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Frequently Asked Questions

Access & Registration

Q1. I registered and waited but no email arrived.

The most likely explanation is that you mistyped your email address. Try going through the registration process again. If you got your email address wrong the first time then your new registration will be accepted. If the system recognises that you have registered and tells you that you can't do it again, then you got your email address right. Are you absolutely sure that is the correct email address? Some of the common mistakes which we see over and over are:

  • FredFool@aol.co.uk should be FredFool@aol.com
  • FredFool@freeserve.com should be FredFool@myhouse.freeserve.co.uk
  • FredFool@lineone.co.uk should be FredFool@lineone.net

If you are sure that you have not made this sort of mistake, take a look at the answer to the next question.

Q2. When I try to log in the Fool system says"You have recently registered (thank you!). You now need to click on the special link in the e-mail we sent you. You must do this before you can log in", but I do not have a link. I don't think I ever got the email or if I did, I didn't realise that it was important and deleted it.

You need a human. Send an email to UKWebFool@fool.co.uk, saying that you have registered but lost the link. Be sure to send the email from your registered email address.

Q3. I got your email with the link, but when I click it the Fool system says: "Problems -- There has been some kind of a problem re-activating your account"

The most common explanation for this is that the link has spread over two or three lines, but your email program only recognises the first line as being a part of the web page address. It may look something like this:

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Drano.asp?u=1073020
95&c=ReKv7FL9tL0W3bilu

That one should have looked like this:

http://boards.fool.co.uk/Drano.asp?u=107302095&c=ReKv7FL9tL0W3bilu

What you need to do is to reconstruct the single line, which is the web page address. Follow these steps to get around the problem:

  1. Open a web browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape or whatever you use).
  2. Go to File->Open (Page).
  3. Copy & paste the link address, line by line, into the Open box.
  4. Click OK.

Q4. I am trying to register, but it keeps telling me that "There is already a registered user with the email address FoolishFred@Freeserve.co.uk"

Well, someone has succeeded in registering with your email address. The simplest assumption would be that it was you. So lets change the password on that registration to one that you know. The easiest way to do that is to visit our "Login difficulties" page and enter your email address.

Q5. There seems to be a weird link on the Fool site. I clicked to post a message (or a Poll) and was taken to a page that invited me to change my username. What is going on?

This not as strange as it seems. The current registration system just asks you to enter your email address. That is sufficient to uniquely identify you so as to show you your portfolio and not someone else's. However if you want to post a message (or a poll) on our discussion boards it wouldn't do for us to use your email address there, as that would reveal your email address to all and sundry on the internet, including people who might add you to their mailing lists.

Before you can post on the discussion boards, you must choose a nickname by which you can be known there. So the first time you click on the "Post Message" link we will whisk you away to the "Change Username" page and ask you to select a nickname. Afterwards you can continue to login using your full email address, or you can just type the nickname which is most likely shorter. When you post a message on the discussion boards we will use your nickname as the Author no matter which way you login.

Q6. I have entered my Username and Password but I see an error saying that the next page cannot be loaded. What is going on?

Are you trying to access the Fool from behind a firewall? If so, you may need to ask your local computer expert -- he or she is probably called a "LAN Administrator" -- to adjust your security settings to allow access to the Fool login page. The Fool's login procedure includes a secure page (known as a HTTPS page). You can check if you have a general problem with secure pages by visiting the Yahoo Email Secure Login page:

https://login.yahoo.com/config/login

If you have problems accessing that page also, then it's possible that your firewall has blocked access to all "HTTPS" pages, not just the Fool.

Some corporate firewalls are set this way so as to prevent any sensitive data or documents being sent off the premises, some to prevent staff from buying stuff on the internet when they should working :-). Sometimes the firewall will be set that way just because that is the way it came out of the box, in this case your local network administrator may be happy to make an exception.

We have a page which explains more about secure login.

Q7. When I try to login I get a page which says "Come on, have a cookie!" and asks for a Password again. What is happening?

Well, we know that this is a problem with cookies. There are several possible causes:

  1. The first and most likely cause of this is that your web browser is set to reject cookies. You cannot log into The Motley Fool website unless your browser is set to accept cookies. For an explanation of how to do this on a recent version of Internet Explorer or Netscape see Q12 below. For general discussion of cookies and how we use them check out our Cookie explanation page.
  2. It could be that you are accessing the Fool from behind a security measure known as a "firewall". See Q6 above which discusses firewalls.
  3. It could be that the date is wrongly set on your computer. So the first thing to do is to check the date/time on your personal computer. If this is set to an incorrect date (years in the future) then this is what will happen:
    • The Fool's web server passes your browser program a cookie with the current date.
    • Your web browser checks the date against the clock on your computer.
    • Your web browser trusts your computer so decides that the cookie is out of date.
    • Your web browser throws away the cookie and acts like it does not have a cookie.
    • The Fool's server gives your browser another cookie which in turn becomes out-of-date.

Round and round it goes. Fortunately electronic cookie-jars never become empty! Nevertheless, fix the date on the date/time settings on your computer and the problem should go away.

Q8. I am not behind a firewall but when I enter my Username and Password I see an error saying that the next page cannot be loaded. What is going on?

There are at least three possibilities.

  1. It is possible that your browser has the Fool listed as a restricted site. Here's how you can check:
    1. Go to Tools->Internet Options then to the Security tab.
    2. Highlight (click once) on "Restricted Site".
    3. Click the Sites... button.
    4. Is the Fool listed in there?
    5. Repeat the above for "Trusted Sites". (Ideally, there should be no mention of us in either list although the problem comes if we're in the restricted sites section.)
    6. If you intentionally have custom security settings, it would be a good idea to note what they are so you'll easily be able to reset them when you follow point vii.
    7. Click the Default Level button on the bottom right of the Security section.
  2. Have you got a 'cookie wash' programme activated? This is software to eat up all the cookies served to your machine. You would need to set the Fool as an exempt site.
  3. And, lastly, you could try emptying all your temporary internet files - sometimes it helps. Here is how you do that:
    1. Go to Tools->Internet Options.
    2. Under General->Temporary Internet Files, click Delete.
    3. Click okay.

Q9. My problem is with log in but none of those explain it. What else can I try?

It's possible that the cookie that was set has somehow got messed up (perhaps this shows that even an e-cookie "crumbles"). The straight forward option, which won't do any harm to anything else, is to get a fresh one. You can do this by visiting our cookie gobbler page to have your cookies munched. Once they have gone, you should then be able to login to set your new cookie.<

Q10. None of that helped -- what else can I do?

If none of the above helped you could try visiting our diagnose page

It will tell you whether you appear to be behind a firewall or are refusing cookies. Also check if there are any error messages, text in red or if you are forwarded to any other page. Those might help you in choosing amongst the earlier advice.

If you are still none the wiser perhaps you need some human intervention. Take the following information:

  • If you are looped back to the Login page any text in red.
  • Any error messages which you are shown.
  • The address of the page you end up on after entering your username and password.
  • The information on the diagnose page.

...and put it in an email to UKWebFool@fool.co.uk.

Q11. What is a cookie?

A11 - For general discussion of cookies and how we use them check out our Cookie explanation page.

Q12. How do I enable Cookies?

If you are using Internet Explorer 5 or later:

  • Go to your browser's "Tools", "Internet Options" and then select the "Security" tab.
  • Click on "Custom level" and scroll down until you see the section entitled "Cookies".
  • You will see two options for cookie use. One is for "per session" cookies and the other is for "stored" cookies.
  • If you enable them both (make sure there is a black dot by the side of each of them) then the Foolish Cookies will work and your password will be saved when you tick the little box next time.

If you are using Internet Explorer 4:

  • Go to your browser's "Tools", "Internet Options" and then click on the "Advanced" tab.
  • Click on "Custom Level" and scroll down until you see the section entitled "Cookies".
  • You will see two options for cookie use. If you enable them both (make sure there is a black dot by the side of each of them)
  • then the Foolish Cookies will work and your password will be saved when you tick the little box next time.

If you are using Netscape:

  • go to the "Edit" menu on the top bar.
  • select "Preferences".
  • on the next panel select "Advanced" (or on some versions "Privacy and Security").
  • enable (i.e. make sure there is a black dot by the side of) "Accept all cookies".

If you are using Firefox:

  • go to the "Tools" menu on the top bar.
  • select "Options".
  • on the next panel select "Privacy" then the "Cookies" tab.
  • enable (i.e. make sure there is a black dot by the side of) "Allow site to set cookies".

Q13. I registered successfully for the Fool.com site in the USA, but when I try to register for Fool UK it keeps telling me that I can't because someone else has already registered my name. Can you ask the other person to give my name back?

That other person is you!

Your registration works on both sites no matter on which one you registered. So if you just use the username and password that you use on the Fool.com site there should be no problem. Similarly once you have registered for Fool-UK you will be able to access to the free part of the Fool.com site. You may be asked to give your username and password as you pass across the Atlantic in either direction but there is no need to re-register.

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