Fragrance Oil Review Snubbed Me - Help?

[HoneyLady]

Hi, peoples.

I have tried twice to sign up with the fragrance oil review folks, to no avail.

The problem: I live in a rural area and my utility options are VERY limited. My internet access is via a Wi-Fi hotspot -- a cell phone line. So, I do NOT have, nor do I have ACCESS to, a PAID ISP service like Comcast, TWC, etc. It is just NOT available. I have a cell phone number. AT&T, who provides the number, and hotspot, will not give me an @ att dot com addy, because I DON'T HAVE AT &T internet service. I have a CELLPHONE hotspot. AT&T U-verse is NOT available to me.

Cable internet is NOT available to me, because cable is NOT available to me.

DSL internet is NOT available to me, because DSL is not available to me.

Dish Network and DIRECTV internet is NOT available to me, because they offer TV service ONLY in this area, no internet, no phone.

Hughes Net Satellite *IS* available to me, but I quit them after my antenna stopped working and they would not send anyone to repair it, insisting instead I *buy* a new dish at $400+, 18 months into a 4 year plan.

That leaves me with a Wi-Fi hotspot, which is a dedicated cell phone number.

I have an aol mail addy that dates back to the days of paid aol subscriptions -- aol & CompuServe were the only guys out there in the early 90's when I started. I explained all of this very carefully, and received an *automated* reply that I needed a PAID service addy to apply. A paid service that I can NOT even buy.

I replied, and explained it all again, very nicely, that I don't even have access to what she requires. She did not bother to reply.

I cannot possibly be the only person out there limited in choices. I DO understand that there have been issues with free email services. But I'm not even sure if my email explaining my circumstances has been read, since the only reply I got was automated. I'm not a bot, and I don't want to talk to one. :razz:

If anyone has any ideas, I appreciate it!
~HoneyLady~

 

[Aline]

That is frustrating. The founder of the soap scent review forum does frequent soap forums so hopefully she will contact you....

 

[Dorymae]

Wow. Well I can tell you that I do pay for internet but I have never and will not use that email address because frankly I hate the way it looks, and it is much more limited. Needless to say I do not belong to the soap scent review board.

I really don't think you can get around it. The webmaster makes the rules and if that is their rule I doubt you'll be able to convince them otherwise even though it is a pretty silly rule. I think they did it that way because they couldn't be bothered with putting in a verification box. (you know the thing that makes you type in the random word or numbers.)

So quite honestly if they can't be bothered with that then I doubt they can be bothered helping someone who genuinely can not meet their requirements.

I would look elsewhere for help on your fragrance questions. You can always ask here!

 

[Aline]

I believe it is to prevent spammers from joining....

 

[Obsidian]

Do you possibly have a friend or relative that has access to a payed email that doesn't use it? I have never ever used my internet provider email until I joined the scent review board. Its a pain to jump through all the hoops to join but its worth it.

 

[Relle]

Honeylady and Dorymae

She put that rule into place (no free email accounts) after many frustrating and time consuming battles with spam. She makes no exceptions.

 

[IrishLass]

Honeylady and Dorymae

She put that rule into place (no free email accounts) after many frustrating and time consuming battles with spam. She makes no exceptions.

^^^^This^^^^^ The owner of the site is a one-woman team who keeps the site up and running at her own expense and in her spare time. The spamming and hacking problems became so great of a time-consuming headache for her that she came to the painful choice of either packing up shop and shutting it down, keeping the site up but charging for membership, or keeping it free but instituting some membership restrictions. I'm very grateful she chose the latter, and as much as it sucks for those without a paid e-mail account, I really can't say I blame her. I know only too well what it's like trying to keep a forum clean of persistent spammers/wannabe hackers who know how to maneuver their way around a Captcha- it is very frustrating and time consuming for a moderating team of 6, let alone a team of one.

Maybe we could start a thread for people who aren't able to join TheScentReviewBoard where they could post their requests for reviews of whatever scent they'd like to look into, and then the fellow members here who do have access to the SRB can look to see if there is a review for it and post whether the reviewers thought it to be a problematic FO or not? Just a suggestion.


IrishLass

 

[Amber123]

scent review

I had no idea what the scent review board was until just now because of this thread and my old friend google. I think its a great idea to just have a thread on here where people can review scents. I was going to say that as I was reading through the posts but Irish Lass beat me to it...great idea

 

[kikajess]

I've applied twice with a paid-for email address and I've yet to get a response. The first time I applied was Feb 6 of this year, and the most recent application was just over a week ago on July 3. Any ideas on what I might be doing wrong?

 

[jules92207]

I agree a thread on this site is a good idea. I love the other forum, it serves a good purpose, but a lot of reviews are old and I would like more recent reviews and ones on new fragrances out there. I will happily contribute!

 

[HoneyLady]

Irish Lass, while I appreciate your empathy, I'm sure you can understand my POV, too. I realize it's (yet another) instance of the jerks in the world making things difficult for the rest of us. roblem: A pox upon them! May they always stink, and may their soap always make them itch!

Having said that, I feel better knowing others share my frustration. Especially since, in MY case, there's NOTHING I can do to comply with her request. That's the bugaboo that makes me feel discriminated against. I'm not sure she's even *read* my request to make a decision whether or no to make an exception. But then, I see here other people have applied, and received no response yet, months later.

I *DO* understand about being a one-woman ________ . I wear a few of those hats, too. It can be a bugger. Sleep? Who needs it?

I think your idea of a Review thread here is a great idea. Not to dis our friend, but because I'm not the only one who can't access her stuff. (And wasn't that the idea of a review forum in the first place?)

I'm willing to help Irish Lass and Jules if SMF puts a thread in . . .

~HoneyLady~:razz:

 

[grayceworks]

Those who need an email address at a private addy for this purpose, just PM me your desired username, and I'll get you fixed up. Will be a tiny inbox, but more than sufficient for signing up and meeting the requirement of having a paid ISP or business email. I used one of my own hosted domain's email addresses to sign up. And no, she doesn't make ANY exceptions lol. I asked if I could sign up with my business address and then change it after to my more used gmail addy, and she said nope, my account would get suspended. But yeah, if you PM me, I can offer email addresses. Maybe I'll buy a domain just for it lol. I am kinda addicted to collecting domains...

 

[LBussy]

I have my own domain name which I host with Google so I use *my* address and the Google interface. It used to be free, but is now $5/month or $50/year. It does include other services:

http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/

 

[grayceworks]

Well, like I said, I'm addicted to collecting domains, so I just got scent-addicts.club if anyone is interested in a free email box there.

 

[Hazel]

Maybe we could start a thread for people who aren't able to join TheScentReviewBoard where they could post their requests for reviews of whatever scent they'd like to look into, and then the fellow members here who do have access to the SRB can look to see if there is a review for it and post whether the reviewers thought it to be a problematic FO or not? Just a suggestion.
IrishLass

Good suggestion. Someone could start one in this subforum and I could make it a sticky. Just title it "Fragrance Reviews" or something similar.

There is also the FO chart which I think has been neglected for quite awhile.

 

[LBussy]

Oh ... try this maybe?:

To send a text, picture, or video message to an AT&T wireless device from your email:

• Text message: Address your email to the recipient's 10-digit wireless phone number, followed by @txt.att.net, for example, [email protected].
• Picture or video message: Address your email to the recipient's 10-digit wireless phone number, followed by @mms.att.net, for example, [email protected].
• Don't include dashes or spaces in between the numbers.

Source: http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB63037&cv=820#fbid=BbkTmjltrYD

Well, like I said, I'm addicted to collecting domains, so I just got scent-addicts.club if anyone is interested in a free email box there.

That's awesome. I've been cutting back because the renewal fees were getting ridiculous.

 

[grayceworks]

Omg, I know right? I think between all my stuff, it ends up about 300 per year. Some are clients sites that they pay me to maintain and host, some are family members, some are from my now-defunct-after-15yrs design business, and some are just because I'm greedy...

And now ya'll can benefit from my greediness as I have about a hundred or so free mailboxes available, on a fun domain name

 

[newbie]

Is there some reason the FO chart cannot be made into a sticky? It would be far more readily accessible to members and there could be more contributions, which would only make it more valuable.

This is the same as the one you referenced, Hazel.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...authkey=CMTEtswL&hl=en&authkey=CMTEtswL#gid=0

 

[grayceworks]

That would be great too! To have our forum's as a sticky. Yes! Please? And ya'll know where to find me if ya want an email address in addition.

 

[Hazel]

Is there some reason the FO chart cannot be made into a sticky? It would be far more readily accessible to members and there could be more contributions, which would only make it more valuable.https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...authkey=CMTEtswL&hl=en&authkey=CMTEtswL#gid=0

I don't know how to make the chart itself a sticky but I can stick a post with the address to it.

That would be great too! To have our forum's as a sticky. Yes! Please? And ya'll know where to find me if ya want an email address in addition.

What forum as a sticky? Did I miss something? I'm sorry but it's late and I'm brain dead.