Frequently Asked Questions

How do I join WAGS?

Thank you for your interest in joining our society! Below are three simple steps to create your account.

1. Click here to: Review our membership levels and select a level.
2. You will be taken to a ‘Membership Checkout’ page. This page asks you to provide basic profile information, including your name, desired username, email, mailing address, phone number and  a password.
3. If the selected membership level has a fee, you will also be asked to enter payment information in order to complete your membership subscription. You may pay via PayPal (no account needed) or by check. Your access will not be confirmed until a successful subscription payment has been received.
4. In addition to a confirmation email, expect to receive a “Welcome” email with important information from membership@wags-web.org. 

What is “Error occurred: parsererror” when I try to login

1. The parseerror means that the website couldn’t ‘parse’ your username or password out of the stored usernames and passwords authorized to use the website. This usually happens when the username or password is typed wrong (caps lock on, fat fingered keyboard, forgot password, typed it wrong, etc.)
2. It is possible that you changed your password and didn’t remember you did or the system had to reset all passwords when WAGS moved from the old website to the new one. If you haven’t logged into the website since 2020, your password was changed in early 2021 due to the new website. Your new password would be firstname first letter + 5-character zipcode + lastname first letter (all lower case) for example:  x98803y. Your username was not changed when the website was transferred.
3. If the above doesn’t work and you still have problems logging in, send an email to: support@wags-web.org and we will reset your password and provide you with your actual username and the new password.  

How do I change my password?

1. Log in using the ‘Member Login’ under the ‘Members Only’ menu.
2. You will be taken to the ‘Members Only (Landing Page)’.
3. Now you will be able to see the menu item ‘Membership Account’ that will take you to your account information page where you may Edit Profile, Change Password and Log Out.

Using PayPal – Info for customers

1.  PayPal can be used for purchases if the customer has a PayPal account OR PayPal can be used for regular credit card purchases without the customer needing a PayPal Account.
2. Have PayPal Account: If the customer has a PayPal account they can simply enter their username and password. The other personal information (address, phone number, etc.) is retrieved from the Paypal database and automatically entered onto the payment form. (If the customer doesn’t have a PayPal account, they can create one and use their credit card or their bank account as the payment option.) At this point in the process, the PayPal transaction is complete. 
3. Don’t have a PayPal Account: If the customer chooses to pay with a credit or debit card they select: “Use Credit Card” at checkout instead of “Checkout with PayPal”; they will then be sent to a PayPal Form used for credit cards called: “PayPal Guest Checkout“. On the guest form they enter their contact and card information and then click the Pay button to authorize payment. (Note: this credit card process takes place within the PayPal website and therefore the customer’s personal info and credit card info is only maintained by PayPal, the WAGS website DOES NOT receive or maintain credit card info; that is why we use PayPal). During authorization the  credit card information is encrypted and transmitted by PayPal to their transaction processing facility where they contact the issuing bank for the customer’s credit card. Assuming that the customer’s credit line can cover the purchase, the issuing bank authorizes the transaction, and the sale is approved. This process only takes a few seconds you will probably see a message saying: “Processing…”
4. IMPORTANT: At this point the customer sees a confirmation page with a message (sent by PayPal) that says the purchase has been completed and provides a button to ‘Return To Merchant’.  The important thing here is that the  transaction may not finish properly if the customer does not wait for and select ‘Return To Merchant’ on the  confirmation page that is displayed. At that point, PayPal also notifies the customer of the purchase via email. The process is then complete. 

How do authorized members create an event?

1. Log in using the ‘Member Login’ on the  ‘Members Only’ menu, or any of the ‘Login/Out’ menu items in the header or footer of any page.
2. When the expanded menu options appear (since you are an authorized, logged-in member), click on the ‘Create Event’ menu item.
3. You should now be on the WordPress ‘Add New Event’ page.
4.  Immediately type the name or title of your event (your cursor should already be in the ‘Title’ block awaiting your input).
5. After typing the title, move your cursor to the text area window and type the message associated with your event. This text window may not be labeled as such but it is the area where you put the ‘long’ description of your event–the ‘short’ description or ‘excerpt’ of your event is down the page farther.
6. After typing your description, move down the page to the other sections needed, like the date and time of the event. Some of these sections may not be applicable to your specific event.
7.  When you are finished entering your event details, YOU MUST do two things: Select a ‘Category’ for your event and ‘Publish’ your event.
8. ‘Category’ and ‘Publishing’ are on the right hand side of the Add Event page.
9. Check the ‘News and Events’ menu item when you are finished to make sure your event was entered properly with the correct details.

How do authorized members edit an existing event?

1. Log in using the ‘Member Login’ on the  ‘Members Only’ menu, or any of the ‘Login/Out’ menu items in the header or footer of any page.
2. Go to the Event Calendar.
3. Click on the event you want to edit.
4.  Select ‘Event Details’ on the bottom of the dialog box. 
5. On the top WordPress ribbon (the black ribbon where you select ‘Edit with Elementor’) select “Edit Event’.
6. Make your changes to the event, then Update it.

NOTE: An alternate method is to go to the ‘News and Events’ menu, then select the ‘Manage Events’ link–you end up in the same place. When in ‘Manage Events’, look for your event by searching or by looking at the date column it is scheduled for.

How do authorized members post a message?

1. Log in using the ‘Member Login’ on the  ‘Members Only’ menu, or any of the ‘Login/Out’ menu items in the header or footer of any page.
2. When the expanded menu options appear (since you are an authorized, logged-in member), click on the ‘Create Post’ menu item.
3. You should now be on the WordPress Posting Page, (view or ignore the Gutenburg Editor dialog that appears if you are new to WordPress).  
4.  Immediately type the name or title of your post (your cursor should already be in the ‘Title’ block awaiting your input). 
5. After typing the title, hit your Enter key and proceed to the body of your text message. 
6. When you are finished typing your post, YOU MUST do two things: Select a ‘Category’ for your post and ‘Publish’ your post.
7. ‘Category’ and ‘Publishing’ are on the right hand side of the ‘Post’ page. 

NOTE: You should be familiar with the WordPress Gutenberg Editor in order to get the most out of posting messages. You can imbed images, tables, and other items. You can structure your text into different formatting preferences. If you haven’t already, go through the quick Gutenburg tour when the dialog pops up upon entry to the posting page. If you are more adventurous, you can create a post by selecting the ‘Edit With Elementor’ button at the top of the posting page; if you do, you will be sent to the Elementor Editor which is more complicated than the Gutenburg Editor but has many more options. You can also use the legacy WordPress Editor called the ‘Classic’ Editor. You select the Classic Editor by typing ‘classic’ in the search area of the Gutenburg Editor widget dialog that comes up when you click on the ‘+’ sign on the page. There are a number of YouTube videos and Google Search instructions for using the WordPress Editors, not only post creation but also for page creation and event creation. Those who want to get the most out of using the website should Google Gutenburg or Elementor training videos or instructions. 

How do authorized members create and send a bulk email to members or member groups?

• Log in using the ‘Member Login’ on the  ‘Members Only’ menu, or any of the ‘Login/Out’ menu items in the header or footer of any page.
• When the expanded menu options appear (since you are an authorized, logged-in member), click on the ‘Create Email’ menu item.
• You should now be on the WordPress Dashboard under the MailPoet – Emails menu,
• At the top of the page, click on the ‘+ New Email’ button.
• You should now be on the MailPoet Email Types page.  Click on the ‘Create’ button in the ‘Newsletter’ email type square or block.
• You should now be on the ‘Templates’ selection page. Select the type of template you want by clicking the ‘Select’ button on the preferred template. Using a recently sent email with the formatting you prefer is the easiest. You can select any template you want and edit it as needed in the next step. Mouse-over the various templates shown and click on the ‘Preview’ button to see a preview. When you find the template you would like to start with, click on the ‘Select’ button.
• You should now be sent to the MailPoet Design or email editor with the template you selected. Before you do anything else, enter a subject! It will be the title of your email. Also, it will be the name you’ll see in Drafts, rather than just the word “Subject,” making you think you’ve lost your work–you haven’t! Give it a name!
• Use the editing tools to format your email the way you want it to look. Add blocks, delete blocks, add text, etc. When you are ready, click the ‘Save’ button in the top right corner to save your work. (You can save it as a template or export it as a template at this point if you like.) After saving, click the ‘Next’ button to go to the ‘Send’ page.
• On the ‘Send’ page, select the group to send the email to in the ‘Lists’ box. If your specific group or list is not shown, you need to first create it then come back and select the group list you created. You can select ‘Save as Draft’ then come back later to send the email once the list is created or the email is edited. If the group list exists, select it in the box, fill in the Sender and Reply To boxes (you can use a wags-web email address, or use your own if you would like to read and reply to people’s responses to your letter), then click the ‘Send’ button in the bottom right corner.
• EMAIL Attachments: MailPoet does not allow attachments to its emails; you will use a link instead. Your attachment needs to have a URL either in WordPress or somewhere on the Internet (like a link to a video or a Zoom link or any other Internet link). If using WordPress as your link source, you first need to upload the attachment to the WordPress Media Library, then create a link in your email to point to your attachment. Here’s how:
  1. Know where your attachment is on your personal computer. The attachment can be any type of file, i.e., PDF, Image, DOC, etc.
  2. Login to Wags-web.org and go to the WordPress Dashboard.
  3. Select the Media Library
  4. At the top of the page, click on ‘Add New’, then click on ‘Select Files’.
  5. A dialog window should appear asking you to select the attachment file on your personal computer.
  6. Find the attachment file, double click it or select it (single click) and select ‘Open’.
  7. The file should then upload to the Media Library.
  8.  Find the file in the Media Library and click on it;  on the right side of the window, click on the ‘copy URL to clipboard’ button.
  9. Now, go back to the MailPoet emails, edit your email, highlight (select–double click a word or drag through several words with the mouse) that you want linked, create the link (click on the chain link icon), and paste the URL you copied to the clipboard in the link URL box.
  10. Now in MailPoet, click the ‘Next’ or  ‘Send’ window, select which List or group to send the email to, then click ‘Send’.

Note: Remember, MailPoet is not your usual email client program for sending and receiving personal emails. MailPoet is used to send emails to multiple parties at one time–bulk emails. You could send an email to a single party by creating a group list with only one name but that is a waste; you should use your personal email client like Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc. for that purpose.