More on forgetful comments

I'd really like to help out with this issue, because I know it bugs a lot of Munuvians, and their visitors as well.

Since I didn't get any takers on my previous post about testing comment memory here, I've done some iterative testing on my own. I know very little about coding, and programming, but due to my own experiences, I have long suspected that there may be two factors at work in this problem. One is the actual code used, which as I say I know little about, and the other is how the browser is handling cookies.

As a result of my testing on MuNu, (and I can't make this claim for any other domain, as I have no way of testing), I can definitely say it is an end-user problem -- sort of. It's actually Internet Explorer that doesn't handle the code the way we want, although FireFox does.

I am running a completely standard installation of Firefox 0.9.2, and my comment info is successfully remembered on every blog on MuNu. (Except Rusty's, on which he has been playing with the cookies scripts) Conversely, no matter what cookies settings I use for Internet Explorer, it will not remember my user info on any MuNu blog. (Actually, I haven't tested every single one with IE... once through with FireFox took long enough!)

From what I can see, Internet Explorer chokes on the fact that the cookie is being set by blogs.mu.nu, but that it needs to read from the subdomain the user is on -- e.g. LightandDark.mu.nu -- so it fails. (In a single-blog installation, theses 2 addresses are the same.) So I think Rusty's on the right track for trying to find a fix for IE users via the var HOST variable.

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about scripting to be able to help resolve the problem under Internet Explorer, but at least this explains why there is such a variation between users who have no problems with their comment info being remembered, and those who do.

So, for Internet Explorer users, I don't have a solution. But for Firefox, and I suspect, Mozilla users, if your user information is not being remembered in comments boxes at MuNu, it's gotta be because of the settings you're using in your browser.

Go to the Tools menu and click on Options. Then click on Privacy on the left side of the Options window. Click on the + beside Cookies, and make sure there is a check mark in the box labeled Enable Cookies. Be sure there is no check mark in the box labeled for the originating web site only, and also make sure that the button for accept cookies normally is turned on.

One other thing to note! There are actually two seperate places where comments can be left, and therefore 2 places where cookies need to be set in order for a blog's comments to remember a visitor.

The first is in the pop-up box that normally shows up when a user clicks on the comments link at the bottom of a post on the main page. If the user enters their information and selects yes for remember me, then, if using Firefox, they will be remembered for the next time. This arrangement allows a user who has had his comments remembered at one MuNu blog to be remembered at all MuNu blogs that use the popup comment window.

However - if the user then goes to a post's permalink page (daily archives), - this is where you'll be if you've followed a link to the post from another blog - that location requires a completely separate cookie to be set, so even though the user has been remembered in the comments pop-up box before, they will also need to re-enter their information in the permalink page's comments area in order to be remembered in that area on future visits as well.

A few people have set up their configurations so that clicking on the comments link on the main page takes you to the comment section of that post's individual archives page instead. (for antispam reasons) This type of comment section is the same one described in the preceeding paragraph, so will not remember users who have their information remembered at other blogs. The user will have to enter their information at that specific blog in order to be remembered the next time. Emma's site is an example of this kind of setup. (Yes, Emma, it's your specific "session only" setting that's not allowing your info to be remembered when you re-visit a blog).

I know there's a lot of jargon here, so if you need a better explanation of anything, ask away in comments. I'll keep looking for an IE solution too, but the MuNu programming/coding gurus are a lot more likely to come up with something useful.

Also, I'd really like to know whether other Firefox users are having their comment info remembered please?

Paul

Posted by PaulT at August 9, 2004 01:54 AM