Confused: Log on issue

Discussion in 'Forum Related Discussions' started by slammer_JvA, May 13, 2004.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. slammer_JvA

    slammer_JvA Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 23, 2004
    Posts:
    1,588
    Location:
    Below sea-level. Safe and sound behind our dikes:
    Stupid Q's do not exist, right? :oops: :D

    The strangest thing happened just now:
    when I log on here at the forum (as slammer_JvA) I get the normal redirection screen and then....I still see the "guest-screen", yet...

    I can see myself being logged on!?

    Then, when I try to send a private message to myself (that is slammer_JvA) I'm prompted to log in again, and then....

    I am logged in ?!!!

    How's that? What am I overlooking here or what can be happening?

    Confused yet amused as well I'll await any reply, answer....

    regards,

    Slammer
     
    slammer_JvA, May 13, 2004
    #1
  2. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

    Joined:
    Aug 10, 2002
    Posts:
    18,280
    Location:
    New England
    The answer to access problems is almost always related to cookies, cache and trust.

    Seeing yourself logged in here, meaning that you see your member name at the bottom of the main forum page (in the Currently Active Users section) simply means that your forum account was active some time in the last 15 minutes. It is not an indicator that your are or are not logged in at any specific moment, within your browser session. Any user can simulate this by logging in and when they get to the next page (any page here), going into their browser's cookie management feature and deleting the cookie for wilderssecurity.com. Any page you hit after doing that will treat you like a guest even though the main index will continue to show you "logged in" until the 15 minute session timeout expires.

    What seems to be happening in your case is that the login screen is taking your username and password successfully, so your "15 minutes" starts counting, but when the next page comes up the session info (login credentials) that is stored in the cookie is not being passed back to the forum properly, so you end up treated as a guest on that page. (Every page that is called for here at the forum reconfirms your login credentials. Lose the cookie values for these at any moment and the next page won't know who you are.)

    This is almost always related to things like cookie corruption, cache problems, not trusting the *.wilderssecurity.com site (or at least enabling cookies and scripting for this site), and also can be caused by any misconfigured proxy or web filtering software.

    The solution recommendation is almost always the same and has generally worked in something more than 95% of cases. Close all browser sessions completely. Deleting any cookies related to this site. Clear the browser cache. Verify that your browser, privacy and security software is trusting *.wilderssecurity.com (esp. for cookies and active scripting). Open a new browser session and return to the main index page here and login.

    If the login is successful but still doesn't hold, then something else is wrong within what I've specified above. Recheck your software, proxies, filtering, browsers, etc. The issue in some cases is that people have so much security software, including applications that overlap in function, that they can't get even trusted sites to work properly all the time.
     
    LowWaterMark, May 13, 2004
    #2
  3. MikeBCda

    MikeBCda Registered Member

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2004
    Posts:
    1,627
    Location:
    southern Ont. Canada
    Hi slammer,

    Assuming you don't have multiple-user problems on your system, have you tried just going "wherever" online when you leave here, without logging out? A lot of us do that -- that way we're in effect already logged in when we come back here. You definitely need all Wilders cookies enabled for this.

    I know when LWM "and company" put in the new software here, we had some relatively common (and in some cases weird) log-in problems the first day or so, but I thought those were all behind us by now.

    Best - and hang in there!
    Mike
     
    MikeBCda, May 13, 2004
    #3
  4. slammer_JvA

    slammer_JvA Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 23, 2004
    Posts:
    1,588
    Location:
    Below sea-level. Safe and sound behind our dikes:
    Thank you very much LWM, for this thorough clarifying answer. In the meantime I had figured out most of this already myself :).
    Already suspected such things to happen, after going through the process of changing my browser (from IE to Mozilla).
    Indeed, it all came down on cookie-management and trusted site stuff.
    And indeed, I am also one of those persons with a lot of security-applications installed; so sometimes it still is a little difficult to keep on track of all the settings involved :D.

    Yet, I am learning! Thanks to all of you here at Wilders.
    And seeing more and more forest for the trees....every day! :):):)

    Regards,
    Slammer
     
    slammer_JvA, May 15, 2004
    #4
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Accept Learn More...