"re-verification of email address" Topic

I find it offensive to be locked out of participation and asked to re-verify my email address. If for some reason this is generally necessary, then a pre-announcement should have been sent pre-warning of the requirement.
If there was some reason to specifically re-verify my email, then it would have been well to let me know that reason.
Frankly, I doubt that to re-verify my email address serves any useful purpose at all.
By the way ….
I have never caused any trouble on TMP. Never have I been banned. I never sell anything. I never have had a post edited. I don't use bad words in languages that the word filter would not understand, even when quoting an original source.
So, I will be now ceasing my participation.
This will give you one less person to verify and re-verify and re-re-verify in the future.
Sincerely,
Alexandre Heroy

Well said Alexander. Sorry to see you go mind.

Overly prickly, I think…

ouch ty
don't go… you say interesting things here…

it might have to do with some automated stuff; nothing personal, and .Ru addresses are often suspicious to western providers/spam.
It happened to most of us this little inconvenience.

pajolsk

Had it 4 times in 3 years+ but I change countries and IP quite a lot…

Overly prickly, I think…

Maybe, but he has a point. A "gentle reminder" sent from the Editorial staff a week or so before the deadline is far from the realm of possibilities around this joynte, especially since Bill and Co. are quite adept and putting a red flashing message up when it's time to renew your subscription.

Alexandre…come back, we need people like you here.

?????? We all do it at least once a year, not sure what the problem is. Perhaps this was the straw that broke the camel's back on a crappy day.

Sasha, you have always been a welcome contributor to TMP. You bring an intelligent analysis to the many topics on which you join. Please reconsider and remain within our gaming community. We will certainly miss you if you go.

Steve

Don't worry Alexandre,

Probably nothing to it… probably routine – it also happens when you clear your PC of cookies, or if you do a PC maintenance clean-up and so on…

I haven't changed my email address in all the years I have been coming here and yet am asked, politely, to verify it regularly. A message in my Inbox appears several days before hand asking me to do so.

When was the last time you visited? Perhaps you missed the message and so went too long without verifying it?

In any case it was not done out of spite.

This happens to everyone on this forum. There must be some reason, it is surely some automated thing that will one day become self aware and take over the planet.

If it was anyone but Alexandre (or one or two other stalwarts) I would say….do not be so daft….or suit yourself!

But there are some whose contribution is just indispensible.

I do love Crazyfrenchteacher……could I be "Lunaticheadandneck cancersurgeonwhothoughthehadretiredbutwearesoshortstaffedthat" as my new title? Felt like it today………

Sasha, "man up mate", we need you here! Go with the IT geeks' thing.

"It don't mean nuthin…it don't mean nuthin……"

Offensive?

OK, here is a thought to flatter you Sasha.

Look how minutes it has taken to produce these responses.

We all know what you mean. It is MILDLY annoying.

But notice how much your input is wanted.

Let's see if the editor responds here.

I find it mildly annoying, but I do accept there may well be a reason. I am totally Internet naieve

Must've had a rough day.

I think over touchy as well. I get asked to verify my email address on all sorts of fora. So what?

No straws involved.

Just to add some details :
- my email address is not a disposable one
- my email address is on a .com from a US-based company
- I use my real human name (also used on the forum at napoleon-series.org where membership is individually reviewed for real names) … my father was born French, and so the name is foreign looking (the Navy had a problem spelling Alexandre instead of Alexander …. and my last name is *not* pronounced "hee-roy")
:-)
- my IP address as anyone would see it (no matter where I am actually located) is a Time Warner Cable block with geo-location in northern Ohio in the USA …. many, many good reasons to enter the internet from the USA instead of from Russia

"We all do it at least once a year"
Where is the notice to that effect when joining? Or on the member's "profile" page?
Why not send an email pre-warning that this will happen as the year expires?
Why not send a re-verification request and, if not acted upon within a few days, only then lock the account?
Why was my account locked, barring me from participation and marked publicly as "Not Trusted"?

I do not like being labelled "Not Trusted" as part of my hobby.
If that is prickly, then so be it.

- Alexandre Heroy

So an automated system that requires two or three extra clicks that happens every year. Every year, everybody has to re-verify their email accounts. Unless you have to pay per click with your internet provider, this has to be the dumbest reason to ragequit.

offensive really? I do it every year, takes about two minutes to do, no drama.

Have had to do it about every year or so. Not a big deal. Don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.

Alexandre,

In the upper left-hand side of the home page, where is says "Welcome back (your name)" there should be a notification that you have a post in your Inbox.

If didn't happen maybe you should contact Bill and inform him.

"A message in my Inbox appears several days before hand"

The private message from the system arrived less than 24 hours from the lock-out. I post most days, but not in every 24 hours. A email message requesting re-verification arrived after the lock-out.

And not "ragequit", but more like "insultedquit". Publicly labeling me "Not Trusted", and with effectively no warning nor reason, that's an insult. "Pending Email Re-verification" would be a non-insulting label, for example.

I do very much appreciate the kind words above, for which many thanks.

- Sasha

I hope you don't work in the corporate world. I can just imagine you slapping the CEO with a white glove and challenging him to a duel for the dishonorable insult of requiring you to change your password every 90 days. All while doing your best impersonation of Foghorn Leghorn.

I will repeat sage advice as given by my 9th grade literature teacher:
"Don't pet sweaty things and don't sweat petty things."

No one ever gets deleted, so if you don't verify it now, you just do it later.
I would have to agree that it serves no actual purpose.

It doesn't offend me at all, but I can certainly see Sasha's point.

wouldn't take it personally, I've had it a couple of times….

wouldn't take it personally, I've had it a couple of times….

Let me guess, every year on July 24th…

Sasha,
You don't know me, but I very much enjoy your posts in the Napoleonic discussion boards.

I hope you will stay. Your knowledgeable posts have been very helpful to me as I try to learn more about Napoleonic wars. Please reconsider.

I also receive the same message to re-verify my email address on a regular basis. Like you, I have a US email account, not a disposable account. I have never been banned, not even "dog-housed" for violating the rules.

I really do not believe this message was intended as a personal insult to you. I believe -- but do not know -- this policy is due to this website being under constant attack from a group of previous members who were banned from this site due to their constant trouble-making and bad behavior.

Anyway, for whatever it is worth, your posts would be greatly missed by this lurker. Hope you decide to stay.

Regards,

Ooh Rah

I have had the odd occasion where have had to verify my email. Normally I get straight on to TMP but sometimes it asks me to log in and use my password. This seems to be when I have lost cookies for TMP plus other sites I regularly visit.

I am fairly sure this is a "feature" – not a bug but not a manually triggered activity by anyone.

Sasha, stick with us.

As they are all saying, this is a slightly daft thing that is probably beyond the editors' or editor's control.

However daft, it is is not a personal thing. There is not one of us that has not experienced this.

A recurring theme is how much we would miss your input. I certainly would.

Is it really THAT important and upsetting? Why do you regularly produce responses that must take an hour of preparation? How much do you get paid for your work?

We know the answer. Zilch. You do it for others…….

Who are Grateful. (not Dead…yet)

curious as to how you can something "personal" that is generated automatically and happens to everyone else?

??

do you really think some nefarious person[s] is conspiring "how do we insult Alexandre" how do we "provoke" him?

While they could change the wording from "Not Trusted" to "Not Verified"…they are not saying anything about your values or character. Its from the "system" [inanimate object] that the email is not "trusted" to that member until they respond to the request. And given then spamming/hacking that goes on these days, why would you take issue with system security that's there to protect us all?

Chill out Alexandre. It is just computer self-cleaning to eliminate spam generators and the like. No offense intended or taken. Maybe clunky software adopted from elsewhere.

:) Alexandre, just think of all the mistakes and misinformation you've cleared up over the past year about Russia in the Napoleonic wars. I would say you're a candidate for a free supporting membership.

I second jeffryw3's suggestion. Sasha has been invaluable for some Napoleonic discussions.

Sasha, it happens to all of us at least once a year. We all get the "Not Trusted" Thing.
Don't let something like this frustrate you.

This has brought up a situation where Bill should do something about it. Look at it as that, not a personal insult.

Bill, maybe you can change the automated message to occur 5 to 7 days before someone is locked out?

What a strange reaction to SOP here. I agree that "not trusted" is a faux pas on Billiam's part. He could be a bit less annoying over these kinds of details. But verification is easy. If you don't enjoy yourself enough here to go through it that's your decision….

Alexandre,

Your contributions here are immense. I certainly hope you will continue to post.

It is my impression that this site has multiplied far beyond what Bill may have considered possible when he first began with TMP. I assume he has not gotten rich from it, and would guess he has spent thousands of hours behind the scenes in keeping this project afloat over the years.

In doing so he may have latched on to software at one time to make his job easier which may not be the latest and greatest but has worked tolerably well over the years; to replace it or even modify it might be more effort than it is worth. With this software system, it could be that to send warnings, or explain the system individually to many hundreds of users would just add many hours to the moderator's work which could be better spent on other tasks.

It seems simple to change words from Not Trusted to Not Verified, and maybe it is, but it might also be built into the code and not easily accessible to him. (I have no tech knowledge, so I don't know). However, I feel comfortable assuming that software is the culprit here and no human being. I readily agree it is aggravating and inconvenient to have to go through the system here, but it is just a clunky system and nothing personal. If you decide that participation here is too aggravating because there are better user experiences at other sites thanks to better software etc, then that is a valid reason to leave. If the reason is personal insult, then I think you are projecting too many human qualities on to the software system here.

In any case, if you do stop posting it will certainly be our loss, especially for those who are learning so much more these last few years about the Russian experience during the Napoleonic Wars thanks to people like you. I wish this type of information had been available to the English-speaker back in the '60s when I began learning about the era. Whatever happens, I wish you well and want you to know how much I appreciate all that you have shared with us here.

The OFM and I have to do it all the time. What's the problem? It's just a lame attempt to pretend we have security here.

I am guessing that since you have been here 367 days that it is yearly. And yes. EVERYBODY has to do it. You have not been singled out.

Frankly, I doubt that to re-verify my email address serves any useful purpose at all.

Well, it serves at least two purposes.

First, it greatly cuts down on "drive bys" by trolls and Frothers. (This is why it was instituted.)

Second, it means that members keep their email address updated, which means that they can get their password reminders when they need them. So it means a lot fewer abandoned accounts.

…a pre-announcement should have been sent pre-warning of the requirement.

That seems reasonable. I'll see if that can be done.

Where is the notice to that effect when joining? Or on the member's "profile" page?

Yes, we should also put this into the FAQ.

I do not like being labelled "Not Trusted" as part of my hobby.

I have no problems with changing the description, and will start a separate topic for that discussion.

Well, I have never had to deal with this myself. I have my people, get together with Bill's people over a power lunch and work out my contract. This year I've been stuck with the Franchise Tag so I know my option is being picked up.

a pre-announcement should have been sent pre-warning of the requirement.

This has now been implemented.

Where is the notice to that effect when joining? Or on the member's "profile" page?

The FAQ has now been updated.

Well, if a pre-announcement is good, a pre-announcement of the pre-announcement would be even better.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

Meh.

Bill has offered to change the name…can't do more than that.

Alexandre

Seemingly this is a SOP – I find it irritating as well, especially when my filter dropped those communications intended by the editor in my SPAM box, for what ever reasons – which took me a while to check.

As soon as you veryfy – you can post again.

I would be very sad that you stop contributing by this, too many good people did already quit, stay and discuss and educate.

What if we don't want a per-announcement that a forum wants to verify my email once a year? I am INDIGNANT!

Goodness gracious, next will need passwords and such!

Wow, I really appreciate the helpful and almost instant response. Thank you, Mr. Editor.

"I hope you don't work in the corporate world. I can just imagine you slapping the CEO with a white glove and challenging him to a duel for the dishonorable insult of requiring you to change your password every 90 days"

I do work in the corporate world. In my younger years in "real" companies, now in banking and shipping. And yes, my attitude has always been really touchy and combative, including a shouting match with the President of a Fortune 10 company (who himself was a former NATO commander and future Secretary of State) and an actual fistfight with a Machinists Union leader. I think that's why I do OK in Russia, where foreigners often have some trouble with the aggressive behavior of senior managers.

I suppose being very touchy and combative is more typical for the Napoleonics Boards …. and I should not have cross-posted.
:-)

Again, thanks much, Mr. Editor.

- Sasha

You did actually prompt much worthwhile discussion and comment. I hope it also shows how much your contributions are valued.

Alexandre

I too would miss you greatly. Your contributions are one of my favourite things on here!

I too hate being told I am "not trusted" because I changed computer or browser of failed to update, etc. But like a good Brit I restrict my annoyance to breaking things and shouting when I think nobody is watching. Thanks for speaking up.

Matthew

Von Ted, for the record: it should read I am INDIGNE (indigné)because as you write it you are the aggravating one (not the aggravated one).

Oh well, one less angry member