# How Long Before Board Inactivity Logs You Out!(edited) **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 28, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-board-inactivity-logs-you-out-edited/508048 "2009-08-28T17:28:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-board-inactivity-logs-you-out-edited/508048/1 "2009-08-28T17:28:58Z")
How long does it take for the board to log you out automatically if you don’t commit activity? ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-board-inactivity-logs-you-out-edited/508048/2 "2009-08-28T17:41:22Z")
One of these days you’re going to catch flack for making non-descriptive, two word thread titles. How Long David Petreaus Differences Conservative Evolutionists Presidential Pardon Murder of Senator Etc etc. The thread title isn’t supposed to be the genre, or rough topic of what you’re going to post, it should encapsulate or summarize your post. When you see “How Long” or “Murder of Senator” you have to click the thread to find out what you’re even talk about, wheras if it were “How long does the forum keep you logged in?” or “Who would investigate the murder of a senator?” you can tell if the thread will be of any interest to you. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-board-inactivity-logs-you-out-edited/508048/3 "2009-08-28T18:06:42Z")
^ Agree. I had already dropped trou and grabbed a ruler. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-board-inactivity-logs-you-out-edited/508048/4 "2009-08-28T18:34:11Z")
If you add two vowels to the current thread title, this thread might have been about a former NFL football player. FYI - I’ve had the SDMB in an operating tab using Firefox for hours of no activity and never lost a connection. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-board-inactivity-logs-you-out-edited/508048/5 "2009-08-28T18:47:34Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > ^ Agree. I had already dropped trou and grabbed a ruler. 11 inches right? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-board-inactivity-logs-you-out-edited/508048/6 "2009-08-28T18:48:36Z")
To answer the OP. I don’t think the forum keeps you logged on. I think that’s a function of cookies in your web browser. If you clear your cookies you’ll see that you are no longer logged on. ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-board-inactivity-logs-you-out-edited/508048/7 "2009-08-28T18:54:01Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > To answer the OP. I don’t think the forum keeps you logged on. I think that’s a function of cookies in your web browser. If you clear your cookies you’ll see that you are no longer logged on. True, but when a website leaves cookies it gives them a point of time where they should expire. I could log in/out and see when the expiration date on the cookie is, and infer from that, but I can’t be bothered. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-board-inactivity-logs-you-out-edited/508048/8 "2009-08-28T18:54:55Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#): > > True, but when a website leaves cookies it gives them a point of time where they should expire. I could log in/out and see when the expiration date on the cookie is, and infer from that, but I can’t be bothered. Ahh, I don’t actually know how to do that. I just cleared my cookies and it indeed logged me out of the website. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-board-inactivity-logs-you-out-edited/508048/9 "2009-08-28T20:31:30Z")
**Curtis**. The posters make a good point. Try to be more descriptive in the thread title(which I just edited). **samclem** Moderator, General Questions ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-board-inactivity-logs-you-out-edited/508048/10 "2009-08-28T20:32:34Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Ahh, I don’t actually know how to do that. I just cleared my cookies and it indeed logged me out of the website. There are many excellent (and free) programs out there which will help you identify the types of cookies on your computer. I use [Cookie Culler](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/82), an addon for Firefox. At the moment it’s telling me that I have a veritable host of cookies from the SDMB. The ones that are specific to the Dope are these: \*\*bbsessionhash bbpassword bbuserid bblastvisit bblastactivity bbforumview bbthread\_lastview \*\* These are all pretty self-explanatory. Many of them are set to expire in August 2010, although some, like bbsessionhash, expire at the end of each session. Then we have four SDMB cookies from Google Analytics: \*\*\_utma \*\* (keeps track of the number of times a visitor has been to the site, when their first visit was, and when their last visit occurred.) **\_utmc** (used with \_utmb to calculate the exact moment in time a user enters a site and the exact moment they leave.) **\_utmz** (keeps track of where a visitor came from, what search engine they used, what link they clicked on, what keyword they used, and where they were in the world when they accessed the site.) **\_qca** (haven’t a clue what this one does but it’s definitely another Google tracking cookie.) Oh, and there’s a couple of cookies from SDMB Chicago too! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-board-inactivity-logs-you-out-edited/508048/11 "2009-08-31T14:25:25Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > 11 inches right? You got the number right on, but I’m all about metric. ☹