If I sign out of Metafilter on one computer does it sign me out everywhere I've logged in?

June 5, 2009 10:53 AM

If I've logged on to Metafilter from multiple computers, but haven't signed out, when I eventually do sign out does it sign me out of all of them?

I mainly access Metafilter from my home computer, and keep it logged in. Occasionally, I'll be at a friend or family member's house and log in there, but rarely do I remember to sign out. Is there anyway for me to remotely sign out? If I sign out on one computer, does it sign me out everywhere?

I figure this isn't really an AskMe question, and I couldn't find an answer in the FAQ.

I guess this is also a feature request, if such a universal sign out does not exist.

posted by consummate dilettante to MetaFilter-Related at 10:53 AM (62 comments total)

There's no way to remotely sign yourself out of a computer, no; logins are managed locally via cookies.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:55 AM on June 5, 2009

That's an idea- kind of like GMail's "Last account activity: 19 minutes ago on this computer. Sign out other sessions?"
I'm all for this.
posted by dunkadunc at 10:56 AM on June 5, 2009

On post-preview: Oh, well.
posted by dunkadunc at 10:56 AM on June 5, 2009

One option is to change your password. Once that happens you need to re-login at all locations if you want to add comments/posts/favorites or change your account preferences.
posted by pb (staff) at 10:58 AM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I guess I was thinking of the way MSN Messenger will log you out of other sessions if you log on somewhere new.

Is it possible to add this feature? Or am I gonna have to be more personally responsible?
posted by consummate dilettante at 11:01 AM on June 5, 2009

Is it possible to add this feature? No, having a button that says "log me out at all locations" is not possible with the way MeFi logins are set. But resetting your password is the functional equivalent.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:03 AM on June 5, 2009

I think you're approaching this wrong.

The right solution is what many other sites have (GMail, Facebook), where there is a checkbox called "remember me" under the login screen. I presume that makes the cookie per session rather than stored.
posted by smackfu at 11:07 AM on June 5, 2009

<contemplates the idea of signing out of metafilter>

Why can't I stop shaking?
posted by killdevil at 11:07 AM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

smackfu, the only problem with setting a per session cookie is that they expire at some point. And people often spend time composing posts and comments, and having a session expire between writing and hitting post would be frustrating. Even if members know the risk of not checking "remember me", persistent logins are part of the basic fabric of MeFi at this point.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:12 AM on June 5, 2009

Though we could rewrite the auth system to keep folks logged in for the life of their browser session (rather than server-side session). So yeah, it's possible.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:17 AM on June 5, 2009

You mean you don't change your passwords daily? How can you be sure you haven't already been hacked?

Just memories a new short password every day and you're set!
posted by blue_beetle at 11:21 AM on June 5, 2009

I was thinking of the way MSN Messenger will log you out of other sessions if you log on somewhere new.

The new MSN Live messenger lets you login from multiple locations to the same account now, as a configurable option.
posted by nomisxid at 11:27 AM on June 5, 2009

People spend time composing email too, but gmail gets around this. (With the browser session thing you mentioned above, I take it.)

What about a forced sign out every couple of days? Or would this irk more people than it's worth.

Or how about if the internet gods grant me the power to delete all cookies everywhere? Would everybody here be cool with that? I'd only do it like 2 or 3 times a week. Tops.
posted by consummate dilettante at 11:30 AM on June 5, 2009

blue_beetle, I can't be sure, so I just leave myself logged in all over town to save hackers the trouble.
posted by consummate dilettante at 11:31 AM on June 5, 2009

Or how about if the internet gods grant me the power to delete all cookies everywhere?

If you do anything to harm Keebler Fudge Sticks, your life is forfeit. Know this.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 11:41 AM on June 5, 2009 [8 favorites]

What about a forced sign out every couple of days? Or would this irk more people than it's worth.

Gah! Urk! Bluh! *vomits blood* Plehk! eeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeEEEEEeeee! *rends garments*
posted by Rock Steady at 11:41 AM on June 5, 2009 [6 favorites]

i'm signed in both my eeePCs, the Acer and the desktop..

*looks up and blinks*

please don't change anything about log ins and signing ins, please, please?
posted by infini at 11:45 AM on June 5, 2009

Why has no one posted the usual advice given when someone wants to custom tailor a community function to his own particular use? All right, I'll do it: gyob
posted by Cranberry at 11:50 AM on June 5, 2009

What about a forced sign out every couple of days? Or would this irk more people than it's worth.


Jesus Christ. Just the request is irking me.
posted by CunningLinguist at 11:53 AM on June 5, 2009 [8 favorites]

What about a forced sign out every couple of days? Or would this irk more people than it's worth.

This thought downright terrifies me. It would make me So Unhappy.
Then again, my login process involves about 55 keystrokes.
damn pb. he's got it lucky.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 11:59 AM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

What about a forced sign out every couple of days? Or would this irk more people than it's worth.

There would be blood in the streets.
posted by cortex (staff) at 12:08 PM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Ferrets
Asparagus
Pond Plants.
posted by Sailormom at 12:32 PM on June 5, 2009

am I gonna have to be more personally responsible?

Ding ding ding ding ding! We have a winner!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:40 PM on June 5, 2009 [4 favorites]

Wikipedia makes you re-login every 30 days, which is annoying enough. I can't imagine every couple of days. On the other hand, a greasemonkey script to automatically relogin (assuming you let the browser store your credentials) is trivial and there exists such a script for wikipedia and just about every large site that does that.
posted by Rhomboid at 12:58 PM on June 5, 2009

Logging in anywhere more than once irks me (Yahoo, eBay and Twitter are terrible offenders). I love Metafilter's perma-login.

As for Greasemonkey: Goddamnit, recommendations like that are not much different from "well, it works in IE" used to be. I'm not switching browsers.
posted by fightorflight at 1:12 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

What about a forced sign out every couple of days?

I will cut you.
posted by deborah at 1:15 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Ferrets
Asparagus
Pond Plants.
posted by Sailormom

??
posted by infini at 1:16 PM on June 5, 2009

DUDE

I AM SO IRKED RIGHT NOW
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:33 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

What about a forced sign out every couple of days? Or would this irk more people than it's worth.

I would quit and get a job at Yahoo! Answers, so bad is this idea.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:36 PM on June 5, 2009 [9 favorites]

+ 5 to jessamyn

[ooo ooo can we get numbers ratings instead of favourites so we can play pointage? ooo ooo]
posted by infini at 1:38 PM on June 5, 2009

Gah! Urk! Bluh! *vomits blood* Plehk! eeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeEEEEEeeee! *rends garments*

I AM SO IRKED RIGHT NOW

Jesus Christ. Just the request is irking me.

This thought downright terrifies me.

There would be blood in the streets.

I will cut you.


I'm not totally sure where consensus is heading, but I'm willing to hazard a guess that this would be an unpopular feature.

So, from a coding perspective, would it be possible to add a sign out feature that tells the server to end the session if pressed?

I guess I could change my password every once in a while, but, you know, ferrets, asparagus, pond plants.
posted by consummate dilettante at 1:39 PM on June 5, 2009

I'm not switching browsers.

you're doing it wrong
posted by Rhomboid at 1:40 PM on June 5, 2009

you're doing it wrong
A SIMBL plugin that's crashtastic on Safari 4? Someone's doing it wrong, for sure.
posted by fightorflight at 1:51 PM on June 5, 2009

So, from a coding perspective, would it be possible to add a sign out feature that tells the server to end the session if pressed?

Yep, click "sign out" in the upper-right corner of any page.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:58 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

I just use "rekcuskcocami" for all my passwords. It's easy to remember.
posted by Elmore at 2:01 PM on June 5, 2009

Yep, click "sign out" in the upper-right corner of any page.

I meant tells the server to end all sessions.
posted by consummate dilettante at 2:02 PM on June 5, 2009

oh. Then no, there is no way for us to build a feature that logs you out of all locations. But as I mentioned you can change your password to keep other locations from performing any actions. And be sure to click "sign out" when you're at a public computer.
posted by pb (staff) at 2:05 PM on June 5, 2009

The wind blew cold on the prairie. Small furry animals, ears aquiver, sensed something on the breeze, and scurried back to the warm, safe earth. An eerie noise, somewhere between the clanking of a jailer's chain and the grinding of a cranial saw cutting through freshly shaved skull, whispered with increasing urgency through the grassland.

If one strained hard enough, one could hear its bone-chilling refrain: "logoff..................logoff........logoff............logoff.................logoff........logoff............logoff.........logoff..................logoff........logoff............logoff.................logoff........logoff............logoff........."
posted by lalochezia at 2:28 PM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

Just go over to a devious pal's place, log on, and leave it. Then when weird shit starts showing up in AskMe under your login, the 'sign out' lesson is quickly and permanently learned.
posted by carsonb at 2:40 PM on June 5, 2009

I'm not totally sure where consensus is heading, but I'm willing to hazard a guess that this would be an unpopular feature.

I don't want to overstate it, but you know how some cities get, like, really excited when their sports team does well? How fires are lit, windows are smashed, cars are overturned, and cats are punched?

Imagine that time a hundred... no, a thousand, as it spreads out like a wildfire; crowds of people in the streets, screaming in an orgy of destruction and depravity and insanity.

Now picture it isolated to one small room.

That would be my office if this happened.
posted by quin at 2:43 PM on June 5, 2009 [2 favorites]

What if you change your password, then change it back? Will that kill all other sessions? If so, then it'd be possible to roll that up and call it "log out everywhere else".
posted by philomathoholic at 2:48 PM on June 5, 2009

MetaTalk: screaming in an orgy of destruction and depravity and insanity.

thank you for your contribution
posted by philomathoholic at 2:50 PM on June 5, 2009

What about a forced sign out every couple of days? Or would this irk more people than it's worth.

Every few days? Are you kidding? I've gone through three computers since the last time I logged into Metafilter.

/me thanks the gods who brought her MozBackup.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:06 PM on June 5, 2009

Yep, click "sign out" in the upper-right corner of any page.

Stop the madness!!
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:23 PM on June 5, 2009

In order to curb my rampent procrastination I have started mostly reading metafilter on my phone. If I had to log in everytime or even every couple of days I'd be one of those people screaming for blood.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 4:41 PM on June 5, 2009

There would be blood in the streets.

I first read that as "blood in the sheets" and thought you were making some kind of weird virginity ritual reference, and for a second there I was all whoa, he's going there over logins.
posted by middleclasstool at 4:43 PM on June 5, 2009

I would never use that kind of visceral metaphor, sir.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:45 PM on June 5, 2009

I'm still listening, but it already sounds like you need a hug and some ice cream.

Seriously, though, that's damn good. I can't decide whether I like the lyrics or arrangement better.
posted by middleclasstool at 4:49 PM on June 5, 2009

I like being signed in at as many computers as possible, so this doesn't sit well with me.

Speaking of, if you have an extra computer sitting around that you would like to log me onto my password is: c0rt3x1s1nth3sh0w3r

Thanks!
posted by cjorgensen at 5:23 PM on June 5, 2009

Don't you keep having to change your password to stuff like c0rt3x1s@th3st0r3, and (()R73X 15 5()R7 ()F R|_||\||\|1|\|6 |-|15 F1|\|63R5 7|-|R()|_|6|-| |-|15 |-|41R L1|{3 4 (()|\/|8?
posted by philomathoholic at 6:51 PM on June 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Ferrets
Asparagus
Pond Plants.

??
posted by infini

Those are my passwords for MetaFilter AskMefi and Metatalk.

Actually I saw that on a sign outside of a local store this morning and figured it was some high school kids attempt at acrostic humor.
posted by Sailormom at 6:57 PM on June 5, 2009

I'm surprised that there isn't some sort of session cookie that can be expired (on the server) separately from the user's password, since that's how I've seen this sort of thing implemented in the past. But if MeFi isn't built that way, then changing the password seems like it would do the trick if for some reason a user suspects that they forgot to log out from a shared computer somewhere.

But yeah, if there's no way to expire session cookies on-demand, having them expire automatically and force a manual login on a weekly/monthly/whatever basis is a PITA.
posted by Kadin2048 at 7:35 PM on June 5, 2009

you could just set your browser to expire the cookies when you close the browser, neh?
posted by edgeways at 10:03 PM on June 5, 2009

What about a forced sign out every couple of days?
Really who the fuck are you. You've been here less than a month and you come up with this crap. Half of us don't even know what our password was.
Or would this irk more people than it's worth
I think you have your answer by now.
posted by adamvasco at 4:06 AM on June 6, 2009

I think its someone for whom dropping by MeFi isn't like coming home for a breather
posted by infini at 4:31 AM on June 6, 2009

>: I first read that as "blood in the sheets" and thought you were making some kind of weird virginity ritual reference, and for a second there I was all whoa, he's going there over logins.

Hey, bedbugs can do that too.

>: I think its someone for whom dropping by MeFi isn't like coming home for a breather

You mean those Endless September people who use "@" when addressing someone? grr.
posted by dunkadunc at 4:48 AM on June 6, 2009

Why do you log in? The website is clearly visible by non-members, and it doesn't seem like you're prolific enough to experience the desperate craving to comment every time you're near a computer.

Do you get that much MeMail?

When I go home for holidays or weekends, I still check Metafilter, but unless there's a post that NEEDS my incredible insight I don't bother to log in.
posted by graventy at 8:32 AM on June 6, 2009

I feel weird if I'm not logged in

@dunkadunc Yup

*runs away fast*
posted by infini at 9:51 AM on June 6, 2009

Would you like Firefox to save this password? > Yes
posted by Sys Rq at 12:17 PM on June 6, 2009

consummate dilettante: "13...What about a forced sign out every couple of days? Or would this irk more people than it's worth..."

We are preparing the catapult to fling the severed heads of your women and children back into your city.
posted by double block and bleed at 2:49 PM on June 6, 2009 [2 favorites]

I have logged out of metafilter once since I've registered. It was an accident, and I couldn't for the life of me remember my password for awhile.

I still have nightmares.
posted by Stunt at 8:12 PM on June 6, 2009

Stunt, I took a several-year hiatus from MetaFilter (came back: oh hey, they added this question-asking thing! neato!), and had forgotten my password, lost the original account, etc., etc. mathowie actually emailed me my password, and the password was a bit of a blast from the past. :)

also, please don't do that automatically log-out thing. total PITA, even if I have Firefox/Chrome remember my password.
posted by epersonae at 9:58 AM on June 8, 2009