Secure browsing option

September 5, 2013 8:09 PM

I have "use secure browsing" enabled (I can see the checkmark), but metafilter is not using SSL on all of my computers. For example, it's enabled on my iPhone but not on Safari. However, the checkmark is there in both places.

I know that this says I need to enable it for each browser, but wouldn't it be better if the checkbox was unchecked for browsers where it was not yet enabled?

posted by Pruitt-Igoe to Bugs at 8:09 PM (6 comments total)

The checkboxes don't necessarily show your current state for the browser you're using—they show your last saved settings. There's more info in the FAQ here: How do MetaFilter display preferences work?

We have it set up this way so you can have different settings for different browsers. The site will always show you what you last saved, and you can just click save at the bottom of your Preferences to make them active in your current browser.

You should be able to take a look at your browser address bar to see if you're browsing securely or not. And once you save the preference for your current browser it will be active there.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:21 PM on September 5, 2013

Seems to be as simple as clicking Preferences, and then Save Your Preferences. Thanks.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 9:07 PM on September 5, 2013

I totally get why this feature exists, but every time I remember that this is how it works, it makes my brain hurt a little. (Want to change a setting? Read the FAQ!)

At the very least, couldn't the prefs page read in the locally set prefs from the cookie, and somehow flag/highlight the discrepancies between "locally saved prefs" and "last saved prefs" or something? (Or at the top, 1 global flag that says "Your current browser doesn't match these prefs -- click here to update your browser settings to match")?

(I never change my settings, so somebody kick me if this is already present in some fashion)
posted by misterbrandt at 9:31 PM on September 5, 2013 [2 favorites]

Yeah, this is something that's fairly unique to MetaFilter that you have to learn about how the site works. Hopefully you won't have to check the FAQ every time, but yeah, it could take a few times for it to sink in.

I'm afraid that highlighting differences, or having several different settings on the screen at once will do more to confuse than illuminate. The idea of the display settings is that you can see them. So you'll know what's currently active by browsing the site. (eg. If the background is white you know you have the plain theme set.) So the display settings are something you can observe, and then you can go in and make any changes if you're seeing something that isn't how you expect it to be.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:42 PM on September 5, 2013

I'm not saying this is the case for sure, but I heard it works this way because the NSA wrote some of the original ColdFusion that was used to create this site.

Just what I heard.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:34 PM on September 6, 2013

True story.
posted by NSA at 11:44 PM on September 7, 2013 [2 favorites]