[SOLVED] Having difficulty logging out of LinuxQuestions.org

Gregg Bell · 04-27-2018, 12:47 PM

For six months maybe, I've had to log off twice to get out of LQ. What happened is I logged off, then, I'd get a pop-up asking if I'm sure I want to. I click OK but then I'm still logged in. So I click the log out and get the pop-up again, click OK and I'm out.

Now though I'm still getting the double log off stuff, but when I click OK on screenshot 375, I get this black band saying I've been logged in to my "Questions Network Account. (screenshot 374) I have no idea what such an account is, nor could I find anything about it Googling around. And now I can't log out at all. No matter how many times I "log out," the black band just keeps coming up saying I'm logged in. So I just X out of LQ.

When I bring LQ back I'm not logged in.

Anybody know what's going on?

Browser: Firefox Quantum 59.0.2 64 bit Canonical 1.0
Xubuntu 16.04LTS
Plugins and Addons in screenshots

Note: Still had problem when I disabled both ad blockers.

rtmistler · 04-27-2018, 01:03 PM

Moving to LQ S&F forum because it seems to make best sense there.

I have no idea what is happening, and perhaps you can share:
- Browser
- Plug-ins
- OS+distribution+version

For me, Firefox, AdBlockPlus, NoScript, on both Mint and Win7 if I log out, I'm logged out.

To be honest, I never log out, but just did the other day in order to see if I noticed any ads, all based on the thread from another user complaining about seeing <div> elements on the site.

Trihexagonal · 04-27-2018, 05:39 PM

I noticed lag yesterday with the message in my browser statusbar at the bottom "Waiting for accounts.thequestionsnetwork.org" but not any problems logging in or out.

After reading this I tried it and after I logged out the first time it shows my name and the option to log out still available, as shown. I needed to click "log out" again to clear the fields and it asked me again if I was sure I wanted to do this. I don't get the black bar shown or any mention of logging into that account. There's no problem for me logging in.

I'm using NoScript, HTTPS Everywhere, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin and Change Referrer Button extensions.

Edit: The first time I was using FreeBSD 11.1-RELEASE-p9 with Firefox. I can duplicate it on an OpenBSD 6.3 box with Seamonkey and only the NoScript and HTTPS Everywhere extensions.

If I log out once it still shows me as logged in and I can open a new tab to the forums from that page several times and still show as logged in on the new tab. Clicking on this link to try to edit it while doing so logged me out. I fiddled with it till I broke it and had to close my browser to be able to log in successfully to edit this.

cwizardone · 04-27-2018, 07:12 PM

As long as I've been using this board I have had to log out twice if I want to clear all the cookies.
Some time ago I found an add-on that allows you to clear your cache,
cookies, history, etc., with one click of a button.
Since then I just sign out once that then click the button. Problem solved. OTOH, that probably wouldn't be convenient for those you like to keep multiple tabs open.

ChuangTzu · 04-27-2018, 07:28 PM

always had to log out twice, never saw that black bar though.

cwizard, whats that addon?

frankbell · 04-27-2018, 09:16 PM

I also normally don't log out, but I did to do some quick and quite superficial testing. Here's what I found:

I logged out and got a message saying "all cookies cleared/return to the page you were previously viewing." However, the login dialog still said "Welcome frankbell," with a "logout" item next to my name. When I clicked "return to the page you were previously viewing," the standard login screen appeared. Also, if I refreshed the page or clicked on my name in the login dialog, the login screen appeared.

My guess is that, when you see that first screen, you are logged out, but the screen is not fully reflecting that.

cwizardone · 04-27-2018, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChuangTzu

always had to log out twice, never saw that black bar though.

cwizard, whats that addon?

it is called, Click&Clean.
I very much prefer the "older" version that still works with Pale Moon. They had to write a "updated" version to work with the newer releases of Firefox and I just don't care for it. Each to their own.

Gregg Bell · 04-28-2018, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trihexagonal

I noticed lag yesterday with the message in my browser statusbar at the bottom "Waiting for accounts.thequestionsnetwork.org" but not any problems logging in or out.

After reading this I tried it and after I logged out the first time it shows my name and the option to log out still available, as shown. I needed to click "log out" again to clear the fields and it asked me again if I was sure I wanted to do this. I don't get the black bar shown or any mention of logging into that account. There's no problem for me logging in.

I'm using NoScript, HTTPS Everywhere, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin and Change Referrer Button extensions.

Edit: The first time I was using FreeBSD 11.1-RELEASE-p9 with Firefox. I can duplicate it on an OpenBSD 6.3 box with Seamonkey and only the NoScript and HTTPS Everywhere extensions.

If I log out once it still shows me as logged in and I can open a new tab to the forums from that page several times and still show as logged in on the new tab. Clicking on this link to try to edit it while doing so logged me out. I fiddled with it till I broke it and had to close my browser to be able to log in successfully to edit this.

Thanks a lot, Hex. I just wondered if there was something really fishy going on. Now I know at least other people are having the double log off thing and that the questions network site is legit. Sorry you had to break something, but I appreciate you simulating things. I have uBlock Origin but will check out Privacy Badger. NoScript was a little hard to use and I bailed.

Gregg Bell · 04-28-2018, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cwizardone

As long as I've been using this board I have had to log out twice if to want to clear all the cookies.
Some time ago I found an add-on that allows you to clear your cache,
cookies, history, etc., with one click of a button.
Since then I just sign out once that then click the button. Problem solved. OTOH, that probably wouldn't be convenient for those you like to keep multiple tabs open.

Thanks Wizard

Gregg Bell · 04-28-2018, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankbell

I also normally don't log out, but I did to do some quick and quite superficial testing. Here's what I found:

I logged out and got a message saying "all cookies cleared/return to the page you were previously viewing." However, the login dialog still said "Welcome frankbell," with a "logout" item next to my name. When I clicked "return to the page you were previously viewing," the standard login screen appeared. Also, if I refreshed the page or clicked on my name in the login dialog, the login screen appeared.

My guess is that, when you see that first screen, you are logged out, but the screen is not fully reflecting that.

Thanks Frank. (Good to see you.

) I agree with your guess. I do kind of wonder that with all the techies around somebody doesn't smooth this out. Oh, and I did notice when I disabled the adblockers I was able to log out most of the time. So that probably had something to do with it.

Trihexagonal · 04-28-2018, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

Thanks a lot, Hex. I just wondered if there was something really fishy going on. Now I know at least other people are having the double log off thing and that the questions network site is legit. Sorry you had to break something, but I appreciate you simulating things. I have uBlock Origin but will check out Privacy Badger. NoScript was a little hard to use and I bailed.

I tried it today with a tab open for LQ while logged in and a tab for another site. I logged out of LQ once, closed the LQ tab and reopened it from a bookmark with the other tab still open but was not logged in to LQ in the new tab.

I meant to break it.

I wanted to see what I could do with it logging in and out and back and forth from tab to tab. Finally I had to close my browser to be able to log in, so no harm done and I think everything is alright.

You should really take a second look at the older versions of NoScript. (They should pay me as much as I push this.) Allowing scripting to run globally is the worst mistake you can make online aside of not restraining your clicking finger IMO.

Gregg Bell · 04-28-2018, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trihexagonal

I tried it today with a tab open for LQ while logged in and a tab for another site. I logged out of LQ once, closed the LQ tab and reopened it from a bookmark with the other tab still open but was not logged in to LQ in the new tab.

I meant to break it.

I wanted to see what I could do with it logging in and out and back and forth from tab to tab. Finally I had to close my browser to be able to log in, so no harm done and I think everything is alright.

You should really take a second look at the older versions of NoScript. (They should pay me as much as I push this.) Allowing scripting to run globally is the worst mistake you can make online aside of not restraining your clicking finger IMO.

Thanks Hex. But why the older versions? And where are the older versions? I went to the Firefox add-on for the NoScript and it said 'best used with Tor browser.' I'm not going to dangerous sites. That kind of sounds like overkill for somebody like me.

A friend also told me about Firejail for Firefox. That sounded like the ultimate protection. I don't know that much about it (sandboxing) though.

And breaking things on purpose--what would your mother say!

Trihexagonal · 04-28-2018, 08:36 PM

It was all with good intent. If I had been able to do something that shouldn't happen I would have notified Jeremy privately, and all I did was log in and out of my own account.

Not to get out in the weeds, like I'm prone to do, but the older versions of NoScript give more complete control over what scripts you allow to run. You can whitelist scripts for sites you normally use and allow them on the fly for those you don't. That's what people seem to find hardest to do, but once you see enough of them you can pretty much tell what scripts it should take a site to run (if it won't without allowing scripts). If there aren't too many it's a simple process. It's when there are dozens it gets to be guesswork and experience with using it comes into play.

I use Firefox-ESR, Seamonkey or Palemoon and you can get an older version from the palemoon.c0m incompatible add-ons page that will work with all three. Once you install it the next time you open your browser it will open the NoScript site and let you know there is a newer version of it. Then you can update to NoScript 5.1.8.4 from that page to get the most recent of the old version.

It also claims on the NoScript site to circumvent Spectre and Meltdown:

Quote:

NoScript's unique whitelist based pre-emptive script blocking approach prevents exploitation of security vulnerabilities (known, such as Meltdown or Spectre, and even not known yet!) with no loss of functionality...

https://noscript.net/

That in itself should be reason enough to use it IMO.

NoScript. It's worth the hassle. - Trihexagonal

For my endorsement...

ntubski · 04-29-2018, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trihexagonal

Not to get out in the weeds, like I'm prone to do, but the older versions of NoScript give more complete control over what scripts you allow to run. You can whitelist scripts for sites you normally use and allow them on the fly for those you don't.

You can do this on the new version of NoScript as well. The main difference in the new version is that it defaults to allowing all scripts globally (due to this + the UI change, I spent a couple of months thinking the new version was completely broken).

Gregg Bell · 04-29-2018, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trihexagonal

It was all with good intent. If I had been able to do something that shouldn't happen I would have notified Jeremy privately, and all I did was log in and out of my own account.

Not to get out in the weeds, like I'm prone to do, but the older versions of NoScript give more complete control over what scripts you allow to run. You can whitelist scripts for sites you normally use and allow them on the fly for those you don't. That's what people seem to find hardest to do, but once you see enough of them you can pretty much tell what scripts it should take a site to run (if it won't without allowing scripts). If there aren't too many it's a simple process. It's when there are dozens it gets to be guesswork and experience with using it comes into play.

I use Firefox-ESR, Seamonkey or Palemoon and you can get an older version from the palemoon.c0m incompatible add-ons page that will work with all three. Once you install it the next time you open your browser it will open the NoScript site and let you know there is a newer version of it. Then you can update to NoScript 5.1.8.4 from that page to get the most recent of the old version.

It also claims on the NoScript site to circumvent Spectre and Meltdown:

That in itself should be reason enough to use it IMO.

NoScript. It's worth the hassle. - Trihexagonal

For my endorsement...

Thanks for the information. I may wade back into NoScript and try to be a little more patient this time. And never heard of Palemoon or ESR. Interesting-looking stuff. Appreciate it.