Tech: Mystery of the Magic Cookie

Subject: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: GUEST,Genie
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 09:43 PM

Yesterday I went to the Mudcat Forum and found I wasn't "logged in." Well, though I don't quite know all the "whys," I know that sometimes I can be logged in, shut my computer down, return to Mudcat and still be logged in--and sometimes, using the same computer and without changing any settings, when I leave Mudcat and come back later, my cookie is gone.

But yesterday, having opened and posted to a thread without my cookie, when I opened the next thread, Lo and behold!, I was logged in! How the heck can that happen?

Sometimes I really think there are Mudcat gremlins.

Genie

Subject: RE: Help: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 10:09 PM

when trolls can't find Billy goats to eat, they sometimes steal cookies!

Subject: RE: Help: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: Genie
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 11:33 PM

Yeah, Bill, but do they put 'em back without you even asking?

Genie

PS
I reset the cookie myself this time. No trolls or gremlins involved.

Subject: RE: Help: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 Jul 02 - 11:43 PM

It's all rather confusing really!!

LTS

Subject: RE: Help: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 06:52 AM

If you're using IE and WIN9x, the cookie box is likely to be C:\WINDOWS\COOKIES.

If you clear things in that folder you will lose cookies.

Subject: RE: Help: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: Pied Piper
Date: 04 Jul 02 - 09:03 AM

I've noticed if that I collect my E-mail on the local library computers, when I visit Mudcat I'm "logged in". Do cookies talk to each other? Seems a bit sinister to me, and I'm left handed. All the best PP.

Subject: RE: Help: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 05 Jul 02 - 06:36 AM

Of course if you put certain substances in your cookie - you could probaly get on Mudcat without a computer.....

Subject: RE: Help: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: GUEST,Genie
Date: 05 Jul 02 - 04:18 PM

(cookieless again)

There's a thought, Dave B!

Actually I use a Mac, and FWIW, I never had my cookie "reappear" magically on any computer except that one time (at least as far as I can remember).

I can MAKE it go away--e.g., if someone else wants to visit the Forum using my computer-- when I'm using Explorer, by going to "Preferences" and then "Cookies" and deleting the cookie--or by logging out. (The former is quicker.)

But whether the cookies disappear when I disconnect from the internet seems to depend on whether I go to Mudcat via AOL, Explorer, or Netscape, among other things.

Subject: RE: Help: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: Genie
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 03:00 AM

Well, FWIW, while in Netscape Navigator today, my cookie was gone when I went to the Mudcat CafŽ and when I first posted to a thread, but later when I opened another thread the cookie inexplicably was there. I'm befuddled.

Genie

Subject: RE: Help: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: Guessed
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 07:42 AM

Pied Piper
a lot of PC's work that way, my local library did until the new system, now it wipes everything but you can run any software from floppy and even send emails via POP3. It personalises your settings but I fail to see what survives each time, none of the favourites or history. Seems to be a Securicor product/service so it may come to a library near you.

Subject: RE: Help: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 09:45 AM

Some sites not only add their own cookie unasked, but often scrape out other cookies - especially if they're for rival sites.
It reminds me of some creature I heard of, where the male vacuums any other seminal fluid out of the female's recepticle, before depositing it's own!

Subject: RE: Help: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: hesperis
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 12:54 PM

Well, cookies are often browser-specific. So if you used IE last time, and continue to use it without deleting the cookie, it'll still be there. If you used IE and switch to Netscape, you'll suddenly be a guest. (On a PC, anyway!)

Subject: RE: Help: Mystery of the Magic Cookie
From: Genie
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 01:51 PM

Yeah, I've kinda got a handle on why the cookie disappears. It's how it can RE-appear-- after it's disappeared without my resetting it and WHILE I'm still on line at Mudcat--that has me baffled.