Membership Renewal

[Russ]

Trying to do a Canadian renewal thru the store and it keeps prompting me to create an account whatever that means . Try signing in with orca info no go try signing in with paypal info no go. I made a donation that was easy but paying my dues is gonna make my head explode HHEEEELLLLLPPPPPP , Please. Russ

[Paul M]

Russ:
To renew online or use the Store or to download items from the Members-only library the library you need to set up a new store account. It was discussed in the Reel news and the Announcements http://reeltalk.orcaonline.org/viewtopi ... =8&t=21751.

Let me know when you set up your store account and I will set it up as a Member account so you can get into the Library. Thanks for renewing.

[Russ]

Thanks for your help Paul , renewal is done but what a pain in the butt . Thank goodness for ORCA the donations are super easy, Happy New Year.

[Paul M]

ORCA Store Account set up is a one time task. It gives you self-serve access to the ORCA library which is well worth the effort.

[Russ]

No worries Paul would have been done without bothering you or Roger if the sign in window that popped up said something about a store account is all . Appreciate the work you guys do for the club and hate being a bother cheers and Happy New Years. If your ever out on the wet coast give me a call . Russ

[wrong99]

I can't even find where online renewal is done. Very difficult for such a simple (and important) thing.
Mark

[Paul M]

Renewals can be done online through this page, for example. If you have not already done so, be sure to create a Store Account with a shipping address. When you renew online when logged into your Store account you will automatically get access to the online store.

https://www.orcaonline.org/product-cate ... embership/

[wrong99]

Thanks for the link, Paul, but why was I not able to find it anywhere?
Mark

[Brian F.]

Registration and renewals for online users has been through the store for several years now. If you looked at the menu above, there is a link to "Join ORCA". It takes you directly to the New Membership menu with another link at the bottom to the Renewal page. Easy enough. However, if you didn't create a store account to access the ORCA Store, as Paul has been notifying everyone these past couple of months, you need to do that first. As Paul mentioned, that is a one time thing.

It's very difficult to put all of the links that everyone wants to take them directly to a page that they want "easy" access to precisely because ORCA is trying to put all the links up there so no one has to think. ORCA can put up a page full of links but then people will be unhappy that they have to get through a page full of links.

[Paul M]

There are numerous JOIN pages and entry points in the ORCA website that were set up over time by various website developers and ORCA webmasters for the purpose of showing people how and where to Join or Renew. I just picked the one that was the most succinct. The one presented above comes via entry into the ORCA Store where we want people to go to Renew, to get a Membership for the first time, to buy ORCA merchandise and books and it is also the entry path to the Member's Only Store.

If you click " Join ORCA" on the top of this page, that send you to:
http://www.orcaonline.org/about-orca/join-on-line/

If you click on "Join ORCA" on the top of the orcaonline.org website menu, that send you to this page:
https://www.orcaonline.org/orca-store/o ... embership/

At the end of the day they all get the same thing accomplished. In a perfect world we would conform the ORCA website and Reel Talk and all the hyperlinks for greater efficiency and clarity but it takes volunteers with greater technical knowledge that are willing to step up and do the work.

[Steve]

There's a "Join ORCA" button located on the Home Page.
There's a "Join ORCA online" link located on the Membership Application in the "About ORCA" dropdown menu.
There's a "JOIN ORCA" tab at the top of every site page.
All of these lead ultimately to the cart used by the ORCA store, for which you must have an account. All online stores require accounts, whether "guest" or not.

[wrong99]

I guess it was the "JOIN ORCA" button that threw me off. I didn't want to "Join", just renew my current membership. Thanks for the info guys. Most appreciated.
Mark

[Paul M]

There are significant implications in changing “JOIN” to “ JOIN or RENEW”, or just adding a “RENEW” selection or even changing the URL of the Join link at the top of Reel Talk which is why they remain as is. Wordpress and PHPbb is less forgiving than a chalk board.

We could use additional volunteers with technician level knowledge of phpBB and/or Wordpress.

[oc1]

Nowhere in all of those links and newsletters does it tell you how to set up a store account. Clear and precise steps for setting up a store account would sure help. It doesn't seem like it should be this difficult.
-steve

[Brian F.]

Clear instruction is missing because it takes someone time to write up the instruction and change/add to the website. Paul is doing what he can to get everyone up to speed in the meantime. As Paul pointed out two posts above:

We could use additional volunteers with technician level knowledge of phpBB and/or Wordpress.

With more features and capabilities that the ORCA website offers, things definitely get more complicated. This thing has come a long way and it's just as far beyond any other tackle collector website around with preserving collector generated information, making that information available to the public, on-line registration, the store and now a huge library. However, it's not really difficult to set up an account, nor is it to renew/join. The really funny thing is that people were saying this forum was too difficult when we changed platforms years ago. They were used to one giant message board that they had to scroll through to see new messages.

I don't know if anyone's seen Sid's plea for help , but if you can navigate this forum, you certainly can assist with what he's asking for help with. A few people are putting in the work to help ORCA bring all of this to everyone. It shouldn't be this hard to get help.

[Brian F.]

For instructions, please see How to set up your ORCA STORE ACCOUNT

Thanks, Paul. Sorry, but I split the topic before I saw your separate announcement.

[wrong99]

I hope it's much easier for New Members to join ORCA.

[oc1]

That helps a lot Paul. Thank you very much.
-steve