[Fixed] - Can't change my e-mail

[Nazosan]

First of all, I can't change my e-mail address. It refused my normal GMail account on signup (ok no surprise, I know sites hate free services, though blocking one of the most popular seems a very bad idea to me) so I was forced to use a account I don't want to use to sign up. (IMO once this sort of thing happens, spam preventative measures have gone too far, but that's a discussion for another day and another thread I suppose.) But when I try to change my e-mail address it insists that the e-mail address is in use by another member. At first I believed it, so I assumed my earlier attempts to log in when I thought I remembered creating an account here before simply failed because I used the wrong password, logged out, and tried every password I would have ever used on such a site. So, just to be 100% sure, I tried my second e-mail. This one is one I only just recently created to sound a little more professional on resumes and the like (though I have it set to just redirect all mail to my normal account.) When it said that e-mail was in use I knew something was wrong because I absolutely have never used that address on any site and it's much too recently created to have been used here especially. Well, just in case, I tried the password recovery function. It says enter name OR e-mail (with "or" capitalized to show emphasis like that) so I decided to put in my e-mail address just to test. It said basically that the username wasn't found. Well, maybe that's because the username field was blank and it decided to use it anyway. So, I tried the other e-mail address that it also insisted was in use by another user. Again it informs me that the username wasn't found.

Well, clearly the first error is wrong. The account is not in use because it CAN'T be in use. And I would have known by now anyway since I would have received at least one e-mail had someone else signed up with my address for some reason. Besides, I think it would be about impossible to get both addresses. My only guess is that it's just using a default error message and that it's still refusing my normal account, but whatever the case, it woud be a LOT more useful to give a correct error message. I can't be sure if the e-mail retrieval is broken or if it just meant that it couldn't find a username associated with the address (a more correct error message there too would be a lot more useful if it's just being misleading.) Still, it looks to me like it's using the username field even if left blank and ignoring the e-mail address field, so I think it bears a looking at.

BTW, on a related note, is there any way I can get my e-mail changed to my normal GMail account? I really want to be able to actually receive e-mails for notifications of responses and such, but with the current address I may as well not have an e-mail address filled out at all for all of how often I will actually see any messages. I almost never actually use that service and e-mails are deleted over time so I just don't catch anything sent there unless I'm expecting it and check right away, but GMail is the only account I really have anymore (shared ISP -- I'm not using someone else's account since that's even worse.) This is the first forum I've seen give me troubles with GMail though...

Edited July 2, 2007 by Nazosan

[Martin L]

contact me with pm and tell me your email address and i will find out whats wrong.

[Nazosan]

contact me with pm and tell me your email address and i will find out whats wrong.

Ok, PM sent. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. I do think that even if you fix the e-mail address manually those errors may need a little looking into. IMO it sounds like they just don't have a proper error for the particular rules this forum has added in addition to the defaults so it just uses a default error message for the type of error. It's a little misleading though. Actually, on the signup page it's still a little off because it merely says that the system did not accept the e-mail... I assumed it was because it filters out gmail and other such services from experience with forums, but admitedly that error could mean something else for all that I can be sure.

[Martin L]

problem fixed, your email has been changed into your correct one too thanks for noticing us.

[silentashes]

Hi Martin et al.,

I also attempted to sign up for this forum with my Gmail address, and received a message that the address is not accepted by the forum.

I didn't see a clear indication on this forum as to what the problem was...?

I.e., does MSFN actually have an internal policy of blocking gmail addresses from being registered? Or is there something else going on?

Please let us know.

Thanks,

-- Joe

[tain]

We'll get some clarification for you. Do you need to change your email address? If so, please PM the correct address to me. It might take a while to get it changed, though.

[ergosteur]

hi, I also was trying to register with my gmail account, but was told that it wasn't accepted. I can sign up with a yahoo or hotmail address though. what's up?