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1. rubytuesday
   Member
   Posted 3 months ago #

   Hi all,

   I've been having this problem for quite some time and was wondering if someone could PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me ...

   This is a letter I wrote to the support staff at Paypal and at my hosting company:

   Hello,
   I'm desperate about this problem, I don't know what to do. I'VE TESTED EVERYTHING AND I'M NOT COMPUTER ILLITERATE, I'VE TRIED MOST OF THE OBVIOUS AND NOT SO OBVIOUS STUFF.

   I need someone with superior (to mine!) technical expertise to help me.

   Here are my specs:
   Wordpress 2.8.4
   Theme: Thesis
   Wishlist Member: most recent

   Here is my problem:
   I have a subscription-based online magazine for which people can buy subscriptions by clicking on a Paypal button within my website. They are then directed to Paypal to make payment and should then be re-directed to my website to complete a registration form. The registration form is managed by a Wordpress plugin called Wishlist member.

   What happens when I test the pathway: the first time I do a complete run through of the pathway (not Sandbox), everything works as it should - I see the registration form, complete it, and the data is entered into the backend database. The second and subsequent times I do the test, I am returned to a 404 error page. In the backend of the database, Paypal's IPN data for that user is entered: their first and last names and the email associated with the Paypal account from which the funds were deducted, but no Wishlist member form is observed. Users cannot get a form to choose a username and password, hence cannot subsequently log-in to and enjoy my magazine. Without the registration form appearing, my customers cannot access their purchased goods (ie. subscription to my magazine).

   What I have tested: EVERYTHING! I completely, completely re-created my website from SCRATCH at test1.mydomain.com. (I did import my Wordpress database from mydomain.com.) I installed Wishlist Member fresh at test1.mydomain.com, and did a fresh integration with Paypal. EVERYTHING WORKED BEAUTIFULLY, TIME AND TIME AGAIN. NO PROBLEMS.

   Thinking I had solved the problem, I shifted everything out of mydomain.com.au. It was empty. I shifted everything from test1.mydomain.com. into mydomain.com (although now I am thinking about it, I didn't do anything with the SQL tables ..., only shifted directories around in my FTP ...). I then tested mydomain.com and the same old problem recurred after 1 good registration.

   I am concerned 1) mydomain.com has been put on Paypal’s blacklist, which is why the payment pathway fails. 2) a malicious, external script or something is interfering with Paypal getting back to my website.

   SO MY QUESTIONS TO YOU, LOVELY Wordpress PEOPLE ARE THIS:
   1. Did I need to shift around my SQL databases to have test1.mysite.com to mysite.com?
   2. How do I do this?
   3. Is there any way you can tell whether my http://www.mysite.com is being targeted by something malicious from outside? There's no evidence of hacking or weird stuff turning up on my website and as I said, I've reinstalled everything FRESH to http://www.mysite.com.
   4. Does this problem have something to do with the contents of my.htaccess file?
   5. Is my problem perhaps similar to this problem: eShop plugin - Paypal IPN -A Failed Payment (2 posts)

   Then continued my message to Paypal ...
   PLEASE HELP ME. I AM ABSOLUTELY AT MY WIT'S END... If you can find me a solution, I will bow down and give thanks. I really will.

2. caribman
   Member
   Posted 2 months ago #

   I have experienced similar problems using Wishlist Member and ClickBank.

   What I found was that a one hour "lock" applies i.e.

   - Registration 1 is ok

   - Registration 2 an hour or more after Registration 1 and all is ok.

   - Registration 2 in less than an hour -> 404
   Reload the 404 page after an hour -> registration completes

   I have reported these problems to WLM support but do not have a fix yet. I am assuming that the one hour lock applies on an ip basis (my testing is on one ip, as is yours presumably) but I do not know this for sure as I haven't yet tested it with a registration in under an hour using a different ip address.

   If the one hour lock out applies even for registrations via different ips then the WLM is not fit for use.

   What I also found was that if a registration was part entered into the DB e.g. back from payment processor ok, but username and password step not completed, this caused ALL subsequent registration attempts to 404, regardless of ip.

   As registrations can fail to complete for any number of reasons in the real world, this is also a severe problem, rendering WLM as it stands unfit for use.

   My deduction (just a supposition since the WLM code is encrypted and I can't look at it) is that the code references the final entry into the DB table re operation of the "New Member" and "Existing Member" links in the final stages of the registration process, as these links do not contain any member id. But that is poor! As is the one hour lock out.

   As far as I am concerned, Wishlist Member is unusable with these problems. As I like it otherwise I sure hope they come up with a better way of doing things soon.

   I will be pressing them. You too please!

   David Hartley
   david@elanelan.com

3. caribman
   Member
   Posted 2 months ago #

   Just after posting the above comment, I had a thought.

   I am also using Thesis (version 1.6), with WordPress 2.8.5

   Perhaps the caching that Thesis performs could be a factor here. The one hour delay could indicate that, though presumably not re the aborted registration stopping all subsequent registrations.

   I will investigate tomorrow, Sunday, and report here on what I find out. (It is 18:30 Saturday 14 Nov 09 now where I am in Antigua and Barbuda.)

   David

4. caribman
   Member
   Posted 2 months ago #

   Investigation today showed that the problems are not related to Thesis caching or indeed to Thesis at all, as they still occur when running with the WordPress default theme. I have no other WP level caching running.

   I tried turning off server PHP caching via the Zend Optimizer and the ion-cube loader, but this also made no difference.

   So, it is back to Wishlist Member being the likely culprit.

   Today I also encountered a third problem with Wishlist Member registrations. We have 4 levels. If a member joins at level 1 then tries to upgrade to level 3 or 4, the first thank you page (after the hour long wait!) is the right one, and the temporary DB entry is correct, but selecting the "Existing user" link takes the person to completing registration (by logging in) for level 2 rather than lthe correct level 3 or 4.

   The three problems I have found are:

   1. No more than one registration per hour. Anything more frequently than that 404s.

   2. An aborted registration stops subsequent registrations.

   3. Upgrading an existing member can result in the member being granted the wrong membership level.

   Wishlist member registration really seems to be very ropey.

   David

5. caribman
   Member
   Posted 2 months ago #

   Oops. Problem 3 was my fault, sorry.

   That leaves two Wishlist member (I think) problems outstanding.

   David

6. therawdata
   Member
   Posted 2 months ago #

   Hey Caribman,

   Wow, really? Three big problems like that? I am currently using wishlist, I've tried memberwing...but it was too bulky, plus you had to have Aweber.

   I am about to install WPMemberSite, I know nothing about it. I have to have a flawless and seamless way to get a membership site up.

   Hey, any ideas on changing what is on the profile? Like that AIM, Yahoo, Google ids? Anyway to make that like address, phone number, etc?

   I am going to be doing several of these sites and I need a fast way to do it, not hacking up a plugin, you know? Any ideas?

   Raw Data
   Chattanooga Websites

7. caribman
   Member
   Posted 2 months ago #

   Hi Therawdata!

   Yesterday (16 Nov 09) WishList Member (WLM) support referred the problems (of which there are 2 not 3 as #3 was my mistake) to development, but so far I have not heard anything more.

   So right now our site remains unusable. Not good.

   I also would like a "flawless and seamless way to get a membership site up"!

   Thanks for the mention of MemberWing and WPMemberSite. I took a look just now, but from what I can see neither does all of what we need, whereas WLM does, if only registration actually worked properly!

   One thing WLM does not provide, but nor does any other plug-in that I have seen, is a "not" option for showing text i.e. to show text if not a member at level xx. I have hacked my way around this using JavaSAcript and the DOM.

   Sorry, I have not looked into changing what is on the profile.

   Right now I am stuck. WLM isn't working, so what to do? I have today asked WLM to acknowledge the problems (they haven't actually done so yet), and to say what they are doing about them, plus give a time frame.

   If I do not get satisfactory answers from WLM soon, I will also have to go hunting for something else.

   Good luck.

   David

8. robbins
   Member
   Posted 2 months ago #

   I am considering WL Member for use with Thesis. Did you guys get any answers yet? Is there a fix for this?

   Thanks.

9. caribman
   Member
   Posted 2 months ago #

   Yes, the problem was tracked down today.

   The one hour wait that I mentioned in my first post provided the clue.

   A release to fix the issue hasn't been made yet, but I expect that one will be forthcoming now that the exact cause is known.

   It surprises me that more people hadn't complained, to my knowledge anyway, but I guess that unlike rubytuesday and me most people don't test registration more often than once an hour, and that it doesn't happen live all that often either.

   Anyway, WishList Member has been very helpful and co-operative. I was, and am, happy with WishList Member in other ways, so now that I know that this problem can be fixed, I am once again pressing ahead with WishList Member and Thesis.

   David

10. caribman
    Member
    Posted 2 months ago #

    I have just found a workaround for the one hour block on registrations.

    It is to turn off the "Prevent duplicate shopping cart registrations" option in WLM Settings.

    So, until a new release is issued that allows this option to be turned on without blocking subsequent registrations for an hour, this simple fix can be used.

    This would also explain why not everybody has had the problem. I had this option turned on. People who had it turned off would not have encountered the fault.

    David

11. therawdata
    Member
    Posted 2 months ago #

    Alright Caribman! Turns out, the guy I was building the site for, couldn't get accepted to process credit cards through any four WishList options (paypal, clickback, and 2 more)

    I found out how to change the profile stuff, its wp-admin/user-edit.php

    This can let you change the labels, I recommend only changing the text part of the labels and keeping the same "values" for the MySQL.

    What a horrendous nightmare this was.

    I ended up scrapping wishlist and picked up Theme My Login so everything would remain on the same page.

    THEME MY LOGIN CHANGED MY USER-EDIT.PHP

    Well, it doesn't read from I guess. I can't find the NEW home of these files. ugghhhh

    Ever have clients where everything just goes great?

    Make sure to remind them how much you love them, lol.

    The Raw Data
    $199 Websites
    Copy Wii Games

12. holliday22
    Member
    Posted 1 month ago #

    Does anyone know if the

    "2. An aborted registration stops subsequent registrations."

    problem ever got fixed?

    Does turning off the "Prevent duplicate shopping cart registrations" option in WLM Settings fix this problem or did that only disable the one hour multiple account creation protection?

13. rubytuesday
    Member
    Posted 3 weeks ago #

    Hello all,

    I haven't been keeping tabs on this, having given up for the time being on making Wishlist work and turning my attention to other matters.

    Thanks so much for all the trouble-shooting caribman, what a fantastic job. I'm still working my head around your posts - your problem-solving skills are a bit more advanced than mine, but I'll get up to speed shortly. Did you have any further communications with Wishlist, especially about a patched-up release?

    Good luck everyone, I'll keep you posted on developments, successes and ongoing issues regarding Wishlist at my site.

    Cheers ...

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