TOPIC:

I and several other club members have also been frustrated by login difficulties. I believe the problem is seen when we open our browser, the club web site is still open, and we are automatically presented with a login window. That login window will not work, no matter how many times one tries.

To log in, close that login window, select the Home page (first item in the main menu), THEN choose the Member Login button.

I think it is caused when one is (a) logged in and (b) on a page other than home page e.g. agenda, (c) closes the web browser without loggin out, (d) opens the browser some time later, (after authentication has expired?). The browser obviously has to be set to remember open tabs for this situation to exist.

I think this is a bug and needs fixing.

Actually it is your PC browser that needs fixing.

1) Make sure the link you are using does not have anything after toastmastersclubs.org/
2) Make sure you logout after you are finished with the site.
3) Your browser is caching, please make sure you clear your browser cache if you are having issues.
support.toastmastersclubs.org/doc/item/clearing-browser-cache
4)if you are still having issues please clear your cookies. and make sure your browser is setup correctly.
with this doc.
support.toastmastersclubs.org/doc/item/cookie-settings

Brian wrote:

Actually it is your PC browser that needs fixing.

1) Make sure the link you are using does not have anything after toastmastersclubs.org/
2) Make sure you logout after you are finished with the site.
3) Your browser is caching, please make sure you clear your browser cache if you are having issues.
support.toastmastersclubs.org/doc/item/clearing-browser-cache
4)if you are still having issues please clear your cookies. and make sure your browser is setup correctly.
with this doc.
support.toastmastersclubs.org/doc/item/cookie-settings

I disagree that it is the browser that is the problem. Responding to your first two points...
1) Yes, that is key to the problem, but the browser is simply doing what is asked of it - returning to page it was last on, and it often will not be the home page.
2) It is normal, to be expected, that a user on their personal computer will not always log out. The security paronoid will, but the rest won't. Because they have not logged out they are not automatically returned to the home page and login difficulties arise. It is incumbent on the designer to gracefully handle the "sloppiness" of the user.

If they actually close the browser they will be returned to their browser set Home page.
If they want to make that their club FTH site, again the address should not have anything after the .org
They should also look at having their browser cache cleared every time they close their browser window.

Sorry every browser does things differently, we can not be held accountable for how a person sets up their PC.

Browsers, all of them I think, can be set up to NOT close tabs when the browser closes. Thus when the user comes back everything is as it was - except for some sites where they have been logged out. Standard setup for many people.

The problem, the bug, with FTH is the automatically presented login screen they get when they return to the page they were on. (By 'automatically' I mean when the browser tries to open the page they were previously on but they are no longer logged in. In that situation a login screen pops up without the user doing anything.) It looks like the correct login screen, it quacks like the correct login screen, therefore, for the user, it is the correct login screen, so it needs to work - BUT IT DOESN'T. It keeps saying the user name or password is incorrect - when they are not! Either that login screen needs to work, or it should not be presented.

it is not a FTH bug, it is a browser bug. Nothing we can do about it.
They need to remove the bad cookie.

Okay, I will accept what you say about it being a bad cookie. The bottom line is it creates a bad user experience. Expecting a technically illiterate user (which will be many, if not most, Toastmasters) who experiences this problem to "clear their cookies" does absolutely nothing positive for the user experience. What can be done at your end (programmatically) to improve the experience? I am sure it is more than nothing.

We can not change what is on a persons computer until they access the site properly.
Using a stale session creates issues as we don't know who they are until they properly reconnect.

I use FTH everyday since 2004 and never have log in issues, I use both MAC and PC. I never use MS IE or Edge or Apple Safari because they are notorious in caching things they shouldn't. I use Firefox or Chrome.

We provide the documentation on proper cookie setup and how to clear cache and cookies.
support.toastmastersclubs.org/doc/item/cookie-settings
support.toastmastersclubs.org/doc/item/clearing-browser-cache

I only use Firefox and I see the issue.
Can you identify a stale session? I am assuming yes.
The browser is asking for a page but (as it is a stale session?) the FTH club home page is displayed instead, and the non-functioning login dialog is presented. Instead why not, for example, show a "not authorised" notification page with a link to the main page and a message to go there and log in again?

Have you set up your cookies as we have documented?

Yes, I do have my cookies set to allow. I have just now specifically checked. I have four saved cookies for the club FTH site.