Weird registration process on forum.shrapnelgames

subj: I encountered some oddity with registration on http://forum.shrapnelgames.com, asking for advice what could be done. It is very likely there is some basic solution, but somehow I'm locked.


One month ago I registered account on http://forum.shrapnelgames.com.
Instantly after registration form was sent I received "Action Required to Activate Membership for .com.unity Forums" email (from ".com.unity Forums <richard@shrapnelgames.com>"), where it was required to click confirmation link:
>Dear chelubey,
>Thank you for registering at the .com.unity Forums. Before we can activate your account one last step must be taken to complete your registration.
>Please note - you must complete this last step to become a registered member. You will only need to visit this URL once to activate your account.
>To complete your registration, please visit this URL:
Is it ok? Absolutely! It is normal behaviour, typical for registrations on websites.

So I followed the link provided, and got "Your account has been activated but you are currently in the moderation queue to be added to the forum."
I thought registration is finished here, and logined one day later to subscribe to new MP game.

However ... any time I'm trying to post anything on forum.shrapnelgames I get:
"you do not have permission to access this page" message. It is followed with clarification:
> This could be due to one of several reasons:
> Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
> If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

(I'm unable to send personal messages as well).

I have no way but accept what is explicitly written: that despite contents of email ("one last step must be taken to complete your registration") there is one more last step - where moderator of forum manually accepts accounts awaiting in some registration queue.

Is it ok? Absolutely!
Maybe it is not as common as the necessity to automatically confirm registration, but could be many reasons why they do it this way.

Everything looks extremely plain and obvious thus far.

What is totally uncommon is that I'm stuck in it for a month (initial registration took place on 10 Jule) and no transition of any kind is seen.

I tried to reclick activation link - no luck (the same "Your account has been activated but you are currently in the moderation queue to be added to the forum" message).

After about 2 weeks of waiting I tried to reply on initial email (to ".com.unity Forums <richard@shrapnelgames.com>"), but I receive error message from robot:
>Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:
> richard@shrapnelgames.com
>Technical details of permanent failure:
>Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain.
>We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 " (state 13)."

I tried to use "Contact Us" form on forum.shrapnelgames, wrote them twice with no observable results of any kind. Tomorrow it will be full month since I tried to register and these all look old.
Either due to inadvertence I made something stupid/wrong (most likely) or problem is on the shrapnelgames.com side (like their "richard" got retired, - it is why his email deleted, and no one cared to take his duty or something like that - this is a weird assumption since that is a huge forum and such problems would arise much earlier).

Could someone give a hint what could be done here? Maybe someone encountered similar problem?

I recall seeing several players post in the past saying they experienced similar problems (either a long wait, or never ending wait for confirmation of their account).

Best advice I probably have to offer is to contact llamabeast or Edi on this forum (members list button is in the top right), as they might be able to help since they are both moderators of the Dominions section of the Shrapnel forum.

The advice I'd like to offer is to say it's not worth registering on Shrapnel, since they don't give a fuck about the Dominions community or it's players, as all they Dominions palyers as is $ signs. Plus all your Dominions needs can easily be met on this forum.

But then it's fair to say my opinion might be slightly biased (although I'm by no means alone in having it, or wrong given their shocking history with our community)

Shrapnel grognards suffer from a hyper need for security and control so thus require manual activation of all non ISP (maybe ALL, now) email accounts. This to prevent a community of community wreckers like us from wrecking their community.

You are better off just not going there and instead using the mp game service here.

really anything dominions related you might need can be found here anyway, don't bother.

Well, honestly I had absolutely no a priori preference for one place or another even a month ago. Official forum just has more contents, it pops up first when googling, it has wide systematized guides section, so no wonder I considered it first to register in.
(I'm writing it since its likely a lot of newbies will think similar and follow similar road).

My first impression of Dom3mods forum&community is far, far beyond expectations, but I think it wouldn't have much sense to provide it yet. The better you know subject - the more valuable your opinion is, and vice versa - rushing to express first impression would depreciate the value of it.

Although registration in several places can provide more flexibility in choosing MP games to play. So if I were to become confident I can reliably afford participating in several MP games simultaneously, I would still try to bypass their indifference-like registration process.

And thanks everyone for hints and replies.

Arrr! Welcome aboard matey, pour yerself a mug o rum and let us spin ya a tale. We plan a raid at sundown on a vessel known to carry a boatload o PDFs of the Dom3 manual. They fetch a nice price on the black market, I hear.

though no one knows why, given how inaccurate and outdated the manual is.

I had exactly the same thing and just gave up in the end.

Having read how unreliable the advice can be and how poisonous the moderation system can be I have no real desire to go there now.

I visit both forums and I like them both although it does seem to be appalling easy to get banned from Shrapnel. But there are good people playing in the MP section. I have recieved a friendly welcome from everyone on both sites.

Yeah, the MP section is the only good bit on the shrapnel forum sadly. It does contain a few wankers. But dom3mods contains a few assholes. So, chose your poison .

Account was finally confirmed, so this issue is resolved for me.
(maybe Callahan's "best advice" worked).

Look: even if it is exactly the case (its quite possible in very large degree it is) - there are still reasons to register there.
It is simply a double choice of games to play.

Look: even if it is exactly the case (its quite possible in very large degree it is) - there are still reasons to register there.
It is simply a double choice of games to play.

Calahan did qualify that statement.