If you have visited the site since last night, you may notice a new menu tab that says “Plans”, which signifies we have finally finished our original plans for the website. Our original intent was to put up a front end of content as soon as we could, then a month later install the back end, which allows people to login, subscribe and make changes to their information within our system. It also will control access to the different areas of the site.
Subscribers got an email last night explaining how to use this, but I’ll repeat it for those of you who haven’t quite decided to subscribe yet. When you go to the “Plans” page, you will see the three choices for subscriptions: a one-month subscription for $7.99, a one-year subscription for $79.99, or if you just want to sample the site for a few days to see what we’re all about, there’s the “fear of commitment” 3-day subscription for $3.99.
Once you have a subscription (and everyone who has previously subscribed is already loaded into the system), log in with the username and password you have chosen. The username will always be the email address you registered your subscription with. Those who previously subscribed were sent an initial password which they could change themselves on the site. If you’ve subscribed from this point forward, it’s what you picked.
You will notice once logged in, under the login box it shows you the terms of your subscription and should look like this:
There is also a new tab called “profile.” When you click on it, it shows you all the information we have on you. Please change anything that is either inaccurate or you want to change to something else. There are also two other tabs: one that says “My Subscriptions” and another that says “Subscription History.” They’re both going to say the same since we’re only three weeks old and this is going to be the first subscription for anyone.
The key word in looking at these are the word “active.” In “My Subscriptions,” at right is what you’re going to see if you are an annual subscriber.
If it says “active” that means you are a subscriber and will have access to everything until the end of the date range. You’ll also notice that although we don’t go to closed content until August 1, I have made the start date for all subscriptions – monthly or yearly – to be Friday, July 13. This way there can be no confusion about time zones, etc. On August 1, all accounts will have been opened for two weeks or more.
There is also a nice feature under Subscription History that will make record keeping easier, particularly if you’re either old-school and like to have a paper copy of things, or you’re using your subscription for business purposes. Notice the “Invoice” field and the invoice number on it at right.
If you click on the number, it will allow you to download a hard-copy of the invoice. You may then just print it, or as many do, just save the PDF to a folder on your computer if you need it at tax time. As I tell my friends, I will lose a piece of paper. I will not lose my computer, so storing it in a folder works better for me.
My experience with any computer system is that not everyone is as comfortable with technology as others (I offer as proof of this, one Mr. Jerry Ratcliffe). So if you have even the slightest hesitation that something doesn’t seem right or you can’t get things to work, email us at
So please log in at least once during the rest of the month to make sure you’re comfortable with everything. On August 1, all live copy will disappear unless you log in. Now’s the time to check out your login so you don’t miss a single word on JerryRatcliffe.com