h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello there, Nick Reynolds has a very important message for you all concerning our forthcoming move to the new registration system, BBC iD. Essentially, those users who haven't used the site in the last eight months or more need to sign in or post in the next three weeks otherwise they will lose access to their old accounts. Please read what Nick has to say:

"Hi everybody and a happy new year to you.

Before Xmas I told you we would be upgrading h2g2 to the new sign in system BBC iD.

The time to do this is coming very soon. We anticipate by the end of January/start of February. I’ll be able to give you an exact date next week, after the technical team who are in charge have done all their tests and checks and have decided on a date.

However I want to ask you to do something which will benefit h2g2. After we’ve upgraded all the BBC sites to the new system the old one will be switched off by the end of February. There will be an interim period of six months after that where if you try and log in using your old names and password details you will be able to upgrade your old account to the new system. But this will ONLY apply (and this is the important bit) if you have used the old system since June 2009.

There are some members of the h2g2 community who have been absent for longer than that. For example the h2g2 editors tell me that one person who has been absent for many years has recently returned and starting writing entries again.

So if you know or have contact with anyone in the h2g2 community who hasn’t used the site in the last eight months, try and contact them and ask them to come back and log in again as a matter of urgency.

It's important to note that no content will be lost and no Personal Spaces will disappear. However, if a User who hasn't visited the site for more than 8 months tries to access their Personal Space after we've switched over to BBC iD, they won't able to do so. They will have to register again, create a new Personal Space.

I’m expecting there won’t be many people like this. But if you know of any let them know as soon as possible.

Remember, you can upgrade your account now: essentially, if you have an existing BBC membership (your h2g2 account), you can use your h2g2 LoginName, (referred to as a 'username' in iD) and your h2g2 password to sign in to BBC iD. And you can do that here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/users/signin/

There are also some very useful FAQs about upgrading your account that I'd suggest you read as well:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/users/help

I’ll be making more announcements about the upgrade next week.

All the best, Nick Reynolds"

My daughter attempted to upgrade her account, but since she is not yet 16 she is not allowed to use h2g2. I don't know whether the upgrade worked or not.

I've updated A60420098 (my guide to the new system) to include this information. If anyone has any questions, pop there first to see if it's been answered.

Eds, feel free to amend it if something is out of date or incorrect.

Now I've got a Frank Zappa song in my head due to the thread title. Where are my zirconium encrusted tweezers and my pygmy pony when I need them.

Carry on.

When researches first logged onto h2g2, they were required to give an email address.

Couldn't the BBC send a mass email to all registered users. A simple announcement about the upcoming change and a suggestion that they update their accounts IF they wish to keep them?

That's the sort of email that every netizen expects they might get when they give their address to a website.

If you're not expecting many people who have been absent for so long to return, will it be possible for those who do return to email support and get their old accounts reactivated?

a question for h2g2 team,
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i got an email from a freind the other day to say, she couldnt acess the h2g2, she knows she used the right user and password.
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it as _beforeandafter_ as the user, is it the _..._ thats the problem.
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she uses the digi, that will be no more after the change, so will probably make a change in time.
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although it said the _...._ user wasnt registered, i did a create way, with the user and anypasword, to see what it told me, and it said, the _...._ name type was registerd already.
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but still it says on the signin section, user not registered.
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any answer how she can get back on the h2g2.if _...._ type wont work, and without the __ nothing.
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J.H.D.
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sam as my email addy, if you want to contact on my active email.

Ho GOD! more change, terry wogan, Johthen woss, christ almighty is there anything that can stay the same, thinks real hard about leaving

rev jack
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your lucky, the change wont affect you like me no sso, no acsess from digibox at home anymore.no i dont have, or want a pc at home, done that, been there, got the h2g2 teashirt.
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cyber or library, J.H.D.

Oooh, yes, change is a terrible thing, we made a great mistake in ever inventing the computer!

Relax, this change is painless.

"Relax, this change is painless."

What are you basing that on? Have you seen an announcement that long h2g2 names are going to be allowed to continue unchanged? If so, I've missed it.

OK... let me edit that....

"Mostly painless."

Indeed. Once you've gone through the (very simple) process, the site will act in the same way.

If I were you, Rev, I'd try the process, go through it, and actually think about what you're posting before simply complaining.

Not all change is bad, and if you really can't stand the fact that you have to go through a simple process, once, then perhaps you need to move on, and I mean that in the nicest way I can.
Change will happen, and if you don't like it, please try not to make it more difficult for the rest of us.

Peet - yes, your name may be truncated (note may; the techies are trying to make us an exception). Even if that happens, what's the worst that can happen? I really don't understand why it's a problem.

>>>Couldn't the BBC send a mass email to all registered users. A simple announcement about the upcoming change and a suggestion that they update their accounts IF they wish to keep them?

Unfortunately, it's not as simple as that. The DNA tech team could pull out all the email addresses on the system running an SQL query, but we'd have to send them manually. But due to the very long history of this site, there would be a lot of email addresses and we'd have to send them manually in small batches, then deal with all the returns etc - we just don't have the resources to do that. Also, we couldn't separate out from those historical email addresses those who didn't use the site but were still interested and those who had long since lost all interest in the site. This is relevant because we have to be very careful to comply with rules that prevent us spamming.


>>>If you're not expecting many people who have been absent for so long to return, will it be possible for those who do return to email support and get their old accounts reactivated?

If they haven't posted in eight months or more and then return to the site after we've moved over to BBC iD in 3 or 4 weeks time, then sadly the answer is no - we will not be able to reactivate those old accounts because SSO (the old registration system) is being swithced off.

>you can use your h2g2 LoginName (referred to as a 'username' in iD) and your h2g2 password to sign in to BBC iD.<

Erm does that mean I can go back to using Effers as my name then, on all parts of the BBC? When I signed up for the new BBCiD thing a couple of months ago, it refused to accept the name 'Effers', presumably for certain puritanical reasons...I'm only guessing as to the reason though, because no reason was given. Because it described the 'login name as 'username' I assumed that would mean the name displayed, ie username, ie Effers would also fail the BBC filter. Now you're saying that what is called username in the new system, is in fact just a login name, so presumably I didn't need to change my username after all. So I can go back to calling myself Effers, on all parts of the BBC yes?

As long as the name 'Effers' makes it past the Mods, then that's how I'd read it.

Give it a whirl and see.

At least give it some thought. I don't think anyone that signed on to h2g2 would think it 'spam' if they got this sort of announcement. There IS a difference between a mass email and spam.

Maybe you don't need to send it to every account. Maybe it could be limited by some criteria.

[Of course, deep down I suspect tptb are afraid that this could instigate the return of U183456]

I *think* I just migrated. If so, it wouldn't even reach up the scale as far as painless. Is there a sure-fire test to be certain I've actually done it?