[RESOLVED] Very minor feat req: longer cookie expiration

[Tom T.]

Somtimes I take a long time to compose a reply, preview and edit several times, the telephone rings, etc... when I go to post it, it says I am logged out and must log back in. (losing the message, although I know enough to copy to a text file along the way, or use draft). Presumably, the login cookies have expired, although their tags in cookie viewer say "expires at end of session". What is the default expiration time of a session without further user input (previews don't seem to count as user action)? Could it be extended a bit? Also, I've seen sites that offer you a choice: "Log me in for ... 1 hour ... 1 day... (too long, as are "two weeks" and "forever"). Is it much trouble to offer, [whatever is the default time], 1 hr, 2 hrs, 3 hrs? Should be enough. TIA. VERY low priority.

[GµårÐïåñ]

I don't get this and I know what you mean, I have done that myself. I think you might be automatically dumping the cookies on a schedule maybe and that's the culprit. If I am wrong sorry but since it doesn't happen to me, i figured maybe something else.

[dhouwn]

Add N Edit Cookies

[therube]

I'll guess its an one hour timeout & ia_forum_ajbyj_u is the cookie?

[Tom T.]

I'll guess its an one hour timeout & ia_forum_ajbyj_u is the cookie?

I don't have that cookie. The only cookie I have is

Name: style_cookie
Content: null
Domain: .forums.informactino.com
Path: /
Send for: Any type of connection
Expires: At end of session

Might give that cookie editor a whirl.

@ Guardian:: I don't have any sort of cookie add-on, only the default Fx cookie management. There is nothing that I know of that would auto-delete on a timed basis. They are set to expire at "end of session", regardless of whether the session lasts 20 min. or 2 hours. However, it only seems to happen, as mentioned, if I don't interact with the forum (apparently, previewing is not interacting, as I discovered at another site with the same issue) IIDEA!
I'm betting the server drops the TCP connection after X minutes of lack of interaction! Of course it does! ... in which case, a "forever" cookie wouldn't help.

Yes?

EDIT: Well, it just happened again, so I re-logged in, and now have the cookies ia_forum_ajbyi_k, _u, and _sid. I'm guessing SID is required, no? So it does seem to be an expiration issue. Back to the cookie-editor idea.

[GµårÐïåñ]

I am sorry. What I meant by auto-delete is that if you have a tool designed to wipe the cookies and cache, or manually using the keyboard shortcuts or anything. The only reason I suggested that as a possibility is because I personally don't have this issue, and I stay logged on unless I close my browser, so not sure what's happening. Perhaps a configuration is preventing the cookies from properly being registered and referenced? I do get this issue with NS on certain sites but usually a reload fixes it, annoying but when I reported it, everyone said, cannot reproduce, so I dropped it.

[Tom T.]

I... if you have a tool designed to wipe the cookies and cache, or manually using the keyboard shortcuts or anything....

None. Don't use the keyboard shortcuts most of the time. Usually close and restart the browser in between session visits, which causes both Fx and Sandboxie to flush everything. But so long as the browser is open, and I'm logged in here, I expected to stay logged in. Will try the cookie editor and see what the expiration is. Thanks.

[GµårÐïåñ]

Could it also be possibly something Sandboxie may be asserting?

[Tom T.]

Could it also be possibly something Sandboxie may be asserting?

Sandboxie does nothing with material in its cache until you tell it to. Please give me some time to experiment with the cookie editor and expiration issues -- I haven't had dinner yet, and I'm starving. Back on a bit later with the cookie-editing tests, I hope. Cheers.

[therube]

When you log in, are you also selecting the check box, Log me on automatically each visit?
If not, then the board is setting an inactivity timeout, likely 1 hour, after which time it well, logs you out.

... losing the message

Does that actually happen? I would have expected a back-arrow to still have it there for you?

supercalafragalisticexpealidocious

I type the above (super...), logged out from a different window (or I suppose I could have deleted all my informaction cookies to accomplish the same), came back to this window, hit Submit, which brought me to the login screen.

Hit back-arrow, & there was my super...

(Now perhaps if I actually logged in instead of hitting back-arrow, then ...?)

or I suppose I could have deleted all my informaction cookies to accomplish the same

True.

ia_forum_ajbyj_u is the cookie?

Actually its the session id cookie that stores the login status information/timeout, ia_forum_ajbyj_sid.


This "view cookies" bookmarklet (just type it into the URL bar) only shows the cookie you specified, but if you look in Cookie Manager (doesn't FF have that?) you will see others listed too. (And further if you were not blocking ads, then you might see some ad cookies too.)

Code: Select all

javascript:alert('Cookies stored by this host or domain:\n\n' + document.cookie.replace(/; /g,'\n'));

[GµårÐïåñ]

Go ahead, I am sorry, I was just trying to think of everything that might be an issue.

[Tom T.]

When you log in, are you also selecting the check box, Log me on automatically each visit?
If not, then the board is setting an inactivity timeout, likely 1 hour, after which time it well, logs you out.

Which is pretty much what I said in the OP, although I mistakenly assumed that that was by cookie expiration rather than by something active in the server.

... losing the message

Does that actually happen? I would have expected a back-arrow to still have it there for you?

It seemed inconsistent, but now that I think about it, it's possible that a back arrow has let me copy/paste to text doc, and sometimes to log in again without losing. I do know that I've lost some messages, but that might have been in relation to the XSS issues that I raised earlier and which seem to have been fixed.

or I suppose I could have deleted all my informaction cookies to accomplish the same

True.

I don't know whom you're quoting there. I don't think it was I.

ia_forum_ajbyj_u is the cookie?

Actually its the session id cookie that stores the login status information/timeout, ia_forum_ajbyj_sid.

EDIT: Well, it just happened again, so I re-logged in, and now have the cookies ia_forum_ajbyi_k, _u, and _sid. I'm guessing SID is required, no?

OMG, we finally *agreed* on something! Hallelujah!

@dhouwn:: The cookies refuse to let themselves be edited. I change the expiration date from "End of session" to 2 hours or 24 hours from now, "save", close it, look at the cookies, and they still say "end of session". Which would be perfect -- if it weren't for the board inactivity timer that therube mentioned, and which many other sites use as well. (I believe Yahoo mail does, and many banks do so for security reasons).

I'm not going to bother Giorgio with a piddly request to extend the inactivity timer, so I just need to do "some" board interaction -- click a post or something -- before and after going potty or answering the phone or whatever.

Thanks all for your input. I'm marking this resolved, as I have the answer and a workaround. People with AOL dial-up timed disconnects used to write scrips and stuff that would hit something every 30 min. or so while they went shopping or whatever, as they wanted to keep the connection and not fight the busy signals again. I just need to click something before taking a break, or while composing/editing/previewing for a long time. Cheers all.