Report forum issues.

[Tawmis]

Rath had noted to me that one of his posts vanished.
When I checked the logs I couldn't see a cause for it (not deleted by him or any moderator or admin).
Last night, I saw a post from him - went to reply today and it was gone.
Confirmed with him he hadn't deleted it - and the logs again, showed nothing.

Just reaching out to see if anyone else has noticed posts disappearing?

Both posts so far were in the same topic.

I just did a resync of the forums, but I am not sure if that will clear the issue.

Please post any forum issues you experience here (whether it's disappearing posts or otherwise).

[Tawmis]

Collector, do you think we should do away with the:

The Sierra Forums Gateway
Visit the other Sierra Forums

It's been "under construction" for awhile. Or at least move it to the bottom of the forum?

[Collector]

Probably, but it doesn't hurt anything. I guess I was waiting to see if Rudy was going to try to setup a forum again with his revamping of Chest. Wish we could hear from Alm.

[Tawmis]

Probably, but it doesn't hurt anything. I guess I was waiting to see if Rudy was going to try to setup a forum again with his revamping of Chest. Wish we could hear from Alm.

I was just thinking if someone clicks it first (being at the top) and gets confused.

As for Alm, yeah; not heard from her in forever. I wrote her about... a year or two ago... and not heard back. She used to write me from time to time when I'd write her out of the blue. But it became more and more sparse.

[Rath Darkblade]

I've noticed over the past few days that whenever I try to post a reply, I get logged out and have to log back in at least once (and recently, twice). Once I log back in, I can post again.

Is there something going on with the forum that I need to know about? This is getting tiresome ...

[Tawmis]

I've noticed over the past few days that whenever I try to post a reply, I get logged out and have to log back in at least once (and recently, twice). Once I log back in, I can post again.
Is there something going on with the forum that I need to know about? This is getting tiresome ...

So, that happens to me too. Especially if I am going here from a link (like the link I get in email that says I got a PM here). When I sign in, I can read the PM, then it signs me out.
It's not just happened here though. Happens on other forums I go to.
I am assuming it's something to do with how the computer is handling the cookies.
So if you use one browser (say, like Chrome), try a different browser (say, like Firefox) and see if you experience the same thing.
Also try trashing all your cookies and relogging in and see if it sets a fresh cookie.
Granted the more you may lock down how your browser handles cookies, may also impact performance of staying logged in.
Also, we have a thread specific for forum issues, so I am going to move it there.

[Rath Darkblade]

Whoops - I wasn't aware of this thread. *blush* Thanks for moving it here, Tawm.

I always use just one browser (Firefox), and trash my cookies on a regular basis - as soon as I log out of one forum, I trash the cookies and move on to another one.

Anyway, I trashed my cookies before logging in here. Let's see if that helps... *clicks "Submit"*

.....aaaaaaaaaand no. I came to this thread and started typing my reply, hit "Submit", and was promptly logged out. Drat it!

Is there something else I can try?

[Collector]

Use an extension like "Cookies Exterminator" or "Self-Destructing Cookies" and white list all sites you wish to keep logged into like SHP and forget about cookies.

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm ... I think we've established it's not a cookie issue. Things got better for about a day, but now they're back to the way they were before. I log in, read a post, try to respond --- and immediately have to log in again.

Does that happen to anyone else? Does anyone know what to do?

By the way, whenever I log in, Firefox bugs me to save my login details. It gives me the option to either "Save" or "Not Save" (plus a hidden option to "Never Save", which is the one I use). I thought maybe that's the issue, so instead I chose the "Not Save" option. But that still doesn't work. Do you know if that has anything to do with it?

[Tawmis]

Hmm ... I think we've established it's not a cookie issue. Things got better for about a day, but now they're back to the way they were before. I log in, read a post, try to respond --- and immediately have to log in again.

Does that happen to anyone else? Does anyone know what to do?

By the way, whenever I log in, Firefox bugs me to save my login details. It gives me the option to either "Save" or "Not Save" (plus a hidden option to "Never Save", which is the one I use). I thought maybe that's the issue, so instead I chose the "Not Save" option. But that still doesn't work. Do you know if that has anything to do with it?

Do you have Chrome? Or in Firefox, try ... I think it's called Private Mode?
See if it continues to happen.

[Collector]

"a hidden option to "Never Save", which is the one I use" there is your problem. *Of course* it won't keep you logged in with this, because it does not have the info it needs to keep you logged in.

[Rath Darkblade]

Tawm - yes, I use Firefox. I'll try Private Mode next time and have a look. Thanks.

Collector ... I'd have thought that's the problem, except that I'd used that option for years and this never happened. *shrug* Oh, well...

[Rath Darkblade]

Huh. I've tried "Private Mode" ... and it made no difference. I upgraded Firefox to the latest version (77.0.1) ... and it made no difference.

What the *heck* is going on?

[Tawmis]

Huh. I've tried "Private Mode" ... and it made no difference. I upgraded Firefox to the latest version (77.0.1) ... and it made no difference.
What the *heck* is going on?

It's something with cookies - because it's losing the cookie that you're logged in, so it doesn't think you're logged in when you post.

You may not think it's a cookie issue, but it is. Because that's how the browser knows/remembers you're logged in.

Either that, or double check the date/time on your machine - because if it's off, it can also cause the cookie to think "it's past the time" that the cookie should be considered active.

It happens to me, as I said, but it's like 1 in 100 posts. And typically when I click a link from an email that says I have a PM here.

I have to trash my cookies or else it keeps logging me out.

You could try Collector's suggestion - http://sierrahelp.com/forums/viewtopic. ... 731#p74731

Here's other threads that specifically address it - and it all points to cookies.
https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtop ... %20problem.

https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtop ... #p14861926

You could try lowering your security settings -
https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtop ... #p12914463

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm ... all right, I've had a look at the "cookies" extensions -- and it's weird, my version of Firefox (i.e. 77.0.1) tells me that all "Cookies Exterminator" versions are incompatible with my browser... well, fair enough.

I installed the "Self-Destructing Cookies" extension. Hopefully it works to resolve the problem. Thanks.

It's strange, though: according to the cookie display (see the screenshot below), the cookie from www.sierrahelp.com exists just fine. Does it erase itself??? That shouldn't happen.

Sigh. And while I was writing this, the forum logged me out --- three times .... And tells me that the screenshot I tried to attach doesn't exist any more ... wtf?

***EDIT*** And yet, now that I've posted, the screenshot plainly exists. (But while I was thinking before posting, I was logged out again. And when I tried to insert this edit, I was logged out again. I logged in, and came to this post ... and I was logged out AGAIN. I think this forum hates me.)

Hold on: I think - I thought - that I knew what's going on. While I was surfing this forum, I was opening each thread in its own tab, for the sake of convenience. When I was done with each tab/thread, I'd close it.

By default, this new extension deletes the cookies when a tab is closed. I changed it to only delete cookies when the browser is closed. Hopefully that should solve the problem.

I still don't understand why this problem happened even before I installed the extension - but oh well ...

***2ND EDIT*** And I also don't understand why the forum is showing my screenshot twice? *shrugs, heaves a big sigh* Oh, well ...