This forum is so confusing

Question

This forum is so confusing

This forum is so confusing, If you want to change your email address or password etc

To find the links to do such things you have to search the page very carefully and just try clicking on a few things. I ended up clicking "Contact Us" which led me to Frequently Asked Questions. This is not the way web pages usually work. FAQ's are usually on the top menu. And changing your email address or password is usually in your Profile

Also, I thought my Apple ID was doug3684, but its the email address you use to log in...even though there is a page on here somewhere that states "Your Apple ID is your username" here - https://appleid.apple.com

And here

http://www.apple.com/support/appleid/

One of the options is "Find your Apple ID" - but all it does is change your password. It doesn't find your Apple ID at all, because you need you Apple ID (your email address) to do this

It seems like they don't really want you to change your password. Maybe its a security measure, fair enough, but the terminology is just all wonky

Posted on Oct 10, 2012 9:22 AM

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Answer 1

varjak paw

Level 10

170,200 points

Oct 10, 2012 9:42 AM in response to Community User

Hello, Doug,

I think part of your confusion stems from your mistaken impression that your alias here, doug3684, is your Apple ID, which it is not. The alias of doug3684 is only a display for the Communities so you can use a name other than your email address which many people do not wish to have appear publicly. It does nothing anywhere else.

As to support issues, please also note that the Communities are a place where you can ask questions of fellow users. Apple does not provide any technical information here, though as with all Apple web pages there are the standard headers and footers which provide the most common links. The best place to start with any question about using any of Apple's products or services is the Support tab above. If you go there, you'll see the link to the Apple ID support page you mention. There you'll see under the "Forgot your Apple ID or password?" header a link to "Find your Apple ID" which takes you to this page:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HE34

does indeed give you a way to look it up.

Regards.

Message was edited by: varjak paw

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Answer 2

seventy one

Level 7

27,424 points

Oct 10, 2012 10:39 AM in response to Community User

I think it really is a question of getting used to doing things in the way that Apple (in this instance) want. Not an unusual situation and indeed, the old adage of practice makes perfect will quickly see you on top of things. Be patient, it will resolve itself and you will soon be using Community forums like everyone else.

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Answer 3

Oct 10, 2012 12:33 PM in response to seventy one

Yes Apple's use of the word "username" is very confusing but that is only part of it

(varjak paw thankyou for the link you provided, I didn't notice that before)

however It does not find your Apple ID, it takes you to the same page that I've been on tonight and it goes

"To help us find your Apple ID, please enter the information below"

One of the fields is "Current Email Address" - - which is your Apple ID

So its asking you to fill in your Apple ID ... in the process to find your Apple ID

It simply doesn't make any sense

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Answer 4

varjak paw

Level 10

170,200 points

Oct 10, 2012 1:05 PM in response to Community User

Your current email may or may not be the same as your Apple ID. Many people have gotten new email addresses, but the Apple ID remains the old email which the user may have forgotten about. Hence it's not asking for your Apple ID as such but rather all email addresses you have used, any one of which might be your Apple ID. Or none of them might be. The system will try and find an Apple ID associated in any way with any of them and then will ask you to confirm by either having it emailed to the email address in file in the account, or by asking you your security questions.

For instance, one of my Apple IDs is an old .mac email account, now long since terminated. The system could find that ID by my current email address since a couple of years ago I entered that address in as the address to which iTunes receipts are sent, even though I may not remember that old .mac address.

I hope that helps explain it. It's not a perfect system, but it's at least useful in many cases.

Regards.

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Answer 5

Oct 10, 2012 9:12 PM in response to varjak paw

Varjak paw, I appreciate that you said its not a perfect system. There are many things you can forget, and in this case I forgot that your 'alias' is not your 'username' Thankyou for your explanation

Seventy one - I missed your comment somehow but that's right you have to be patient. And generally once you get the hang of things you move on, but sometimes you forget what a nightmare it can be, to do something as simple as changing your password

A lot of things on the internet are annoying but I found this forum to be particularly frustrating, due to the vague terminology. In one instance the instructions say - click on "Manage Your Account" but when you go to the next page it reads "Manage Your Apple ID" (pretty sure that's right) It may seem rather trivial but sometimes a slight difference in terminology takes you somewhere completely different to what you wanted. And it can take hours to figure it out

All is well, just wanted to put my thoughts out there

cheers,

Doug

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