What governs login frequency?

SmartPhone
Tablet
PC
Mac

What Browser are you using
What App are you using

Do you close your app / browser every time your done with it

Do you shutdown your device when your done

Do you clear your cookie cache

There are a lot of variables

More than one forum that I use sets a cookie when you login. If you come back without having logged out, it checks that cookie, and if it is recent enough deems you already to be logged in. But if too much time has passed by the rules of that particular website, then you have to login again.

Some places where I have noticed this the time limit is on the order of two weeks. Those which use this method can set any limit they like.

When I mentioned my experience of a few days ago, it was with the iPad. I was logged in when I opened the forum link in the morning, and a few hours later when I again checked the forums, I noticed I was logged out and had to go through the login process. I do not purposely log out, simply exit the browser. But it is just as likely to occur with the PC. Both devices are used daily and each for multiple times.

I can pretty much keep logged into poi-factory.com as long as I keep logged in using the same computer/phone. If I connect with the other device, I need to login. When I switch back to the original device, I need to login again. To summarize; switch devices: you always need to login, continue using the same device: you occasionally (like once every couple of weeks) need to login.
Mark

when I log in on another device, it automatically logs me out on my PC which I use most of the time.

Perhaps only one device per used id is allowed to be logged on at the same time?

In contrast to a few of you (baumback & bdhsfz6) that reported that you get kicked off when using multiple devices, that does not happen to me. As a test, I rebooted both my Win10 PC and iPad Air and as I write this, both devices are connected to the POI site, specifically this thread and in the lower right corner of both devices, in "Online users" it has my screen name.

I get it too. The only device that I log onto POI is my PC, and like the original poster of this thread sometimes I'm still logged in and sometimes I'm not. Not a big deal, in fact a couple of other websites that I visit do that as well, even though on some of them I click on the "Stay Logged In" feature.

…but, an annoyance, especially for a site where there isn’t any need for stringent security. For all I know maybe it isn’t this site, it may be a behavior of my Norton AV when it sees a URRL with http as opposed to https. It doesn’t do it every time nor is it unique to any given machine or OS.

A few weeks back I noticed that my user name "John from PA" appears as expected at the top right of my screen, but my user name may or may not appear at the bottom right in the Online users listing. If I refresh my screen, then my user name appears at both locations.

I'm suspicious that when I log on and do not see my user name in the Online users section, then I'm simply seeing a cached version of the web page content. When I click refresh, or add content to a topic, I'm reconnected to the POI Factory server as indicated by the addition of my user name in the Online users section.

I might go several days without hitting the refresh button or adding content.

In my almost 15 years here, whenever I come into the Factory, which is at least once a day, I have never not seen my user-name listed under Online users. Wonder what the difference is between us.

Phil

My impression is that the question whether you see a fresh version or an old version combines aspects of how the webpage is coded with aspects of your particular browser. In any case I am often perplexed.

I saw your response earlier this AM, and I had refreshed the page to see my user name in both locations. Now, about three hours later when I logged in, the user name was not in "Online users" until I opened this thread. Once my name appears in Online users, I can exit the site (not logging off) and go back in 10 to 15 minutes later and I'm still listed.

I suspect it may be the browser behavior. I use Chrome on Windows 10, but also go to POI Factory using a fully up to date iPad and experience the same behavior. It's a stretch, but perhaps browser behavior due to this site not connecting to an HTTPS server.

On a side note, while looking for a way to automatically refresh on log in with a browser, I find that most of the popular browsers will not accomplish an automatic refresh without some extension; for instance Easy Auto Refresh for Chrome (which I haven't tried).

Every site I login to uses a cookie(s) to to store my login status.

I can login and then leave most sites and if I Come back later, I'm still logged in.

There are exceptions though. Sirius/XM is different. If I just close the window and then just open another one, I can just click the icon in bookmarks and I'm still logged in. But, if I go to another website (in the Siruis/XM window), I have to login again when I go back.

WikiTree keeps me logged in, Ancestry keeps me logged in and FamilyTree will keep me logged in for 2 weeks - if that option is selected.

Some sites will log you out if there is no activity for a certain amount of time. Bank, Credit Card and medical sites will log you out if you leave the site.

To prove that cookies store your login status, just login to a site and then go to settings and delete all your cookies. This may also delete custom settings such as the volume setting. Go to another website and then go back to where you logged in at. 99.99999% sure that you have to log back in.

BTW, I think that POI Factory will log you out if you are inactive for a set time.

Cookies can do all kinds of things. Ever wonder why ads for a site you viewed lately seem to pop up whe you visit news sites? Yep, they read your cookies to see what you've been looking at.

Cookies can also block you from accessing certsin pages. I'll be posting about my experiences at Bank of America later on for other POI file maintainers.

I use Chrome for a browser, but I think they all work the same.

The following steps, if you use Chrome, will let you see the cookies stored on your PC. I find this useful in that I can sort by various methods, one of which is size. You can also use a utility, one good one (free) is from Nirsoft; see https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/chrome_cache_view.html

Google Chrome

Click the 'three dots/parallel bars' menu button and choose the 'Settings' option. Scroll down to the 'Privacy and security' section, then click on 'Cookies and other site data'.

To view the cookies on your computer, select 'See all cookies and site data'. You will be shown a list of all websites which have stored cookies on your computer. Selecting a website allows you to see the cookies, and selecting a cookie shows you the data stored in it.

I visit fb a few times a month. The visits are done in an private/incognito session on a secondary browser. Only on the rare occasion will I get any targeted ads. The next best thing is to visit fb in a vm. That should really isolate things.