# Automatic log out too fast?



## Negflar2099 (Dec 11, 2008)

Has anyone else noticed that the automatic log out on this site is very quick? It seems I can log in and maybe read a few posts and that's it and then I'm automatically logged out and I have to log back in. Recently it logged me out in the middle of a post! Is anyone else experiencing this problem?


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## Nonlethal Force (Dec 12, 2008)

Absolutely.  I usually can't even make one post without getting logged out.  I log in, and get logged out.  So I have to log in after making the post or risk losing it all.  Then, when I get done posting and do actually want to log out I click to log out and it tells me I already am logged out.  And I even got logged out while doing an EDIT ... and I got a little box that says that the error may be because I'm using the cyberstreet address ... which I'm not.

So, that's my experience.  And yes, to post this I will no doubt have to log in again.


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## Angel Tarragon (Dec 12, 2008)

See that little block to the left of 'Remember Me?'. Put your mouse cursor over it and click it before logging in. That'll solve the problem.


.


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## Merkuri (Dec 12, 2008)

Reveille said:


> See that little block to the left of 'Remember Me?'. Put your mouse cursor over it and click it before logging in. That'll solve the problem.




That's what I do, but it's not a good solution, if you ask me.  The people who haven't checked that box probably haven't done so for a reason.  Maybe they're on a public machine and they want to be sure they don't stay logged in after they leave.

I work in tech support, and this is what we call a workaround, not a solution.  The question is why it logs people out too fast.  Do any of the mods know what the lifespan of the login cookie is?  Can it be extended to at least an hour?

I know that my boyfriend doesn't like to stay logged in all the time (maybe he doesn't want me to be able to sit at his PC and read all his personal messages, I dunno) and he's actually lost posts a few times because it took him too long to type stuff up.  He logged in, typed up a post immediately, and when he clicked the "post" button it said he was logged out and he lost everything he typed.  This can be a serious annoyance for people and might make them less willing to post for fear of wasting all of that typing to a logout problem.


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## Morrus (Dec 12, 2008)

Merkuri said:


> I work in tech support, and this is what we call a workaround, not a solution. The question is why it logs people out too fast.




It's not a "workaround" - it's exactly how a vBulletin forum is supposed to work.

Clicking the "Remember Me" box keeps you logged in until you log out.

If you don't click it, you are logged out after 15 minutes of inactivity.  If you're getting logged out despite activity (which includes page view, etc), then there's an issue somewhere that we'd need to look into.


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## Angel Tarragon (Dec 12, 2008)

Merkuri said:


> He logged in, typed up a post immediately, and when he clicked the "post" button it said he was logged out and he lost everything he typed.  This can be a serious annoyance for people and might make them less willing to post for fear of wasting all of that typing to a logout problem.




Copy and paste is where its at. I've learned this from experience. Due to various issues on my own part; site outages, wireless issues, site maitenance, whatever.

If you type up a long post, copy it over to a text program like Notepad or Winword. Don't let that post get away from you. Be sure to back it up before hitting submit.


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## Merkuri (Dec 13, 2008)

Morrus said:


> If you don't click it, you are logged out after 15 minutes of inactivity.  If you're getting logged out despite activity (which includes page view, etc), then there's an issue somewhere that we'd need to look into.




That's the impression that I get.  It seems to be taking much less than 15 minutes.  When my boyfriend complained of this problem it seemed to take less than five minutes to log him out.

If somebody complains to us in tech support that a certain feature doesn't work right and we basically say, "don't use that feature, use this feature instead" then that's a workaround.  The issue is still there - that the feature doesn't work.  It may get you around the problem, but it doesn't fix it.  

That is what I meant when I said that the "keep me logged in" checkbox is a workaround.  The problem (that it logs you out too soon) is still there, you're just telling people to avoid it by not using the feature.


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## Merkuri (Dec 13, 2008)

Hmm, I've been trying to test without having the "remember me" box checked and it's still letting me stay logged in a reasonable amount of time. I've tried both FF3 and IE7. My OS is Vista x64. I'm posting both to say my results and to see if it'll somehow log me off just as I post.

What browsers and OSs do other people have who've been having problems?

Edit: Nope, didn't log me off.  (But it did remove the linebreaks in my post for some reason - let me try to put them back.  And it put smiley faces between a bunch of random sentences.  IE is weird.)


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## Orius (Dec 13, 2008)

Morrus said:


> If you don't click it, you are logged out after 15 minutes of inactivity.




That's what keeps me making little more than short snarky comments around here; I'm afraid of getting cut off.  That and brevity is indeed the soul of wit. 

That and I haven't trained myself to mark it when I log in.  And mark all messages as read when I log out either.

I have learned that with IE at least, if I do get cut off with out copying my reply beforehand, that I should just log back in without hitting Back.  If I hit Back, everything I typed if lost.  If I just log in, then my message doesn't get lost.


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## Knight Otu (Dec 13, 2008)

I've also gotten the impression that auto-log-out happens too fast quite a few times. I'll keep this reply window open for a few minutes before posting as a test.
Edit: Stayed logged in, a bit more than 5 minutes. I guess my impression was wrong.


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## frankthedm (Dec 13, 2008)

Nonlethal Force said:


> Absolutely.  I usually can't even make one post without getting logged out.  I log in, and get logged out.  So I have to log in after making the post or risk losing it all.  Then, when I get done posting and do actually want to log out I click to log out and it tells me I already am logged out.  And I even got logged out while doing an EDIT ... and I got a little box that says that the error may be because I'm using the cyberstreet address ... which I'm not.
> 
> So, that's my experience.  And yes, to post this I will no doubt have to log in again.



Agree. This is what it is like for me at work.


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## Merkuri (Dec 13, 2008)

frankthedm said:


> Agree. This is what it is like for me at work.




It happens to you at work but not at home?  What's the difference between the two locations?  Do you use a different browser, or a different version of the same browser?  What operating system on each machine?


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## Nonlethal Force (Dec 14, 2008)

Reveille said:


> See that little block to the left of 'Remember Me?'. Put your mouse cursor over it and click it before logging in. That'll solve the problem.




Thanks for this explanation.  Because when I read that little box that says "remember me" what I interpret that to mean is this:

"Checking this box means that whenever you visit this site in the future on this machine you will not need your password."

That is not something I want to check myself into (and admit it is probably the wrong interpretation - but that could be made more clear, too).  However, if it is solely a means to make sure I don't get logged out due to inactivity ... I'm all over that.


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## Nonlethal Force (Dec 14, 2008)

And, I'm back so quickly.  Interestingly enough, I logged in to post the above and checked the box.  I posted and the post was recorded fine.  About 10 seconds later I hit the log-out button and confirmed that I wanted to log out.  I got this message:



			
				log-out screen said:
			
		

> You are not logged in. This may be because you have just logged out, or because you did not log in in the first place.
> 
> If you were trying to access the Wiki, a second log in is required for security reasons (since anyone can edit it). This is the same as your usual EN World log in - just enter your username and password again in the top right of this page, and once you're logged in, hit the Wiki link in the top menu bar. You may have to do this the first couple of times you visit the Wiki, but the system will soon stop asking you for a second log in, unless you clear all your cookies or delete your ineternet history or something.
> 
> Of course, you may be seeing this page because you don't have an EN World account. It's completely free, so simply




I also like how the message trails off into nothingness...


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## Merkuri (Dec 14, 2008)

Nonlethal Force said:


> Thanks for this explanation.  Because when I read that little box that says "remember me" what I interpret that to mean is this:
> 
> "Checking this box means that whenever you visit this site in the future on this machine you will not need your password."




That's exactly what it means, except you can always hit the "log out" button to make it "forget" you.  With the "remember me" box checked it basically means that you should never be logged out unless you specifically log out yourself.

Something's obviously going wrong, though, if it's still logging you out even after you've checked the "remember me" box.

What browser do you have?  What operating system?


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## Nonlethal Force (Dec 14, 2008)

Merkuri said:


> That's exactly what it means, except you can always hit the "log out" button to make it "forget" you.  With the "remember me" box checked it basically means that you should never be logged out unless you specifically log out yourself.




Well, so long as it forgets me hen I log out ... that's not bad.  You just have to remember to log out, which is no problem for me.



> Something's obviously going wrong, though, if it's still logging you out even after you've checked the "remember me" box.




Yeah, no doubt!



> What browser do you have?  What operating system?



I'm using the newest IE and XP.


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## Morrus (Dec 15, 2008)

Nonlethal Force said:


> Thanks for this explanation. Because when I read that little box that says "remember me" what I interpret that to mean is this:
> 
> "Checking this box means that whenever you visit this site in the future on this machine you will not need your password."




Your interpretation is correct.



Nonlethal Force said:


> And, I'm back so quickly. Interestingly enough, I logged in to post the above and checked the box. I posted and the post was recorded fine. About 10 seconds later I hit the log-out button and confirmed that I wanted to log out. I got this message




Jolly good.  So we know the logout button works! 



Merkuri said:


> What browser do you have? What operating system?




To be honest, that info doesn't really help me (especially the operating system part!)  More pertintent is exactly what behaviour people are exhibiting - what have the done recently, where have they been n EN World's server, have they cleared cookies or browsing history, has their browser's security level changed, is it happening on other vBulletin boards, that sort of thing.

I'm inclined to think this is a cookies issue.  Has anyone expereincing these problems visted The TARDIS, which is on the same domain and will therefore have overlapping cookies?


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## Nonlethal Force (Dec 15, 2008)

Morrus said:


> Jolly good.  So we know the logout button works!




Oh, I get it!   

Man, have I been taking that message the absolute wrong way.  I've been taking that message as though there was a problem.  As in ... "you couldn't be logged out by the server because you already were logged out by the system. before you could hit the button."  Never once did I interpret the message to mean, "Congrats, you have been successfully logged out."  Never once did it cross mymind that getting that very message was indeed a good thing.

Can I suggest changing the message to be a little less confusing?  Rather than saying: "You are not logged in. This may be because you have just logged out, or because you did not log in in the first place," could it be changed to something like "You have been successfully logged out.  This may be because you have just logged out, or because you did not log in in the first place."

I know it basically says the same thing, but in lieu of people having trouble staying logged in, it would be nice to have the message imply a success.  Because since I was having trouble staying logged in I interpretted the message as a greater ndication of my trouble staying logged in.  I hope that this makes sense!



> Has anyone expereincing these problems visted The TARDIS, which is on the same domain and will therefore have overlapping cookies?




Sorry, I haven't visited the TARDIS, so I cannot help you.


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