Problems logging on to Forum

Shoot, after lurking for a long time and finally joining about a week ago, all I've been having is problems with the logon. I thought it was normal for this site to try to logon on four to five times. You think you were logged on and post a reply, hit submit and find out, in reality, that I was logged off and lost everything I tried to post. I’ve gotten to the point of saving a post to MS Word first before I press the SUBMIT REPLY button just in case the post "chokes".

I tried the logon with three different browsers and they all acted the same.

I really thought that this was normal for this site. I guess no one else has noticed.

Yes, I'm one other person that has problems with this site. Fearfully, I'm pressing the SUBMIT button (with this post saved to MS Word just in case).

PS: Even when I made this post and pressed SUBMIT the submit worked but I got logged off and had to logon again!? Huh?

Guys.

Check your cookie settings.

There have been a few people who have had the same problems. I have to admit, this problem is one that's been difficult to track down. I'm beginning to understand how Captain Ahab felt in hunting down Moby Dick.

See, the web site is (partially) broken...the standard answer of "It's your broken cookies" is never the right answer. I'm glad to know knowledgeable people are looking into the problem and have no doubt a solution will be found.

Attempting to press SUBMIT button....NOW!

Dave I have problems too, the site doesn't seem to remember who I am. I have to login everytime I come on to the site but it wont let me login on the home page it only works on the forum page, now I haven't tried any of the other pages for login.

Yes,

I've had problems too. Doesn't seem to remember that I already logged in - so I have to do it several times throughout one visit.

I had this problem a while ago, but it mysteriouly went away. And the forum only doesnt remember me if I do something with my cookies, so that could be the problem for others.

Maybe I found the solution to this problem. I can't log in today no matter how I try. Everytime that I log in there's a prompt that says that I entered an invalid username/ password. Try Forgot my Password & you get to have a chance to replace your old password. I did this & now I can log in. I'm not really sure I wont have this problem again but right now I'm logged in.

I have an idea what the problem is. I just don't understand it.

Warning - long technical stuff follows.

The thing is for many who have reported problems like this, I've checked and consistantly there are two values stored in their cookies which are being duplicated or stored twice. It does appear to occur when posting too. The problem is there's only supposed to be one set of values, but the presence of two are causing problems. Theoretically it shouldn't be happening either. So it's kind of an odd problem.

Dave - I too am not remembered when I go to this site after a previous session (meaning that I logout of my server, also). i know this used to happen if I cleared my cookies, but it happens all the time now, even if I don't delete my cookies. One thing that just occurred to me is that I don't use the forum's log out function.
One other thing I have noticed, and may be part of the problems stated above, is this:
Let's say I go to the Forum Index site, but don't log in. Then say I go from there to the aircraft page, view it and then log in (successfully). If I go back to the previous Index page (using my 'BACK' button) it will show me as not logged in. However, if I go back to the Index page using the link at the top of your page, I will still be logged in. I hope this makes sense to you, as it's a bit hard to explain.

Stinger

I too have had most of the same problems as above. Most of the time I dont worry about it and come back later and it works fine. If not later then the next day. After going back and forth with Dave(?) I have given up and dont worry about it.

yeah I had those kind of problems. David gave me a thread link but I can't seem to find it now. it fixed all my problems.

Ok guys, check this out - Like probably most of you, I have the forum web address saved to my favorites list (actually, it's a 'hot' button on my toolbar). I just logged in to the site and copy/pasted the (logged in) sites' address to replace the original on my toolbar.
I logged off and then used the hot button to get to the forum and was successfully auto-logged in!
I'm guessing there must be something in the web address string that has to do with this.
Dave - what do you think?
The only difference I could see was that the logged in string contained the www part of it.
I don't know my propeller from my tail skid when it comes to computers, but I'm just tryin' to help.

Stinger

I appreciate everyone taking the time explaining the problems you are encountering in regards to the login. It makes it easier to identify the problem.

In regards to using the BACK button, sometimes the page you're going back to comes out of your browser's cache (memory) rather than directly from our server. So if you weren't logged in on the previous page and you go back, most likely it was a local copy and not an updated version of the page. Either click on a link or CTRL-R or the F5 key will force your browser to get a new copy of the page.

In regards to the bookmarks, if you have bookmarked the homepage, it is possible your bookmark is causing problems. Your bookmark should either go to http://www.finescale.com/ or http://www.finescale.com/fsm/default.aspx or http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/ which will either take you to the homepage or the forum index. If your bookmark has a huge string of numbers and letters in it, then (unfortunately) your login will probably not work.

To change your bookmark on IE, click on Favorites. Locate your bookmark and instead of clicking on it, right click on it and select "Properties". The window that appears will have three tabs and you should be on the one labeled "Web Document". You'll see the URL field. If the url for the homepage is not one of the above then change it and hit the OK button.

Another post I made which Chris may be referring to (or has the same information) can be found here - Techie Stuff: Browser Cache & Cookies.

Lastly, the login / authentication system restricts logins to a single computer (single browser). If you visit the forum at work and at home, you'll be forced to login each time you switch between the two. Here's something I had posted a long time before about this:

One thing I wanted to mention (although it doesn't sound like it's the problem) is if you use different computers you'll run into a situation similiar to this. The authentication process issues a "key" (which is stored in your cookie) that is verified every "x" minutes. If the key matches to the original, a new key is issued. If the key doesn't match, you're bumped out.

If you're using the same computer, it's not a problem. If you're switching between computers, everytime you login with one computer you're invalidating the key on the other computer.

One more thing...

If you are having problems remaining logged in, try deleting your cookies for this website. I'll tell you an easy way to do it, rather than wiping out all your cookies for all the sites you have visited. Think of it as a surgical strike vs. the carpet bomb approach.

What you want to do is open your Windows Explorer and find the folder holding your cookies. For Windows 2000, you'll find them here (using your local username in place of username in the example):
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Cookies
You are only looking for the cookie for this site. No need to go removing all the others (unless you really want to).

The location and filename of the cookie (actually a text file) looks like this on Windows 2000:
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Cookies\username@www.finescale.txt

When you find it, delete it. You will need to login afterwards.

yeah that was it Dave. link? forget it! I have this set as my home page.

Thank you David!
It was that simple and I'm a bit embarassed that I didn't try the cookies thing before all this trouble. Maybe someday I'll enter the twenty first century.

Matt

Since the computer that I use is not mine ( it belongs to the BEQ, the barracks) I really don't know if any "cookies" are stored. It's just kinda frustrating WANTING to post and NOT being able to! - Calvin