What is a referral? - ECCIE Worldwide

I searched for "Referrals": it was little help. I have seen that this person or that person gets a referral: what is it, and how does one get a referral.

I am asking because I saw a lady recently that would like to be on ECCIE. She told be that she wasn't able to get on using the handle she is known by: CALI HOLIDAY. She said that when she tried to use that handle she was denied. So, she set up a new handle: "CT4U2C".

I did a search on both items: CALI HOLIDAY and CT4U2C and found no entries. However, on the search feature pull down list when one starts to enter the user name, there is an auto complete for both items.

I am posting a review on Cali. Can something be done to get her a membership, or does she just start posting under "CT4u2C"?