If you've had trouble logging in to Daily Kos, you're not alone. There are a lot of people who have been unable to access their accounts, and we have found quite a variety of different technical reasons for this very basic problem. The rundown that follows is far from guaranteed to solve any particular person's login woes, but hopefully it can get anyone affected at least a step or two closer to solving the problem.
- Are you already logged in, perhaps without realizing it?
When you're logged in, the orange bar at the top of the page will contain your username at the left, next to the "Daily Kos" logo. You will also see a "Welcome Back" box in the column on the right-hand side of the page.
- Have you tried logging in recently? Like within the past ten minutes or so?
Our system is being debugged continuously, and the issue you were having may have been cleared up; give it a try.
- Can you find the login link?
Don't laugh, the thing has been vanishing for some users. The link should be in the orange bar at the top of the page, on the right-hand side, in white text. If it's not there, try clearing your browser's cache and cookies, and then reloading the page.
If it's still not there, or if it doesn't do anything when you click on it, then use the Contact Form to get in touch with tech support, and be sure to include your browser and operating system (with versions) in your message.
- Have you tried resetting your password?
This may be necessary even if you're absolutely certain you're using the right password, and typing it correctly. We've made some changes to the way passwords are encrypted for storage; as a consequence, some users may find that their passwords have been changed on them.
You can change your password using the Account Recovery Tools. Note that there are two forms on that page; you only need to use the second one to change your password. A confirmaion link will be emailed to you; your new password will not work until you have clicked that link. You will need to make sure your email system is configured to accept mail from "donotrespond@dailykos.com". Be sure to check your spam folder, if applicable.
- If you no longer have access to the email account associated with your Daily Kos account:
Use the Contact Form to get in touch with tech support. Include your Daily Kos user name, and your old email address (to confirm your identity). We will change the email address associated with your Daily Kos account so that you can use the account recovery tools to reset your password. DO NOT send us your password. We will never ask for it, we have no real use for it, and anyone who asks you for it is up to no good.
- Are you using an ad blocker, script blocker, or Flash blocker?
(e.g.: Adblock Plus, NoScript, ClickToFlash.)
If so, disable any such tools completely, and then try logging in.
- Are you using a "private" browsing mode?
This would be "InPrivate" in Internet Explorer; "Private Browsing" in Firefox, Safari, or Opera; Incognito in Chrome; etc. This setting is off by default in all browsers. If you've turned it on, try turning it back off, and then try logging in.
- Do you have Cookies and Javascript enabled?
These are enabled by default in all browsers; you'd know if you'd turned one or the other off.
- Have you tried logging in with all of your browser add-ons disabled, or in a different browser?
This won't fix the problem (because you do want to use those extensions), but it will help narrow down the cause of the problem; when you get in touch with tech support via the Contact Form, include whatever you've learned from trying to log in with browser add-ons disabled, or in other browsers.
- Are you using Safari 3.x on Mac OSX?
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Some users have been unable to log in under Safari 3 on Mac OSX 10.4 (Tiger) or OSX 10.5 (Leopard), but have reported success after upgrading to the most recent version of Safari available; follow the appropriate link to upgrade from Safari 3 to Safari 4.1.3 on OSX 10.4 (Tiger) or to Safari 5 on OSX 10.5 (Leopard).
- Does the login link do nothing when you click on it?
If the login link doesn't either bring up a pop-up login box under the link, or take you to a login page, and you've tried disabling browser add-ons, turning off "private" browsing, disabling ad blockers, script blockers, and Flash blockers, and generally tried everything above, and you still can't log in, then get in touch with tech support via the Contact Form and be sure to provide a description of everything you've tried so far, along with your browser and operating system versions.
- Are you having trouble linking your Daily Kos account to your Facebook account, or using Facebook Login once you've linked your accounts?
We're not very far along on resolving Facebook-related issues; if you're still having trouble setting up or using Facebook Login, then please file a fresh bug report; be sure to include the complete text of any error message you're seeing. We'd also appreciate a little "script" of what you did to produce the error (e.g., 'I clicked on the button labelled "florble", it took me to X, where I entered Y [...] and then I got the error message, "Error: bad cactus flippers at hg:NFOB=0x43788"')
It may be a while before we get a fix for these Facebook Login issues; we're still trying to narrow down the conditions that trigger them.
- Are you getting a "bad form key" message?
If you're trying to confirm your account, then try resetting your password using the Account Recovery Tools (you want the second form on the page, there). This will generate a new confirmation link, which will be emailed to you.
If you got the "bad form key" message after typing in your username and password, and not when trying to confirm your account, then check to see if you're actually logged in; the error message might be meaningless.
If you're getting the "bad form key" message after filling in your username and password not after clicking a confirmation link in an email, and you're still not logged in, then get in touch with tech support via the Contact Form. Be sure to include your browser and OS (including versions) and a complete description of the problem in your message.
- Are you logged in, but unable to post comments or diaries, or create groups?
There's a 24-hour waiting period before new users can post diaries; one week before they can post diaries; and only Trusted Users can create groups.
If you haven't confirmed your account by clicking on the link in the email that was sent to you when you signed up, you won't be able to post comments even after you've waited 24 hours.