DElliott
10th July 2003, 19:37
Sorry it took me so long to figure this one out.
The AOL problem revolves around the fact that the Bulletin Board need some piece of information that uniquely identifies a user, and at the moment the board use IP addresses, but as most people don’t know, AOL users' IP addresses change very frequently (in some cases, every time they click a link on a web page), which causes the 'not logged in' error. vBulletin, the makers of this board, has no clear fix for this bug.
Here’s an example:
User A registers via AOL (using AOL's prop browser)
User B registers via non-AOL ISP (using IE)
User A can then only access the boards when not using AOL's browser.
User B can access the boards when using ANY browser (inc AOL's)
It appears the problem only exists for users who registered via AOL's browser. If they registered using a non-AOL browser, then they can use AOL's browser to surf the boards at a later date with no problems. It’s weird!
If you’re an AOL user and have the “login error”, my work around is as follows:
1) Inform me about you login problem.
2) I’ll save your information in the database and delete your account.
3) I’ll rebuild your account on a non-AOL ISP.
4) You will receive a new password for you account.
I’m closely watching the development of the new vBulletin Board 3.0 (in Beta testing now). If the bugs are not quashed with the new build, I’ll drop vBulletin and convert the MySQL database into a new php based board.
Note: I’ve been testing a new board for over three months now. It’s slick and fast.
The AOL problem revolves around the fact that the Bulletin Board need some piece of information that uniquely identifies a user, and at the moment the board use IP addresses, but as most people don’t know, AOL users' IP addresses change very frequently (in some cases, every time they click a link on a web page), which causes the 'not logged in' error. vBulletin, the makers of this board, has no clear fix for this bug.
Here’s an example:
User A registers via AOL (using AOL's prop browser)
User B registers via non-AOL ISP (using IE)
User A can then only access the boards when not using AOL's browser.
User B can access the boards when using ANY browser (inc AOL's)
It appears the problem only exists for users who registered via AOL's browser. If they registered using a non-AOL browser, then they can use AOL's browser to surf the boards at a later date with no problems. It’s weird!
If you’re an AOL user and have the “login error”, my work around is as follows:
1) Inform me about you login problem.
2) I’ll save your information in the database and delete your account.
3) I’ll rebuild your account on a non-AOL ISP.
4) You will receive a new password for you account.
I’m closely watching the development of the new vBulletin Board 3.0 (in Beta testing now). If the bugs are not quashed with the new build, I’ll drop vBulletin and convert the MySQL database into a new php based board.
Note: I’ve been testing a new board for over three months now. It’s slick and fast.