Bulletin board teething problems

I had the same problem this morning, twigged what was causing it and rang Si Watts to work out a way around it. I’ve just bought a PC (it’s easier to set up on ADSL high-speed internet connection than my Mac) and wasn’t sure how to disable the automatic password completion facility.

Simon Watts of siwis.co.uk writes: "Instructions for IE users;

With browser open, click on Tools>Internet Options

Go onto Content Tab

In the Personal Information sectionj click on "Auto Complete"

Then simply click the "Clear Passwords" button.

The only disadvantage is that it will also clear any other saved passwords,

with the exception of those which have been saved to your machine using

cookies.

Make sure that you are not logged into the password required section of

bikebiz when you do this!

The key to your problem about it automatically logging you into bikebiz was

that you have your bookmark set to log you in. I don’t, and simply use

http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/web/ as my bookmark.

The following are instructions for changing the password inside Netscape 6

Choose;

Edit>Preferences>

Open "advanced" list.

Select "Passwords"

Press "View Saved Passwords"

Remove the entry for www.bikebiz.co.uk/web

Click OK to exit the screens

"The ‘internet options’ used to be listed as preferences

in older versions of IE. Anbody running versions older than 4x will not have

the auto complete option anyway so should not be having the problem

mentioned.

"Only if the site is bookmarked in the

http://[username @]www.bikebiz.co.uk/web fashion will this have caused a

problem anyway. If the site is bookmarked as http://www.bikebiz.co.uk/web

then the password prompt is displayed always, just with the password and

username already filled in. But they still need to confirm that the password

is correct by clicking OK. It may be worth suggesting to those who wish to

register multiple aliases that they bookmark the site in the latter fashion,

not in the username@ fashion, so that they can choose who they wish to log

on as. Alternatively they can set up username@ bookmarks and modify the

record for the favourite listing."

The new bulletin board is easier to use, faster to load and will soon have a much better search engine. The new ‘flat view’ option makes for faster reading of multiple postings. Only those who register can add their own comments, although lurkers can read to their heart’s content without registering.

On the old bulletin board ‘Dutchman’ said this was undemocratic and against principles of free speech. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Here’s my take: if Dutchman is so concerned about free speech, he should have the balls to say what he wants to say with his real name. That way anybody or any company injured by his ‘free speech’ can have redress.

Of course, despite this, there are times when things are better said anonymously and this facility still exists. Bulletin board readers need never know your real identity; but for security and legal reasons I need to know. I won’t spill the beans, either privately or publically. For instance, I’ve long known who ‘Hitman’ is but never gave the game away.

Hitman has now registered, and so has his ‘owner.’

This is a website that is flexible. If you want to see any changes made, let me know via the bulletin board or by email to carlton@bikebiz.co.uk.