwords? I feel your pain!], just like the wizard behind the curtain, I can generate that new password mentioned above. That's safe to do because since I email it to you, when you get back to one of your usual devices, just copy and paste it on the usual device, then change it back on the Welcome page to the previous one you thought could remember. 🙂 [Chorus? One more time: Ask me how I know!]
The obvious deduction from the above is we do allow simultaneous log-ins on multiple devices. For security reasons, I kept my software-generated password. Again for safety reasons, let me just say it's a bit more than 12 characters and complete nonsense. [Take that, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herder would-be hackers! Did you really think it would be that easy?] I occasionally have to type it in by hand, a character at a time. Hence, my tip about copying and pasting and the generate-new-password for a new device, then change back to the password the rest of your devices use. You're welcome. 🙂
And if you want/need even more security, two factor authorization/2FA is available. Just shoot me an email at one of the various addresses and I'll turn it on for you. As the administrator I do use it here. Yes, it's an absolute pain but it means some quacker -- First World, Third World, a greenish teen in darkened room/garage/basement in their parents' house or someone somewhere in between -- can't easily hijack this site by trying to be me. Whee.
Search on this site
Doesn't work on the archive/back issues because they are images of PDFs. If there's something you really would like to track down -- or just to know when something ran -- you can email me at support at movinformer dot com, and I'll look through the original files to try to find it. Sometimes we get lucky and I remember a story running. 🙂 If we published a story about you or your business, etc., again, shoot me an email and I can track it down and send you a PDF, if you'd like.
If you have any issues or problems with the site, don't hesitate to email me at either support or subscriptions at movinformer dot com. There won't always be an immediate response because I could be sleeping or, better yet, on my second breakfast!