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

Hi Guyz / Girlz -

Bit of history before I start ranting. I am employed by the University of Wolverhampton and frequently find myself working on different PC's in different offices on different sites etc etc. Now, it appears that everytime I log onto this site with my email address I have to
re-register due to me using a different browser. This has happened so frequently now that I am starting to think that I must have registered to all of them - But, maybe not on each machine (would this be necessary?)- Seems pretty weird considering the site already knows who I am - If so, It'd be alot like trying to meet everybody in the Galaxy in alphabetical & chronological order - And life is short for us mere Mortals. Maybe the dark matter in my head is a little too dense this morning and there's a reasonable solution.

Awaiting your response(s) from da edge of various seats!

An explanation and a solution:

We recognise people by using something called Cookies. A Cookie is a small piece of information which we send to your browser which uniquely identifies you. Whenever you look at a page on our site, your browser send us back that cookie, we look it up in our database and can then recognise you.

When you use a different machine, it doesn't have the cookie, se we've no idea who you are.

Also, shared machines might have their cookie files purged regularly, hence them not recognising you when you go back.

The solution to you having to register all the time is passwords. We're shortly going to give everybody the ability to set a password, so next time you go to a new machine, you type in your email address, and you will be asked for your password. When you type that in, we will immediately recognise you, without you needing to check your email.

This should be happening in a week or so.

Thanks for the info- It's nice to know that some people are on the ball!

Passwords? That's a good idea, I was thinking about how we could use our accounts on different computers. Hopefully everyone will be original enough not to simply use '42'.

That's brilliant. I was trying to figure out how to do that, and I wasn't having much luck. But now I can stop thinking about it and just accept that the Guide has already done something about it.

Not that I'm becoming a nag or anything! But, wasn't my first message posted over a week ago?
And wasn't there some mention of having passwords?, and Cookie free, non-problematic surfing of the guide?
Or, are time and reality just slipping me by?

So you missed the announcement on the frontpage last week about our introduction of passwords? Try http://www.h2g2.com/A157457 for the lowdown.

And we never promised cookie-free surfing (actually, surfing is fine cookie free but you'll need a cookie to post).

And your message probably was posted more than a week ago, but less than two weeks ago, which is why it says 'A week ago'.

If you need a cookie to post, doesn't that kinda defeat the purpose of passwords? Is the next step, then, perhaps to add a 'password' field to the editing sections (journal, forum and page)? I know this could be a PITA, but everything's a sacrifice of some sort.

Passwords were added to enable people using shared computers to more easily use h2g2. Cookies are still used to identify users while they're logged on, and will continue to be. The login system gives you the option to make the cookie a temporary one if you prefer, and you can logout at any time, which purges your cookie from the browser.

Ah! Didn't know the cookie would be purged. I don't have that problem myself -- yet... but someday I hope to.

(When I get rich I'm going to set up a massive LAN in the house/office.

Did someone say COOKIES?

*nibble*

Erm.. *urp* ... cookies? No, no one said cookies. *hic*

Careful, I'm not sure that cookies are healthy for anonymice!

cookies -aren't- healthfood? Not even when mixed with cheese or wadka?

I've encountered another problem. I always use the same computer to access the Internet, and hence H2G2. However, from time to time I get treated as a new user, i.e. I am welcomed and asked to register. Sometimes if I disconnect and reconnect later the problem goes away. Sometimes it's there one day and not the next. Today it has happened twice. However, I am still able to post messages and my nickname is shown at the top of this page. (Sometimes this doesn't happen and I give up in disgust.)

What gives?

If the system you're coming from uses a proxy, it's possible that the proxy is cacheing the frontpage, and that's why it sometimes looks like we haven't recognised you.

If you go to a page you haven't visited before, it should show you a 'my home' button instead of a 'register' button.

O.K., it's happened again today. I can still find my way to my home page, which recognises that it is my home page. Going to other pages, whether I've visited them before or not, produces a 'my home' button.

HOWEVER, I don't know whether my system uses a proxy or not. As far as I am concerned, it's just my home PC. It's not networked or anything fancy, just stand-alone on my desk. The occurrence of this problem is sporadic, but often enough to be irritating. Can I put a stop to it, and if so, how?

Proxy is an ISP thing - probably the best 1st step is to contact your ISP & ask 'em if they're using a proxy server.
Then at least Jim'll know what he's chasing.

;^)#

Just as a mildly-topical aside, I inarguably -hate- Squid. *grrrrrrrrrrrrrr*

'Nonnie

How on earth can you fail to enjoy "deep fried elastic bands"