I get an error message, "That E-Mail/Membername/Password combination is not valid. Please try again".
What does this mean?
This one is straightforward - it means that the account name and account password that you are trying to
use are not a valid combination. If you don't have your password stored on in your browser and do not
remember what it is, refer to the "Welcome to Forums" e-mail you received shortly after joining
a forum, which contains a reminder of your account information. You can use your Membername and E-Mail
Address interchangeably when logging into a forum, so if you've forgotten one, try using the other. If all
else fails, use the "forgotten password?" link that appears on the login screen, to have a new password
sent to you via e-mail. If you still encounter the same error message after receiving a new password, then
your forum account might not be active. If you had requested that your account be cancelled at some point
then we would have disabled access to your account. If that is the case then you can opt to create a new
forum account - you'll need to choose a new Membername and specify a different E-Mail Address in the process.
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After logging in, the same login page comes up again! Why is that?
You have "cookies" disabled, or are using a browser that does not support cookies at all. A cookie is a
line of text that is stored on your computer, that contains information about your forum identity. When
your browser reads this information, it allows your Membername and Password to be stored in your browser
so that you do not need to type your account information each time you wish to login to forums. Cookies are
supported in version 2.01 and newer of Netscape Navigator, version 2.0 and newer of Internet Explorer,
version 3.0 and newer of AOL, and version 2.7 and newer of Lynx. To enable "cookies" in Internet Explorer
4.0, click on View, Internet Options, Advanced. Choose "Always accept cookies", or "Prompt before
accepting cookies", then manually accept any cookies set during the forum login procedure. In Netscape
Navigator 4.0, click on Edit, Preferences, Advanced. Choose "Accept all cookies". You can optionally choose
"Warn me before accepting a cookie", but you will need to manually accept any cookies set during the
login procedure.
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I'm trying to get into a private Forum that I was invited to, but after logging in I just get
a "non-member request" screen that prompts me to put in a Group Access Code! What's the deal?
By sending an invitation to a specific e-mail address, the Host of a Forum has preapproved that
e-mail address for access to their private forum. We even supply a customized URL in the
invitation, which is designed to prepopulate the forum registration screen with the e-mail address
that the invitation was sent to. However if the invitee alters the e-mail address during the
registration process, they will not be able to access the Forum as expected. At this point the "invitee"
should use the "non-member request screen" to send an e-mail to the Host of the Forum, letting them know
that they wound up signing up for forums with an e-mail address that differs from the one that was
pre-approved for access to the private Forum. The Host can simply resend the invitation to the address
that was used - then the invitee will have instant access to the private Forum.
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My hard drive crashed and I had to reinstall everything. I don't remember any of my account info.
How do I get back in without having to create a new account? Arrrrrgggghhhh!!!
Don't panic, this is an easy one. If you had to reinstall your operating system (or got a new computer,
or want to access a forum from a different location from where you signed up), then your browser essentially has
a 'clean slate' as far as the forum knows. When you try to access a members-only area on the forum, we send you to
the login/registration page so that you can login to your existing account or create a new one. If we
don't detect an existing your forum cookie in your browser, then we assume that you're not yet a member and
present you with a 'new member registration' screen. However if you're already a member, just click on the
"Already a member? - Login" link that you see at the top of the registration screen. This will reload the page
in "login" mode instead of "registration" mode, and let you put in your existing Membername or E-Mail Address
and Password combination. If you can't remember your Membername and/or Password, use the 'Forgotten Password?'
link that you'll see there, to have a new password sent to you via e-mail. You'll simply need to confirm the
correct e-mail address that is attached to your account. After receiving the new password, use it along
with your e-mail address to login to a forum. Then visit your My Forums page for a
refresher on the rest of your account info.
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I updated the e-mail address that is attached to my forum membername, but the old information
still shows up on the login screen. How do I get rid of it?
What you see on the forum login screen is stored locally in your browser's "cookie". If the earth opened
up below our headquarters and swallowed it whole, your browser would still have your forum account
information stored in it. If you've updated your e-mail address with us, and the correct account
information is no longer reflected when you encounter the forum login screen, try deleting the information
that is there and retype the correct information. If you are unable to do that then you can click on the
"Other" button that appears there, to reload the login screen with a special line that will allow you to
type in a different account name. Subsequent visits to forums will then show the correct account information.
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There are a bunch of membernames that appear on my login screen that I don't want
there anymore. How do I remove them?
It is not necessary to remove unused account names from the login screen, but if you wish to do
so you will need to manually edit your browser's cookie file. Exit out of your browser before following
these steps:
Netscape:
If you're using Windows it's called "cookies.txt", usually located in
"C:\Program Files\Netscape\Users\default".
On a Macintosh it's called "MagicCookie", usually located in
"System Folder: Preferences: Netscape f". If it's not there then use your operating system's
"Find" feature to locate the file. Open the cookie file in any text editor (like Windows "Notepad" or
Macintosh "SimpleText"). Locate the line that begins "prospero.com", and delete the entire line. Save
your changes then exit. This will remove all previously-stored account information from your
browser - the next time you visit forums you will need to re-enter your Membername and Password in
order to successfully login. There is no safe or easy way to selectively remove only certain account
names from the cookie.
Internet Explorer:
If you're using Windows, each cookie is stored as a separate file, usually located in
"C:\Windows\Profiles\Name\Cookies. In the "Cookies" directory, locate the cookie with "prospero.com"
in the filename, and delete the file.
On a Macintosh, open Internet Explorer, then click on Edit, Preferences, Cookies. Select the
"prospero.com" cookie, then click 'Delete'.
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I have my password stored in my browser, but it always shows the wrong number of "asterisks".
How do I fix this?
The number of asterisks displayed on the login screen will almost never accurately reflect the number
of characters that are actually stored for your forum password - this is an added security measure so
that any onlookers, or anyone that shares the use of your browser and also visit a forum, won't
know how many digits are in your password.
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I have my Membername and Password stored in my browser, but occasionally when I go to login
to a forum, all that is gone and I get the new member registration screen instead!
A forum rely on your browser's 'cookie file' to store your own account information on the
login screen. If you manually delete your cookies, or have some 3rd-party utility that does that for you
periodically, you'll be wiping out the personalized account name (and optionally password) that the forum
stores for you when you go to login. If you encounter a "new member registration" screen instead of the
"existing member login" screen, and you wish to login to an existing account, simply click on the
"Already a member?" link that you see there.
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When I try to go to my Forum, I get redirected to a login screen which has my Membername and Password
stored in it. Will anyone who goes to my Forum see my information on their browser?
No. Because your account information is stored locally in your own browser's "cookie", only you will see
your account information. Other members see their own account information when they encounter the
login screen, because their account information is stored locally in their own
browser's cookie.
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After logging in I get a "404 Not Found" or "403 Access Forbidden" error. What do they mean?
These errors indicate that you may be trying to reach a
forum page via an outdated bookmark in your browser, or via an invalid link on someone's Web page.
Because we are constantly making changes to improve our service, it is
sometimes necessary for us to change the URL's (Web addresses) of various services
within our site. We try to maintain backwards compatibility with older URL's but that is not always possible.
As a result, this will cause your forum bookmarks to fall out of sync.
To ensure that you're trying to get to a place on forums that actually
exists, you should always use your My Forums page - http://myforums.com,
as your starting point for reaching your favorite Forums and Chat rooms
on forums. My Forums is the center of the forums universe, and will
always provide accurate links to Chat rooms, Message Boards, Homepage maintenance tools,
and your own account information.
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I can login and get to a Message Board, but as soon as I click on something it sends me back to the
login screen, or I can get to the Message Board but the login screen appears again in each of the frames!
Why?
Your browser doesn't have full support for cookies, or you have some 3rd-party content-control software
installed, or if you are using Internet Explorer, you have "Content Advisor Ratings" enabled.
If you are using Internet Explorer:
- In Internet Explorer, click View and choose Internet Options.
- Click the Content tab. Under Content Advisor, is there a
button that says "Disable"? If so, click it to disable the
Content Advisor software. You'll need to know the supervisor
password that was chosen when this was first turned on.
- Restart your browser and try logging into forums.
If you are using some other browser, or if this does not fix the
problem, be sure that you are not also running any 3rd-party utilities
like Webcelerator, that are designed to do fancy things with your
browser cache or cookies, or suppress banner advertisements on Web sites.
Any such software will cause forum login problems .
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What are the minimum browser requirements for logging into a forum?
In order to successfully login to a forum you must use a browser that supports "cookies", and have
that feature enabled. To use forum's Message Boards your browser must also support frames.
It is highly recommended that your browser support Javascript for some advanced features of Message
Boards, and Java for Chat. However, neither of these are required.
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I was invited to a private Forum, and was extra-careful to sign up for forums using the same
e-mail address that the "Invitation" was sent to, but after logging in I am presented with a
"non-member request" screen that prompts me to put in a Group Access Code!
If you've been preauthorized to join someone's private Forum by having received an e-mail "invitation",
or a message informing you of the Group Access Code to gain entrance, and you try to enter the Forum by way
of a 'Members-only Homepage', you may encounter a "non-member request screen" that you cannot get past,
even if your e-mail address has been preapproved and/or you input the correct Group Code. The 'Members-only
Homepage' is located at http://forums.prospero.com/WEBTAG/members/. This is a known bug.
The solution is to access the Forum's Message Board directly instead - use the URL:
http://forums.prospero.com/WEBTAG/start
Be sure to replace the word WEBTAG in the example above with the actual Webtag of the Forum
you're trying to access.
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When I try to signup for forums, I get an error message that "This E-Mail Address is already in use"
or "The MemberName you have chosen is not available." How come?
You appear to already have an account with us. You may've signed up with us long ago, or perhaps
you very recently tried to signup and thought that your registration attempt had failed. After joining
us, we will send you an e-mail welcoming you to our community - this e-mail also contains a reminder of
your account information. You can refer to this e-mail if you're not sure what name and password to use to
login to forums, or
simply use the "forgotten password?" link that appears on the forum login screen, to have a new one
sent to you via e-mail. If your account information is not already stored in your browser, use the
"Already a member? Log-in now" link that appears when you encounter the Registration screen,
to login as an existing member.
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I live outside of the US, and am having trouble getting my ZIP code or Postal code accepted when I
try to register.
Leave the ZIP code line blank, it's optional.