Persistent MeFi Cookies

March 5, 2004 12:15 PM

My semi-pathetic lifestyle has required me to do a lot of my web-surfing (and blog-writing) from computers at the L.A. Public Libraries, and just a few minutes ago I sat down at a machine I had last used about a week ago, went to MetaFilter and was greeted with "you are logged in as wendell". Looks like I've been bitten by the MeFi Cookie Monster (persistant little bugger).
So, if you've seen any comments under my name in the last week that sound like they were written by a nine-year-old... it's probably still me. But at least it's a better alibi than "I was out fishing on Christmas".
Is there any way to avoid this problem (besides remembering to log out)?
posted by wendell to Etiquette/Policy at 12:15 PM (22 comments total)

I could have the cookie die after a day, but I hate sites that constantly ask me to re-login and prefer to stay logged in.

Actually, I could give the option of a session only cookie when you log in (a "keep me logged in?" option).
posted by mathowie (staff) at 12:18 PM on March 5, 2004

I like that idea, Matt.
posted by terrapin at 12:29 PM on March 5, 2004

LiveJournal works that way and is VERY convenient for keeping logged in 24/7 at home but don't have to worry about logging out when I use a school computer to update.
posted by jmd82 at 12:58 PM on March 5, 2004

can't you also do a location or IP checking? so if wendell accidentally checked the 'keep me logged in' at the library when he went home and tried from there it would see a new ip and ask again and reset. and unset the library cookie. or force someone at the library to relogin with password.

or something? I feel there is another site(I'm not supposed to mention). that does this to me all the time.
posted by darkpony at 1:08 PM on March 5, 2004

oh, but also I would think it would be good personal policy to clear all caches and cookies and stored passwords after working on public machines.
posted by darkpony at 1:10 PM on March 5, 2004

I like it the way it is. That way if I post when I'm three sheets to the wind I can blame it on a machine that I 'forgot to log out of'.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:23 PM on March 5, 2004

oh, but also I would think it would be good personal policy to clear all caches and cookies and stored passwords after working on public machines.

Ah, those good old cybercafe days of updating random Amazon wish lists....
posted by y2karl at 1:48 PM on March 5, 2004

semi-pathetic lifestyle has required me to do a lot of my web-surfing (and blog-writing) from computers at the L.A. Public Libraries,


nah, not at all. Ray Bradbury wrote his early stories and "Fahrenheit 451" with the dime-for-30-minutes typewriters in the basement of the LA Public Library (running upstairs to copy famous-book quotes). Bukowski wrote there, too.
if anything, you are following in the footsteps of really cool people
posted by matteo at 2:02 PM on March 5, 2004

Actually I sort of like the idea that at some unknowable point a total stranger might take over a username and post something. It makes the place seem more edgy and arty somehow.
posted by y6y6y6 at 2:40 PM on March 5, 2004

dhfhrhawyetw4766587ujtyugjtrfROOOLZ!!!boob
posted by dgaicun at 2:47 PM on March 5, 2004

What matteo said. There is nothing pathetic about using public library resources. That's what they're there for.
posted by JanetLand at 2:50 PM on March 5, 2004

I gotta second shouts for the status quo. I use about eight different machines to see MeFi, and each of them has a different OS, with different "best" fonts and so on. The "forever" cookie here lets me customise them, login, then customise another machine, login, and so on. I stay always logged in, each one get the best set of preferences, it's great.

If it checked my IP, I'd be *ruined*. And I hate ever having to log in to a site, even to press return on an autofilled box.
posted by bonaldi at 5:05 PM on March 5, 2004

Sometimes I find that someone's Amazon cookie is still set on a public computer. I always put a bunch of weird shit in their wishlist, like Ronald Reagan biographies and toy handcuffs. O, the fun!
posted by scarabic at 5:10 PM on March 5, 2004

Actually, I could give the option of a session only cookie when you log in (a "keep me logged in?" option).

I'm rooting for this option, if it would let you stay logged in at home while not remembering your login info elsewhere.
posted by catfood at 5:16 PM on March 5, 2004

I wasn't really asking for a pony in my original post, but the "keep me logged in" option sounds good to me...

I hereby take back half the bad things I've said about Matt ever since he gave a certain MeFite whose name I dare not mention a MetaTimeOut...
posted by wendell at 6:58 PM on March 5, 2004

posted by Danelope at 7:15 PM on March 5, 2004

Wendell , you're cool baby , you're cool .
posted by sgt.serenity at 8:00 PM on March 5, 2004

It makes the place seem more edgy and arty somehow.

Heh...I've got this very cool image in my head of Nighthawks by Edward Hopper updated with laptops.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 9:23 PM on March 5, 2004

I've been posting from a PC I share with my daughter, so if any of my comments sound gayer than usual - aw, heck how could that possibly be so?
posted by dash_slot- at 1:50 AM on March 6, 2004

I like the idea discussed of the simple login with a choice of session cookie (as default) or permanent.
posted by rudyfink at 2:43 AM on March 6, 2004

This is not just an image of big-city loneliness, but of existential loneliness: the sense that we have (perhaps overwhelmingly in late adolescence) of being on our own in the human condition...
posted by y2karl at 6:29 AM on March 6, 2004

I would think it would be good personal policy to clear all caches and cookies and stored passwords after working on public machines.

No kidding! This isn't a MeFi problem, it's a problem at LAPL. Actually, it might be a problem with just that one machine--it might be helpful to mention to staff there that this happened to you on that particular computer, and that they might want to look into it.
posted by gimonca at 9:23 AM on March 6, 2004