In part one of our blog registration series, "Everything you ever wanted to know about our registration system, but never bothered to ask," we covered what to do in case of a password or user name emergency. In part two, we answer the question, "Why do I need so many registrations?"
The answer, in fact, is very simple. It's because we say so. But let me explain. The developerWorks Lotus site was once a lone Web site better known as Notes.net with two Domino-based registration systems: a Web registration system and a native Notes registration system. We continue to maintain both systems because quite frankly they work and don't cost much to maintain. Not to mention that they help us to test our products, which is a significant factor. We have hundreds of thousands of registrations, not all of which are active, of course, but hundreds of thousands nonetheless with more added every day.
As you may already know, your Notes registration and your Web registration are separate, so you cannot edit your forum Web postings in your Notes client nor can you edit your forum Notes postings in a Web browser. We seldom receive a request to merge the two systems because users seem to prefer either their Web browser or their Notes client, but they don't tend to switch between the two. You can have just a Web registration, just a Notes registration, or both on our site. It's entirely up to you.
Your developerWorks Lotus Web registration is good on URLs starting with http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd. Don't attempt to use your registration on any IBM.com URL because you won't make it past the login box.
The other registration that many of you probably have is an IBM Web registration. This registration gives you access to many resources on IBM.com, including other developerWorks forums and free software downloads. If you have a developerWorks registration, then you have an IBM Web registration, but you will find that single sign-on isn't used across all of IBM.com. You'll have to sign in more than once to access different areas of IBM.com.
Recently, you may have noticed something new on our front page:
If you've downloaded trials from developerWorks before, you can sign in using your developerWorks/IBM.com Web registration. You cannot, however, use your developerWorks Lotus registration to sign in.
Bottomline is you need a developerWorks Web registration to participate in our public discussion forums and beta discussion forums (public and private) and to comment in the Lotus Sandbox. You need a developerWorks/IBM.com registration to participate in any other developerWorks forums, to download free software, including trial and beta software, to view webcasts, and so on.
Tara Hall | 20 December 2006 11:00:00 AM ET | Westford, MA | Comments (0)
