PermissionsEx and Essentials Permission Nodes Help!

I created a bukkit server a while ago and I, being opped, was the only one able to perform commands. Now I am trying to set permissions for certain commands in Essentials using PermissionsEx and it doesn't seem to work. I replace the USER with the actual name but for the sake of security, I changed each user name to USER: http://pastebin.com/vCWtG9aX
And yes I checked it with http://yaml-online-parser.appspot.com and there appears to be no errors. It may be in the yml file but I am using PermissionsEx and trying to give basic commands to users using Essential's nodes, but the effects don't take place. Even when I'm owner, but not opped I can't perform commands. Thank you.

 

Seems to be more about Essentials than about the permissions.
What happens if you type the commands from console?
Do you see any start up errors?
Also type /pex toggle debug and use some commands ingame, then look at the console. It should tell you about "playerxyz checked for permission" and whether it allowed or denied the usage

 

I don't know if it really matters, but for my permissions, the inheritance section is below the permissions section. If you have other plugins, try setting perms to them, to see if it is a permission or essentials error. If you have access to the console, try to see if it is giving an error. If you are using Notepad ++ then make sure that none of the text turns red, and that you are using spaces.

I also just checked it in the YAML Parser, and it seems to have a problem with your colons, try changing something about them, maybe re-typing them, or something.

EDIT by Moderator: merged posts, please use the edit button instead of double posting.

 

Why do you have random nulls in your file? And your inheritance is also messed up, you should just do, for example,

inheritance: default

not,

inheritance:
- default

And you also repeated a lot of permissions, which you shouldn't need to do if you are using inheritance

 

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