Welcome to our Help page, where we attempt to answer most common questions regarding the site. This page is constantly being updated as we receive new questions and inquiries from our readers.

Note: for questions about how the vBulletin forumsrds work, click here to view the message board FAQ.

Questions Related to the Site Usage:

• I’m seeing posts at the top of the board from a couple months ago. How do I fix it?
• Why can’t I log in using my email address?
• How do I turn off auto-renewal on a subscription?
• I can’t subscribe or renew, because it says my credit card billing address is wrong. But it’s not, I’ve entered it correctly.
• How do I change my credit card information for auto-renewal?
• Your site shows me as logged in, but I have to log in again on the boards. Why?
• I have an account, and I’m logged in, but the board says I can’t post new threads or replies. Why not?
• I don’t see how to Post a New Thread. How do I post a new thread?
• Do you have mobile versions of your site and message boards?
• When are you going to have an app for the iPhone, iPad, Android, etc.?
• Are you going to integrate Facebook into the site?
• If it’s a vBulletin board, why is it threaded?
• How do I view the message boards in vBulletin’s topic view format?
• (Subscribers only) Why am I listed in my account details page as having a free account and a subscriber account?
• Where are all the old archives?
• How do I subscribe/unsubscribe from your article notifications?
• Where are the RSS feeds?

I’m seeing posts at the top of the boards from a couple months ago. What happened, and how do I fix it?

Sounds like your “Show Threads By” setting is out of whack. To see the boards sorted by when a thread was started, go to the bottom of any board, and where it says “Sort Threads By”, select “Thread Start Time.” Select “Descending Order”, then — out to the right — click “Show Threads.”

Also, check out “Forum Actions — General Settings” (click here) and scroll down to the “Thread Display Options”. Don’t forget to scroll down and click the “Save Changes” button when done!

Why can’t I log in using my email address? That used to work as my login.

TSL underwent a major format change in January of 2012, and at that time, we switched to new user management software, a third-party application called aMember. It requires that you log in with your username and will not let you log in with your email address.

How do I turn off auto-renewal on a subscription?

Log in to the site, click the “Account Details” link next to your username, select the “Your Payment History” tab, and click Cancel under the subscription you wish to cancel.

I can’t subscribe or renew because it says my address is wrong. But it’s not, I’ve typed it in correctly.

Welcome to one of our most annoying bugs that we can’t track down. Drop us an email, and we’ll give you a call and take your order over the phone.

How do I change my credit card information for auto-renewal?

Log in to the site, click the “Account Details” link next to your username, and on the “Member Info” tab, look for the “Update CC Info” link.

Your site shows me as logged in, but I have to log in again on the boards. Why?

We don’t know. From the moment we launched the new site on January 11, 2012, there has been a bit of a disconnect between the board login and the header login, and we have been unable to track and it down and eliminate it.

I have an account, and I’m logged in, but at the bottom of the boards, it says I can’t post new threads or replies? Why not?

That just means you’ve gotten logged out of the boards, even though the site header may say you’re logged in. To fix that, just click a “What’s New?” link on the board, or try to go to a subscriber board, and you’ll be prompted to log in. That will clear things up.

I don’t see how to Post a New Thread. How do I post a new thread?

You’re probably not logged into the forums. If you don’t see a big maroon button with “Post New Thread” written on it in orange, then you need to log into the forums. To fix that, just click a “What’s New?” link on the board, or try to go to a subscriber board, and you’ll be prompted to log in.

Do you have mobile versions of your site and message boards?

we have mobile support for our message boards — check out Tapatalk and Forum Runner, both of which can be downloaded for Android systems and Apple systems. And when you look at the site in a mobile browser, if you go to the forums, they will probably display in a mobile-friendly format.

We do not yet have the main part of the site in a mobile-friendly format, however.

When are you going to have an app for the iPhone, iPad, Android, etc.?

We don’t know if we could even afford to have custom mobile apps programmed for our site, but as mentioned above, we do have mobile support in place for the message boards.

Are you going to integrate Facebook into the site?

We’re not sure. We have noticed that many web sites tie your Facebook account into the article comment section, so we may do that. We don’t foresee tying Facebook into the message boards in any way — you’ll still need a dedicated TechSideline.com account to post there.

If it’s a vBulletin board, why is it threaded?

As you can see, we set the new vBulletin boards up in threaded format. That’s what our users were used to seeing from about 1997 to early 2012, so we had threaded boards for over 12 years, and we didn’t want to shock our users with a standard vBulletin topic-view format. We hope eventually our users will transition to topic view. Click here for Tips and Tricks on viewing the board in threaded format.

How do I view the message boards in vBulletin’s topic view format?

To see the boards in vB’s topic view, go to any board — like the Football Board, for instance — scroll all the way down, and just above the box ad at the bottom of the board, look to the left for a dropdown list box. Select “Topic View (Classic vBulletin)” to see the board in topic view format.

(Subscribers only) Why am I listed in my account details page as having a free account and a subscriber account?

That can be a little confusing, but it’s a quirk of our new user management system. Your “free account” gives you the ability to post on the message boards, and your “subscriber account” enables you to get into pay areas of the site (including pay message boards).  If your subscriber account expires, you’ll still have the free account that you can use to post on the free boards.

Where are all the old archives?

They’re all here. From our menu, select “News and Features — Complete TSL Archives.” Or just click here.

How do I subscribe/unsubscribe from email article notifications?

To get an email when we post an article, click here. To unsubscribe from the list, just check the bottom of the article notification emails, and there is a link you can use to unsubscribe.

Where are the RSS feeds?

That’s another thing we haven’t implemented yet.

General Help Issues (Not Related to the Dec. 2011 New Site Launch):

Please scroll down for help on the following matters:

• Account Issues
• Message Board Questions
• Not Receiving Emails from TechSideline.com

Account Issues

Lost Password or Username

If you’ve lost or forgotten your password or Username, go here and use the “Lost Username or Password?” function to have us send you your user ID and a link to update your password.

Changing Account Information

You have the ability to change most every aspect of your account information (i.e. password, email address, etc.) from your ACCOUNT DETAILS page, with the exception of your Username. To access the your ACCOUNT DETAILS page, you must first have an account and you have to be logged in. The LOGIN link is located at the top of the web site. After logging in, you will see the link to the ACCOUNT DETAILS page in the same area.

If you would like to change your Username, please email us with this request. Please include your old Username and a couple of options for the new Username since your first option may already be taken by another user.

Log In Problems

If you are experiencing log in problems, there are several reasons this could be happening – some on our end and some with settings on your end. Please read over the following bullet points to troubleshoot your situation. If none of the options below work for you, please contact us.

• Improper Username and Password Combination: You have the ability to log in using a Password and your Username. (Note that your email address will not function as your Username; you must use your Username go log in.) Remember that your password is case sensitive. No matter which Internet account or computer you use, your TechSideline.com Username will always be the same.
• Corrupted Cookie: Our server sets a cookie on your computer when you log in. Sometimes this cookie can go out of date or your browser may corrupt the cookie. The simple fix to this is to LOG OUT (which will delete the old cookie) and then log back in.
• Using More Than One Computer: If you’re like a lot of folks, you likely access the site from home and from work. If so, please remember to log out when you leave one location so that you do not experience problems logging in at the alternate location. The system will not allow you to be logged in from two places at the same time. If you have log in issues as a result of forgetting to log out from one location, just LOG OUT and then log back in and our software will make the adjustment.
• Internet Explorer Privacy Settings: By default, Internet Explorer does not prevent cookies from being set on your computer. But, if you or someone else has changed your browser’s security or privacy settings above MEDIUM, then your browser will block cookies and prevent you from logging in. To check this, from your browser window, go to TOOLS > INTERNET OPTIONS and check your Security and Privacy settings and make sure they are set to MEDIUM (or just make sure that the ‘allow cookies’ selection is marked.
• Anti-Spyware and Anti-Virus Software: Some third party software programs will automatically deny cookies unless you tell it not to. For most of these programs, there is an ACCEPTED or TRUSTED sites list where you can enter our site name. If this is the case for you, enter SECURE.TECHSIDELINE.COM and WWW.TECHSIDELINE.COM into that area, accept the changes, and then restart your computer.
• Incorrect Computer Date: A common problem lately has been incorrect computer dates and times. An incorrect computer date will affect your ability to log in successfully. Using your mouse, click the computer time at the bottom right of your Windows screen and make sure that your date and time are correct.
• Suspended Account: Message Board customers sometimes have their account suspended due to Terms of Service infractions. If you think you may have been suspended, please contact us to understand the status of your account.

Message Board Questions

Note: for questions about how the message boards work, click here to view the message board FAQ.

Not Receiving Emails from TechSideline.com

We can only reach you if your email address (in our database) is kept up to date and if your Internet Service Provider doesn’t block the emails (some ISP’s consider server-sent emails to be SPAM). In order to ensure our emails reach you, check with your Internet Service Provider and learn where to add us to your white/trusted/accepted emails list. You will want to add ‘staff@techsideline.com’ to the list.

If you maintain more than one email account, please be sure to check them all to make sure that our emails aren’t going to an alternate address. If you have an email address in our database (i.e. subscription and/or message board account), you may edit this from your ACCOUNT DETAILS page after logging in.

My Question Wasn’t Answered Here

If none of the options above have helped you, or if you have a suggestion or comment, please contact us at your convenience.