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Issue with the new Trains Magazine Website

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Issue with the new Trains Magazine Website
Posted by NS6770fan on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 8:32 PM

I am not quite sure where to put this, but I have an odd issue. Ever since the new website was released, I am unable to log into my account on the main site to access news articles. I can log into all of the forums, post, and such, but not I cannot login on the news feed. Whenever I try to go to the "contact us" page, it does not load. Is there some settings I need to change in order to log in on the main Trains Mag. page? Any assistance is appreciated, thanks! 

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 11:57 PM

Third thread on the same problem.  

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Juniata Man on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:01 AM

With no resolution from Kalmbach in sight...

tree68

Third thread on the same problem.  

 

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Posted by York1 on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:06 AM

NS6770fan
Is there some settings I need to change in order to log in on the main Trains Mag. page? Any assistance is appreciated, thanks! 

 

It seems that others who have had issues have gotten them solved by calling Kalmbach, not by emailing.

In Kalmbach's defense, I'm sure they are just as frustrated as some of the users.  I doubt that Kalmbach is the one who has done the new site.  I don't know, but I would think it's likely they hired a tech person or group to make the new site.

Every tech product, even from the largest, most powerful companies, comes with all kinds of bugs and problems.  It takes time to work through them.

York1 John       

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Posted by Convicted One on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:30 AM

NS6770fan
Any assistance is appreciated, thanks! 

It would be interesting if all such complaints included a brief summary of their hardware/software environment.

Which browser(s) in use ? conventional PC or a smart phone? private home internet access or work? or public access site.

I get this "feeling" that many with problems are having them with their smart phones, where deleting cookies is seen as a  method of last resort they are trying to avoid.

 

One thing everybody can try, go to your local library and see if the problem persists on a public access computer. If all works well there, then you get a pretty good idea where the problem is or isnt.

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Posted by NS6770fan on Thursday, April 22, 2021 2:25 PM

Convicted One

 

 
NS6770fan
Any assistance is appreciated, thanks! 

 

It would be interesting if all such complaints included a brief summary of their hardware/software environment.

Which browser(s) in use ? conventional PC or a smart phone? private home internet access or work? or public access site.

I get this "feeling" that many with problems are having them with their smart phones, where deleting cookies is seen as a  method of last resort they are trying to avoid.

 

One thing everybody can try, go to your local library and see if the problem persists on a public access computer. If all works well there, then you get a pretty good idea where the problem is or isnt.

 

 

Ive tried it on my desktop, laptop, as well as my iPhone (IOS 14). None work. I have cleared my cookies history multiple times on all three devices. I use Google Chrome and Safari, haven't tried firefox yet. The issue isn't on our end, I'm a tech savvy individual and I've tried just about everything.  

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Posted by Convicted One on Thursday, April 22, 2021 4:21 PM

NS6770fan
Ive tried it on my desktop, laptop, as well as my iPhone (IOS 14). None work. I have cleared my cookies history multiple times on all three devices. I use Google Chrome and Safari, haven't tried firefox yet. The issue isn't on our end, I'm a tech savvy individual and I've tried just about everything.  

Cool, thanks for the additional info. It beats "my thing is broke, please fix it"  Bow

While we are talking about broken things,  my profile will not allow me to update my Avatar.

Giving me a "Sorry, there was a problem with your last requestEither the site is offline or an unhandled error occurred. We apologize and have logged the error. Please try your request again or if you know who your site administrator is let them know too."

Except, it will allow me to insert their native "smiley heads" avatars, and that works just fine, so we know the service is not offline.  I've tried .jpg .png, images with a file size under 10 Kb...and I've even tried to re upload a copy of the image I was using just an hour ago, and even that got rejected.

Bergie, we need you!!

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, April 22, 2021 5:30 PM

If you have not updated to iOS 14.4.2 do so ASAP.  They seem to have fixed the bug with locating, editing, and deleting cookies.

The two you want are Kalmbach.com and Trains.com.  I did not check to see if particular files in these cookies control different access features, but you are welcome to do so.

It was a great relief to finally be able to clear out the colossal backlog of cookies that crApple cringineers had been nostalgically retaining in memory with a content of '0 bytes' -- plenty of nostalgia for me reviewing many names I had long lost track of.  Let's hope they haven't confused them with history entries.

Firefox later than 61.0 will not let you type PMs.

Given a choice I would not let Chrome within 10 feet of any device I use, so I'm no help on how they store persistent login data.  I do know that up until this trains.com repackaging there were several xx.trains.com and Kalmbach.com cookies stored in the browsers I used (Firefox, Pale Moon, Opera) and deleting them would stop the site 'recognizing me as logged in'.

There have also been many times the back-end software has been broken into not setting or reading information in the cookies correctly; this causes what I call the Alan Cooper Circle of Death, where you type known-good information, the screen wiggles a bit, and idiotically presents another blank sign-in box as if you hadn't done anything.  Has to be doing something because if you type in banned credentials it's very quick to tell you so.  When this has happened your only recourse is Customer Service, who evidently pass it along timely as it has 'always' resolved a day or so after they acknowledge it.

I had thought this was a nifty way to 'ban' someone passive-aggressively -- but it turns out that no, it's not intentional weaponization of the log-in process.

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, April 22, 2021 7:19 PM

Overmod
Given a choice I would not let Chrome within 10 feet of any device I use,

I've had no problems with Chrome.  

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by Falcon48 on Thursday, April 22, 2021 8:02 PM

Here's the issue.  Many of those who use Trains websites are often older relics who are not super computer savy.  That certainly includes me.  Sending me notes telling me how to play with "cookies", alternate log ins or websites is like communicating with me in some obscure oriental language - it's incomprehensible. 

I've essentially lost the service, since I can't access it.  It shouldn't be necessary for access to Trains websites to use alternate internet providers (like "Chrome") other than the ones I use for everything else or all the other garbage that Kalmbach has been sending out .  No business that really wants people to access its internet services would require its customers to go through rigamarole like this.  What's even worse is that Kalmbach hasn't even acknowledged that it has a problem.  Maybe the problem is that the "powers-that-be" at Kalmbach themselves aren't very computer savy, and don't realize what a mess their internet contractors have created.       

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Posted by Convicted One on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:46 PM

Falcon48
Maybe the problem is that the "powers-that-be" at Kalmbach themselves aren't very computer savy, and don't realize what a mess their internet contractors have created.       

Or possibly the changes planned for the very near future are such a drastic departure from present conditions, that it makes little sense putting much effort into what is soon to be discarded?

For example, you wouldn''t worry too much about re-stripping a parking lot if you plan to put a new seal cote on it come spring time....

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Friday, April 23, 2021 10:18 PM

Why is it always april fools day ?

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Friday, April 23, 2021 10:30 PM

At some point in the past, I had a need to clear the cookies for Trains and Kalmbach. I have a distinct memory of scrolling through a giant list of cookies from all sources, and having the option to remove cookies from just the sources I selected.

I can't find any such list now. I use Safari, with Mac OS 10.13.6 on my desktop iMac.

Does anyone know where I can find that list? The problem, of course, with clearing all cookies is that I don't want to clear ALL cookies!

Still in training.


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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, April 23, 2021 10:34 PM

Lithonia Operator
At some point in the past, I had a need to clear the cookies for Trains and Kalmbach. I have a distinct memory of scrolling through a giant list of cookies from all sources, and having the option to remove cookies from just the sources I selected.

I can't find any such list now. I use Safari, with Mac OS 10.13.6 on my desktop iMac.

Does anyone know where I can find that list? The problem, of course, with clearing all cookies is that I don't want to clear ALL cookies!

In Chrome go to Settings - after you use the 3 dots at the right hand side of the address line to activate a drop down menu

I am not a Safari user.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Friday, April 23, 2021 10:38 PM

Lithonia Operator

At some point in the past, I had a need to clear the cookies for Trains and Kalmbach. I have a distinct memory of scrolling through a giant list of cookies from all sources, and having the option to remove cookies from just the sources I selected.

I can't find any such list now. I use Safari, with Mac OS 10.13.6 on my desktop iMac.

Does anyone know where I can find that list? The problem, of course, with clearing all cookies is that I don't want to clear ALL cookies!

 

Found it! Smile

Safari

To manage cookies on Safari, go to Safari > Preferences > Privacy, and then click the "Manage Website Data…" button. This displays a list of all websites that have stored cookies on your computer that can be used to track your browsing.

Still in training.


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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Friday, April 23, 2021 10:43 PM

Cleared 'em again. Still can't upload my avatar.

Has anyone uploaded an avatar recently?

Still in training.


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Posted by blue streak 1 on Friday, April 23, 2021 11:27 PM

I am not tech savy.  Can someone tell me how to access cookies ?  Windows 10.1,  IE explorer  Then have to go to delete just certain ones.  Is list last used order or some other order ?

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Posted by chippy007 on Saturday, April 24, 2021 12:28 PM

I'm so glad i'm not the only one having trouble signing in. didn't have any trouble with new web site until two days ago. and my sign in infor on pc and phone for signing in was now blank. and can no longer sign in . just keeps telling me p/w or user name is wrong grrrrrrr. but can get to my account infor and this form without any trouble, (still pulling my hair grrrrrrrrr) just don't understand what wrong, have send a please help me message but still no reply from them (two days and yes! i will be counting the days till my reply and let them know i'm not a happy custom. i use chrome web brower. 

with other people having the same trouble i'm hoping (with fingers crossed lol) they have found a fix and can share it, please help if you can . thank you.

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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, April 24, 2021 12:54 PM
  1. In Internet Explorer, select the Tools button, point to Safety, and then select Delete browsing history.
  2. Select the Cookies and website data check box, and then select Delete

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by zugmann on Saturday, April 24, 2021 12:55 PM

Lithonia Operator
Has anyone uploaded an avatar recently?

I won't even attempt it.  Can't fathom the thought of not having one.  So, Spitfire is here to stay.  

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by chippy007 on Saturday, April 24, 2021 2:52 PM
YES, did the cookie thing and just signed into my account
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Posted by Kevin C. Smith on Saturday, April 24, 2021 6:28 PM
Yay! I just got logged into this forum for the first time in 2-3 months (I still have to try the Passenger forum). For all that time, I couldn't post/comment because I wasn't logged in but any login attempt just...went nowhere. Here's hope it is fixed now! Off to other forums to find out...
"Look at those high cars roll-finest sight in the world."

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