Site auto log out.....

[Steve Burke]

Hi All

Tried several emails to the site 'administrator', on this one ( as per the error message received ), but no replies..... do we have a site admin person anymore, or is the email link invalid?

Anyhow.... my Question.....

I type a reply, or start a new thread, only to find I get distracted. ( Phone usually ). When I return to finish my script, when I come to save it, the site tellsme it has logged me out. I have to cut and paste the text and start again. Does anyone else have this problem, and why does the site log you out after say 10mins? I appreciate the security aspects of inactive accounts, but surely 10mins is too short????

Can anyone shine any light on this please?

Thanks

Steve

[Chris Hurd]

An embarrassing issue which should be resolved upon completion of our pending forum software upgrade. It's just late, like everything else. Please hang in there... will try to get this resolved as soon as possible.

[Mark Holland]

I was wondering too. Thanks Chris!

[Steve Burke]

Thanks for your reply, Chris.

Steve

[Steve Burke]

Hi Chris

Just something else that you may wish to consider for the new software.... or is the suggestion too late?

I log in.... start looking at the New Posts....... then find an interesting article that requires an external link /read. When you get back to the forum.... it's logged you out!. All the 'new posts' since you last logged in have gone. The new log in reveals about 10 posts in the last 20mins or so..... all the new posts since i logged on earlier today are gone....... would it be possible to specify a list of posts within a certain timeframe. Eg 'list all posts today between 08:00 - 20:00' etc?

Just a constructive thought....

Cheers

Steve

[Chris Hocking]

I agree with Steve. I use the "New Posts" feature all the time and it constantly annoys me as I click it, get distracted, come back and I've "lost" all the New Posts.

[John Westbury]

I've been lucky with this. I don't think I've had that happen once on this site, or the other 2 VB forums I visit. Invision Power Board sites on the other hand, cause this annoyance regularly, and I was told it was a bug that is being worked on.

[Rob Lohman]

We are looking to improve things in the near future. If you have a tabbed browser here's what I do:

1) open the site, click new posts

2) open all the pages of the new posts in separate tabs (apple + T or ctrl + T in Firefox + shift to directly open the tab as well)

3) then I go backwards through the list and open threads I want to check in a new tab as well

4) if there are lots of new post pages I open multiple windows with multiple tabs

It's a bit of work, but it works perfectly and gives you the time to check stuff out

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Chris Hocking

I agree with Steve. I use the "New Posts" feature all the time and it constantly annoys me as I click it, get distracted, come back and I've "lost" all the New Posts.

I have the same problems. I've mentioned to Chris and as he stated, is aware of it. Rob's method will work, but like most of you, I tend to like having the new stuff in bold and regular for the ones I've read when clicking new posts to come out of a thread. This is how most folks set up their email accounts so it kind of feels natural to peruse the board this way.

Hopefully we'll get it all taken care of in the near future.

-gb-

[Mike Teutsch]

Originally Posted by Rob Lohman

We are looking to improve things in the near future. If you have a tabbed browser here's what I do:

1) open the site, click new posts

2) open all the pages of the new posts in separate tabs (apple + T or ctrl + T in Firefox + shift to directly open the tab as well)

3) then I go backwards through the list and open threads I want to check in a new tab as well

4) if there are lots of new post pages I open multiple windows with multiple tabs

It's a bit of work, but it works perfectly and gives you the time to check stuff out

Rob,

One other thing, I don't think was mentioned. Even when there are only a few new posts, the new posts will sometimes disappear within minutes. They are there practically no time at all. This has happened to me many times, and they really causes problems when asking for help and when posting in the classifieds.

I know that the rate of new posts changes with the number of people on line etc, but perhaps a minimum time may be useful.

Just a thought! Most people here probably check out the new posts section just about as soon as they get on. If your post only stays a couple of minutes, that hurts response.

Thanks----Mike

[Jeffrey Butler]

I'm not having issues with New Posts or getting booted, but - if I remember correctly - there's a "Remember Me" check box when you log in. I run another board which uses this engine, and the comments I have received similar to these are generally cleared up when that check box gets checked.

That assumes, I read what I read here correctly (albeit quickly). The auto-log-off goes away with it.

Jeff

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Butler

I'm not having issues with New Posts or getting booted, but - if I remember correctly - there's a "Remember Me" check box when you log in. I run another board which uses this engine, and the comments I have received similar to these are generally cleared up when that check box gets checked.

That assumes, I read what I read here correctly (albeit quickly). The auto-log-off goes away with it.

Jeff

Unfortunately Jeff, that's not the issue we're having here. I also run in 'remember me' mode but the current software state is such that the inactivity timer has a short fuse and if you get stuck reading a long post, or follow a link and get detained, you will have been deemed inactive because you're not actively clicking on threads and/or refreshing the new post search. Your session will end for you and when you click on new posts (remember me logs you right back in), but you'll only be presented with what's new since you were automatically logged off by the software.

I'd like to somehow see a user profile or cookie system that tracks what you have or haven't read in any given thread at any time. That way, you could still get logged off automatically by the system (to cut down on inactive open sessions), but always come back to where you left off.

-gb-

[Jeffrey Butler]

Originally Posted by Greg Boston

Unfortunately Jeff, that's not the issue we're having here. ...I'd like to somehow see a user profile or cookie system that tracks what you have or haven't read in any given thread at any time. That way, you could still get logged off automatically by the system (to cut down on inactive open sessions), but always come back to where you left off.

Thanks for the further explanation. There are potentially a few server-side/admin settings that may help with this. These are from v3.6.3.

Originally Posted by vB Help

Thread/Forum Read Marking Type
This option controls how threads and forums are marked as read.
Inactivity/Cookie Based - once a user has been inactive for a certain amount of time (the value of the session timeout option) all threads and forums are considered read. Individual threads are marked as read within a session via cookies.

This option is how all versions of vBulletin before 3.5 functioned. (Jeff's note - this would appear how your forum works)

Database (no automatic forum marking) - this option uses the database to store thread and forum read times. This allows accurate read markers to be kept indefinitely. However, in order for a forum to be marked read when all threads are read, the user must view the list of threads for that forum.

This option is more space and processor intensive than inactivity-based marking.

Database (automatic forum marking) - this option is the same as a previous option, but forums are automatically marked as read when the last new thread is read.

This is the most usable option for end users, but most processor intensive.

Upgrade to 3.6.3/4 and you'll get these options. However, there is one other setting that may help as well:

Originally Posted by vB

Session Timeout
This is the time in seconds that a user must remain inactive before their login session expires. This setting also controls how long a user will remain on Who's Online after their last activity.

Maybe that helps...

Jeff

[Greg Boston]

Thanks, Jeff. I'm not a guru on vBulletin, but I do know the problem started a while back and I think it may have been after a software upgrade but Chris Hurd would have to clarify that.

Good news is that another software/server upgrade is 'imminent' and maybe this problem will be put to rest along with the slow response times we've been having lately.

-gb-

[Jeffrey Butler]

Originally Posted by Greg Boston

Good news is that another software/server upgrade is 'imminent' and maybe this problem will be put to rest along with the slow response times we've been having lately.

I would also consider firing up the Paid Subscriptions options. Seriously. I'd drop 10 bucks a month into a recurring system to support the forum. It's not much - until you have 20,000 people all doing it....then server/software upgrades are "simple" (theoretically). ;-)