Written by Earlier this week users reported being stuck in a “redirect loop” which caused pages to fail to load when attempting to access member content on SurrealPolitiks.com
This problem happened as a consequence of a software update to our membership software, a premium WordPress plugin which we pay for an upgraded license to use.
We have mostly fixed this problem, but the workaround is imperfect and we are working with the software developers to get a better and more permanent fix.
Right now, when a user logs in to view member content, they are redirected to a “Membership Account” page. To view the content they then need to go back out to the Member Content page and then they will be able to view/download member content.
We are working with the developers so that, as a reasonable person would expect, logging in to view content just displays the content.
The “Membership Account” page should be ignored by the user. I’ll give a more detailed explanation below for those who are interested in it, but in brief I can say that there are different pages for handling account functions on this website, and we try to direct users to the one created by our E-Commerce software, known as WooCommerce. The “Membership Account” page is generated by the Membership Software, and we try to keep users away from that page because all the billing for memberships is handled by our E-Commerce system, rather than the Membership software’s own checkout process. Only confusion and hassle can come from using the Membership Account page to handle your business with us. We are working with the developers to hide that page from the user, but due to the software update we had to make it available to get the membership functions working for now.
More Detailed Explanation
SurrealPolitiks.com and the content network it aspires to build are run by an application called WordPress, in an advanced configuration known as “MultiSite”. This allows SurrealPolitiks.com to function as the “Main Site” and other sites to use its access control functions by being “Member Subsites”. That is how your SurrealPolitiks.com login gains you access to member content on other sites like ChristopherCantwell.net and FullHausMembers.com.
Our E-Commerce software is a WordPress plugin called WooCommerce. We pay a yearly subscription fee for a premium WooCommerce feature called “Woo Subscriptions”. This handles the billing for all memberships within the site and content network.
Access control to member functions, however, is handled by yet another plugin called Paid Membership Pro. This is necessary to have the membership functions available throughout the content network, since the WooCommerce Memberships software will only work on the site it is licensed to. Paid Memberships Pro allows us to install a smaller plugin on each member subsite, to derive member benefits to users throughout the network, for a single licensing fee.
Changes to the way Paid Memberships Pro handles account functions created a conflict between the “Membership Account” page, which is handled by the membership software, and the “My Account” page, which is handled by our E-Commerce software. When users attempted to log in to view content, they were sent to the “My Account” page, but the membership software was doing that in an effort to get them to the “Membership Account” page, and this resulted in the redirect loop.
When properly functioning, logging in to view member content should just display the member content. We have filed a bug report with the developers of Paid Memberships Pro and asked them to fix this problem.
Paid Memberships Pro is designed to handle its own billing with its own checkout process. We wanted our billing to be handled by the E-Commerce software, so as to simplify the checkout process and keep all account functions within that part of the site. To facilitate this we have a plugin for the Membership Software to integrate with WooCommerce.
This can create some problems if the user is not clearly directed to the WooCommerce “My Account” page, as opposed to the Paid Memberships Pro “Membership Account” page. Since the “Membership Account” page has no awareness of WooCommerce, the user is given options for altering their membership, but those actions will not be reflected in WooCommerce. Thus to cancel the membership, for example, would only deprive the user of membership benefits, while WooCommerce continued to bill them for the Subscription.
For these reasons, we have walled off the “Membership Account” page and directed users to the WooCommerce “My Account” page instead. The recent software update is sending users to the “Membership Account” page, and causing the hassles which caused the redirect loop.
For now, the “Membership Account” page will be shown to the user when they log in. The user is warned to IGNORE THAT PAGE and just navigate back to the part of the site they wished to visit in the first place. Having now been logged in, the content will be visible.
We regret the inconvenience this has caused, and hope to see a more perfect solution within the week.
Thank you for your support and understanding, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or further difficulties.