[answered] Log and re-log?

this happens to me on occasion, i think the hamsters are doing some tweaking now and then, they make a change and you have to log on again

Misery love company. I am glad to see I am not alone

At first guess, I'd say that sorta log-in issue most likely originates at the user's end; when you log in to a website, a "Session ID" cookie is set on your machine, more or less saying you're logged in, and that cookie should remain valid until you log out, disconnect, or for a certain period of time with no activity (most commonly a feature of secure websites, such as banks and merchants, but not exclusive to them). If for some reason a new page request sent from your end does not forward that cookie to the website's server, the server concludes you are not logged in.

To try to put it more simply, log-in status pretty much is a function at the user end, not the server end; your browser either identifies itself as logged in or it does not.

That said, log-in issues can pop up at the server end, though when that happens the effect is most likely going to be global in nature; many if not all website users will experience the problem, it will not affect not just a few. And that said, since there do not seem to be reports of this problem coming from the A2K membership in general, the finger points back to the users experiencing the problem.

People don't always report it here, timber.

Sometimes they mutter about it in emails to each other Not useful, but it happens.

The unexpected log-out was an issue for me a week to 10 days ago, when it happened on three different systems I was accessing - from three different locations, using different browsers - it was simply a problem. Haven't noticed it as much in the last few days. I usually assume it's some kind of hamster issue when it happens across the systems I'm using.

I went for years on A2K without this happening. In the last few months, sometimes it happens sporadically, sometimes ad nauseum. I would suspect that A2K has a hamster problem.

BBB
I find it happening frequently due to an interruption in access I assume because the hamster is working on the server.

BBB

Also, there are times during the day, when it's becoming a "labor of love" to post, 'cause it takes so long!

Well, there are plenty of issues that have cropped up over time as a result of A2K's growth.

In response to some of these, there have been several software revisions (the current A2K is at Version 3.0), the site has been migrated to different, more capable servers, and additional bandwidth has been obtained. Some things, like the occasional (and really irritating) "slowness" are more or less gonna be with us until the "All New" A2K launches - its coming, but just when it will be here isn't for sure yet; as I understand, its still in the final stages of debugging, the idea being to make sure everything works as intended before turning it loose.

Again as I understand it, the "slowness" issue, along with the even more frustrating failures to connect correctly ("Critical Error" and/or "404 - Cannot find" pages, for instance) are unfortunate consequences of the current software (which has been developed about as far as it practiably can go) being inadequate to the tasks of handling A2K's enormous database and heavy user load - the software just plain never was designed with anything like what A2K has become in mind. Its not so much that the hamsters are working on the server, its more like the software just isn't up to the job its now being called on to do.

That's not to say log-in problems absolutely are not server-end problems; they might be, and they might be related to the conditions that cause the site to "slow down" or even "freeze" or quit responding altogether - that could play a part, even a big part.

Still, the occaisional log-in problem, even the recurring log-in problems experienced - and reported - by SOME members point more to a user-end issue than to a server-end issue.

And a little more of "again as I understand it", while reports may or may not be made on the threads, in general whenever a site-wide problem pops up, reports just about flood the Help Desk and A2K's eMail inbox. From what I understand, persistent, site-wide log-in problems just are not there. Something that happens to some folks, some of the time, rarely - not never, but very rarely - is a server-end error. I dunno for sure, and don't even wanna come close to claiming to, but it seems to me what's being discussed here isn't a problem with a solution available at the A2K end - I could be wrong all or in part, but that's the way it seems to me.

Anyhow, yeah, there will be - and are - glitches. I think the hamsters pretty much are doing what they can about the glitches they can do anything about, but there are glitches the hamsters are powerless to resolve under the current circumstances.

Wish I had a better answer ... but I suspect there might not be a better answer right now.

I'm reminded of that message we all love to hear; "Thank you for calling. We are aware of the problem and are working to correct it as rapidly as possible. We appreciate your patience and understanding."

I've been going through this at home for awhile, too. At work I always log out and delete history, anyway.

AU. Good to see you back. Some of us have been worried.

it's been happening to me as well

Timber
Is it possible that the problem is related to the McAfee security system. It was installed with all it's bells and whistles on a just purchased computer.

Roger
Thanks, good to be back.

Au - could be McAfee is eating more cookies than you'd prefer it to - do you regularly frequent other log-in type websites - and if so do you find you have to log in more frequently than before McAfee? Conceivably could be related to your firewall, too. Dunno, just taking a stab here ... mebbe you could look into setting A2K as a "Trusted" site in your Security/Privacy software and via Internet Options. Might be worth a try.

Oh ... and welcome back, congrats on the new 'puter.

I too have been experiencing multiple problems. Happens only at this site. Like, probably many others, I just accept it and find no need to complain. All the time hoping that it will eventually get to the point that it either does not happen or happens infrequently enough not to notice.

The site was down for a while yesterday, which may account for some of the issues. I am marking this topic answered.

yes, only this site for me as well and no change in firewall (Norton)

I thought that Craven had said this was a known problem that he didn't have time to fix, but if he did I haven't found it yet. I did find this, which might (or might not) be related:



http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2294940#2294940

If site outages - the website becoming unavailable while you're on it - is the issue, I misunderstood what was being talked about; yeah, that's major suckage and I get those a lot more than I'd like, just as everyone else does. I thought folks were refering to being constantly prompted to log in, without having logged out or left the website. My bad.

No, I think that's what's being talked about too. I'm suggesting that since it's so widespread and since so many people report it only being a problem on A2K that it could have something to do with the general problems A2K's been having -- "as it stands phpbb's performance is poor at this scale." But I don't know. I have vague recollections that a search hasn't bolstered yet.