Sign-In Page
Old Sign-In Page allowed you to check a box is you wanted to stay logged in for 2 weeks? or for at least several days.
New Sign-In Page does NOT have "stayed logged in" feature and I find it very annoying because I log in several times a day, almost every day doing research.
Please bring back the "Stay Logged In" feature!!! Please
Comments
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The option never did allow for exactly that, but at least once I'd checked it I found I didn't have to sign in again for the rest of the day (or until I closed my browser).
I don't know if there is a related glitch, but (when working in Chrome) I do not have my settings checked to delete cookies, etc. when I close the browser. So, this morning I opted to restore my last session. Not only did I (as expected) have to sign in to FamilySearch multiple times (for each tab I'd been working on last night) but after signing in I found the same page had been opened for each tab, instead of the different ones I had wanted to restore.
Regardless of whether this is a different issue, I would certainly hope that the option will be restored to at least remain logged in all day - together with the related behaviour of all tabs refreshing automatically after I've left my PC for an extended period. (Mind you, I believe that happens (happened) whether you are / were signed in for 2 weeks, or not.)
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This article from FamilySearch blog explains the change and alternatives
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Thank you for the link @rothesian.
Here's what I posted as feedback against the article.
"Very disappointing change. Okay, being "signed in for two weeks" never actually worked as implied, but at least (as with other websites - e.g. Ancestry & Find My Past) I could remain signed in all day. All that was needed was a change of wording - not a complete removal of this feature, without having to resort to signing in through "third-party" websites not everyone (including me) even use. There was already a warning not to use this feature when logged in at a public place, so this change was totally unnecessary from a security point of view."
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When a person signs in to FamilySearch using Facebook, Google, Apple what username and password is used? Isn't easiest to just sign in with FamilySearch or Church account? Pro's and cons of using outside sites to log in would be helpful.
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many of the changes on site are fine, forcing a log in every time you access a new page is not one of them. I have been logged into Ancestry for over a month, why does Family Search feel the need to log me out so many times in one day? Very disappointing and extremely aggravating
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Whenever you sign in using Facebook, Google, Apple, or Church Account, you will end up signed in with a FamilySearch account. The system will attempt to find an existing FamilySearch account that matches the email address or phone number or other profile data associated with the other account. If you are a Church member and have associated your membership number with a FamilySearch account, then you can be sure that the correct FamilySearch account will be used if you sign in with Church Account.
These third-party sites are particularly helpful for users who are visiting FamilySearch for the first time. A FamilySearch account will be created behind the scenes, but the user doesn't have to worry about those details; they can simply sign up using Google, for example, and they will not need to create or keep track of a separate password for FamilySearch -- they will simply continue to sign in with Google on subsequent visits.
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Ancestry is just moving to 2 Factor Authorisation, which I have invoked and leaves me logged in for - well, I haven't found out yet, but it's several days and counting.
Now FamilySearch moves in the opposite direction. I seriously do not want to entangle my Google and Facebook accounts with FS as I don't trust any of them from a security and privacy viewpoint. I prefer to use a Password Manager - not the toy version in my browser, either, but a proper separate bit of dedicated software. But this will still mean I need to login to FS every time, even using the password manager.
So how often am I going to be made to login? Well, what does it say in that article?
When users sign in to FamilySearch.org, they will remain signed in for a time
(my emphasis). Yes - "for a time". Why exactly can't you tell us how long? What's the metric? Days? Browser sessions? Entries into FS?
Oddly, the multi-coloured login screen appeared for me a number of days ago, and then disappeared. I wondered if they'd forgotten the coding to stay logged in. Now I know different. But I do wonder why it was withdrawn for me. Was there something wrong with it? Which is a bit worrying if this is the new face of security.
I could quite happily cope with Ancestry style 2FA on FS providing it left me logged in for a couple of weeks or so. So why can't FS offer it if it's so concerned with security?
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The stay checked-in box always worked well for me in the past and I am sorry to see it go.
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I understand the need to make it more accessible but Not at the risk to security.
I agree with many of the above comments.
I just want to login in on my home computer and stay logged in for the day. With not having to re-login so often throughout the day.
I am hoping you are still evaluating the approach and better options.
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I believe it would be less confusing if the sign in page listed the Username and Password options first and then the 4 sign in options after that. The patrons are confused when they go to the sign in page and want to know which one of those four to click on, when in fact their account was created in family Search not one of the those four other options.
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@Chas Howell said:
"... The stay checked-in box always worked well for me..."
Me too, so I don't understand that statement in the Blog post linked above that:
"... We’ve listened to a lot of feedback saying the check box hasn’t kept users signed in consistently ..."
I do have concerns that there might be a misunderstanding here. It was obvious in the FS Community that some people were expecting "stay logged in" to work differently. I always had to hit the login / sign-in button - but, provided it wasn't too long since my last entry of my user-id and password, hitting the button was all I needed to do - no typing of my user-id or password. My belief was that some people didn't expect to see that login / sign-in button at all and that when they did, they complained that it wasn't working. Is this the basis of the "lot of feedback saying the check box hasn’t kept users signed in ..."? A misunderstanding?
Then again, these people might be genuinely having to do the full login every time - perhaps their browsers worked differently... Perhaps they cleared all their cookies each time...
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Here's my worthless 2 cents: the 2-week sign in checkbox always worked for me.
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In the past, I thought I'd read lots of users saying that the "2-week sign-in" didn't work for them - but maybe it was just me who only found it useful as long as I didn't close my browser (i.e., I still had to sign in again the following day).
The problem I have now - as reported previously - is that when I try to restore my previous session, after earlier shutting down in Chrome, I get taken to the same FamilySearch URL restored for every (FS/Family Tree) tab I had open. Okay, it's not too much of a problem with Family Tree as I can open up the required pages from my "Recents" dropdown, but it is still an unwelcome change of behaviour.
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Perhaps it would look more professional to go back to using only the icons to sign in.
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I agree with @Genealogy Helper, place it at the top. Also display the FamilySearch logo and label it "Sign in with FamilySearch Account" consistent with the other sign-in choices
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I'd like to add my voice to the folks angry about the login changes. Forget every two weeks; I have to log in multiple times per day. If I leave a page alone for an hour -- AN HOUR! -- I will have to log back in. This has gone from being irritating that the two-week login didn't last to out-and-out infuriating. There are plenty of ways to keep a website secure. This is not one of them.
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I work with FamilySearch support, and I had a guest who didn't see how to sign in with FamilySearch. It might be hard for older users to see the small Username above the box to sign in to FamilySearch. Could "Sign in with FamilySearch" be added to the box like the other ones?
Thanks so much.
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Sign in needs to be simpler, with less steps. This is laborious to have this many steps. Please simplify.
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The new sign in page is very confusing. Also, I greatly miss the option to stay signed in for two weeks at a time.
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One thing I noticed today is that the box to enter the user name is active when you first come to the page which is nice. This means that all you need to do is click Sign In in the top right hand corner of the non-signed in page and as soon as the page loads start typing without doing anything else. That does make it pretty simple.
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Not sure if my comment on the news item made it to the moderation queue, since I got a permission denied error after posting it, but this is a step backwards regarding UX. Advocating the usage of in-browser password manglers or delegating authentication to a third-party is an order of magnitude less secure than having sessions work properly (like pretty much every site on the Internet). Before, we could browse FamilySearch, from the main site to this forum, in a private tab, then have the cookie destroyed upon exit, which sort of worked if you refreshed before doing anything. If you wanted to harden the login, add 2FA via TOTP and let us keep using a fundamental component of HTTP to avoid wasting a lot of our collective time on repetitive form submissions.
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>>"... We’ve listened to a lot of feedback saying the check box hasn’t kept users signed in consistently ..."
I do have concerns that there might be a misunderstanding here. It was obvious in the FS Community that some people were expecting "stay logged in" to work differently. I always had to hit the login / sign-in button -
My belief was that some people didn't expect to see that login / sign-in button at all and that when they did, they complained that it wasn't working. Is this the basis of the "lot of feedback saying the check box hasn’t kept users signed in ..."?
Then again, these people might be genuinely having to do the full login every time - perhaps their browsers worked differently... Perhaps they cleared all their cookies each time...A misunderstanding?
@Adrian Bruce1 There was some concern and the checkbox was sort-of involved. Pages were endlessly refreshing and it made the site unusable. It was discovered that unchecking the 2 Weeks checkbox eased/resolved the issue.
I can offer that users that during this ordeal, users were saying "Please fix the refreshing!" and not "Please remove the checkbox!"
And to their well-earned credit, the site devs resolved the refreshing issue. Our experience has been much better. Any need to further address the issue - well, it seemed to have been behind us.
There are browser extensions to simulate activity while you are away. I'm experimenting with the Session Alive extension now. It's too early to recommend but I'm encouraged.
This one is for Firefox but there are plugins for Chrome and other browsers. (I avoid
anything Chromiumso I can't test those. Sorry!)1 -
Please check out this FamilySearch Blog article about the update:
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I agree. I log in and out many times a day. The stay logged in was a great feature. I'll try some of this other screwing around to get it to work but not happy.
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I'm testing the Session Alive extension for Firefox.
I think it worked better than it should have. I closed my laptop lid (set to sleep) overnight and today I'm still logged in. That seems weird. It shouldn't have persisted after a sleep. Whatever, I'll take the win.
What would make more sense tho, is that devs took pity on us and extended login persistence.
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I would like this to work like it did before. Keep me signed in. Please bring it back! Ancestory.com keeps me signed in.... my email page... keeps me signed in.... I would rather use 2FA and stay signed in then to always have to sign in.
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Does the new log in page have a keep signed in for two weeks option that I am not seeing?
It would be very helpful to us that are on FamilySearch a lot. I know that not everyone is on as many hours as some, It is frustrating that we take a bit of a break and then have to relog in over and over again. I had to log in about 6 times yesterday. It feeling like a waste of time and effort.
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When the new login screen pops up, I input my user name and hit tab.
The system then takes me to the "Forgot Username" option instead of to the password field.
The Forgot username should be below the password field.
Since I have just input my user name.....there is no need for me to go to the forgot username field.
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FamilySearch says they released an update on Thursday, Nov 16 around 5 pm MST to help make it so we don't have to sign in as often. Has it improved for anyone since then?
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I've no idea - I had the new sign-on screen shortly after it came out and then I was reverted to the old process. (Not that I'm complaining). Then I got the new processing and had to sign in at least twice in one day, IIRC. Now I'm back on the old process again...
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