Why is my active subscriber still seeing pop-ups after logging in?
I'm getting reports from my subscribers that they still see the overlays (aka pop-ups) after logging in. They show as having an active plan in the Administrative console but they insist they still see the pop-ups telling them they must be a subscriber to see the content. What gives?
Make sure the user really is signed in
Users can sometimes think they are logged in when the really aren't. For example, a user might have remembered logging in yesterday but doesn't realize they are not signed in today. Or she might have signed in from a different computer or device yesterday and doesn't realize that she needs to log in separately to different devices. Typically, the overlay that the user sees is slightly different whether she's logged in or not logged in. If the overlay is telling the user "you're signed in but still need to subscribe" or something similar, then it's a good bet she really is logged in and we can move to the next thing to check.
Make sure the User has an active plan
Your users must have at least one active plan in order to be able to read metered digital content. That doesn't necessarily mean a full-blown, paid, subscription but it does have to be an active syncAccess plan. You can view the details of the subscriber in the Admin console to verify the user's plan status. In the Subscriber details page, click the "Plans" tab to see the user's plans (active or not-active).
Inactive plans can have different status values: Cancelled, Cancelled by Host, and Expired are all examples of 'inactive' plans.
Double check the Content Access Rules for the User
So, if the user has an active plan but is still seeing the overlays, then it's time to check the specific content authorization rules.
Authorization for a known user (I.e., someone that has successfully logged into the system) is based almost exclusively on Plans and Content. That is, a given user's plan(s) must be configured to allow access to specific content. If a logged in user is still seeing overlays, then it generally means that the user either does not have a currently active plan or he has a plan that does not allow access to the content he's trying to read.
Each Plan that is configured within syncAccess can be assigned specific content categories to which owners of that plan should be given access. For example:
In this example, the plan will allow access to three specific content categories: my-premium, my-local-sports, and breaking-news. If a user owns this plan and tries to read content that has been categorized as any one of those listed would be able to read the content. If the category associated with the content is not in this list, then the user would not be allowed to read the content and would likely see a pop-up message explaining that he still needed to subscribe to something.
If the Content Categories box is empty, it means the plan allows access to any content. If you want to explicitly restrict access for a plan you can check the No digital content allowed box which means that the given plan will not allow access to any content at all.
These content category rules only apply to metered web content. Many Electronic Edition (aka Replica Edition) systems use a different mechanism for determining access and won't honor these settings. The same goes for native applications. If your users are having issues with E-Edition or native applications, then this FAQ probably doesn't apply.
Okay, I've checked all that and it looks fine. My user is still seeing a pop-up. What now?
So if you've verified that the user is actually logged in, she has an active plan, and that active plan is correctly configured to allow content, then the last thing to check is that the content she's viewing is actually categorized like you expect it to be.
The assignment of a content category (like my-premium, sports, free, etc.) to an actual article is something that is done in/by the Content Management System (CMS). Syncronex doesn't have access to the CMS so we rely on the customer to have set the content category appropriately for a given page (see Paymeter SDK for an explanation of setting an article's content). In some cases, the page may not have the content category value that was expected. For example, the article page might use a content category of premium instead of my-premium. In that case, the plan's content category settings might be misleading. The plan could be configured to allow access to my-premium but not premium.
If this is happening, then you have a couple of options. You can simply add the category that is used on the page to the plan's configuration (i.e., add premium in addition to my-premium) or you can have the CMS changed to use my-premium .
I've checked everything and it still doesn't work!
If you've verified all the items in this FAQ and you are still having problems, then it's time to contact Syncronex Technical Support. Email us at [email protected] to open a support ticket. Be sure to mention that you've followed all the advice in this article and provide as much detail as possible (like the email of the user having problems, the page they were trying to view, etc.).