h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have my computers at home and work set to take me directly to my PS and sign me in automatically (or always keep me signed in, whichever it is). But every Saturday I have to sign in, not first thing when I check my conversations list over breakfast, but later on (it's now 1pm and I've just had to sign in).

Does anyone else get this?

Deb

It happens to me debs but not on a Saturday. It seems to be a random thing.

t.

Currently, this is just the way it is. The cookie expires after a week.
A new log in system is in the pipeline, and it will be launched as soon as our coder volunteer has spent enough of his time off on it , together with some other features...

It will get better, the login, but I can't say when.

Milla, with a bit of inside knowledge, hoping I didn't get it wrong.

I always log in strongly... not weakly... oh... weekly

Ah, thanks for the explanation Milla. It's not a problem, I was just curious.

Deb

I raised this on feedback a while ago, and eventually got the answer that it is designed that way because there is no log out button! So on a shared computer that's an issue. Although a week is enough time to create merry hell if you ask me, but that's the answer I got.

Being fixed, but no idea how long it will take.

I think for the probably very few people using public computers to log into h2g2 they could have just given instructions on how to delete the cookie...

Odd, I've never had that problem! My little MacBook Pro logs on without fail.

Peculiar.

No logout button? There's a Sign Out jobbie in Brunel - my second panel down says

Rod | Settings | Sign Out

I'll come back from the dead to tell you...

WooOoo

Yes, it works

Works for alabastards as well.

I have to log in every time on my mobile

But on my other (proper) computers I never have to log in...

There's a sign-out option in Goo too.

I always thought the cookies were specific to the computer (I'm so not a so possibly completely wrong) and yet I never have to sign in on my work computer.

Deb

It's designed so that you have to log in once a week. If you don't, it sounds to me as if there is something wrong. But I'm not the system designer.

Hi All,

When we first got h2g2 from the beeb we had to get a replacement user system as we couldn't continue to use BBCiD. This system was built while we were still getting the Ripley skins (Goo, Alabaster and Brunel) up and working.

These skins work by reading a cookie it sets on your computer, which it can then use to see if you're logged in. This isn't the best way of doing it, but it was when these were built. Unfortunately, there's a lot about these skins that we can't change and this is one of them.

We made sure that there was a sign out button before we went live, and I guess we just didn't get around to making the cookie length any longer as there's an awful lot of coding to be done and only a very small tech team. And unfortunately it's not a 9 to 5 job for us. Our 9 to 5 jobs pay the bills so we can do this in our spare time. This means that we really have to be a bit brutal about not fixing some things that we know are going to be replaced soon.

We're currently getting the new system into place, and it works slightly differently. The new skin is more than that, it's a totally new framework, the underlying code is new, much more modern, and allows us to sort out auto-logins. How it works is when you log in you get a "remember me" checkbox that'll set a new cookie. The new system looks for this, does a few security checks and then automatically logs you back in, refreshing your cookies as it does so.

We'll be putting this new login system live when we put the new skin live. I'm (still) optimistically hoping to have it in Beta testing early next week. Although I've been saying that for the last month.

On the plus side, there's now only 11 known bugs.

Only 3 bugs! Brilliant!

it was 11, now it's 12.

So, just the 30 to go, then.

Ah. So this comment "When we first relaunched it lasted about a month, but people were concerned because there was (at the time) no log out button" from this thread F615?thread=8289896 was total cock then?

No. Because that was before it was open to the public as it were.

There's a few articles about, in the Post I think, about the testing that was done and the fun that was had. It was during that time that the cookie length was chosen

"very small tech team" is an understatement.