# Inactive account



## Ma_linka

Hello, dear moderators. 

All of a sudden, today I realized that my account became inactive. 
Could anyone please explain to me why the account can become inactive. It was very unpleasant not to be able to reply even in my own threads and getting a message "you have insufficient privileges to reply in this thread". I even had to change my email address because, for some reason, the wordreference.com could not help me and answer to my SOS questions using the current email address. Second, when the account is inactive, it is not even possible to contact any of the moderators to simply try to find out what has happened.


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## cyberpedant

I'm not a mod, but I'll venture a guess that it might have something to do with a lost cookie. Have you recently done a system restore or extensive "crap cleaning"?


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## Ma_linka

No, I haven't done anything at all.


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## mkellogg

Hi, your emails were "bouncing", meaning that they couldn't be delivered, so your account became "inactive, awaiting email confirmation".  I see that you got that fixed and you should be able to post again.

Did you not see a banner at the top of all pages telling you what you need to do? If you didn't see anything, then I need to test things to make it more apparent.

Mike


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## Ma_linka

Hi, Mike. Thanks for the answer. 
I also received your email. I got it at the previous email account listed here as my profile details. However, for some reason I had to update the information, so I listed a new email address. 

The thing I couldn't understand was why my emails were "bouncing", as you said.
I continued receiving emails from other people, including you, as I said earlier.
Yes, I did see a banner at the top of all the pages telling me to update my personal details. This is what I did (changed the email account) - that is why I am able to post again.


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## mkellogg

OK. If it happens again, let me know and I will investigate the specific reason it is happening.


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## Ma_linka

Mike, please investigate the reason for this problem. I have it occur all the time: have to switch between my two email accounts in order to be able to post messages and reply. There is definitely something wrong going on.
Thank you.
Please reply to my email box, in case I do not answer here for a long time (this means I cannot reply to threads again).


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## mkellogg

I answered in private, but basically Ma_linka needs to try using a different email provider. For some reason, the one he is using rejects a lot of our email.


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## Ma_linka

Thanks, Mike!


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## Thomas Tompion

Exactly the same thing has happened to me today.  I have changed my email address, and all seems to be working again.  I was receiving emails from WR at my old email address - the one I used when I joined 8 years ago and which has worked fine ever since, so I think there must be some error.

I've now changed it back to my original email address and it's accepted that.  One bizarre thing is that for a few days I've been receiving two copies of every email notification from WR.  I wonder if that has anything to do with the other problem.  My email account is working fine for everything, as far as I can see.


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## mkellogg

Thomas Tompion said:


> I've been receiving two copies of every email notification from WR


Let me know if this continues and I will investigate.


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## Thomas Tompion

mkellogg said:


> Let me know if this continues and I will investigate.


Many thanks, Mike.  I investigated my end and there were two rules sending emails to my WR inbox.  What is strange is that until two days ago, I only received one copy of each email, then suddenly two copies started appearing.  I hadn't changed the rules for months.

I've now deleted one rule and all seems well.

When the account was blocked this morning, I changed the email address on my contact details here, and that unblocked the account.  I then changed the email address again back to the original, almost at once - I didn't want my spare email account receiving all the WR emails - and have had no problems since.  Strange.

I suspect this may have something to do with the arrival of Windows 10.  My OS updated about a month ago, and my version of Outlook has produced one or two surprises since then.


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## mkellogg

Thomas Tompion said:


> I've now deleted one rule and all seems well.


Rules? What rules are you referring to, and which did you delete?

I can't see how this would be affected by your upgrade to Windows 10, unless a new version of Outlook is accidentally downloading the messages twice.

Now that I think about it, you might be referring to rules in Outlook.  That might make sense.


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## Thomas Tompion

mkellogg said:


> Rules? What rules are you referring to, and which did you delete?
> 
> I can't see how this would be affected by your upgrade to Windows 10, unless a new version of Outlook is accidentally downloading the messages twice.
> 
> Now that I think about it, you might be referring to rules in Outlook.  That might make sense.


Don't be alarmed, Mike.  I was talking about the rules in my Outlook app sending WR emails to the WR box.  I'm not sure that my version of Outlook (2003) is fully compatible with Windows 10.  It's acting up in other small ways; for instance, the autocomplete function doesn't work as it used to.

The sudden refusal to accept WR emails needs explaining in some way, particularly as it was accepting them until early (3 am) this morning.


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## mkellogg

No, I wasn't alarmed, just a little confused!

Unless I start getting more reports, I'll assume that it was just an Outlook problem.  If I do get more reports, my first question will be "Are you using Outlook by chance?".

Glad you got it worked out.


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## Ma_linka

I didn't use Outlook and have Windows 7, not 10. So I think the problem is not caused by Outlook...
By the way, when I tried to change the email address to the initial one, it did not work as it did for Thomas.


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## mkellogg

Ma_linka, I think your problem is/was different from that of Thomas.  You just needed to try using a different email provider.


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## Ma_linka

I'm currently using the same provider but a different email address. Everything's been working so far


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## Ma_linka

Hi, could you please help me open my newly created thread. Thanks.
I see a lock by my email address but still can post here, which is strange.


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## mkellogg

Ma_linka said:


> Hi, could you please help me open my newly created thread. Thanks.
> I see a lock by my email address but still can post here, which is strange.


I don't see anything wrong with your account. Your email has been confirmed and you managed to post this message.

Do you get any error message when you try to create a new thread?


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## Ma_linka

I did yesterday. I had no problem posting here but could not answer to my thread.
I had to switch to another email in my Contact details (the same provider), and it did not work. Then I changed my mail to the original email address and it worked.


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## mkellogg

Try a different web browser. Clearing your cache on your current browser might work as well.


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