One of the many positives of manning the Self-Storage Talk booth at Inside Self-Storage World Expos (as I did last week in Tacoma, Wash.) is I can help many forum members who've run into problems on the site overcome their issues and become active again. Though Self-Storage Talk is the largest online community in the industry and official forum of Inside Self-Storage, SST is ineffective and breaks down when its members' access to the site is blocked by a tech problem. Set up in front of a computer on the exhibit hall floor, I was able to get several people re-engaged in SST. But in case I missed you in Tacoma and you're having one of the common forum-related problems, I thought I'd address a few of the most frequently stated ones.
1. "I can't fully log in and post." On rare occasion, even when users correctly enter their username and password at www.selfstoragetalk.com, the forum system doesn't let them fully log in. Usually, the "thank you for logging in" screen flashes for a moment only to return to the basic home page with an empty username and password field, as if the user had never logged in at all. Even though you've correctly entered a username and password, you can't post and you don't have full access to the site. It's a bizarre problem, but it does happen. Thankfully, the solution is easy: Manually clear your cookies. For some reasons, Web browsers such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozila Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari don't clear users' cookies (or trackable Web footprints and files) when they exit the forum. The forum system is supposed to do this automatically, too, but sometimes it fails at its job. The workaround for this problem is simply to go into your browser's Internet Options, Tools or Preferences and elect to clear all of your cookies. Almost all of the time, this fixes the problem. If not, e-mail me at [email protected].
2. "I don't remember by username or password." Been a while since you've logged in? Before abandoning your old account and registering a new one, send me an e-mail from the address you think you used to register, and I'll search for your account in the back end. If I don't find it, you can re-register. If it's just your password that's a problem, there's an automated system that can reset your password. I can also do it for you manually if you contact me. Either way, as soon as you have access to your account again, go to the User CP, linked to from the horizontal navbar on the home page.
3. "I want to change my username." Again, send me an e-mail request, and I'll type in your new username over your old one. This is an easy fix, and you don't lose any of your old posts or statistics.
I respond to e-mail problems as quickly as I can, so don't be afraid to ask for help. If you've yet to join the community, you don't have to e-mail me for that, though. You can visit www.selfstoragetalk.com/register.php to sign up with your free account. The SST team approves accounts as quickly as we can, so not long after you register, you should be able to post and participate. I'm looking forward to an active autumn on the forum.