Can't Login to WordPress.org Forums or contact admin

[CParris]

If you read the topic title, you may be asking “well then, how did you post this?” Well, it wasn’t as easy as you might think. Upfront though, my apologies if this is not the right place to post this request for help with logging into these forums. I just can’t find a better place and have searched for other posts about this before posting this:

Recently, I decided I wanted to post in the forums to ask for some help with a particular plugin. I tried to login but found that my password no longer worked. That’s strange, but ok I’ll just click on “forgot?” and reset my password. This takes me to http://wordpress.org/support/bb-reset-password.php where I see the message “An email has been sent to the address we have on file for you. If you don’t get anything within a few minutes, or your email has changed, you may want to get in touch with the webmaster or forum administrator here.” So then I check my email and click on the link to reset my password and I’m taken to the same page (except the url has a keycode which I don’t think is working) with the same message as above (“An email has been sent to…you may want to get in touch with the webmaster or forum administrator here.”) with no apparent way to get in and change my password and no link or instructions on how to contact the webmaster or forum administrator. I tried using the full url in Firefox and IE8 and got the same results. In fact, I can’t find information anywhere on this site on how to contact these folks. If you can clearly see how to do this, sincerely I would love for you to show me.

Ok, so maybe the info is difficult (or impossible) to find by design. But I’m not trying to contact an admin to get WordPress support, I just wanted to be able to fix my password issue with these forums.

So, having no other option that I could find to communicate, I had to create a new registration with a different email address, so that I could post in this forum and suggest that maybe something isn’t working right with the password recovery for the forums here. Obviously, I can now post (which is great) but I thought it would be good to try and notify someone about this problem. And I know that ideally you don’t want people creating multiple superfluous registrations here as a way around it.

“There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza…” (hee, hee)
Thanks!

[James Huff]

The admins recently upgraded bbPress here and standardized the login across wordpress.org, so it’s entirely possible that your account could have been collateral damage. I’ve forwarded your request along to the right people. Keep your eye on this topic for a response.

[Samuel Wood (Otto)]

Forward me a copy of the emails you received. Also tell me what username you were trying to reset a password for. I’ll take a look.

Edit: The correct email address for this is forum-password-resets at wordpress dot org, which is the email it gives you when you have problems with the normal reset.

The password reset process is two-fold. First step, you get an email with the code. This is to verify your email account info. Second step, you get another email with a randomly generated password. You use that password to login. You can then change your password after that.

[James Huff]

FYI, Otto is “the right people.”

[CParris]

Ok, thanks guys. Otto, the username was chrisparrish. I just forwarded those emails to you now but basically I made three attempts (two on the 14th and one today). Seems like I’m getting the first email to verify my email but then I never get the second one with the random password.

[James Huff]

Chris, your account was listed as inactive for some reason. I’ve reactivated it and you should be able to either access it or properly reset the password now.

[CParris]

James, thanks for the FYI. But just out of curiosity (and not overlooking the possibility that I’m being a tard and just not seeing the obvious) where would folks normally find out how to contact Otto?

[Samuel Wood (Otto)]

You don’t find how to contact Otto. Otto is a ninja. You don’t find ninjas. They find you. 😉

Actually, the best place to report forum troubles is the wp-forums mailing list. All the mods and admins read it:
http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-forums

Also, from what I can tell, you were marked Inactive because you had never logged into the forums, only into the Plugins area. This is a sort of holdover from when we had separate registration areas there. So it’s only a problem for older accounts in special cases.

[chrisparrish]

Ok, Ninja’s are cool, but now I’m an Agent with more than one identity! I’m in. Thank you, MacManx and Otto! Thank you also, Otto, for the info about the mailing list.

I just want to point out though that, although my situation may be rare, I think folks not being able to login and not having a current email may be more common. So if you are going to keep the message that says “…you may want to get in touch with the webmaster or forum administrator here.”, then there aught to be a link on “…here” or at least some logical explanation in a logical place with instructions on how to get help specific to issues with this website and forum…unless the intent is to thin the heard by making it a mystery (in which case I completely understand [but personally found the process very frustrating]).

[nd00jan]

I agree, I have the exact same problem, or rather two problems. First of all, I never got the second mail either. The Second problems is the thing with “…you may want to get in touch with the webmaster or forum administrator here.”

I think it’s about time to change this info. Either put some contact info or change the text so people understand how to proceed. We can’t all sit and wait for some Ninja to find us.

So I have now also created a new identity, because apparently a second mail will never come…

[cintia_stela]

I haven’t received the second email with the new password either, and created a new account trough my work email. I’d still like to get the password for my other email. How to make that happen?

[Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)]

Actually, the best place to report forum troubles is the wp-forums mailing list. All the mods and admins read it:
http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-forums