Cannot sign out, stuck with signed-in session error

[symbolipoint]

I cannot sign out; I am stuck signed-in. "Ooops... check later".

 

[symbolipoint]

Now is become "later" and I could very well sign-out.

 

[Frabjous]

The Eagles foresaw your problem
“You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave"

 

[AlexB23]

The Eagles foresaw your problem
“You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave"

Hotel California, a classic 1970s rock ballad. That one line of the song reminds me of the premise of the anime Sword Art Online, where people log into this futuristic VR game, and are not allowed to log out. I have only watched one episode of the anime, as it doesn't meet my tastes. Most anime doesn't, except for HxH, One Piece and Ghibli stuff. All wholesome and clean stuff for me.

 

[hutchphd]

Then what are you doing here? .....

 

[symbolipoint]

Then what are you doing here? .....

I was not kidding. I had earlier today signed in, looked through a few boards on the forum and then as done, tried to sign-out; but I was not allowed to, and a "Ooops..." message was displayed to me. I closed the browser then. Several minutes later, I came back, signed in and checked that I was then allowed to sign out.

 

[Mark44]

I was not kidding. I had earlier today signed in, looked through a few boards on the forum and then as done, tried to sign-out; but I was not allowed to, and a "Ooops..." message was displayed to me. I closed the browser then. Several minutes later, I came back, signed in and checked that I was then allowed to sign out.

Possibly the PF server was down for a little while, so it could not honor your request to sign out. Was there any other information other than "Ooops..."? Such as an HTTP code?

 

[symbolipoint]

so it could not honor your request to sign out.

What does that mean? How do you decide is it decided if or how to sign-out for any member? How is such a thing possible?

... other information other than "Ooops..."? Such as an HTTP code?

I do not remember the whole "Oops" message. When or if it comes up again, I will see if it can be copied and pasted.

edit: language mechanics or grammatical misunderstanding

 

[DaveC426913]

Not sure why one would want to sign out*. I check the 'stay signed in' and it's as if there's no log-in at all.
* except, I guess, when using a public or insecure terminal?

 

[pbuk]

What does that mean? How do you decide if or how to sign-out for any member? How is such a thing possible?

It's not about making decisions, if the software that is running on the server, or your connection to it, is not working properly then how do you expect it to sign you out?

 

[Ibix]

I occasionally get an "Oops" message when I go back to a previous page and then don't do anything for a while(or something like that - I'm not 100% sure what does it), then try to do anything like view my alerts. I have the impression from the message that either the PF servers or my browser is no longer totally certain it's talking to the same machine it was before, so refuses to do anything account-related until it's re-established trust. A refresh usually fixes that for me.

 

[Tom.G]

BROWSERS 101:

Signed-in vs Signed-out is determined by a Cookie stored on your machine by PhysicsForums (most sites you visit will store one or more Cookies). Every time you try to do something, PhysicsForums asks for the Cookie to see if you have the Privileges needed for that action.

What does that mean? How do you decide is it decided if or how to sign-out for any member? How is such a thing possible?

When you click the 'Log out' button, PhysicsForums will either change or delete that Cookie.

Many, but not all, browsers have a way for the user to access/modify/delete Cookies. If your browser has that feature, just access the Cookies and delete the one(s) from PhysicsForums. You are then signed out.

Do NOT try to delete a Cookie without using your browser; they are in a database and you may lose all your cookies, limiting your activity on other sites.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: If you delete only the PF cookie that has 'logged_in' in its name you get an error message when you click 'USER' to log out. You must delete all the 'physicsforums.com' cookies (4 of them on my computer).

Cheers,
Tom

 

[pbuk]

Many, but not all, browsers have a way for the user to access/modify/delete Cookies. If your browser has that feature, just access the Cookies and delete the one(s) from PhysicsForums. You are then signed out.

This is not completely correct: deleting the cookie will not affect the status of the session on the PF server and if a bad actor were able to access those session credentials they may be able to continue the session logged in as you. This is less relevant in practice because the extent of compromise required to give access to PF session credentials is such that it's pretty much "game over" for your data security.