Troubleshooting and FAQ

From time to time I get emails from people enquiring about registration on the Discussion Forums and why they were rejected etc.

Rather than answer each email every time, I have put together some basic questions and answers here.

Q: I tried to register but your system says that my email address is banned. I did not do anything wrong and was never a member here, why am I banned?

A: It is nothing against you personally, chances are that you are using a free email address (example, Yahoo, Hotmail etc). We do not accept registration with free email addresses. Try using a non-free email address, such as your internet account provider, your workplace or college.

Q: I registered but have not been approved as yet. Why is it taking so long?

A: There are several reasons for this.

(1) You may not have replied to the verification email portion of your application. http://www.guyana.org/registermail1.gif

(2) The approval process does take some time and NOT every application is guaranteed acceptance.

(3) Your choice of user name was not acceptable, be prudent when selecting a user name, some choices we have seen are really not up to par.

Q: I am a member but I can no longer gain access to the forum.

A: If you are a member but you are not contributing to the dicussions on the forum. After a certain length of time your membership will be deemed inactive and will be pruned from the system. Could also be a browser problem on your computer or your place of employment has blocked your access.

Q:How do I contact the administrator of the Forum if I have a problem?

A: There is a Contact Us link on the forum. http://www.guyana.org/cgi-bin/feedback/tekmail.cgi

This area has the answers to some common problems on the message board.

You must be running a recent browser

Our message board makes use of the latest browser technologies and you must access the board with the latest browsers.

From Infopop: "Browser Compatibility: Please note that the message board uses advanced javascript and DHTML elements. To use all features, you and your community participants will need to use one of these browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 5.5+, Netscape Version 7+, Mozilla, Firebird, Safari, or Opera Version 7+."

I have registered on the message board but cannot post

Our discussion board registration form requires users to give us contact information in the form of a valid e-mail address, we discourage the use of free e-mail addresses (eg. Hotmail, Yahoo, Excite etc).
Due to past experiences with abuse from people using these free accounts, we no longer accept them.

The message board automatically emails you to confirm the address (as shown below). The email contains a link that you must click to verify the address.
Failure to verify your address will delay your membership approval. After approximately 2-3 days of membership pending your application will be rejected.

The approval process does take some time and not every application is guaranteed acceptance.

Validation Email

There are two possible reasons why you did not receive this email:

Maybe you entered your address incorrectly. Go to the message board, pulldown on MySpace and select Profile. Check your email address in the profile. If it is wrong, correct it and click the Submit button at the bottom of the page to update the profile. Another verification email will be sent to you.
Maybe you used an email address that will not accept our email. Check that your inbox is not full or that you have not blocked emails.

If this is not the reason, email the administrator for help: Feedback Form.

I have registered but cannot login

If you are a message board member, but when you try to log in, you get an error message that does not let you log in, you probably have your browser set to NOT accept cookies.
The message board depends on cookies to remember who you are and when you last visited.

Cookies are files kept on your local computer by web sites.

Your password is also case sensitive, re-check that you are typing in your password correctly.

In Internet Explorer, check your cookie settings as follows:

Pulldown on Tools, select Internet Options.
Click the Privacy tab.
If it does not say "accept all cookies", move the slider on the screen to that position.
If there is no slider on the screen, click the advanced button and you will see cookie options there.

In Internet Explorer, check your cookies settings as follows:

Pulldown on Tools, select Internet Options.
Click the Security tab.
Select Internet.
Click the Custom Level button.
Scroll down the list to the cookie settings. Enable cookies for cookies stored on your computer and session cookies.

If you still cannot login, email the administrator for help: Feedback Form.

If you are on AOL, this is how you delete those files:

In the AOL folder on the start menu, select 'AOL system information'. Once that has started, click on the 'Utilities' tab and there you'll see a button marked 'Clear Browser Cache'.

I have to log in each time I use the board

When you log in to the board, check the box that says remember my log in. When you finish using the board, do not log out, just close the browser. Next time you go to the message board, it will remember who you are and you do not need to log in.

Do not do this if other people use your computer - or they will be posting in your name!!

I do not see the most recent pages

I am seeing old pages on the message board. I go to the message board, but see an old page from yesterday. If I click refresh, I get today's page, but if I use the Back button I get an old page again.

ANSWER: This relates to your Temporary Internet Files - you have set your browser to not always get the most recent version of a web page.

There is a simple way to handle this.

1. Reset your browser. In Internet Explorer, pulldown on Tools, select Internet Options, select the General tab, in the Temporary Internet Files box click Settings. Set "Check for newer versions of stored pages" to "every time you start Internet Explorer." or "Every visit to the page".