How do I stop being a guest?

Subject: How do I stop being a guest?
From: Scorpio
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 08:03 PM

Sometimes (like now) my user name is already entered in the 'from' box when I reply to a thread, even though I haven't logged in. Other times it isn't, and I appear as 'guest'. Am I doing something wrong, or is it a case of, as the Bard said, 'To err is human, but to really fuck things up you need a computer'?

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: Azizi
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 08:10 PM

Leave it to a "Scorpio" to use that "f" word...

{I'm kidding-mostly}

As to your question, techie Mudcatters can explain this better than me, but it sounds to me like you logged out when you didn't know you logged out. Hence, you show up as if you were a guest.

And speaking of "guest", mind your manners now. Or don't, though I wish you would.

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: Azizi
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 08:11 PM

Though far be it from me to state what constitutes manners in a place I don't own or administer.

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: Nick E
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 08:17 PM

One stops being a guest when you
A) Move In
B) Stop Showing Up
At least that's how it goes at my house.

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: Scorpio
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 08:29 PM

Thanks, Nick E. At our house we have an additional category:
'Lives here more than his own place but doesn't pay rent'.

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 08:47 PM

If you have your browser set to refuse cookies, or clear your your cookies, you have to log in again to come in as a member. Which is simple enough - just click on "membership" up the top and follow instructions.
.........................

(And I'm glad to see you back again, Azizi. Here's a thread I started you might maybe like to have a look at - The Keyed Bugle.)

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 08:54 PM

To have your name appear in the Reply box, you must be logged in.

The way that mudcat knows that you are logged in is that you will have a "cookie" on your own machine.

If you log out, the cookie will be deleted, and the next time you come to the 'cat your name will not be there - until/unless you log in again.

If you get a notice that the site "wants to give you a cookie," and you approve taking the cookie, it depends in part on your browser settings whether you get a "permanent cookie" that remains on your machine the next time you come back, or you may give a "one time" permission, in which case the "temporary cookie" disappears when you leave the site, close your browser, or reboot your machine (any of these can happen depending on your settings.)

If you delete all the cookies on your own computer, mudcat has no way of knowing (slight misrepresentation of fact) who you are, so you will need to log back in to get a new cookie and have your name back.

The best way to log in once and be known here forever is to simply add mudcat.org to the "trusted sites" list in your browser. In IE, it's at Tools|Internet Options, "Privacy" tab, "Sites" button. Just type mudcat.org in the box and click "Allow," and mudcat.org will be added to the list of sites that are allowed to give you a permanent cookie without asking you for permission each time. Once you log in, you'll always have a name - usually unless you delete all your cookies when doing a "cleanup" of your computer.

There are other nice to know things about cookies, but your mudcat cookie is the answer to how mudcat sometimes knows who you are and sometimes doesn't.

John

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: artbrooks
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 08:57 PM

And, in a actual attempt to answer your question... As friend Azizi said, you must be logged in to be you and not GUEST,you. I assume that you are on the same computer all the time (duh), so check to make sure your browser (Firefox, Netscape, IE, or whatever). In Firefox, that is in Tools>Options>Privacy, but I don't use the others so I can't really advise you.

One thing - if you notice a bold blue statement in the upper right of the main threads page that says MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS REWARDS, you are not signed in.

One of the real techies should check in with additional suggestions.

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: artbrooks
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 08:58 PM

John beat me to it, as usual

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 08:59 PM

Do you use more than one Internet browser? If so, you'll need to perform separate log-in operations for each browser you use. Different browsers don't usually share cookies (the small files that are downloaded when you log on to websites).

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 09:15 PM

Members sometimes post as GUESTS, and explain that this is because they are using a different computer, maybe in a library. In fact with most computers, including those in libraries it is perfectly possible (and easy) to log in for the session.

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: Scorpio
Date: 21 Jun 07 - 10:59 PM

Thanks for the help - the cookie thing makes sense.

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: GUEST,Geoff the Duck
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 12:21 PM

And if you leave a glass of milk near your computer, the cookie monster will dunk all your cookies and eat them, and you will be back to square one.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: EuGene
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 12:27 PM

. . . and yet another wise quack from the peanut gallery!

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 02:18 PM

Note that mudcat drops multiple kinds of cookies on you.

Your "login" cookie should be permanent, once you give your approval to trust the 'cat and as long as you don't "delete cookies" in a machine cleanup.

You also get a temporary mudcat cookie for each thread that you open. That's how the 'cat knows which threads you've visited so the ones you looked at can be listed in a different color.

While you can go into Tools|Internet options in IE and "delete temporary Internet files," "delete browser History," and/or "delete Cookies," open files can't be deleted so the preferred procedure is to close the browser and go to Start|Settings|Control Panel|Internet Options. You get the same menus, but with the browser closed the cleanup can be more complete.

You can also get pretty much the same "cleanup," with similar options, via Start|Programs|Accessories|System Tools|Disk Cleanup, which also should be run with all other programs closed for best results.

If you "delete browser History" and/or "delete Temporary Internet Files" the cookies that show which threads you've opened usually will go away, so everything at the 'cat will look like you've never been there, although you should still be logged in. Your login cookie should only disappear if you "delete Cookies," if your settings permit a "permanent" cookie.

John

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: PoppaGator
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 04:04 PM

Hi Azizi! Glad to "see" you back "here" again. This is the first time I've seen your name followed by a current date since someone else volunteered the information that you would be leaving us for a while.

Since I'm in-and-out of Mudcat myself these days, I don't consider it a big deal, and don't find it necessary to announce my comings and goings. I never know in advance when or how often I'll be around, anyway.

(If I have to be sitting at a computer, and if I either have no other pressing tasks or am suffering writer's block, or am simply able to goof off without adverse consequences, I'll check into Mudcat. Otherwise, I'll be elsewhere, either in the real or the virtual world.)

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: Azizi
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 05:48 PM

Off Topic:

PoppaGator,

I'm glad to 'see' you too. Since Hurricane Katrina, I worry about how you're getting along in the Big Easy.

Re that short gap in my posting, I felt that I needed a break for a number of reasons. As you stated, I didn't announce that I was leaving. Nor did I announce that I was back. However, towards the end of the first post I wrote after I started being active on Mudcat again, I added this comment thanking folks such as you for their supportive comments in that thread that Q started:

thread.cfm?threadid=102593#2079998

**

The subject of this thread is Scorpio's question "How do I stop being a guest". I stopped being a guest on Mudcat when I joined this online community back in September 2004. I don't regret that decision.

**

Best wishes and see ya around the 'cat!

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: terrier
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 06:48 PM

Ok. So I've logged in. I can see the extended menu. But I can't access my personal page and my mudcat name (terrier)doesn't appear in the reply to thread area! This quite often happens. Does this happen to anyone else? How do I fix the problem?

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: terrier
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 06:49 PM

But my mudcat name does appear after I post!!!

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Jun 07 - 07:37 PM

terrier -

The most likely thing I can think of is that your browser is reading the existing "page" from temporary files on your computer when you flip pages, so you get the page that existed before you logged in if you go back to the page you were looking at before login, which of course looks like you haven't logged in.

A submitted post changes the page so that your browser knows that it needs to download the page afresh, and the new download shows that you really are logged in.

Your logging in isn't all that big a deal to the world at large (sorry about that) so your browser doesn't bother to see if things smell different when you return to a page you've already looked at.

In IE, at Tools|Internet Options, on the General Tab, in the "Browsing History" section, there should be a button labelled "Settings." If you click there, you should be able to put a check mark beside "Check for newer versions of web pages I visit every time I visit a new page," and it may help to force the browser to update most times when you switch pages.

If in doubt, you can always click the "Refresh" button in your browser to force a fresh download of the page.

John

John

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: terrier
Date: 23 Jun 07 - 07:35 AM

Thanks John, I've tried clicking 'refresh' and that seems to work OK so I've changed the browser setting as you suggest. I get this problem on other forums as well, so it's not just mudcat is the problem. Thanks again.

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Jun 07 - 10:05 PM

A good chunk of JiK's post of 22 Jun 07 - 07:37 PM may find a good home in any FAQ on such probless in the future - that's perhaps the best worded explanation on that I've seen in a while.

Thanks John.

I personally set the "Check for newer versions of web pages I visit every time I visit a new page," thingie many ears ago, so I tend to forget that everyone else may not have... :-) I think terrier, that will most likely fix your similar problems on all those other forums too. Which I why I suggest that John's explanation be 'recycled'.... :-)

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 24 Jun 07 - 12:03 AM

Foolestroupe -

"many ears ago" ... ???

Would you care to provide us with an estimate of your annual ear consumption and disposal. It sounds like it might make a good song topic - perhaps even a decent parody.

(blush, blush,blush)

John

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: terrier
Date: 24 Jun 07 - 07:19 AM

OK. I've set IE to 'Check for newer versions of web pages' and everything is now fine. Although logging on and off you'st to work fine I suspect until I upgraded to IE7. Let's hear it for the lads, 'ear 'ear. 8)

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Jun 07 - 10:10 AM

Friends, Romans, Countrymen,
Lend me your ears.


What you got in the bag?






Ears!

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: catspaw49
Date: 24 Jun 07 - 10:27 AM

I'd figure here at our place we dispose of about 72+ ears a year not counting corn of course where my daily consumption during corn season is 4-5 ears per day. The 72+ ears are consumed by the two Weimaraners who devour at least half a dozen a month.

Spaw

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: JennyO
Date: 24 Jun 07 - 12:43 PM

What a confusing case. All I got is two dead bodies and a sack full of ears.


Now, look, Flavius, I'm paying you a 110 drachmas a day...


125 drachmas!


All right, you got a good ear...


I got a sack full of good ears!

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: EuGene
Date: 24 Jun 07 - 03:38 PM

Man, things are getting a little earie around here! Eu

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: JennyO
Date: 24 Jun 07 - 10:13 PM

...especially if you're on the Ear-ie Canal!

I've got an old mule and her name is Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She's a good old worker and a good old pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
We've hauled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay
And we know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge for we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on
The Erie Canal

We'd better look around for a job, old gal
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
You bet your life I wouldn't part with Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
Giddap there gal, we've passed that lock
We'll make Rome 'bout six o'clock
One more trip and then we'll go
Right back home to Buffalo

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, I've the finest mule in town.
Once a man named Mike McGinty
Tried to put it over Sal
Now he's way down on the bottom of
The Erie Canal

Oh, where would I be if I lost my pal?
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
Oh, I'd like to see a mule as good as Sal
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
A friend of mine once made her sore
Now, he's got a broken jaw
'Cause she let fly with her iron toe
And kicked him into Buffalo.

Low bridge, everybody down,
Low bridge, I've the finest mule in town.
If yo're looking for trouble
Better stay away from Sal
She's the only fightin' donkey on the Erie Canal

I don't want to call when I want my Sal
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
She trots from her stall like a good old gal,
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
I eat my meals with Sal each day,
I eat beef and she eats hay
She ain't so slow if you want to know
She put the "Buff" in Buddalo.

Low bridge, everybody down,
Low bridge, I've the finest mule in town
Eats a bale of hay for dinner
And on top of that, my Sal
Tries to drink up all the water in the Erie Canal.

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: EuGene
Date: 25 Jun 07 - 12:29 AM

Jenny, it appears that your old critter there is earreplaceable! But then, some earreverent fink just might come along with a "mule" engine to tow those barges. Just tell him to stick in in his ear!! Eu

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: goatfell
Date: 25 Jun 07 - 05:53 AM

I don't like people the use the f word, I what is the f word, fork, foot and every other word that begins with f, I mean it's like these ones that say , they used the n word or the c word, what do you they said nose and coat or any other words that begin with c and n.

Tom

become a member

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: EuGene
Date: 25 Jun 07 - 10:20 AM

Arran:

I prefer not to use the f word, or other curse words, as their use can be considered offensive to many people, and I would think that most subjects (other than, say, the history of cursing) can be discussed in a rational and civilized manner without resorting to the use of cursing for its "shock" value. I certainly do not feel entitled to intrude upon another person's space, figuratively, by smearing them with epithets, nor do I have any reason to wish for such a carte blanche. Why would I?

Of course, that's only my opinion, and opininions generally have little or no relevence to anything beyond the cranium of the opinion holder . . . others may share the same opinion, but nobody can impose their opinion on another.

Eu

Subject: RE: How do I stop being a guest?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Jun 07 - 11:49 PM

"nobody can impose their opinion on another"

Well, perhaps nobody should.... but they do keep trying...