Query: What has happened to "Keep me signed in for 2 weeks"? What recent, "scheduled" upload; or, "I
Answers
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Logan Allred said: I'm curious what grief it causes. After automatically signing you back in, it should return you to the page you were on. Some pages will lose any editing you had started. How often does a session timeout cause you to lose data or lose the page/state/context you were working in?
After a session timeout, I would expect most of the time the only grief is it takes a few seconds to refresh and auto-sign-in again.
Indexing is one area where people often are editing for long stretches, but it is saving your progress regularly so a session timeout shouldn't lose data there. We are working to get other areas of the site to do similarly. Are there particular workflows that are constantly losing data or state?
Security is currently quite firm on having an inactivity timeout. Given that constraint, what would be the least intrusive behavior for you?0 -
Carolyn Wheeler said: Logan,
I rarely use the Beta site. On infrequent occasion I use the wiki, and lately I have been trying to use Books, but that site doesn't work at all, so I have given up on it for now. (Cannot open ANY books when I am logged in, keeps reloading the Books search page - very frustrating!) I am automatically logged out far more times than I use the Beta, wiki, or books sites, so I think there must be something else going on.
I'm on a Mac using Safari using OS 10.13.6 and Safari 12.1.
As you mention, the biggest grief it causes is when it loses any data that I am typing. Beyond that it usually does return me to the page where I am working. It would just be nice if it really did let me stay logged in for two weeks,0 -
Logan Allred said: How often do you lose data that you have typed? and isit particular parts of the site that lose data? That helps us prioritize fixing those pages0
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Carolyn Wheeler said: If I put a check in the "Keep me signed in for 2 weeks" box then I cannot log in; it just returns me to the log in screen. If I do not check the box then I can log in.0
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Logan Allred said: That is interesting. I have never heard of nor seen that and that should not happen. I will see if there is something I can investigate about that. Has this happened in the last 30 days?0
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David Newton said: Simply put it's any typing into a text field, but most often it's typing into a text field that is likely to be extended.
So it's things under the collaboration tab that are at most risk or indeed where someone is crafting a manual source citation.
However it's not just such extended missives where text loss can occur. If someone is, say typing for 5 minutes on their home computer and then gets distracted by something for 16 minutes they are likely to be pretty annoyed when they finish off the last 30 seconds of typing, hit save and get the login process popping up and losing the text that they have been working on.
It doesn't generally happen to me, as I don't tend to write extended pieces like that on the FSFT site and I also know about the mechanics of the timeout. However there are enough threads that pop up on this site about people losing extended pieces of work (however unwise typing such things into a website text box may be) that it must be a real annoyance for a significant number of people (given the vanishingly small number who will likely even find this place, let alone post on it).
Ironically this place may actually provide a template for a solution to that particular aspect of the problem. When logging into a Familysearch account for Getsatisfaction it will not lose text in a text box. The critical difference is that the login screen pops up in a different window and thus the window containing the text box does not actually reload and lose the text in the text box. Don't know how likely this would be to run afoul of pop-up blockers in institutions but it might be an avenue to explore.
Another thing that would be helpful would be warning notices popping up that the inactivity timeout will kick in soon. So perhaps at 18 minutes of inactivity, 19 minutes of inactivity and 19 minutes 30 seconds of activity. That would at least warn some people that the timeout will happen soon. It won't help people who are away from the keyboard at those points, but it will at least hopefully reduce the numbers suffering loss of work.
With respect to the security aspect of the timeout, I'm somewhat skeptical that a 20 minute timeout is actually useful in its designed purpose. After all the main point of it is to stop someone being logged in to FSFT on a machine in a public location, wandering away from that machine and their session being hijacked by a nefarious actor that then enters damaging information into FSFT. Say someone does wander away from a machine, 20 minutes is still an awfully long time before the timeout kicks in. If I were to specify such an inactivity timeout I would be much more likely to actually have something as short as 5 minutes. That provides much, much less opportunity for bad things to happen but is still long enough that in most circumstances if someone is actively using the site they won't run into it.
If a design could be found which stops people losing text, a la Getsatisfaction's login then the timer could actually be cut to a significantly shorter period which would also improve the security of things.0 -
Carolyn Wheeler said: Hi Logan, oh yes, it has happened within the last 30 days. It has happened several times this morning, and it seems pretty consistent.0
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Tom Huber said: Carolyn, learn to compose material (text entries) you type outside of FamilySearch. You are encountering and will continue to encounter a security requirement that affects all users.
After twenty-minutes of no activity between your computer and the servers, the connection is severed. The system will automatically log you back in, but any work in your browser is lost. The twenty-minute timeout is mandated for security reasons with respect to computers in public places. I seriously doubt that timeout will ever change or go away.
Thus, the solution that must be used so you will not lose what you've typed is simple -- type the text in some kind of text editor or word processor. For Apple products, Pages (on iPads) is a good solution. I don't know if it is part of the Mac software accessories or not.0 -
Brett said: Logan
I do not seen to be having the problems/issues that 'Carolyn' is having with the "Keep me signed in for 2 weeks" (Or, whatever, they want to call it).
Generally, speaking the "Keep me signed in for 2 weeks" works just fine, where I am not required to sign in with my UserID and Password, it just logs me back in again.
It is that for some reason every now and then, the "Keep me signed in for 2 weeks", just does not seem to be working, a dismal "Fail".
I am well aware that the main problems/issues with the "Keep me signed in for 2 weeks" occur during:
(1) Heavy periods of "Traffic" on the site; and,
(2) Changing between the "Production" ( "Live" ) Environment; and, the "Beta" ( "Test" Environment (which I have generally overcome by using different "Browsers").
It was just that the other day was one of those times; and, I tried across Three (x3) "Browsers" ( "Chrome"; "FireFox"; and, "Edge" ); plus, that was only after about a 7 Hour break.
I just wondered if there was any kind of "Up-Date" / "Release" that was done "In-Line" the other day that would have caused the "Keep me signed in for 2 weeks" to FAIL, so dramatically?
Brett0 -
Carolyn Wheeler said: Thank you, I generally do when I know it’s going to be long or detailed, but what I didn’t understand was that there is a 20 minute mandated time out. Their “keep me signed in for 2 weeks” message is misleading.
And sometimes I wonder if it is a mandated time out by tab. That is because often when I am working on one tab then go to another, I have to sign in on the new tab even though I’m already signed in on a separate tab - or at least that’s the way it seems to me. I’ll have to pay closer attention.
Thanks again.
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Same issue here on an old and new Windows 10 build. Previous build was Windows 10 Pro. The issue has replicated on Chrome, Edge and the Family Tree Maker 2019 (updated version).
Having been an IT Analyst for a major pharmaceutical company, I went ahead and checked Internet Options on both browsers, as well as adding them as "Safe Sites" within Edge and the deprecated version of Internet Explorer, but the Time-out everyone has been experiencing, is a recurring issue.
From personal experience, this is not an "Internet Service Provider issue" as others have suggested, as I've already reset my Modem and Wireless Router, and have also contacted Spectrum for further troubleshooting. If we're talking about going extreme, refer to my opening sentence...So, there. The issue happens on a newly reformatted computer. I had to determine whether it was possibly a Windows-related issue, but have found nothing to suggest that.
I am continuing to find out what can be done, and found that maybe creating a macros to run with Internet Explorer, and a Userscript that will run on Edge, Chrome and Firefox. 🤔 Problem is, I'm not a Macros or Userscript kinda guy. Any takers?
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FYI
Welcome to the "Community.FamilySearch" Forum.
I am just another 'lowly' User/Patron ...
Just in passing ...
FIRSTLY ...
I STARTED this post OVER 2 Years and 7 Months ago ...
A lot has changed since that time ...
SECONDLY ...
Of late (ie. the recent few Days and Weeks), I have found, that the "Keep me signed in for 2 weeks", to be working quite well, WITHOUT any significant problems/issues.
Oh, I may been required, to "Sign [ BACK ] In", every now and then; but, certainly Much LESS, than over 2 Years ago.
And, in most cases, such sometimes occurs after the "Weekly' Update/Release, in 'FamilySearch', on the Sunday (Night)/Monday (Morning), 'Mountain' Time (ie. Utah, USA); but, not so much now.
Plus, such sometimes may be occurring after some, ad-hoc, 'In-Line', Updates/Releases, in 'FamilySearch', by individual Programmers
THIRDLY ...
I am not saying, that such may be caused by problems/issues, relative to "Service Providers", of individual Users/Patrons; but, of course, such may be a contributory factor, in some cases.
FINALLY ...
NOT such a problem/issue these days ...
And, I use, the "Browsers" of, 'Google' "Chrome"; 'Mozilla' "FireFox"; and, 'Microsoft' "Edge", all with the "Operating System" of 'Microsoft' "Windows 10"; where, all use the "Latest" version(s) of such.
I ONLY use, "Family Tree", of 'FamilySearch', I DO NOT use ANY "Third Party" Application.
As such ...
As, to "Family Tree Maker", that is another matter entirely ...
Question:
Is "Family Tree Maker", one of the "Third Party" Applications, that is "Certified" to work with "Family Tree", of 'FamilySearch?
IF, not; THEN, such may be the problem/issue, with regards to "Family Tree Maker" (even, the 2019 Version).
Just my thoughts.
Brett
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I too have had the same issue with having to keep logging in and the 2 week loggin worked for a little while but has not done so for several months. One thing I did notice is that when I logged into my sisters account to get all her reserved names ( she had passed away, but had alot of names in her reservation list) and then tried to sign in under me, that's when I noticed that the 2 week part of the app was not working. I think it might think that this is a communal computer because of that. I am no longer able to sign in under my sister name which has been blocked. That is ok. But I would like to be able to use the "Keep logged in for two weeks" option. Continually having to sign in with User ID and password each time is very frustrating. Please find a solution. Thank you
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