sailor - you could try a different OS, a different browser, or a different ISP. Does this happen to you with other boards that run vBulletin 2.2.4 ?
It does not happen with other boards like hardforum.com so it is clearly an issue with this board. Other posters here often complain about the same thing so it is not an issue with my computer only. And since it started happening I have changed the entire system and it still happens. I am quite sure the issue is with this board’s software and it is most annoying. I hope it can be fixed.
I’ve been having the same problem with random logouts since the board changeover. I’m using Opera 6.03 and Win2k, I have cookies enabled, and I’m not surfing through a proxy.
It’s not a major problem; I can deal with it. But it’s annoying sometimes.
Then it might be related to our overworked server. I have no idea why it happens.
Maybe we could sacrifice some virgins or something. . .
Wouldn’t that be an awful waste?
FFF, Unaboard, and the Opera Forums all use vBulletin 2.2.4 and I haven’t read about the logout problem on any of them.
My guess it that’s a combination of our unusually large and active membership, the overworked hamster, and the specific way in which vBulletin 2.2.4 has been configured for the SDMB.
Thanks goodness it isn’t anything more than a slight and occasional annoyance; we might be hard pushed finding enough virgins to appease the vBulletin gods.
Actually I also have this problem but I just resign in and it goes through
Now whats odd is when ya do ya board maintience for the night you dont have the old page telling us thats what yout doing …
i either get the tech error or the page dosent load …
If i hadnt known what time the board went down everynight id of sent tons of mails heh
From the FAQ:
Netscape 4.78
Cookies - accept all cookies
Internet Explorer 5
Cookies - allow stored cookies and session cookies
Mozilla 0.9something
Cookies - ???
Windows 98
No proxy
DSL
No, I am not checking on another ISP - it’s happening to too many people for it to be an ISP problem.
Yes, I have the user cp options set correctly - I have since we started on the new software.
The latest time I was logged off, I was logged off less than 40 minutes after I had posted. I had done nothing in IE5 except browse MPSIMS.
I have worked with cookies in the past, and I have to say that their explanation that the problem is on the client side is bullshit. Cookies work very simply - the server asks the client to store information as a key/value pair with an expiration date. The server can also request the value for a key. When the server makes the request, the value will be returned if it exists and the value has not expired. The information is stored with the domain name, so that a server can only access information for the current domain.
If the information was getting corrupted in transit, my entire connection would be corrupted.
If my client wasn’t storing the expiration date correctly, I would have other sites logging me out. I have been logged into LiveJournal for three months at a time in Navigator. I have been logged into live365 via IE5 since about last August.
If the problem was with the client, I wouldn’t have had the problem on 3 different clients. :mad:
Here is the contents of my current cookie (Note, after the last login)
bblastvisit
1024800246
http://boards.straightdope.com/
0
1357313408
29571377
1153989504
29497951
*
bbuserid
553
http://boards.straightdope.com/
0
4292411520
29571380
3887687616
29497954
*
bbpassword
encrypted password removed
http://boards.straightdope.com/
0
4292411520
29571380
3888187616
29497954
*
I will try to remember to capture and post my cookie the next time I logout.
bblastvisit
1024856530
http://boards.straightdope.com/
0
1546597632
29571508
1166173728
29498082
*
And after logging in
bblastvisit
1024856530
http://boards.straightdope.com/
0
1546597632
29571508
1166173728
29498082
*
bbuserid
553
http://boards.straightdope.com/
0
112088192
29571523
4021931584
29498096
*
bbpassword
password removed
http://boards.straightdope.com/
0
112088192
29571523
4021931584
29498096
*
I was logged out. I’m presenting the circumstances so that they ight aid in the identification of some common or significant conditions. I’m not asking for moderators’ comments, but they can comment if they wish.
I noticed I was logged out by the appearance of the session hash in the thread URL. My time was 6:37 PM. The forum index and thread I had just displayed gave the time as 12:37 AM GMT. This is a bit odd because I know that there’s a 5 hour difference between my time (Chicago, Daylight Savings) and GMT. Is this BST (British Summer Time) instead? I think we’ve covered this before.
I use Cookie Crusher 3.0 which manages cookies. It reports that the SDMB generated two cookies at 6:09:12 PM (my time).
The first expires “end of session” and is type “sessionhash”. Its value is the same as the string of characters that now show up in the thread URL.
The second expires 2003/06/26 and is type “bblastvisit”. Of course, this is a permanent cookie and it’s how the SDMB knows when I last visited. Its value is 1025133190, apparently seconds since midnight UTC 1/1/1970. Taking into account Daylight Savings Time, this matches the SDMB home page which now says I last visited at 12:13 AM GMT 6-27-2002. That’s a 4 minute difference from the time Cookie Crusher reports. I’ve just checked my PC against one of the atomic clocks, and it’s 65 seconds slow. The rest of the difference must be connected with the SDMB’s slow response.
Cookie Crusher shows the SDMB cookie before that was generated at 5:51:31 PM. It is type “bbthreadview[122529]”, obviously when I viewed that thread. Its value is 1025132123, which is again 4 minutes later than Cookie Crusher’s time.
Between those are a number of cookies from other sites. I’m pretty sure I went to view those other sites because that’s what I usually do when the SDMB is bogged down.
So maybe this logging out is another unfortunate and unavoidable result of the overloaded SDMB.
I’ve now signed back in. Cookie Crusher asked whether or not to accept the 2 SDMB cookies, and I accepted them. The SDMB home page says “You last visited: 06-26-2002 05:55 PM.”
My setup:
[ul][li]MSIE 5.5[/li][li]Window 98 [/li][li]Using Norton Antivirus email proxy[/li][li]SDMB settings are “automatically log in” and “browse with cookies”[/li]Browser cookie settings - accept all. Further controlled by Cookie Crusher. Accepts all cookies which expire in 1 day or less. Prompts for all others.[/ul]
Timestamp on cookie file: 7-4, 1:02 PM
Contents
bblastvisit
1025806064
http://boards.straightdope.com/
0
713906176
29573719
3882449568
29500292
*
IE History -
At 12:34 I visited this page
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=123836
At 1:08, I visited this page (I don’t remember this, hmmm):
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php
And this page: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&forumid=4&x=14&y=2
And this page: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=123507