Forum glitch - please fix

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deni2s
Joined: Mon 25 Mar, 2013 22:02
Posts: 761

  Z3 roadster 2.8

Forum glitch - please fix

Post by deni2s »

There is one thing which annoys me every time I visit this forum for many years - on login it never remembers my password even if I check the box and never automatically logs me in.

If someone could fix this, this forum would be much more usable. Many times I had decided not to comment here on something just because when I want to reply to someone I realize that I am not logged in again.

Please fix this, as I am quite sure the problem lies on server side as on other forums autologin works just fine.
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Gazza
Joined: Tue 04 Oct, 2005 20:58
Posts: 9521

  M roadster S54
Location: Romford Essex

Re: Forum glitch - please fix

Post by Gazza »

I'm sure our Techie Rob will be along with some questions for you.
Gazza

"Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car, oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and torque is how far you take the wall with you"

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nang
Joined: Sat 25 Jun, 2016 03:27
Posts: 51

  Z3 roadster 2.8

Re: Forum glitch - please fix

Post by nang »

I have no problems with this. Is it your settings ?
Tony.
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Robert T
Site Admin
Joined: Mon 12 Jun, 2006 10:35
Posts: 10170

  Z3 roadster 1.9
Location: Cheshire

Re: Forum glitch - please fix

Post by Robert T »

This is not something that is in my power to fix. It is a function of the underlying forum software. Knowing phpBB, it almost certainly requires cookies to be enabled.

I use the feature of my browser to save passwords. When you click reply on a topic it will prompt you for your username and password, which will have been autocompleted. Click login and it will take you to reply composition page. Really no messing at all. You can also login from the bottom of most forum pages as well, so no need to backtrack from what you are doing. I would recommend setting a master-password to protect your privates - you only get prompted once for this.

An upgrade to the forum software may help, but this is going to necessitate some downtime, which I will have plan, as I need to upgrade some supporting software components as well.

Cheers R.

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Arctic Silver '99 Z3 1.9 & Black '59 Frogeye 1275cc
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BladeRunner919
Joined: Fri 17 Feb, 2012 20:18
Posts: 2225

  Z3 roadster 1.9

Re: Forum glitch - please fix

Post by BladeRunner919 »

The forum keeps me logged in. Must be your browser settings.
deni2s
Joined: Mon 25 Mar, 2013 22:02
Posts: 761

  Z3 roadster 2.8

Re: Forum glitch - please fix

Post by deni2s »

Robert T wrote:This is not something that is in my power to fix. It is a function of the underlying forum software. Knowing phpBB, it almost certainly requires cookies to be enabled.

I use the feature of my browser to save passwords. When you click reply on a topic it will prompt you for your username and password, which will have been autocompleted. Click login and it will take you to reply composition page. Really no messing at all. You can also login from the bottom of most forum pages as well, so no need to backtrack from what you are doing. I would recommend setting a master-password to protect your privates - you only get prompted once for this.

An upgrade to the forum software may help, but this is going to necessitate some downtime, which I will have plan, as I need to upgrade some supporting software components as well.
Browser autocomplete feature is a workaround for an issue, it doesn't solve it. After login the link to previous page never works, so I need to navigate manually to the thread I wanted to reply to. Bad UX, not very user friendly.
deni2s
Joined: Mon 25 Mar, 2013 22:02
Posts: 761

  Z3 roadster 2.8

Re: Forum glitch - please fix

Post by deni2s »

BladeRunner919 wrote:The forum keeps me logged in. Must be your browser settings.
I never mess with browser settings. And other forums work fine. Please someone point me to direction where I should look for in settings.
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Robert T
Site Admin
Joined: Mon 12 Jun, 2006 10:35
Posts: 10170

  Z3 roadster 1.9
Location: Cheshire

Re: Forum glitch - please fix

Post by Robert T »

Just to prove the point, I am replying to this having clicked the Post Reply button without being logged in. I was prompted for my username and password (which auto-completed as per my suggestion above), and on clicking okay I was sent to a redirection page, which waits a few seconds before taking me to the compose reply page. This is exactly what the forum software is meant to do and shows clearly that there is no fundamental problem with the configuration of the forum software on the server.

If this is not working for you, then it may be that the forum software does not work with your particular web browser or that your settings are such that the login and redirect mechanism are not able to function as intended. As mentioned phpBB seems to rely on cookies for some of the login functionality, so if these are disabled in your browser, then there is no way the the forum software work properly. Other forums may be based on different software or even different versions of phpBB and so may not have to rely on cookies and will therefore function differently.

I cannot wave a magic wand and fix phpBB and I don't know enough about the implementation to even attempt to fix it for them. All I can suggest is to try a different web browser and see if it works in that. If it does, then it may be worth a closer look at your settings in your preferred browser, as some browsers can disable cookies on a per site basis.

Cheers R.
Arctic Silver '99 Z3 1.9 & Black '59 Frogeye 1275cc
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deni2s
Joined: Mon 25 Mar, 2013 22:02
Posts: 761

  Z3 roadster 2.8

Re: Forum glitch - please fix

Post by deni2s »

Ok, I just checked - replying works as you described...

I even logged in, closed the browser and reopened it and I was still logged in. But I am pretty sure that "Log me on automatically on each visit" checkbox is not working - when I will open zroadster.org tomorrow I will not be logged in automatically as expected.

I found this random suggestion on phpBB forum regarding this issue, maybe it's worth checking:
General tab on ACP -> Security Settings -> Allow Persistant Logins
And another suggestion:
In phpBB 3.0 under Server Configuration > Security settings > " Session IP validation "

Set this to "none"
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Robert T
Site Admin
Joined: Mon 12 Jun, 2006 10:35
Posts: 10170

  Z3 roadster 1.9
Location: Cheshire

Re: Forum glitch - please fix

Post by Robert T »

deni2s wrote:Ok, I just checked - replying works as you described...
Good, so it's not broken then.
deni2s wrote:I will open zroadster.org tomorrow I will not be logged in automatically as expected.
Then try logging into zroadster.net instead. :wink:
deni2s wrote:I found this random suggestion on phpBB forum regarding this issue, maybe it's worth checking:
General tab on ACP -> Security Settings -> Allow Persistant Logins
This is already set to enabled.
deni2s wrote:And another suggestion:
In phpBB 3.0 under Server Configuration > Security settings > " Session IP validation "
Set this to "none"
This setting prevents sessions being hijacked and I will definitely NOT be changing it, as it is on for very good reason. However, this may explain why you are getting logged out. Does your ISP by any chance use dynamic IP addresses and keep changing them regularly? Or do you keep moving your computer between say home and work? If so, then it will think the session has been hijacked and log you out.

R.
Arctic Silver '99 Z3 1.9 & Black '59 Frogeye 1275cc
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deni2s
Joined: Mon 25 Mar, 2013 22:02
Posts: 761

  Z3 roadster 2.8

Re: Forum glitch - please fix

Post by deni2s »

Robert T wrote:
deni2s wrote:And another suggestion:
In phpBB 3.0 under Server Configuration > Security settings > " Session IP validation "
Set this to "none"
This setting prevents sessions being hijacked and I will definitely NOT be changing it, as it is on for very good reason. However, this may explain why you are getting logged out. Does your ISP by any chance use dynamic IP addresses and keep changing them regularly? Or do you keep moving your computer between say home and work? If so, then it will think the session has been hijacked and log you out.
No, I am not moving computer between home and work - one computer at work another at work. But I am using WiFi at home and at work, and sometimes iPhone in-between. I think that's common usage pattern for most users these days.

Using secure HTTPS protocol prevents session hijacking and not setting which disallows IP change:
Some services make secondary checks against the identity of the user. For instance, a web server could check with each request made that the IP address of the user matched the one last used during that session. This does not prevent attacks by somebody who shares the same IP address, however, and could be frustrating for users whose IP address is liable to change during a browsing session.
(from wiki)

BTW, for example, on bimmerforums.com I never experienced this login issue.
Robert T wrote:
deni2s wrote:I will open zroadster.org tomorrow I will not be logged in automatically as expected.
Then try logging into zroadster.net instead. :wink:
I didn't get this - is this some evil joke or are you saying that I am not welcome here because I am suggesting to make site more usable for everyone here?
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Robert T
Site Admin
Joined: Mon 12 Jun, 2006 10:35
Posts: 10170

  Z3 roadster 1.9
Location: Cheshire

Re: Forum glitch - please fix

Post by Robert T »

HTTPS is currently not an option. It is something that I will consider during the next upgrade, as I will likely also be moving everything to another server to make the upgrade easier. At which point I will review the IP validation setting, and might be able to relax it.

And no, it was not an evil joke. Read the name of the website you wrote, and then that which I wrote. You make it sound like the problem is with an entirely different forum!

R.
Arctic Silver '99 Z3 1.9 & Black '59 Frogeye 1275cc
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deni2s
Joined: Mon 25 Mar, 2013 22:02
Posts: 761

  Z3 roadster 2.8

Re: Forum glitch - please fix

Post by deni2s »

Robert T wrote:And no, it was not an evil joke. Read the name of the website you wrote, and then that which I wrote. You make it sound like the problem is with an entirely different forum!
Got it - my fault. I'm not a fan of zroadster.org :)
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