Hi there
We will soon be using facebook for most of the account management. It won't be enforced but it will definitely be helpful for most of you.
If you already have a forum account and a Dogfight account, you can link both using facebook. These are the steps:
1) If you logged into this forum, logout.
2) Instead of login in using the regular method, click the "login with facebook" blue button at the right side.
3) It will ask you to either create a new account, or log into your current forum account. Log into your current forum account.
Done, now your forum is linked to your Facebook.
4) On Dogfight, link your account to facebook when it asks you. It will ask you from time to time.
Done, you would have all 3 connected, facebook, dogfight and the forum.
==== LONG EXPLANATION FOR THOSE INTO DETAILS ===
So for those interested, why would we want to use facebook?
There are several reasons.
For me it is easier, the main reason is because I literally get 90% of my daily work on the game just from emails of people that faked their email address when registered their account. So the most common email is: I can't log in and I can't retrieve my password. After the usual "check your spam folder" and all that, usually his person just made up the email or misstyped it on the phone.
The next most common email I get is: hey, when I type my account on the forum, I can't log in. I reset the password and all and still can't log in. Then I have to explain than the forum is an independent system from the game and that you need to register again.
Also, a big important problem is spam. Most moderators just log into the forum to spend half an hour cleaning up the spam bots. By using facebook or our own system, bots won't be able to log in with their automatic crap.
Solution:
It would be nice if you could register once and work everywhere, on the game, forum, ranking system, squadron management, etc, while keeping spam bots out.
I can do it 2 ways:
1) I can either use the Dogfight account for it all. Meaning, I can write a plugin for the web that detects your account and link it together. So I can write code for joomla, wordpress and the management system.
This was my original idea, but it turned to be a pain. I need to keep writing code for the forum and web system, and with every security update all work gets lost and I need to update it again.
Secondly, even if the system works, most people don't follow it. Why? Because when you ask someone to register with their email, people don't want to. They don't want to receive spam, and although we never send spam they would never know for sure. So what do they do? The fake the email, enter whatever info so they can login and play and then, weeks later when they have no clue what info they entered... they ask for help.
2) Connect using facebook. This is easy for all. Most people already have a facebook account. It would be the common denominator for all the system. Dogfight will know your facebook and the forum will know your facebook too. Joomla, wordpress and every site and component out there already has a facebook implementation so I don't need to keep updating my code for it to work.
The advantage for you guys, is that you can just hit the "login with facebook" and play, write on this forum or manage your account/squadron. No need to remember passwords, no need to reset passwords, no need to register and enter information multiple times.
