It is wonderful to finally be able to post on the aged forums. It took 5 calendar days before I was eventually able to post on the forums. I believe a thread describing my experience might help other persons attempting to become officially registered who are having similar difficulties.
My initial attempt to register on the forum site resulted in a user account. However, I was not able to post threads on the forum from that account. It took longer to be "registered" or activated in order to actually post.
Upon attempting to register (link "register" near the login field) on the forum site, I received an email (subject: Action Required to Activate Membership for AGEOD Forums) explaining how I might register. This email included a link intended to complete registration. A second link was provided for the case "If the above URL does not work...". This second link was intended to allow me to enter my user name and an activation code which was provided in the email.
Unfortunately, neither of these links actually worked for me. The first link took me to a page that indicated there was some problem with my attempted registration. I wish I had taken a screen print of that message, but did not. If I remember correctly, there was a message along the lines that the web page I had tried to access was not allowed. I next copied the same link from the email I had received and pasted the URL into my browser (following the suggestion in the email). This brought me to the same page (indicating a problem), which did not help.
Then I clicked on the second link provided in the email. This took me to a completely blank page (white screen within my browser and absolutely nothing else).
What I did eventually discover, was that the web page I was brought to by the first link, had a link to a website to enter the "activation code". This allowed me to actually get to a web page through which I could enter the activation code (whereas the link from within the email had not).
I went to this site and entered the activation code provided me. However, this did not result in me being successfully registered.
I next sent an email describing my difficulties to admin@ageod.co.uk, which was listed in the automated email I had received. I have not yet received a response to this email. I saw a thread in the forums about somebody having difficulty registering a game. A reply indicated that a different URL or email address (other than the information the user had received) was required for support interaction regarding that game. Perhaps an outdated email address (for "support staff") was provided in the automated registration email sent to me. I am not even sure if my email to the "support staff" was ever received by a human.
After waiting a couple days, without receiving any assistance, I sent a message via the "Contact Us" link at the bottom right of the forum page. Another day passed without response, so I sent a second message via the "Contact Us" link.
Finally, at the end of day 4, I received another automated registration email (nearly identical to the initial email I had received). Of course, the same links from the initial "Action Required to Activate Membership for AGEOD Forums" still did not work. However, this time, when I pasted the activation code into the screen I had reached through the link provided on the web page describing an error (the first link in the email), my registration was completed. My forum account is now activated and I am obviously able to post. This process took 5 calendar days for me.
I am not sure exactly what triggered the second registration email being sent to me. I have not received any response from forum support to indicate that a human had been aware of my problems or anything along those lines. I am aware that many game forums are maintained and managed by a volunteer in the game community, who is providing a service without compensation. I do not expect professional service at the same level as for a service (forums) I am actually paying for. I did purchase a game, whose advertisement included mention of an associated forum for support.
I am fairly certain that there are several problems in the automated registration email sent to me. There could be a possibility that every person attempting to register on the forums might also be receiving an email with problematic links. It would be helpful to those wishing to post on the forums after obtaining a user account, if those errors were investigated and perhaps resolved.
I tested the links in two different operating systems (OS X and MS Windows) and two different popular browsers (Safari and Firefox) on two separate computers (laptop and desktop). This leads me to believe that the problem is most likely contained within the "Action Required to Activate Membership for AGEOD Forums" email itself, rather than a quirk with my specific computer(s), browser(s), or operating system(s).
I am not sure why my first attempt to enter the activation code did not work, yet a second attempt did work. It is certainly possible there might have been user error on my part. I believe I attempted to post the code twice initially (to rule out the possibility that I had made a mistake). Perhaps there was human intervention involved in allowing success on my second attempt (several days later) to enter the activation code.
Without any messages or information from a human regarding my difficulties, I am only left guessing.
I am happy to finally be able to post questions about the Civil War II game I am very excited to learn how to play (and hopefully eventually master). Last night, I discovered (on these forums) a series of tutorial videos on Youtube about playing the game. It is probably best that I was not able to post newbie questions which might all be answered after I have watched those videos.
Thanks to all parties responsible in providing a forum to assist game players!