“What’s my password?” “Don’t we all use the same password?” “Why do we even need passwords?” “Why can’t I use this as my password?”
There’s lots of questions about passwords, and this page is here to answer them and help you with your password issues.
Questions and answers are below, but let’s start with the basics. “What should I do if my password doesn’t work?”
If you get the dreaded “Password Empty or Invalid.” message when you try to login, you have 2 options. You can try again (maybe you just mis-typed something), or you can click on the “Forgot Password?” link and reset your password.
How to Reset Your Password
If you have problems logging in, first try again and click the “Show Password” box to make sure the password is being filled in correctly. Today lots of browsers will remember passwords for you, but they sometimes don’t have the right password and need to be corrected. By clicking the box you can make sure you’re actually submitting the password you think you’re submitting.
If that doesn’t work, then click the “Forgot password?” link.
The system will ask for your email address. Enter in your email that’s tied to your account and click “Reset Password.” The system will check your account and email and send you a new password via email.
The email should look something like this:
Go back to the login page and enter your username and the new password from the email. This should allow you to login to the site.
This new page will ask you to just enter a new password.
How to Change your Password
Now that you can login to the website you can change that password to something you can remember. To do this, go to Members Only > Member Info > Directory Update.
Enter your new password in the blue box first, then retype it in the second box to confirm, then scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Submit.” Note that this is also where you can update your email address, and your directory information including your address, phone number, and weaving interests.
FAQs
Here’s some FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about passwords:
Q: Can you just tell me what my password is?
A: No, we have no visibility to user passwords.
Q: Can you just set up a new password for me?
A: Yes, if you prefer you can just ask the admin to setup a new password for you. If you have a preferred password just let us know. Otherwise we can create a new password for you and just let you know what it is.
Q: I thought we all used the same password. Did that change?
A: Yes, now that we have a website with member forums where people can post questions and other messages it’s important to know who’s leaving the messages. That means we all have to have our own accounts, and our own passwords.
Q: Do we really need passwords?
A: While we don’t store any personal information like credit card numbers or social security numbers, we still have addresses, phone numbers and email addresses in the member directory and member information pages, which many users would like to be treated with care and restricted access. So that, along with the need to know who’s doing what in the forum section, means that we all need to have accounts and passwords.
Q: Why can’t I use the same password that I use on other sites?
A: You can if you want to. Many would tell you that it’s not a good idea, but you can if you like. We try to make passwords as easy to use as we can with minimal restrictions.
Q: Can I use the same password I used before?
A: Yes, you can reuse a password you’ve used previously on the PHG website.
Q: Is there a limit to the number of times I can reset my password?
A: No, there’s no limit to the number of times you can reset your password.
Q: What should I do if my new password doesn’t work?
A: You can either try to reset the password again, or use the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page to ask the website admin to set a new password for you. If there’s a specific password you’d like to use you can include it in your message. If not the admin will create a new one for you.
Q: Is there any way to make it easier to deal with passwords?
A: Yes. Most browsers these days have the ability to suggest passwords and remember passwords for you. These can be really helpful in remembering and entering passwords for you for all the websites you visit.