Computer Drama: I tried to join Librarything.com tonight (5 hours ago, I may add) and fresh hell broke loose. Here's the text of the e-mail I wrote to their contact person - I hope he is not a robot.
Dear Tim,
My name is Elizabeth Flygare, and I set up an account with Librarything tonight. I am running Windows 8.1 and Internet Explorer 11. While setting up my profile, I decided I wanted to import my list of purchased books from amazon.com, and I assumed Librarything would allow this, since Goodreads encourages people to do so.
I looked on the Librarything site for a method for doing this. Per the instructions I got (which had the disclaimer that it was a workaround), I went to amazon.com and looked at my recommendations, which were based on items I'd purchased. I then selected the option to view my purchased items. I was taken to a page that listed the items I own. I went to "View" and selected "source." A box popped open with numbering on the left side, but no text. I did a "select all" and the source codes popped up.
Here was when things went awry. I knew I was supposed to save the doc as .txt, but I didn't see the option, so I pasted them into Notepad. In Notepad, when I did a "save as," I wasn't given the .txt format as an option. So, with trepidation, I selected .csv, as it was my only choice, and saved it that way, and copied the file onto my clipboard. (Strangely enough - I just experimented with it again, and this time I did see .txt, so I obviously did something wrong with Notepad)
I went back to Librarything and opened the page for importing books. There was actually a link to click on in the workaround fix on your site (for importing amazon books) and that's where I clicked. I was taken to a page where I could either manually import or paste what I assumed was the source code (meaning the .csv on my clipboard.)It wouldn't let me paste it in, so I gave up. I figured I'd try it again later, and logged out.
A few moments later I decided to log back in. I used in the URL https://www.librarything.com/ . I was taken to a page that told me I had received the HTTP 403 Forbidden error. Accompanying this was the message: "The website declined to show this webpage." I went back and tried http://www.librarything.com/, and the same thing happened. When I tried to go to Librarything's Facebook page, I got the same error.
We have a wireless broadband network. My housemate, who also uses Librarything, typed in the URL on her PC and the same thing happened to her. I may add that she uses Firefox, not IE. She also can't access the Facebook page, either. This means that our I/P address is blocked by Librarything. (I can access your site using the 4G on my cell phone.)
The first thing we did, naturally, was to make sure that we could access other sites, which we could. Librarything is the only one that is giving the HTTP 403.
I went through the typical diagnostics: deleted temp internet files, deleted cookies, even disabled add-ons --- rebooted, of course.
I got online and looked for downloadable fixes, but couldn't find one for Windows 8.1. I don't want to get into my registry. I don't know if it's a certificate authentication error, or if your site doesn't enable directory browsing. I contacted Microsoft Support online and the technician suggested things that I had already done.
I spent over an hour setting up my Librarything account and I would like to use it! So would my housemate; we're both retired librarians and I'm a published author. Can you authorize access for us from your end? I don't want to download a random program that might mess with my registry and send me a bunch of junk add-ons and unwanted programs, and try to scare me into thinking there are hundreds of errors on my PC and I must pay immediately to repair them. I've been around that block many times and I'm not going there again.
My phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx. I would appreciate a call from you as well as a detailed email describing the problem and the necessary fix, which I hope you will do straightaway. I apologize for doing something to make Librarything so mad at me that we were booted out.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Best regards,
Elizabeth Flygare
Dear Tim,
My name is Elizabeth Flygare, and I set up an account with Librarything tonight. I am running Windows 8.1 and Internet Explorer 11. While setting up my profile, I decided I wanted to import my list of purchased books from amazon.com, and I assumed Librarything would allow this, since Goodreads encourages people to do so.
I looked on the Librarything site for a method for doing this. Per the instructions I got (which had the disclaimer that it was a workaround), I went to amazon.com and looked at my recommendations, which were based on items I'd purchased. I then selected the option to view my purchased items. I was taken to a page that listed the items I own. I went to "View" and selected "source." A box popped open with numbering on the left side, but no text. I did a "select all" and the source codes popped up.
Here was when things went awry. I knew I was supposed to save the doc as .txt, but I didn't see the option, so I pasted them into Notepad. In Notepad, when I did a "save as," I wasn't given the .txt format as an option. So, with trepidation, I selected .csv, as it was my only choice, and saved it that way, and copied the file onto my clipboard. (Strangely enough - I just experimented with it again, and this time I did see .txt, so I obviously did something wrong with Notepad)
I went back to Librarything and opened the page for importing books. There was actually a link to click on in the workaround fix on your site (for importing amazon books) and that's where I clicked. I was taken to a page where I could either manually import or paste what I assumed was the source code (meaning the .csv on my clipboard.)It wouldn't let me paste it in, so I gave up. I figured I'd try it again later, and logged out.
A few moments later I decided to log back in. I used in the URL https://www.librarything.com/ . I was taken to a page that told me I had received the HTTP 403 Forbidden error. Accompanying this was the message: "The website declined to show this webpage." I went back and tried http://www.librarything.com/, and the same thing happened. When I tried to go to Librarything's Facebook page, I got the same error.
We have a wireless broadband network. My housemate, who also uses Librarything, typed in the URL on her PC and the same thing happened to her. I may add that she uses Firefox, not IE. She also can't access the Facebook page, either. This means that our I/P address is blocked by Librarything. (I can access your site using the 4G on my cell phone.)
The first thing we did, naturally, was to make sure that we could access other sites, which we could. Librarything is the only one that is giving the HTTP 403.
I went through the typical diagnostics: deleted temp internet files, deleted cookies, even disabled add-ons --- rebooted, of course.
I got online and looked for downloadable fixes, but couldn't find one for Windows 8.1. I don't want to get into my registry. I don't know if it's a certificate authentication error, or if your site doesn't enable directory browsing. I contacted Microsoft Support online and the technician suggested things that I had already done.
I spent over an hour setting up my Librarything account and I would like to use it! So would my housemate; we're both retired librarians and I'm a published author. Can you authorize access for us from your end? I don't want to download a random program that might mess with my registry and send me a bunch of junk add-ons and unwanted programs, and try to scare me into thinking there are hundreds of errors on my PC and I must pay immediately to repair them. I've been around that block many times and I'm not going there again.
My phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx. I would appreciate a call from you as well as a detailed email describing the problem and the necessary fix, which I hope you will do straightaway. I apologize for doing something to make Librarything so mad at me that we were booted out.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Best regards,
Elizabeth Flygare
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