I was just reading the ivillages "Terms of Agreement" to these sites. They have the right to change the terms of agreement at any time and stipulate that, by logging in, you agree to those new changes. Now this could affect our privacy, ie. emails being sold to third parties or third parties could contact you with product information.
In any event, by having us log in each time, we are legally agreeing to changes we may not even know are happening.
Just a possibility why this is going on....

I had several hours of not being able to log on, but eventually that went away. The irritating "having to log in every time" when my screensaver kicks in has been going on for a while and checking the save info box doesn't help. Hopefully, these glitches will turn out to be growing pains...

I can finally just a few minutes ago log in with my old user name and the pop ups are finally gone. They are slowly getting things fixed. Yes,the cookies are being thrown out each time you log in and they are probably working on that next. If privacy is a concern,just go to Yahoo,get an email address for Internet use only and when you register here with a new user name use that address, and don't give out any personal info. Just fake your zip,or whatever.

Pheww...I am so tired of having to make up new names and then remember them and which forums and sites they are for...thank heavens they recognized me...and I extend sympathy for all of you struggling to grow into your new identities.

PAM,

The same thing happened to me, as well as others. Go to the end of the thread "Hey, we've got our line breaks back" for lots more on this issue.

Can they do that legally without us being able to opt out of sharing our info?

Well technically it appears that before you log into the site, you should read the Terms of Service and if you disagree with any changes then you should opt to deregister. On the registration page there are boxes you can tick regarding product info sent to your email address. I haven't ticked any because I don't want those emails. The registration page right now also says that your personal information will be used by iVillage but won't be shared with third parties, which would be a relief to most people. However, one then must ask: Who and what is iVillage? What do they mean by third party? If you read at the beginning of the Service Agreement, iVillage is defined very broadly to include a number of companies selling products. See the list. So your email could be shared with a number of corporations that aren't third parties, because they form part of iVillage.

Having said all that, I have never received a junk email from a corporate sponsor or ivillage since the switch from Spike. Nor am I getting the ads that so many are complaining about.
My present registered hotmail email account that I have is used only for this site, and correspondence between myself and other members here. So if things go completely wonky and iVillage blasts me with junk email and an overdose of ads, then I'll just ditch that email address and probably this site.
But until then, let's wait and see, and continue to talk books. Tamara, who is the iVillage PR person trying to sort out this mess sounds like she is trying. (And she also sounds like a Tamara from NY who used to post here as "greasyspoon"...I wonder....)

I was reading comments earlier on the Computer Help Forum & they are angry! There is a link there to the "comments & suggestions" forum and some of those writing are downright rude and apparently people are leaving-or planning to leave the GardenWeb over this-some even suggested that people running this site be fired! A lot of people seem to have real legitimate issues regarding their privacy.

Pat

I wasn't able to log on until today. I discovered that my member page info was totally gone...except for saying that my favorite forum is "roseant"! Lol, how much sense does that make? I had taken considerable time to list the 200 roses that I grow on that page. That's all gone and like an idiot I didn't save it. :(

Karen

I just sent an email to the site--I'm usually at the garden forums and have had to log in repeatedly. Plus, at least in the garden forums, when you post a new question, responses are supposed to be sent to your email, and I had posted and not received any emails though there were responses at the forum.

This link is to the iVillage opt-out page if you don't want your email shared. I just did it and will let you know if by opting out I suddenly get inundated with spam. (Never know whether to trust these things or not.)

Here is a link that might be useful: opt out

...some even suggested that people running this site be fired!

Not so much the people running the site, but the people who were responsible for the switchover should be fired. It was a shockingly unprofessional piece of work. I am not joking when I say that I would have been fired out of hand if I'd been responsible for a mess like that at work. It would have cost my company millions - literally. I would have had no warning, and no rap on the knuckles - I would have been out of the door for serious professional misconduct. And I would have had no chance of claiming unfair dismissal, either.

Good news -- I was just able to post without having to log in first. That irritating issue must be fixed. I also don't see any ads this morning, at least not yet.

Frances, I still have to log in, but haven't been bothered by ads since we left aol and went to broadband (which I think you may call by a different name in the US).
I understand from friends that there are still some people who cannot get back on at all.

I agree, Martin. FWIW, there are certain long time posters here at RP who still cannot log on, after these changes. What I cannot fathom is the seemingly random discrepancies between our various experiences. e.g. some at the cinema forum still have their member pages intact, with lovely color photos of their gardens. (How did they achieve this?) Whereas others, like myself, have had our member pages utterly deleted. Not only is my birthday wrong, but now no one can e-mail me through my member pages, as before. As for logging on, I have to do it every time, but that does not bother me. Oh, well, I am still here, after a short hiatus of inability to log on. "Theirs is not to reason why...."

I don't mind having to log in when I first come on the computer, but I have to log in every time I come back to the site, even if was only a couple of minutes ago.

However, my DH followed the instructions for getting rid of the ads (on one of the other threads about this problem) and this site has been so fast ever since, with the added advantage of losing those very annoying scrolling ads as well as the static ones.

I went to check my profile and found I could update it, and change my birthday from the default of 1st January.
However, although I was allowed to pick Australia as my country, this very US centric site insisted that I pick a US state for my address and have a zipcode, not use my real postcode!! I couldn't proceed until I had filled in those fields.
The whole thing is quite bizarre.

I imagine the inconveniences will be temporary. Personally I'm very happy the site _is_ monitored and observed. I was a long time contributor to the Random House Dorothy Dunnett forum. Last July the site was invaded by spammers some of whom hacked into the site and altered the layout. It was horrible! Ads for V**gra, on-line poker etc. Some of it seemed to be in code as the spammers seemed to be communicating with each other. Site management cleaned up the mess and apologised several times, but shortly before Christmas decided to close the forum. I was afraid this would happen as Lady Dunnett died in November 01 and now many of her books are no longer in print so if maintenance costs rose it seemed likely.

This is what the forum screen now says:

where am I? What is "what is/www/www.randomhouse.comwww/vintage/dunnett/forums.cgi?
packageCGI _Error_ Handler file:/www/www.random house.com/www/vintage/dunnett/f.cgi
line 2177
sub name:main::stack_trace
has args:0
wantarray:0

Anyone know what that means?

the ominous "Please Be Advised" in red letters has surfaced on my screen...but it remembered me from last time-finally!

Now I have had a problem too. I wrote a long message for the "book and pot luck dinner" which was refused for no reason at all! This has never happened to me. Also I could not click into one of the postings to add my message. It is frustrating.

I haven't had to log in for two days now-I am remembered! LOL!!!

Pat

Have you read the new "requirements"? It sounds more like they really aren't interested in being user friendly and the plethora of ads only reinforces that perception.

Anyone had an iVillage Video Ad yet? Geeez... Some prat singing "shake-shake-shake" and shaking a bottle in my face.

If I could work out what it was advertising, (I was more interested in looking for the "skip advert" button) I would be sure to avoid buying it - assuming that it's available in the UK anyway.

You won't believe this, but two things happened this morning to me on RP.

1. I didn't have to sign on as captainnemo. The system remembered me.

2. Being remembered naturally led to me trying to sign on with my old name, TwoBigDogs. It worked. No capital letters, but it worked. Now I have an alias with the name captainnemo and will continue to use twobigdogs as long as the system agrees.

Now to see if I can get rid of the ads...
PAM

I had that awful video with SOUND yesterday on the Cottage Gardens forum, of all places--so normally peaceful and friendly. It was an assault on my senses and I left the forum as fast as I could click. It wasn't on any of the other forums I go to. As soon as I tried logging in, it and all the other ads disappeared, thank heavens. And my log-in is once again staying.

I am doing random checks of "member pages" on this forum, as my own has been deleted. I had to laugh when I accessed AstroKath's home page which has her living in both South Carolina and South Australia! (Thus she had to make an effort to explain how this occurred). Worse, when I accessed Martin's member page, it has him living in ALABAMA....Well, it is entertaining, to say the least.

Hey - I've got martin_z back!!!!

The system must be getting back on its feet because I didn't have to log in multiple times today, I just opened RP and there I was -- yippee!

This is completely off-topic, but as many of the regulars are probably checking this thread, I thought I would use it to let you all know that my always-wonky computer has self-destructed, I am computerless and probably will be for some time. I'll check in from time to time from the library and school but won't be able to really participate for awhile. Boo-hoo!

I'm back, I'm back, I'm back, I'm back--but as carolynlouky through a new address at Yahoo, thanks to the suggestion by Mary.

I have not been able either to log on or re-register at Garden Web since last week. Talk about withdrawal! I could only read about what the rest of you were doing. I finally e-mailed IVillage through Chris ITV's post. Their reply said they had forwarded my message to Garden Web, which I could reach by clicking their website. Well, duh! If I could have gotten through to them, I could have posted.

Maybe I'll go post on every thread now. That'll show them.

Carolyn (formerly Carolyn KY)

Wow, I am so glad it wasn't just me. I have been a member of the GardenWeb Az forum for two years, found out about this site today. When I tried to log in here they didnt recognize anything. I ended up re-registering with a different user name and password, but what a pain!

Someone in the AZGarden forum posted directions to get rid of the ads. Lemme go back (providing they let me) and see if I can find it and post it here. It works like a charm (and of course can't remember how :)

I just received my first spam in years. I'm serious. Years. This is the only thing that has changed recently. I'm seriously ticked.

I've been getting more spam, too, recently, just since the "changes" here.

I got two spam messages purported to be from my e-mail provider. When I contacted them, they said I'm not alone. Is that similar to what the rest of you are getting?

I have a spam blocker on my email, but I fear that I'm not getting messages from people I want to hear from and my emails don't seem to be getting through to them, either. I don't know if this is iVillage related or it's a coincidence. Vee and Mary, you are two that I've tried to contact.

Frieda, I did receive an email from you on Jan 9th, the first one since about mid-August!
Since I have been trying to get the DVD re. the Great Fires of Newport to you I do need your home address/box number and have sent you MANY e mails, both to this Garden web site and to the 'e' address you wrote from. All to no avail. Have you checked your 'trash' can?
Are you likely to check this site again?
Shall I hold my breath?

Any messages that I get from others here are sent from "gardenweb" and automatically read by hotmail as junkmail and sent to that inbox. So you may want to check that from time to time. Once I've opened an email from a person here, I check the box so that from then on they are known as a "contact" and messages from them won't be automatically sent to the junk mail folder.
I've tried getting hold of you Frieda from time to time, through gardenweb, to no avail.

By the way, I haven't received any spam -- and the changes according to the blurb at the top of this site, aren't supposed to happen for a few more days..

I just today tried to send Jankin an e-mail through her home page and it would not accept it. The message never got through, even though I checked everything and it was done correctly. I can only conclude that member's home pages are not working, in terms of contacting individuals this way.

Frieda, I had no idea you were or are trying to contact me. The powers that be, amidst the changes, have deleted my member page. I am afraid to mess with it to bring it back, for fear that I might make matters worse. (Does this sound like mistrust, or what?)

Frieda, Vee has my latest e-mail address, so perhaps if you can connect with her, you can get it and send me a message directly.

Grrr! Now I'm wondering who else I've missed receiving emails from. Janalyn, I'm sorry I never saw yours. I hope I haven't hurt anyone's feelings by not responding, but I didn't know!

Vee, I've sent you six messages since December. Earlier I had sent you my postal address, but I wanted to let you know that I'm not presently at home and it would be a while before I could view what you had sent. But apparently you haven't sent anything if you're still asking for my address. I will try again, so be on the lookout. If you don't get anything tomorrow, please let me know.

Mary, I think the e-address I have for you is outdated. If I can ever get with Vee, I'll get your new one and try to send a message. Like Vee, if you haven't seen anything from me in the next couple of days, tell me please. I don't know what the problem is, though, and it may take me a while to find out since my geek son is out of pocket right now.

I'm checking the junkbin more closely.

Frieda, the email I did receive from you mentioned that you were away from home for a while so you obviously have the correct address. Don't know why so many are not getting through 'either way'. You must have some virtual cellar with emails piled up against the door . . . and a strange smell coming from under the floorboards . . .

Frieda, I've just sent you two "test" e-mails to the only address I have.
Mary

Mary, I haven't received anything from you. Vee, any luck? I've checked all day. I didn't get a message of "undeliverable" for either email I sent to you today. They are going somewhere!

Frieda, nothing from you so they must be sitting in a virtual limbo.
I'll try sending you another in a minute.

Do you have another family email address you could try using?
On technical matters, although not a total Luddite, I am certainly not the brightest and cannot understand how you can receive/send some emails but not others.
I passed your address on to Mary, maybe she has had better luck in contacting you.
How about if you try sending an 'e' as a 'Reply', perhaps they might get through that way?

Frieda, I am going to try a test e-mail again today, using the updated address Vee kindly gave me for you.

I've had no messages from you in my box.

Mary

Kate, I've not heard from you in a long time. Were you ever able to log back on here at RP?

Mary

Vee, I got your turnaround message and sent a reply yesterday morning. I was in a hurry and didn't wait to see if I got an "undeliverable" notice. I got in late last night and checked but didn't see one, but with the problems lately I never know whether my emails are getting through or not -- and since I haven't seen another reply from you, I was just wondering. I sent you a postal address. Let me know if you've received it. If not, (sigh) I will try again.

Mary, all my attempts to send you anything have come back. I haven't received anything from you, either, if you've sent anything other than what you mentioned above.

This is frustrating to me and very boring to other readers, I'm sure, and I'm sorry to be using this thread but I don't know how else to contact RPers when email doesn't work!

Frieda I DID get your email. Sorry I didn't answer right away but I became quite faint and over-emotional and had to retire to a darkened room to recover my composure. It has taken since October to receive the info from you. In 3 months I could have walked/rowed/paddled to Hawaii.
And I also apologies to others as they don't want to read this stuff . . .unless one of them is Janalyn who I heard from on another site re the London trip but have not heard from 'through the ether'.

Vee _ I just checked and it was my fault. I used an old email address of yours to reply to you and it has been returned. New one on the way...
Frieda, send me your email if you don't mind. I have an old hotmail address for you which doesn't work and I bet you don't use it anymore.

Frieda, I've sent you at least 3 test e-mails. Since you are in touch with Vee and Janalyn, who have successfully sent me e-mails, perhaps you could check with them re my updated new address and try again? What a conundrum! :-)

Frieda I have replied to your email via this G Web site as you say it is all you can use, I hope you receive it. Will forward the info to your address.
Janalyn, I received your message; many thanks.