Metafilter login doesn't work for me on Firefox.

December 13, 2004 5:39 PM

Metafilter login doesn't work for me on Firefox. Just sends me back to the homepage without logging me in. It does work on IE. Metatalk and Ask Metafilter seem fine on both browsers. I've deleted all cookies, etc, and still no luck. Can anyone suggest a solution other than "use IE" or "don't post to Metafilter"?
posted by Justinian to Bugs at 5:39 PM (22 comments total)

I'm using firefox and it works just fine. I checked to see how my cookies are set: accept cookies normally is what I have checked.
Hahaha, it says that cookies are delicious delicacies.
p.s. how did you post this without logging in?
posted by cilantro at 5:58 PM on December 13, 2004

Try going into MetaTalk from Metafilter, then back to Metafilter (seriously!). It works for me. My cookie isn't recognised when I enter Metafilter direct, but it is when I enter Metatalk.
posted by SpaceCadet at 6:05 PM on December 13, 2004

As I said, Metatalk and Ask Metafilter work fine for me. It's just regular Metafilter I can't log in with Firefox. And I can still post there, I just have to use Internet Explorer to do it. I suppose I can just use IE when I want to comment but that seems rather unfortunate.

At least it makes it less likely I'll submit random CNN news links as Front Page Posts, which seems to be the norm now.
posted by Justinian at 6:09 PM on December 13, 2004

Scott Peterson is not random.
posted by eastlakestandard at 6:13 PM on December 13, 2004

Worked for me. Are you using the latest stable Firefox? Where are you logging into Metafilter at (.com/.net)? (thinking maybe the cookie domain is wrong or something..)
posted by mrg at 6:14 PM on December 13, 2004

SpaceCadet: good try but no go. I click on MetaTalk and it says "You are logged in as: justinian / logout" in the corner, then I click on Metafilter and it just says " 20016 members" and I am still not able to comment.

mrg: I'm using the latest Forefox release, yes. I've tried logging in through Metafilter.com and Metafilter.net and neither works. I deleted all my cookies and tried again and still nothing.

I'll try reinstalling Firefox later if it doesn't resolve itself.

Thanks for the help you guys. Perhaps I am doomed.
posted by Justinian at 6:22 PM on December 13, 2004

I'll chime in with "works for me."

Can anyone suggest a solution other than "use IE"

Did you really think people would suggest going back to IE?

or "don't post to Metafilter"?

That one, maybe.
posted by SAC at 6:33 PM on December 13, 2004

This is a reported but "unconfirmed" situation that several people have reported to Bugzilla. It happens to me with Metafilter and one other site. Others at the second site have no problems with Firefox. I check periodically, but otherwise just use Safari for the sites that Firefox can't "keep" a cookie.

I don't know if you're using a Mac, but most computers have some kind of password manager. Check and make sure it's configured properly. Also confirm in your Firefox preferences that your cookies are kept "until they expire". I found it unhelpful to delete my Ff user profile and start fresh.

A good solution if you want to keep from using IE, and are not on a Mac, might be to shrug and just login whenever you get here. i use Safari just because I'm too lazy/impatient to do the typing.
posted by reflecked at 6:59 PM on December 13, 2004

Justinian - you're not the only one - PaperDragon is having the same trouble. Will try to get more details on that... If you find an answer, we'd love to know about it.
posted by whatzit at 7:01 PM on December 13, 2004

reflecked - the problem (at least for us, don't know about the original poster) is that you cannot log in on blue. Click log in, enter user data, get redirected to front page. Still not logged in.
posted by whatzit at 7:03 PM on December 13, 2004

I notice my Firefox (1.0, OSX) "forgets" some cookies, for other sites, but so far not for here--it seems very random to me.
posted by amberglow at 7:18 PM on December 13, 2004

I observed something similar when I went to metafilter.net (out of curiosity). I'm logged in here fine, and on the blue and green as well, but on mefi.net I was not logged in and could not accomplish even that most basic of tasks.
posted by ChrisR at 8:08 PM on December 13, 2004

I have the same problem in Firefox 1.0 with the Horde webmail client for one of my hosts -- although not for my personal Horde webmail on a different server. Every time I try to log in, I can do it, but if I click to read mail, it bounces me back to the log-in page. I've tried everything, including reinstalling the damn software, and nothing works. The host's technicians can't reproduce the error. Very frustrating.
posted by me3dia at 8:27 PM on December 13, 2004

Justinian -- This doesn't really solve your problem, but there is a firefox extension called IE View, which adds an option to your right-click menu that opens the link you're about to click in Internet Explorer. It would save you the trouble of copying and pasting the metafilter link between windows, but not much else.

There's also another one called FireFox View that does just the opposite.

PS, FireFox has always worked for me.
posted by Hildago at 8:33 PM on December 13, 2004

Whatzit indeed has the same problem as I do. I click log in, enter my data, and simply get redirected to the front page without being logged in. IE works fine. Both Ask Metafilter and MetaTalk work fine in all the browsers.

At least I know it isn't just me.

Thanks Hidalgo, I'll grab IE View.
posted by Justinian at 9:17 PM on December 13, 2004

Hahaha, it says that cookies are delicious delicacies.

cilantro: you may want to upgrade your browser. The last release that quote was in was 0.9.x, unless you've got the Delicious Delicacies extension installed (which you probably don't, based on your surprise). Firefox 1.0 is Really Great.
posted by Plutor at 4:14 AM on December 14, 2004

so lemme get this straight: mefi cookie lasts forver, right? might try (and this is a god-awful workaround, i know) killing all cookies in FF, or better yet making a new profile from scratch with all default cookie settings. then log into MeFi through IE, then open firefox and import cookies from IE. then kill the IE cookie.

also, what do your cookie prefs look like (about:config then enter "cookie" in the search box to only show the cookie settings)? those of us using FF with no issues (like myself) can maybe compare notes to narrow down possibilities.
posted by caution live frogs at 6:10 AM on December 14, 2004

This isn't just a Firefox problem, as I have the same issue with MyIE. I haven't tried it with Firefox on my machine, though. I've found that sometimes dropping in to metatalk and then back works, but sometimes not.
posted by PaperDragon at 8:08 AM on December 14, 2004

I have the exact same problem but ONLY on my desktop at home. At my laptop at work I use FireFox 1.0 and can get in no problem. However, at home, on my desktop, I cannot log in on EITHER firefox or IE. Very strange. I get the whole 'sign in and then redirected to home page with no access' issue. Very frustrating.
posted by spicynuts at 9:00 AM on December 14, 2004

well hey spicynuts, you've just given yourself a chance to solve the problem once and for all. you have a test case: working computer and non-working computer. compare: laptop work ok from work? check. does it work from home? if yes, then it isn't your connection.

check OS. same or different? if same, then it isn't this. check browser settings (security, cookie permissions, etc.) and programs in the background (firewall settings, etc.) that might affect things. next check the host files: is your home system blocking the site for some reason? have a skanked file that messes up DNS resolution for mefi? at any rate by comparing you should be able to find some info that might help solve this... it shouldn't be the browser itself, if you're having issues with IE as well.
posted by caution live frogs at 11:12 AM on December 14, 2004

I changed from trying to log into metafilter.com to logging in at metafilter.org and now it is working on my home computer. who knows.
posted by spicynuts at 7:57 AM on December 15, 2004

Justinian: Do you have AdBlock installed? One of your filters might be giving a false positive when you're trying to login. I had this problem with some messages in Gmail. Try temporarily disabling AdBlock (Ctrl-Shift-B) when you login.

If you don't have AdBlock installed, good luck.
posted by quasistoic at 10:30 PM on December 15, 2004