Apple ID no longer working on discussions.apple.com

When I try and log into discussions.apple.com I see this message: "Please sign in again. For added security, we need to reconfirm your Apple ID" So I do that then I see: "Pick a username" It says that's available and I hit continue and then I see: "An account utilizing this email address already exists. Only one account per email address is allowed on Apple Support Communities". I called Apple Care and they said they weren't sure who to contact about the matter and that I should just use another email address. Of course I prefer to continue using this email address that's worked for years on the discussion groups. Apparently the site upgrade messed things up. What can I do to get this working?