Forum upgraded - March 12, 2022

[Donna]

Hello everyone!

I have performed a major forum software upgrade today. I didn't expect it to take so long; sorry about that!

If you have any issues you think are related to the forum upgrade, please reply in this thread so I can look into it.

Also, please note we have the NatCroMo Designer Blog Tour 2022 happening on the Crochetville blog. We are featuring crochet designers, their patterns, and their pets (this year's theme is "Pawprints on Our Hearts"). We will also be having lots of giveaways upcoming on the blog tour. I will be posting links for each new blog post to our National Crochet Month forum (I have a little catching up to do in this regard!).

Thank you, everyone!!!

[bgs]

Donna I just got an email from Tampa Doll.  She is having problems getting on.  Sending you a 

[Donna]

4 minutes ago, bgs said:

Donna I just got an email from Tampa Doll.  She is having problems getting on.  Sending you a 

I will try to get in touch with her via Facebook. Actually, I will email her. Lol, just realized that of course I have her email address! Everyone has to log on with their email address now instead of their display name because allowing members to log in with display name creates a security risk. 

[Granny Square]

I have not logged out since this change to see what the new log-on looks like, and am now a little afraid to.   I was going to send you a PM for this question, but thought others might be wondering the same thing, so...

I had a little freak-out when I read your above post -  I initially interpreted "everyone has to log on with their email address now instead of their display name" as "your e-mail address is now your display name".  

I hope what you meant is that there is a now a third line of log-in which is the member's e-mail which is sort of like a second password (extra security), so everyone will still see my Granny Square display name and not my e-mail address anywhere (except you), like they can't see my password.  Right?  Just a sanity check, thanks.

 

[greyhoundgrandma]

I logged out and back in this morning. It just brought up a box to put in your email address and your previous password. It does not make use of your user name during the log in. I'm not sure what the security issue is in using the user name as the log in.

[Donna]

@Granny Square I'm sorry for the confusion! (I will re-word my announcement to make it clearer.)

To clarify here:

• Your email will not display on the forum.
• Everyone will continue to see only your Display Name on the forum.
• You will no longer be able to log in with your Display Name.
• You will have to use your email address to log in going forward.
• Of course, forum admins have access to email addresses in the forum backend, but this is considered private information.
• Nobody but you knows your password, not even forum admins.
• If you login using saved logins + passwords through your browser, you should still be able to use the password you have saved in your browser, you will just need to update the login from your Display Name to your email address.

Here is the security risk explanation from our forum software:

Allowing users to log in with a display name can represent a security weakness for your community because display names are public information and malicious users may attempt to login to multiple accounts with common passwords until they find an account for which the passwords work. It is recommended that you only allow users to log in with their email address.

 

[NCcountrygal]

I'm still logged in prior to update.  The site previously wouldn't log me in with email, so I got use to forum name.  Thinking I'll just stay logged in for now.  Prepping for growing season so won't be here as frequently till autumn.

[Donna]

3 minutes ago, NCcountrygal said:

I'm still logged in prior to update.  The site previously wouldn't log me in with email, so I got use to forum name.

I think the forum was previously set to log in only with Display Name, which is why you couldn't use your email address before. (The Display Name login may even be a throwback to our previous forum software that never got changed, I'm not sure.)

I'm glad this setting came to my attention via the upgrade because there are enough security risks and bad guys out there without asking for trouble. 😱 Things get more dangerous online all the time.

[Granny Square]

Thank you for confirming Donna, after my initial  I was fairly sure something along the lines of your clarification would be the case but I thought I'd put the question out there since I thought there might be others wondering the same thing!

[Donna]

@Granny Square Yes, thank you! I'm glad you posted. I've updated the announcement, so hopefully it's crystal clear now!

[Tampa Doll]

Sorry to have brought this problem to the forum, but I have a problem with my laptop  it logs me out.  That is why I had trouble checking in yesterday.  I have to log in every time I come back.

[Donna]

@Tampa Doll No worries! I believe you said your laptop logs you out of other sites too. This could possibly be a cookies issue. You have to have cookies turned on in order to stay logged in to a site. Google says that some antivirus or related software can delete your cookies.

[Tampa Doll]

No what I need is a new laptop.  It also goes wonky and it will delete my e-mails for no reason.  Cookies won't help this mess.

[Donna]

@Tampa Doll Oh, that's terrible! I'm sorry to hear that!

[Granny Square]

Eek Tampa Doll, back up your files before everything goes poof!  Which reminds me, I should do that too, it's been a while...