I'm seeing this too and also find it frustrating. It's been going on for a week or two…

Iain

I went through a long patch of this kind of frustration as well, then found I could no longer log in either. I tried repeatedly to do so but each attempt failed with the message that my log in details were not recognised. Many times I asked for a manual reset but that produced no tangible result

Finally I gave up and renewed my membership of the Forum. Weeks later I found my new password in my Spam box, I have always up until then had messages etc direct to my email address, but not as a result of this nonsense

Once that was used I was back in business again as if nothing had happened

All very curious Brian

I thought I was the only one this happened to. I,m so happy I,m not alone.

I think it has been mentioned that this site is experiencing very heavy traffic since lockdown, it is probably shedding inactive connections more quickly than usual.

Mike

Same probs on my laptop; only happens with this site, not on any other site / forum. What is it with MTM ?

George.

I leave my pc on all the time and stay logged in to several forums permanently. Just went to answer a post and realised I was logged out. The other annoying thing is that if I try to copy and paste using the right click menu I get the message "your browser does not support copy & paste" That is strange as I use the latest Microsoft Edge browser. That does not happen on any other site.

regards

Count your blessings with this forum. Over on HSM the software recently changed to stop working properly with IE in far more ways only Chrome and FF work. My new work laptop has Edge but that won't remember anything in the favourites bar where I keep key sites like this one.

This problem pops up now and again and there's a tendency for victims to assume 'it must be the website'. It ain't necessarily so.

A strange feature is it doesn't effect everyone – far from it. Instead, seems to afflict particular individuals at random, and it happens to them in clusters. There doesn't seem to be a particular combination of ISP, Browser or Operating System involved.

The site uses two different mechanisms to control logins; one allows the server to zap logins, as might be necessary to shed users during busy times. But I would expect server end disconnects to be relatively unusual.

The symptoms suggest to me the problem lies at the user end. The second works like this: after a successful login, an authorisation cookie is stored on our computer's disc. The cookie, which is time limited (several months) lasts between sessions and is used to re-authenticate behind the scenes later. The system relies on a successful network handshake between the website and your computer.

Our computers are a likely source of error and there are many possibilities, particularly as none of us really understands how our machines are set up. We rely on Installs, software and hardware to generally behave without having to grip any of the detail.

And computers go wrong! Issues with the home computer's configuration, perhaps over aggressive Anti-virus software, or Browser settings and misfiring plug-ins can cause cookie problems. Malware has a taste for cookies, as does the O/S reclaiming disk space, and other 'tidy up' applications. Clock errors, security certificate glitches and network problems can also cause trouble. Very difficult to diagnose.

Unfortunately although I have the tools needed to have a chance of tracing the malfunction, I've only been logged out a couple of times since 2015, and never persistently! I'm quite active too – 5700 posts and 1700 photographs. I run Ubuntu mostly but also Catalina, Raspbian, and Windows 10 without any bother. Windows 7 was OK too. I don't have a Smart Phone or Tablet. Whatever the issue is, I don't have it. Grrrr.

Before dumping the Forum in disgust, I suggest checking your computer, which is worth doing periodically anyway. Try scanning for Malware with a different tool, experimenting with Browser settings and plugins, and looking at the machine's network error rate and memory consumption. People with the problem sometimes get it on more than one device at the same time, which hints at a network or router problem. (Try rebooting the router – they cause some very strange symptoms.)

Would be good to pin down the cause – must be ******* annoying!

Dave