calimac

Today was the first day of the Tolkien Society's online seminar on diversity and representation in Tolkien's works. I'd signed up eagerly to attend this, but I didn't get to hear or see a damned bit of it.

It was Zoom's fault. When I logged in, I got a pop-up box message saying it was for registered attendees only. That's OK - I was a registered attendee - but the next box asked, not for the Webinar ID and password, but for my e-mail and password. But neither I nor - it turned out - the TS's help people had any idea what password it was looking for. My TS membership password didn't work. The Webinar password didn't work. The reset password function didn't work.

At that point I dropped a note to the organizer and asked for help. They sent me the URL link. I already had that. Next request for help, they sent me the Webinar password. I'd already tried that. Next request for help, they suggested trying a different device. Didn't work. Next request, they suggested logging in via one of the side links to Facebook or Google. Didn't get me anywhere useful.

Clearly they were flailing, and at that point I guess they gave up on me, because I didn't hear back. By this time the day's events were close to over anyway. Previously, the Tolkien Society's online events have been impressively competent, but this lowers their competence rating to zero.

There's another session tomorrow, but if I get the same thing I'm giving up entirely. Disgusting.