I’ve not had the message for three consecutive days now, so either I’m just lucky or the licence server is working better. Fingers crossed the problem won’t come back!
I still get it every day, 7 days left now. Looking into fully-ownable alternatives to avoid the possibility of a hiatus next week (or a repetition next year, for that matter).
I’ve spoken too soon - the message is back 
Hate to join in but I’ve started to get the 3 x 3 message again.
I am going to trust you will sort this, but as I have both writing and university work in Scrivener, this is getting concerning.
Echoing others, I’ve paid for the software. I don’t think it is correct to threaten to disable it.
I’ve sung your praises so many times in so many writing forums. Please don’t let me down like this.
Regards
Eric
Just started getting this message today. It’s telling me it hasn’t been able to verify for three months and after 6 months it will revert to trial mode. Needless to say, I’m not a happy camper. Here’s hoping we get a solid fix soon. This sort of issue is exactly why I was leery of purchasing Scrivener in the first place and why I kept resisting the peer pressure I was getting from others in my writing group to just bite the bullet and purchase the program. After reading through the thread and some of the issues people have had with this error, I’m beginning to regret giving into that pressure and feeling a bit like it could turn out to be a complete waste of money. These sorts of issues are the ones that demand refunds, especially when it gets to a point where we’re going on 3 months without a fix and the problem persists and gets worse, and when/if it gets to a point where people are losing all the hard work they’ve done as a result of that problem. Then, your program becomes not only a waste of money, but also a waste of time. I’m not trying to be rude, these are just facts. An issue like this that also threatens the risk of people losing their work, on a program that they have paid for (especially considering that for some of us… or possibly many, that price tag wasn’t exactly “cheap”), that persists for months like this with no solution in sight is, quite simply, nothing short of unprofessional.
Also not meaning to be rude, but WRT “just facts”: long as this thread is, there is some value in looking through it for explanations that have been given.
But why not give one again? Earlier this year, the service that Scrivener was using to authenticate activations went out of business. Being in the middle of the Windows program’s upgrade, they had to scramble to find another service. The other service turns out to stink. They’ve put out I believe 3 fixes, none of which seems to have been permanently successful. I do wish they’d put a post somewhere that people could just be referred to regarding what steps to take and when it will be fixed.
I don’t think anyone’s work is actually threatened with loss or destruction. Scrivener is not a cloud service. Everything we’ve written is still right there on our devices. They will get the activation swamp drained at some point. Till then, the risk is that Scrivener may quit working for someone, not that text will actually disappear. I don’t think I’ve seen any reports of even that actually happening, but I could be wrong. Look through the thread and see what the facts are. If you’re strongly concerned that you might not be able to access your work, you could do a compile to Word format or whatever, and work on it outside Scrivener till all is well.
Should activation-checking even be done at all? Should something that’s been paid for just work without a glitch like this? Good questions, but not ones I personally feel like debating. Someone will, though…
For me the interesting question is, should it be done without disclosing the requirement to potential customers?
I avoid such things precisely because companies go bust, licensing servers go offline (clearly). Luckily it’s not L&L that went out of business – this time. One day they might, in which case Scrivener will (on available evidence) stop working some time later. The vast majority of paying users will probably* find that to be a complete surprise.
- assuming v3 works in the same way.
I understand your frustration, however there is one specific part I would like to address:
You can rest easy on this one. Scrivener reverting to trial mode will not cause any work to be lost. In fact, the Scrivener project format is specifically designed so you can retrieve your work from the program using common tools without needing Scrivener – but you don’t even have to go to that extent.
There was this famous (infamous) DVD ripping device that was extremely good and out of China. The problem was tha t the fool behind it insisted on changing the passkey every single month, making your purchase invalid and not working. The alternative was to simply not buy it, but instead install a trial version on a hard drive that had nothinig else on it, except an OS. And then, every 30 days, wipe the OS and reinstall it. LL needs to avoid this scenario by getting their act in gear and stop worrying about “illegal” usage.
Have you successfully run a global software business based around two apps for 10+ years? If not, your advice on how to run such a company is perhaps not as valuable as you might think. Under the old platform (eSellerate), Scrivener would phone home – something L&L made no secret of – and it didn’t scare people off. It’s only been the switch to Paddle that has surfaced some issues that need to be identified and corrected, so all of this doom and gloom is a bit premature.
I’d very much appreciate seeing a link to where the information was stated to prospective purchasers.
I’m not trying to be difficult. If the activation model was disclosed in some way where I could reasonably have been expected to see it and I still missed it, then I purchased without due diligence and would have no further complaint.
The Privacy and Security article from our Knowledge Base is here:
scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb … security-2
It was updated in June to reflect the switch to Paddle, but the fundamental behavior – periodic activation checks – is unchanged.
Katherine
Edit: And here’s the old version, for eSellerate, which has been up since 2013. scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb … d-security
Thanks for replying with those links; oddly enough 2013 is when I purchased my copy.
I wonder how many potential customers reach that page before buying, as compared to the number who read the more up-front stuff.
Well, less than 3% of users read the legal agreements of the software they install. So, you are among the few who care. :mrgreen:
Regards,
M
I bet 0% dig through the knowledge base 
I am still unable to “register” my paid license. I’ve switched to LaTex + text editor because, you know, gotta work. It’s just so frustrating to have used and recommended a product like Scrivener for so long and then BLAAAK! nothing.
I’ve paid for several licenses over the years, some for myself, and some as gifts. I hope this gets resolved soon but honestly, I’m starting not to care.
I guess I’m coping by treating the past few months as a hard lesson in self-sufficiency.
And has the activation issue been solved?
An update that fixes it (we think) should be released in a matter of hours.
Katherine
Then they’re missing out on a lot of useful information. I answer a significant number of support queries by referring people to relevant Knowledge Base articles.
Katherine
Access to the license server appears to be working again with today’s update. I was on my final day! I’m sure the Windows team worked extremely hard to get this fixed so well done to them.
That said, what I’ve learned and experienced from this incident has prompted me to move to an alternative that eliminates the risk of being locked out in future.