Whoever it is at Fine Woodworking that believed it necessary to upgrade/ENHANCE the website, you nearly caused me to cancel my subscription. I waited on hold for almost 45 minutes for a customer service representative to unlock my account and issue me a temporary password because of an ENHANCEMENT.
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I was blocked all weekend as well. The "Reset Password" process worked for me this morning though, so if it failed for you prior to today then give it another try. It should work.
The password change link worked for me on the first try.
the password reset worked, but they kicked me off unlimited, which i have
already paid for. on hold now...
Did it get resolved? If not, send me an email and I forward it onto someone who can help. [email protected]
Ya. That was a flop of a transition and we don't have a whole lot of excuses. The switch was necessary for us to be able to provide a better experience for members. We switched vendors for the login system, and all hell broke loose. Unfortunately, we tripped on our own feet right from the start.
It seems to be sorted as of ten minutes ago.
I apologize for the issue, and I apologize for the bad timing of the switch. We'll do better going forward.
Ben
Thanks Ben!
I struggled all weekend and finally gave up, figuring that it would be fixed soon. Just know I did the reset and it worked first time.
Bob
Thanks Ben. For what it's worth, the uproar shows you all at FWW that what you do is valued by others. I'm sure you will do a lesson's learned for this. The one thing I can think of for further changes is just to give a heads up it's coming. That way, if there is a problem, folks know why.
Yup. Mike and I were just joking about that! It'd be a heck of a lot worse if nobody cared at all!
Thanks, Ben, but after 25 minutes on hold, no answer. And I am still
locked out of unlimited.
You've reset the password?
If so, please email me [email protected].
Thanks, Ben. The password reset began working about 5 minutes after I got into the queue on the phone.
Fifty years ago, when I first started working with computers in a serious way, I learned a Great Truth - "S*** Happens!"
We will survive!
The unfortunate person at Taunton Press who got my telephone call this AM was very Professional.
I cannot say the same for those who made the decison to force password changes and lock people out of their accounts. I have used the resourses at Fine Woodworking for a number of years. I will remember this experience for a while.
Your are better then this!!!
Hey everyone, yep I was also locked out this weekend when I was right in the middle of a build project and needed a resource on my FWW account. But, the system seems to be up now. My frustration was after requesting a reset it said I had no account. Luckily, my access was granted this morning and full member access wasn’t messed up like others. The issue for me is that there was zero customer service availability or even web support over a weekend. That is when every day working people are able to actually work in their shops. There should have been computer/account support provided 24/7 during the transition.
Thanks Ben for letting us know what happened and owning up. S... does happen , even with the best planing , but its always my biggest concern is that its handled. Seems like you are doing the right thing,
Thanks
Ric Macrae
“[Deleted]”
I posted about the outage on social media, but didn't think to put a post up on the homepage. That would have saved y'all some frustration. (Hopefully not) next time!
Not to pick nits, but because you're building a to-do list... all of our names are now lower-case.
So this is my experience. Like everyone else I was locked out. Today after speaking with customer service 4 times I have a temp password that will work for 3 days that Scott was able to set. I have tried to reset the password but never receive the email link. We do have a different "." ending to our email "coop" we live in the country and our internet service is from our telephone cooperative. What do I do now, after Wednesday I'll be locked out again? Can you fix this?
Gary,
I'm not sure the best way around this. You will need to have access to an email address that will receive emails in order to change your password. This is very common. In fact, for security reasons we have zero access to your passwords, so we can't change it for you.
I think your best option is to create a new email address with gmail or yahoo and use that.
Having formerly been in the software business for over 25 years, I can say you all FAILED big time to follow best practices, including TESTING your change and having support available. No one who knows what they are doing would do this the way you guys did it. This is my first year back as a subscriber after being gone for several years. I was pretty excited in January, but the quality of the magazine articles and issues like this make me wonder if you need a renewed effort and commitment to putting out what used to be the best mag for FINE woodworking. My first issue was how to glue a couple boards together. Even one sentence into the article, Van Dyke says it is MUNDANE. You could have chosen any number of inspirational pictures to pull us in.
I concur.
When applying a new finish or different method, are we not highly encouraged to first apply it to a TEST piece?
The move was done on two other websites before this. Things break unexpectedly.
Just so we have context:
"I can’t think of a more mundane subject in woodworking than glue, but knowing the working properties of the various glues available and matching their specific traits to a particular glue-up is important."
My poorly made point was that a photo of gluing a couple boards together makes the cover for FINE Woodworking. A photo from the Hank Gilpin article on Rails and Stretchers or Garrett Hack's article on Developing a Furniture Style are both articles that match the name of the magazine. Those are the articles that make me want to read the magazine. No doubt I can learn something from any article that Van Dyke writes. However, that photo was mundane ("characterized by the practical, transitory, and ordinary" - Merriam-Webster). Frankly, the competition is trying harder, but I subscribed to this magazine because it used to be the best.
So your complaint is that you didn’t like the photo on the cover? Noted.
Agree to disagree. We thought Bob has more than earned a place on the cover and we are proud to have him there!
For the record, there is nothing mundane about Van Dyke and that is not what I said. My point was all about the choice of photo. At least you have explained how you pick your covers.
Also, why make the change over the weekend when there is no one available to solve the problem!!
Agreed. I have no explanation. I can only say that it won't happen that way again.
Not to wear the subject out but it shows a total disregard for subscribers but then again calling customer service with any Taunton product has always been a joke.
I was locked out for three days. Reset said my account was not recognized. Then... I changed the first letter in my email address to lower case. 30 seconds later I got an email, reset password, and everything was great.
One more grouse - I was not able to set a good password.
The requirements would have been met by several passwords I applied but the system would not accept them with more than one number or special character. I like to use more.
Other than length, there is no point in such requirements, especially if they are checked by a badly written regular expression. This leads to passwords that are hard for people to remember and easy for computers to guess.
Thanks, Ben for owning the issue. That's really good to see.
This is interesting. I use a password manager and I had issues getting it to accept one generated by the manager that checked all of the boxes. I'll let them know to look into this. Maybe it was just timed right, but maybe the "more than one" issue is legit. Thanks for the insight.
I was locked out over the weekend also and posted about it on the FHB forum. Did not get as much response as this thread. Because I am in the Pacific time zone, the hours of customer service are also an issue. But now I see another issue. When I look at my account information, very little is there. I do not see an account number or any information on what I am subscribed to or when it expires. It does not create a good feeling about the future of my unlimited subscription.
I'm having the same problem. My account info does not indicate my level of membership, when my membership expires, or if I'm enrolled in autopay.
Mike
Please take this as someone trying to understand the problem so they can help. Since I have an editor account, I have never once looked at the account page.
Was that information there before? I do know that one of the reasons we switched was to be able to eventually provide members with better insight into their account information.
Hi Ben,
Yes, that information should be there. I will attach a screenshot showing how it looks currently. Nothing showing my magazine subscription, account number, or, well, anything except my name and address (information I can usually remember on my own).
Regarding “unlimited” membership: I haven’t done a thorough test to see if I’m now unable to access some areas/features that I previously was able to access pre-reset. I hope that the unlimited membership I recently purchased has survived the upgrade, but there is no way to check, as far as I can see.
Yes. I'm told they are working on getting those fields populated again and that info is going to return soon. The easiest way of making sure your Unlimited membership isn't affected is to sign in see if you hit a pay wall after three or four clicks around the website. If you're able to access everything, your good to go!
If not, shoot me an email and we'll get it sorted. [email protected]
So far, looks good! Thanks, Ben, I appreciate your taking the time to reply.
There used to be a totally different account info screen with details on subscriptions to all Taunton products (I have FW and FHB) as well as other Taunton purchases. Now there is a basic screen with name, address, email and account info, such as#, expire date, issues remaining, and auto-renewal. Those are all blank. They also do not show info on type of subscription. I have (or think I have) FW Unlimited and FHB All-Access.
Sadly, the whole customer service experience is very poor and reflects badly on the publications, websites, etc.
This looks like a decision to switch to a low-bid customer service out-sourced provider. Tell me it will be fixed!
I think it's more a case of incremental implementation. Let me get an answer on the account info page for you.
*edit - Good news. I was just told they're building that out still. Seems like they need to get all of the brands over to the new system before it can go into effect.
So it's like building a kitchen table and using it at the same time?
More like only being able to move one piece of furniture at a time.
Estimated timeline? Account info (number, expiration date, memberships, etc.) all still completely blank…
I don't have that right now.
Got access -- finally. FWIW, password reset did not work with Firefox but worked with MS Edge.
Was this today (Tuesday)?
Ben,
I have read and even re-read your responses. I do not get a "warm and fuzzy" feeling from any of your words. But the most troubling one, is your admission as not knowing because you have an editor account. I would think that some one on that administrative level should know, but if one did not know you would not admit such.
I don't know if warm and fuzzy is what I was going for, more so apologetic and embarrassed. We screwed up, and there is little else I can do but apologize and try and do what I can to fix it.
I didn't know about the contents and function of an account page because I don't actually pay for my account. I have an editor account. That is why it's so important to get feedback from you, the members. I can't possibly see the site from your perspective given how I use it and how much I use it.
Why did we all have to reset our passwords?
My guess is the new company was unable to transfer or unable to read the old database.
Maybe FW should reconsider using them.
As I understand it, it is because we don’t store passwords for security reasons.
It also has the advantage of removing any unused accounts and stolen passwords.
Poorly planned, poorly executed, no reasonable answers from the top.
Took me about 6 tries over 3 days and it just kicked in. What did I do wrong ? Use the link provided in the email they sent with a verification code and enter the verification code in the verification code box. What did I do different ? Use the login page and enter the verification code provided in the password box and magic just happened. Will I get back the capital G in Gulfstar ?
« Please click here to reset your Fine Woodworking account password. If you did not request to reset your password, ignore this email and the link will expire on its own in 72 hours.
Verification Code: XXXXXXXXX «
So it's working? I have found that sometimes when I login I have am hit with the reset thing once, and if I click login again it goes right it. We're working on it.
I don't know about the capital letter things yet. I'm focussed I making sure everyone is back online right now.
I was blocked for a few days. Thought maybe my subscrition expired. I called the customer support number during business hours and connected quickly. I got a temp password and was on my way.
I was perplexed and inconvenienced over the weekend as well and agree that obviously this did not go well. However, I think Ben has been an outstanding editor and his heart is in the right place, i.e., I believe he wants to make our experience with Fine woodworking as informative and useful as possible. For instance, he did a great job coordinating the foundations of woodworking course and there’s no way I can blame him for any technical glitches in upgrading a website.
I just called the customer service line and resolved my log in with a new password. Is this new password good or do I need to reset it again with a new password of my choice?
If I need to change it no problem but can't find where the reset password prompt is on the site.
Any assistance would be appreciated.
Thanks
figured it out - success!
5 days, 2 new passwords, still locked out. At a loss what to
do next. Customer service claimed to not know I was a subscriber.
Funny, they had no problem last month taking my $99 via my auto-pay for
unlimited. Sent them yesterday all info requested; silence in return.
jpe52, since you're commenting here the problem isn't the password. You're logged in. You Unlimited membership must have gotten screwed up somehow.
Please reach out to me and I'll get it to someone who will get it straightened out. [email protected]
Oh my. Maybe I was lucky to have been otherwise occupied the last couple of days. Just tried to login and the reset worked very well. Thanks, Ben.
Ok, I tried very hard to NOT make a comment on the transition, but after several days I failed.... tip of the hat to Ben (who is not a tech guy but a woodworker) for dealing with the issues raised by the folks above... NOT a tip of the hat to the tech folks who didn't appear to test well enough in advance nor work with Taunton staff in advance to have a good enough response process for issues. And yes, I had issues but just walked away for a couple of days, thinking they would be resolved (they were, at least for me). Ben, I'd buy you a beer but I'm in CO so that's kinda tough.... Hang in there!
FW "search" needs work as well. Trying to search for a topic is a major pain. I've tried searching for various topics over the years and unless I type things exactly, I get a wide variety of results. Recently I searched for "resin for table tops" and got articles on dovetail joints, table saw blades, etc. Nothing on resin.
I think I’m done,
I tried to check my subscription end date , went to renew page entered info requested and get a note saying not found. Once it runs out I’m done. Have had to go through this every time, calling someone to re-up.
My transition was a little frustrating but not too bad. Waited for 5 minutes on hold and a very helpful customer service agent took care of it.
In my case it was because I changed emails couple years ago, and even though I updated it in my FWW online profile, they were trying to send the verification code to my old email.
@benstrano - I appreciate your efforts, thick skin, and resilience. My transition stumbled a bit but went through fine.
Unfortunately at this point in time most folks have to have someone else run their websites and associated services. Smaller outfits cannot justify an I.T. team and even when they can it is difficult to find folks qualified to work in them. The bar has been set pretty low for service providers for many years.
Web services have become a canned commodity. Many of today's "web designers" are now akin to your old company's "computer guy" who could change a printer cartridge and get most things to work but didn't really understand any of it.
Don't start sending hate mail you guys. I know there are some qualified people out there too.
I just wanted Ben to know there are those of us out here who have been around long enough to 'remember when' . . . I wish you luck on your next go 'round.
Had the whole password reset problem. Problem ended up being that the reset link was sent to a very old and unused email which years ago was associated with my FWW account. So if you aren't receiving the email reset consider it may be in a different email than expected...
“[Deleted]”
No doubt there is a complete lack of funding in their web development team. They have been trying to transition to a predominantly digital and web based magazine for years. I don't think that they fund this department or hire properly experienced staff. There may be more than one person responding to these crises but I doubt it.
Email customer services with a simple question, a common question and see for yourself how long it takes to get a response. Not an automated response,,,, "...thanks for your inquiry we will respond as,,, but a human who has read your question.
So I was caught up in the latest crisis and couldn't log in. I started attempting to update my password about two weeks ago but failed multiple times. I gave up, let the issue percolate and tried again just prior to the weekend. Again the same issue, the system didn't recognize my credential.
It took a while to understand machine speak but "the credential" it was talking about was my email address. About 5 years ago I changed my email address to my gmail account. Five years ago! But the machine had forgotten that maybe as a result of this latest so called upgrade??
I finally put 1/2 and 12.7mm together and decided to try an address I hadn't used in half a decade.
That was it. Guess the machine had a lobotomy as part of the upgrade and lost my current credential. At least the things long term memory is intact. Kind of like poor old uncle Connie come to think of it.
Never mind the sarcasm, it's just a shame the Web Development team seems so incompetent. Maybe they aren't but you have to base your criticisms on your personal experience. Mine is in general negative regarding their operations. They publishing bones are from the print world, a disappearing niche. And they probably spend huge amounts of money on beautiful paper and hundreds thousands of man-hours editing and producing the bi monthly rag. So in order to keep the ship afloat they cut corners everywhere else. And consequently the digital version and their online presence goes wanting for resources.
I have noticed over the decades that this company seems to go through editors and all sorts of personal in a rather rapid fashion. Now that is just my perspective but I've been a subscriber since the 70's or early 80's. (I actually couldn't say for sure)
But we're a small cohort we woodworking fanatics and where else are you going to go for you fix?
No matter these interruptions are a fact of life here at FW, you can explode with angst's but after some time you realize the FW is not really a customer oriented service organization. They know the market and the alternatives. Things get fixed sort of and life goes on.
Pass the shellac will ya
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