I had no choice but to post here

[Guest Sneeze_Keeper]

every other forum says "Sorry...etc..."

I signed up on the 29th, did the registration email TWICE....even tried the

USER ID and Validation Key and still nothing....

and the "Contact an Admin" link keeps trying to start up a mail program I don't use- so I can't send an email to them.

I swear I'm not an idiot...I've been working with computers, the net and forums for years...am I just missing something?

Thanks!

[The Mute Poet]

I'm not positive what your specific problem would be, Sneeze Keeper, but I do know that when someone is first validated there can be a small space of time where they can't view most boards. I'm not sure whether your case reflects that normal timeframe or not, but my advice is to wait it out for a little bit. I'm sure an admin could clear things up further, but until one comes along to look into it, I can't really be sure what's happening. Rest assured it will be looked into though.

In the meantime, if you'd like to contact the staff directly, you can copy staff [at] sneezefetishforum [dot] org (Note: the address is typed out fully to prevent spam) into whatever mailing system you use and most likely get through that way.

[BigFatPaulie]

every other forum says "Sorry...etc..."

I signed up on the 29th, did the registration email TWICE....even tried the

USER ID and Validation Key and still nothing....

and the "Contact an Admin" link keeps trying to start up a mail program I don't use- so I can't send an email to them.

I swear I'm not an idiot...I've been working with computers, the net and forums for years...am I just missing something?

Thanks!

welcome to the club, i have been registered a long time as well, and still not "in the club" apparently you are supposed to contribute alot by posting etc. i personally am against this rule as some prefer to just lurk while still receiving all the benefits of the forum.

i have posted over 30 times, and am still not validated, so plan on waiting awhile

[SomeoneRandom]

i have posted over 30 times, and am still not validated, so plan on waiting awhile

same here, and i have a snakepit-worthy rant about that, but i guess i'll just have to keep on waiting....

[Mirf]

i personally am against this rule as some prefer to just lurk while still receiving all the benefits of the forum.

Like what kind of benefits? As good as any "benefits" in a forum come through posting. I mean at least i always thought that was what message boards and forums are about. Creating topics and discuss stuff with people. There are like only 4 or 5 boards that aren't accessible and only half of them are not viewable before you're validated at all. So if you don't want to post anyway (aka lurk) then only 2 or 3 boards are inaccessible.

I really don't see that point .

[The Mute Poet]

BigFatPaulie and SomeoneRandom, Sneeze Keeper appears to have a definite problem relating to the activation of his account, not just the standard validation process that all forum members are required to undergo before having full access to the board. Validation is a necessary and provenly effective process to keep the forum safe and positive, and while it may be a bit annoying, all that's really required is a bit of patience and positive posting to get through it (just as every other already validated member has). What won't help you is popping into a thread where another member is legitimately asking for help just to gripe about how annoyed you are at the process, as you guys both seem to have done here. Trust me, it's well worth it in the end.

[sneezomania]

TMP: Obviously there's a bit confusion here. SK talked about the initial validation, and BFP thought that SK refers to the final validation which is something completely different.

Perhaps you should give another name to one of these validations.

P.S.: Myself I bookmarked this thread because of its excellent overview about all this - done by noone else but estimate Mute Poet. Don't know whether these informations are given somewhere else in such an exhaustiveness.

[chui]

every other forum says "Sorry...etc..."

I signed up on the 29th, did the registration email TWICE....even tried the

USER ID and Validation Key and still nothing....

and the "Contact an Admin" link keeps trying to start up a mail program I don't use- so I can't send an email to them.

I swear I'm not an idiot...I've been working with computers, the net and forums for years...am I just missing something?

Thanks!

In addition to the thread sneezomania linked, there are also two other threads you might wish to look at which deal with situations like this:

General Forum Information, Please read!

Newly registered members, Don't worry if you can't post straight away! This one in particular is what Mute is talking about with the lag between registration and ability to post.

welcome to the club, i have been registered a long time as well, and still not "in the club" apparently you are supposed to contribute alot by posting etc. i personally am against this rule as some prefer to just lurk while still receiving all the benefits of the forum.

i have posted over 30 times, and am still not validated, so plan on waiting awhile

i have posted over 30 times, and am still not validated, so plan on waiting awhile

same here, and i have a snakepit-worthy rant about that, but i guess i'll just have to keep on waiting....

I would recommend you both see the FAQ (the above link to General Forum Information), as like Mute says, yours is not a problem with the initial process. It will give you a better idea that your contribution does not depend simply upon post count, as has been said by all of the Staff since this forum was founded. It is based upon overall contribution to the community, be that in sharing links, art, stories, observations, or just commenting and engaging other members in discussion, on what is a discussion-based forum. And, in the spirit of the free speech atmosphere of the Forum, feel free to rant about this in the Pit, when you get there. The Staff really do understand that some people prefer to lurk, while being spoon-fed their fetish diet by other contributing members, but its only fair to reward those people who go out of their way to improve this community.

[Lynne]

Sneezomania, it's not really our choice - it's what the inVision board software refers to the processes as. If you like, we can call one registration and one validation, but that still wouldn't be accurate as registration is just basically when you enter your username and password to create your account.

Anyway, Sneeze_Keeper, I will look into my crystal ball and see if I can figure out why your initial validation isn't working.

As for BigFatPaulie and SomeoneRandom, keep your pants on. You'll be validated when the senior staff feel you're ready to have access to all the big-kid toys. Trust me, you're not being held back any more than anyone else, your waiting period has been entirely normal. Chui, thank you for answering more diplomatically than I, but I'm getting tired of people whining and complaining that they can't access the fun stuff.

Paulie, having the "benefits" of the forum without participating is precisely what we're trying to *prevent*. You still have access to all the free porn, so stop complaining. The restricted areas of the forum are restricted ONLY for the protection of our members and their privacy. No one gets access to those until they've proven themselves worthy of that trust, whether you feel that's fair or not. Our responsibility is to protect our members, not to facilitate some unknown who just wants to get at the "good pr0n".

Sneeze_Keeper, I can't see any reason why you wouldn't be able to use the majority of the forum - your initial validation has been accepted by the system. The only areas of the forum you should NOT be able to view or post in would be the Trading Post, the Adult and Youth Boards, the personal profiles area and the Chat room. If you're having trouble entering or posting in any areas other than those, please let us know!

[sneezomania]

Sneezomania, it's not really our choice - it's what the inVision board software refers to the processes as. If you like, we can call one registration and one validation, but that still wouldn't be accurate as registration is just basically when you enter your username and password to create your account.

Thanks for your explanation. You're right, "registration" could be confused with something else as well. I think you cannot prevent any confusion perfectly.

But I'd suggest to put that excellent overview Mute Poet has done (in the thread I've linked) somewhere in the "Read Before Posting" section.

[Feta Sneeze]

i personally am against this rule as some prefer to just lurk while still receiving all the benefits of the forum.

i have posted over 30 times, and am still not validated, so plan on waiting awhile

We used to have a lot of problems with trolls coming around and "lurking"/ posting stupid things on viable threads. I actually am grateful this has stopped because of this process. Don't worry, you'll get in soon =)

[Jessie]

keep your pants on. You'll be validated when the senior staff feel you're ready to have access to all the big-kid toys...I'm getting tired of people whining and complaining that they can't access the fun stuff.

*whiiiiiinnnne* (The French kind, of course)

Just kidding. I figure I waited enough years to actually be brave enough to register, I can wait a month or so more before I graduate to my Pampers ("mommy, wow..."). For what it's worth, though, it *would* be nice to access my own profile, etc...I actually thought that was a glitch until I read that pinned post about the membership levels. Although maybe it's too complicated to work that out without giving me access to everyone else's, or something.

[Vetinari]

*whiiiiiinnnne* (The French kind, of course)

Just kidding. I figure I waited enough years to actually be brave enough to register, I can wait a month or so more before I graduate to my Pampers ("mommy, wow..."). For what it's worth, though, it *would* be nice to access my own profile, etc...I actually thought that was a glitch until I read that pinned post about the membership levels. Although maybe it's too complicated to work that out without giving me access to everyone else's, or something.

Actually I can recall signing up to the forum after lurking for a while. I was quite shocked when massive parts of it disappeared. I thought something had gone wrong with the forum itself until I logged out and checked that it was still there. I don't recall at all being upset though when I reached the validation stage because although some parts of the forum were presumably unavailable I had no assumptions that I had a right to anything and was just pleased to be able to begin contributing. In fact I didn't sign up until I wanted so badly to say something that I could no longer resist and even then I was in awe of a ridiculous number of people, just because they seemed to know so many others and have such a distinct position within this little "world".

I will try to find out about the profile thing. I suspect it may be that you either have access to all profiles or you have access to none in which case permission cannot be given to brand new members in order to protect any personal information contained there.

[Jessie]

Wow. that's an awesome emoticon. I need to explore my options beyond the basic smiley.

[sneezomania]

I will try to find out about the profile thing. I suspect it may be that you either have access to all profiles or you have access to none in which case permission cannot be given to brand new members in order to protect any personal information contained there.

It's exactly as you describe. When I was pending, I couldn't access any profile - not mine, not someone else's. And like avossouhaits, I assume that's because it would be too complicated (or even impossible) to give someone access to his own profile and not to others.

[Lynne]

The staff are looking into making one's own profile accessible during validation, while keeping access to all other profiles restricted. We'll keep you posted