In order to use all of the advanced features of QDL, including the ability to create and edit your own posts, you have to be logged in.

 

 

Registering a New Account

• username
  • This is not case-sensitive.
  • Cannot contain spaces, or any of the following: / \ " ' * | ! ? ~ $ < >
  • Should be something that few people know, and can be different from your display name.
  • Can be changed later, in the form.
• password
  • This IS case-sensitive.
  • Has to be at least one character.
  • Can be changed later, in the form.
• email address
  • Must be a valid address, to which an authorization token can be sent, necessary for completing the registration process.
  • Will never be shared by QDL with anyone else, for any reason.
  • Can be changed later, in the form.
• characters in image
  • This prevents bots from registering.

 

Logging into an Existing Account

• username
  • Note that some browsers (e.g., Firefox) try to make logging into websites easier by auto-filling the username and password fields. This is great when it works properly, but not so great when it auto-fills the incorrect value. For example,
    • if you have Firefox set to remember usernames & passwords (Preferences → Security → remember passwords for sites), and
    • if you change your password,
    • Firefox might autofill the old password.
    • Then you'll get the dreaded "Invalid Password" error.
  • The only way out of this trap is to:
    • clear the "Form & Search History" (Preferences → Privacy → clear your recent history → Form & Search History → Clear Now), and
    • turn off "remember passwords for sites".
    • See the Firefox support page for more info.
  • Then Firefox won't autofill anything, and you'll be able to log into QDL.
• password
  • Remember that this is case-sensitive.
• reset
  • style
    • QDL allows you to set your own background color, font color, font size, etc. (See Skin for more info.) But you might goof, and submit colors that make it impossible to read the text. In this event, you have to go to another machine and log in, opting to reset the style.
    • If you can't get to another machine easily, and you can remember the following trick, you can log out from the location bar in the browser. Just enter this for the URL and hit [Enter]:
      http://qdl.scs-inc.us/?action=logout
    • You might even bookmark that URL, so you don't have to memorize it before playing around with the style. Anyway, once you have logged out, you can log in again, and opt to reset the style back to the default.
  • layout
    • You can also define your own navbar in QDL. (See Skin for more info.) And just as with altering the style, you can goof and render QDL dysfunctional. Select this option on logging back in, to return the layout to the default.
  • flyouts
    • Some layouts have dynamically populated folder lists. (See Skin for more info.) But these can contain stale info if you log out of one account and into another, on machines that are used by multiple people. Select this option to refresh the flyout folder lists.
  • visibilities
    • This will collapse all of the folders that you had left expanded.
  • password
    • In the event that you forget your password, you can enter a new password, and select this option. When you click the Log In button, an email will be sent to you with an authorization token that you can paste into your browser to confirm the change.
    • This, of course, means that you have to make sure that your email address is current, before you forget your password. If the address is not valid, you'll never get that email, and you won't be able to complete the process. Not being able to log in will eventually result in the loss of any information in your personal folders. After 5 years, inactive accounts will be deleted. Information in the public folders will be taken over by the owners of the parent posts, while private folders will be purged from the system. The QDL administrators will never consider manually resetting a password and sending it to any other address, as this might constitute someone else's attempt to violate your privacy.

 

 

Miscellaneous

 

When logging in, QDL does not allow more than 4 attempts in any 20 minute period. This is the only way to prevent automated password crackers from gaining access to your account. So if you haven't logged in after the 3^rd attempt, and you're not absolutely sure you'll get it right on the next try, you might as well just reset the password, since the confirmation email is sent right away, and it's faster to confirm the change than to get locked out for 20 minutes.

 

Note that this lock-out mechanism will kick in if anybody else is also trying to log in as you. For this reason, it's a good idea to make your display name different from your username. If nobody knows your username, nobody will be able to lock you out of your account by repeatedly attempting to log in as you.

 

 

Bottom Lines:

1. Try not to forget your password.
2. As a failsafe, make sure the email address is current.
3. Do not give your username and password to anyone, for any reason.