Several people have complained about being logged out unexpectedly when visiting the SDMB. We have been in touch with vBulletin support. Their answer has been “it’s on the client side, not the server.” More details follow.
First change these settings in the user cp -> edit options screen
Automatically login when you return to the site? (uses cookies) - set to yes[sup]1[/sup]
and
Browse board with cookies? - set to yes
Q&A with vBulletin support:
Q: How long does the login last?
A: Depends on the user’s setting. If they are set to “logon automatically” they will last until they hit the logout link. If they are set to not logon automatically, they are set to be deleted at the end of the session which is based on the cookie timeout. (Note- we have increased this time period to 15 minutes.)
Q: Why are users being logged out?
A: It is caused by problems in cookie handling by the user’s browser where the cookie isn’t sent or it gets corrupted somehow. Cookie handling is not done on the server though. All that is done is a recommended cookie is sent to the end-user and their browser handles it as they see fit. If they delete their internet cache, the history or have roaming user profiles, their cookies might be deleted by the system. It depends on how it is setup. If they are using a browser that supports P3P policies such as Internet Explorer 6.0, your cookies could be denied if they are using default settings and you don’t have a proper P3P policy in place for your site. Some companies ban cookies to pass through their proxies outright.
For more help, you can ask in ATMB. Specify at the least the following:
[ol][li]Name of web browser and version[/li][li]Operating system and version[/li][li]Are you connecting to the internet through a proxy?[/li][li]What are your settings for “Automatically login when you return to the site?” and “Browse board with cookies?”[/li][li]In your web browser, look in the preferences/options/settings menu and list the values and descriptions of all values having to do with cookies.[/ol][/li]
Unfortunately we may not be able to solve all problems happening with logouts. We hope that knowledgeable posters will be able to help debug the problems experienced by some of our users.
[sup]1[/sup] If you do this, remember to go to the message board home page and Log Out when you’re done using the SDMB. This will prevent someone else from accidentally accessing the message board under your username. When you return, you can log in again from the home page.