Constantly Having To Log In To The Website

For some reason the website has lately taken it upon itself to log me out if I’m away from the site.

For years I have always kept the site open & logged in on a permanently open tab on my iPad & it always used to stay open for weeks on end without logging me out. However, for the last few weeks I’ve been finding that I open the tab & I have to log in again. It’s now got to the point where I log in, read a few posts then close the iPad & when I open it again an hour later I find that I’m logged out again. Have you changed the security policy?

I have cleared the cache & deleted cookies on my iPad, I’m not accessing the site simultaneously on more than one device. I have ticked the ‘remember me box’ too, although for some reason that has now become unaccessible. All that I’m doing is reading the site for half an hour then closing my device. It’s really frustrating having to constantly log in, especially so when it didn’t used to be necessary.

Why is it happening now?

Alan

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

Iain

I have been having the same problem for a couple of years, doesn’t happen with other sites, it’s a total pain in the a**e.

I’ve just opened my iPad less than 9 hours after posting my first entry, refreshed the latest posts page & it required me to log in again. After posting last night I cleared the cache on the iPad again then re-logged in again but it’s made no difference. I’ve not logged in on another device or even viewed on another device so it’s a problem with this website & it looks like I’m not an isolated case either.

Alan

I've not had this problem on laptop for a couple of years. ( See what happens now )

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

It’s happened again. I posted the last comment, went away to look at the newspaper headlines before coming back just now to refresh the latest posts page. Now I’ve had to log back in again in order to make this post.

I'm beginning to wonder if it’s worth the bother ☹️

Alan

Edited By Brytech on 22/06/2020 09:32:42

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

This has also started happening again with me.

Sometimes, when I login, I have the option 'remember me', and other times not. It seems to me that, if the option was provided, and I use it, then I usually stay logged in for a while. If it's not available then the login is temporary. The last couple of times I've had to login the 'remember me' option was not available.

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

Mike Poole,

My experience was from several months before the lock down and from some of the stories I have read in the posting inactive connections seems to have no bearing on the situation, see Brytech for example

Brian.

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

George.

I just log in when I want to post, never thought about staying in all the time, must be my age

Tony

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

I think it's the sheer amount of users on the website at the moment, if it goes over a limit it logs inactive people off.

I don't think there's any practical answer in the short term.

Neil

Thanks Neil for the explanation which wasn’t a reason that I’d considered, but does seem to be logical

Several responders have used terms such as annoying, one described it as as a PITA & I have to agree with those sentiments. Is there a longer term plan to improve the situation? I’m inclined to think that having found a large number of new members, you would like to keep them. If the situation doesn’t improve though, I wonder if they’re going to stick around. As has been mentioned, it doesn’t seem to happen on other websites & probably will cause some to jump ship & go elsewhere.

Alan

Personally, I don't find it much of an issue - I can read posts without logging in, and having to login to reply gives you that vital extra time to think about what you're going to say in order to avoid offending anyone.

(I was already logged in, so that didn't apply in this case )

Rob

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.

I have no problem with Edge favourites remembering a page. Try adding to "Collections" it works really well to keep similar items where you can find them.

regards

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