Losing Message because Asked to Sign In

[Goatboy]

I don't think this is quite a bug, but more of an unintended consequence.

Several times, I come back to my computer and type out a message in an open message in the Message Center after that unfinished message has been open for an extended period of time. When I then hit Send Message, it delete's my 500 word message without sending or saving it, and takes me to the login screen asking me to sign in.

As you can imagine, this is quite frustrating.

I think this is a consequence of a security feature that asks you to sign in again after being away from your computer for a while.

It'd be nice to have some form of notification that I'm not actually signed in before I hit send, so that I could copy my message, sign in, and then paste it again into a new message. Or perhaps it saves your message as a draft before asking you to sign in again.

Whatever the solution, I think solving this would be a good improvement.

[SimonMH]

This can be irritating. It also happens sometimes that the connection to the server drops and the message is lost that way too.

My solution is to write longer messages on Notepad and paste them into the dialogue box when ready.

[super_dipsy]

I don't think this is quite a bug, but more of an unintended consequence.

Several times, I come back to my computer and type out a message in an open message in the Message Center after that unfinished message has been open for an extended period of time. When I then hit Send Message, it delete's my 500 word message without sending or saving it, and takes me to the login screen asking me to sign in.

As you can imagine, this is quite frustrating.

I think this is a consequence of a security feature that asks you to sign in again after being away from your computer for a while.

It'd be nice to have some form of notification that I'm not actually signed in before I hit send, so that I could copy my message, sign in, and then paste it again into a new message. Or perhaps it saves your message as a draft before asking you to sign in again.

Whatever the solution, I think solving this would be a good improvement.

That must be extremely frustrating. We already check in the new code put up a few months ago that there is an internet connection before trying to send the message, but perhaps it should also check to see if you are logged in. What it does at the moment is if there is no connection, it does not lose your message but asks you to try again later. If you are not logged in, I'm not sure what it can do but at least it could give you a chance to copy/paste your message.

But the more interesting thing is how you got logged out. When you log in to Playdip, a cookie is created. This remembers that you are logged in until you then log out. This is why when you shut down and then come back at another time you are still logged in. I have to admit I do not understand how you got logged out withouth actually logging out. The only thing I can think of is perhaps you have cookies disabled for Playdip? If so, if you enable cookies for Playdip this should avoid the problem anyway, hopefully.

This can be irritating. It also happens sometimes that the connection to the server drops and the message is lost that way too.

My solution is to write longer messages on Notepad and paste them into the dialogue box when ready.

That used to be a perennial problem, and I personally always copy long messages before sending so I can paste back if it gets lost as a matter of habit. But having said that, the changes we made a few months ago should greatly reduce this happening. What the code now does is it asks first to see if there is a connection or not, and if there is not then it holds on to your message and simply asks you to try again when your connection is back. To do this it uses a command that is supported in most (but not all) browsers as long as they are not too back level. If you still see this happening (ie losing a message because the connection has dropped) since the code changed, it may be you are using a back level browser or one of the few that does not support the command to check your connection.

[Goatboy]

According to clicking the lock symbol in the address bar, I have 23 cookies in use on PlayDiplomacy, so I assume that cookies are enabled.

I've never hit the log out button on the site, but I still have to sometimes re-sign. I assumed it was because I was inactive for to long.

When I am signed out after sending a message, the sign in page is in that same message window that is a bit different from a normal Chrome window with tabs if that makes sense.

[super_dipsy]

According to clicking the lock symbol in the address bar, I have 23 cookies in use on PlayDiplomacy, so I assume that cookies are enabled.

I've never hit the log out button on the site, but I still have to sometimes re-sign. I assumed it was because I was inactive for to long.

When I am signed out after sending a message, the sign in page is in that same message window that is a bit different from a normal Chrome window with tabs if that makes sense.

The bit about having to log in again sometimes is probably due to the fact that the cookie remembering your log-in only lasts for 5 days. So if you are away from the site for longer than that, then you will have to log in again. The cookie is refreshed whenever you come back within tje 5 days though, so it is a rolling 5-day limit.

I think the safest though is I can just add a check to see if you are logged in when you click send, and if not then come back to the user asking for the user to log back in. It would obviously then be up to you to copy your message or to open a new window to log in or something, but at least you would have control. I still don't quite understand how it logged you out (since I assume we aren't talking about leaving the message window open for days ) but belt and braces seems to be the best approach!

[Goatboy]

That change sounds like it would be helpful.

In my current game, orders are due every 3 days. I've been sending messages/giving orders at least once every 5 days for the past few months. So I don't think the rolling 5-day limit is working as intended for me. Maybe I have some setting that is off though.

[super_dipsy]

If you look at the cookie called rememeberuser (yes it is spelt like that ) you can check the time stamp for deletion. But maybe it is something different. In the case when this happens, have you actually quit the game window? And/or the message centre window? That might screw things up, because the message composition window is a child of the other window and if you close the parent maybe that messes up the child. Just guessing though.