Last updated March 30, 2000

If you've experienced a problem while attempting to join or use Undercurrent Online, or trying to subscribe to Undercurrent, the following information may be helpful. In particular, Mac users running Internet Explorer 3.x, WebTV users, and a few AOL users have reported problems using or joining Undercurrent Online. Also since January 1, 2000 some users have been unable to complete their transaction due to the expiration of their browsers security certificate. If you experience other difficulties we haven't addressed, please use the contact information shown below to advise us of your problem. We will do our best to resolve it. Security Library Database Error If after you submit your credit card information, you get an error message indicating a "security library database error", you most likely have a problem caused by using an older browser with an expired security certificate. Basically if you have --Netscape 4.05 or earlier on a PC; or --MS Internet Explorer 4.5 or earlier that was downloaded before Dec. 21, 1999 on a Macinstosh; you could experience this problem, both at our site and lots of others. This problem surfaced January 1, 2000. It is not really a Y2K issue, but has to do with the expiration of a security certificate in older browsers (e.g. Netscape or Internet Explorer). See http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/browse122999.htm for the gory details on this. Also Netscape has a page on the problem http://home.netscape.com/cms/certinfo.html. Anyhow the "cure" for this is to download the latest version of the browser, install it, and proceed. Apparently without the fix, your browser will have trouble with a lot (but not all) secure sites, e.g. ones where you are trying to use your credit card to make a purchase. We apologize for the difficulties, but this appears to be the only resolution of the problem.   Mac IE 3.x Users There is a bug in some versions of Internet Explorer 3.x running on Mac's that cause error messages to appear when you click the "Pay by Credit Card" button. This symptom will occur with any secure ecommerce site, though it is intermittent. The latest version of Internet Explorer (4.5) fixes this problem. If you experience this symptom, we recommend you download the new version or locate a patch to fix it.   WebTV Users It has been brought to our attention that WebTV does not currently support PDF files. WebTV also does not allow users to download Adobe Acrobat Reader, a program through which PDF files can be read. Because of this problem, WebTV users will be unable to view articles from back issues of Undercurrent and In Depth on their WebTV browser. They will, however, be able to search and view Chapbook entries. If you have access to Netscape, Internet Explorer, or some other non-WebTV service, you can view PDF files through this alternate means. We have contacted WebTV to notify them of this problem. If you are a WebTV user, we recommend contacting them to suggest that they add PDF file support to their browser.   Certain AOL Users One AOL user has reported a problem when trying to join Undercurrent Online while using a beta version (i.e., a test version not yet released commercially) of AOL's browser "America Online for Windows Version 4.0, Revision 134.170 a." The problem was corrected by resorting to the commercial version 3.0 of the browser, although the user was also informed that some earlier versions of the 3.0 browser might cause similar problems. If you experience difficulties when trying to join Undercurrent Online through America Online, contact AOL to get an updated version of their browser and contact us describing the symptoms. We will do what we can to resolve the problem. Having Difficulties Trying to Join? If you encounter difficulties when trying to join, please note the following: check the known problem areas documented above network traffic and problems can sometimes cause slow responses. E-commerce transactions involve machines at several sites and are, therefore, particularly susceptible to network problems or local overloading. We recommend that you try again and that you allow for slow response times.   If you still have problems that have not been addressed above, please contact us, and we will try to help resolve the problem. Please tell us what kind of machine you are using, the operating system (Windows 95, Mac OS 8, ...), and the browser version you are using. We appreciate your patience. Dave S. Eagleray, Webmaster

Copyright © 2008 Undercurrent (www.undercurrent.org)
3020 Bridgeway, Ste 102, Sausalito, Ca 94965
All rights reserved.