Posted by Andrew Tinsley on 13/02/2020 10:40:14:
Something odd has happened in the last few weeks. I have to log in several times a day, even if I keep the MEW site open all day. Very odd indeed.
Formerly I could stay logged in for months or every day or so, without any apparent rhyme or reason. Doesn't bother me, but wouldn't mind knowing why the process of logging in is so random?
This is a recurring problem not a deliberate feature. The exact cause is unknown, but a little forensic digging with a network monitor and web inspector revealed two different mechanisms.
- The Server is built on Microsoft Internet Sharepoint, which has a login timeout mechanism. Web servers can be programmed to log users out after a period of inactivity (method popular with Banks because people leaving their account open are a fraud risk) and/or if the server is busy. Servers, like any other machine, have limited capacity. Basically, when the machine is overloaded, it can be arranged that fresh logins push the oldest inactive user off the system, ie when resources are short priority is given to active users rather than inactive ones. Furthermore, this forum doesn't have it's own dedicated website. Rather the forum is one of several maintained in a group by MyTimeMedia, thus it's possible that high activity on the Woodworking, or Needlework fora will bump Model Engineers or vice versa. Only the system administrator has access to the data, my perception is that the forum is not generally overloaded, mostly OK but I noticed the odd 'bump' – slow photo uploading, missed & delayed posts, double posts, jambed edits etc. The effect of a server delay is more critical to anyone with a slow network connection or computer, because the total time may add up to cause either side to bail out, rather as people hang up phones if no-one speaks straight away.
- A second mechanism issues a cookie on the users computer when he logs in, and the cookie is destroyed when he logs out. Except this forum remembers logins by storing cookies between sessions and reusing them to provide an automatic login feature. The cookies are local to your machine, not part of the website, and they can and do go wrong at the user end. Furthermore, because cookies are a security and privacy risk, they are targetted by user-side security policies, (browser settings) and by Anti-Virus and Web privacy protections.
More bad news, both mechanisms can go malfunction. Server-end issues are usually self correcting because the system is periodically flushed. User end issues are more difficult because few users are capable of detecting & fixing errors such as corrupt cookies, or subtly inappropriate security behaviour on a home computer. Easy fixes, like deleting all cookies, have temporary negative effects.
Earlier threads discussed the problem without an obvious pattern emerging. It's doesn't appear to be specific to a particular Browser or Operating System. When it goes wrong, a few individuals are repeatedly annoyed whilst everyone else gets normal glitch free service. That hints that the problem is local: something adrift at the home computer. What might help pin it down would be those effected reporting their full configuration. Broad stuff such as 'it only happens on this website', and 'I have Windows' is useless, what's needed is detail, at least:
- Browser: Mozilla Firefox 72.0.2 (64-bit) for Ubuntu canonical 1.0,
- Operating System: Ubuntu 19.10,
- Memory: 15.5Gib
- CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz × 8
- Disc: 1.5Tb
- AVM: None
- Firewall: None
- Router: BT SmartHub
- Max Download: 52Mbits/s
- Max Upload: 10Mbits/s
Collecting many examples might reveal a pattern, perhaps linking the bug to, slow network speeds, out-of-date software, a particular AVM, low memory, or an ISP etc. etc.
I was trained to never leave a computer logged in. Memory lapses apart I logout at the end of every forum session. It means I don't carry a login cookie between sessions, which may make me less vulnerable to login problems due to a mangled cookie. Worth trying I think; log in and then log out immediately in hope it reissues a clean cookie on the next log in.
Dave