Forced logouts

A few people have reported being automatically logged out from the site these past 2 days. I see it is happening quite a lot at the moment. As I suggested previously but have since checked, it's only happening to users of Internet Explorer. It didn't used to happen and no changes have been made on the site so clearly something has changed with the IE browser OR a combination of the browser and some other feature or function.

As stated previously, we do not recommend IE for viewing the LSF as all the various iterations of it have numerous shortcomings. In the past I have expended what must be weeks of effort rewriting parts of the site to make up for problems with IE. However, I'm not prepared to do it any longer, especially as I don't run Windows myself and don't have IE installed. However, if anyone else wants to investigate what the problem is and manages to work it out I can look into whether there's anything that can be done.

The current problem appears to be related to IE failing to read in the cookie which identifies who you are on the site. Without it the LSF software assumes you aren't logged in. So, possible contenders are IE's own security settings or some other connected software such as an anti-virus, anti-malware or firewall package, any of which can interfere with web browser operation.

My own personal recommendation is to use Firefox, Chrome or Safari to view the LSF but if you want to persist with IE and experience problems I'm afraid you are on your own.

Update: with a bit of testing from smeple I have identified where the IE problem lies and it is to do with some javascript code in the LSF story viewer. This same code has not been changed for the last 4 years and works exactly as it should in all browsers apart from IE. I'm guessing some javascript update has caused the issue and that's why only certain users are experiencing the problem all of a sudden. Anyway, will see if I can find out any more about it.

In the meantime....

DEATH TO INTERNET EXPLORER!

Re forced log outs: I find if I double click on a story I have to re log in.
If I single click I'm fine.
I use I.E.

OK, well I have now narrowed it down as follows:

The problem only appears with IE9 and IE10 but only for certain users.

I've identified the exact line of code that IE is having the problem with.

The same line of code worked perfectly well for the past 6 years.

Anyway, I've made an attempt to fix the issue, will have to wait now and see what happens.

For me, I usually use Googles Chrome and at times, Firefox, which I am using now. I have used IE 8 with no problem at all, but Chrome and Firefox is best since I can open up the descriptions and icons better. It seems that every time Microsolf improves something, it turns out worse.

I am glad that I read this. I had the same problem, but did not realize, that it was because I used IE. I shifted to chrome and now, no problems.

Thanks for your help, Februs. After I e-mailed you, everything seemed to re-set. All is well now.

Again, Thanks.

Joe

Well that's because I spent about 6 hours debugging the problem which I'm hoping is fixed now. If I invoiced Bill Gates for the time I've expended over the years in modifying website software to display correctly in the various iterations of his crappy Internet Explorer I'd be typing this on my luxury yacht whilst being waited on by a bevy of semi-naked Filipino women catering to my every need! I'd also like to say thanks to Smeple, bmark101 and Fi who were able to assist me in discovering which part of the site software IE was objecting to this time round.

Since I'm unlikely to be getting compensated by the aforementioned Mr Gates I shall have to settle for expressing my dissatisfaction with Internet Explorer in the following way



and



and



and

Februs, you are too good to us, I have switched to Firefox, and no issues so far. Thanks for your help. Turk.

I've said for years that if Microsoft made all of their software free and charged for the patches they'd make even more money than they currently do. I ditched Explorer years ago and have surfed happily ever since.