WTF is going on with this site?

It doesn't seem any different to me.

I was persuaded to pay to try to resolve issues a while ago, which it did. But yes not long ago it was unusable. Seems fine now.

Not just me then! Taken 20 minutes to log in to post, same cookies issue. Works fine on laptop but on phone, android chrome also, making site unusable.
Not that it makes a difference I'm sure, but I am paid up member. Tried link bottom of page as suggested in the previous thread about same issue. Fed up of it now.
Edit, been trying log in for 20 minutes to start similar thread when saw this one .

Amazingly I haven't had to log in again to post this despite leaving the browser to do something else 🤣!

But having to accept cookies every single time.

Sorry, it's just sooo bloody annoying. Thanks for the replies, obviously being paid up isn't the functional issue.

I'm still getting a cache error on logging in. It always takes two attempts

And why doesn't it log in to the thread that you want to reply to? It always goes to my profile page and then I have to navigate to the thread and then the reply field. First world problems I know, but it doesn't encourage me to become a full member either

The search function is abysmal. It’s also difficult to post pictures, and on my phone I keep getting error messages when I scroll down. The content posted is a joke as well.

No logging in issues. Firefox on Android.

Search is crap though. .Posting pics is a nightmare. Other free sites manage to just have an upload image button.

Seems to have been very slow over past few days.

I've not been able to use phone on here for over a month now for similar reasons; if I can eventually log in (I often simply can't despite trying everything) I'll obviously get logged back out again when I come back.

Pixel 3, android 12, chrome, GSOH.

I'm not having logging in issues but the site in general is almost unusable.
It hangs mid-page when loading pages, freezes up the browser when loading pages, PM's are hit and miss whether they work or not, the Login/Cookie link at the bottom of the page just lead to a "something's gone wrong" page. The list of problems seems to be ever increasing.

I only subscribed as it was supposed to make the site useable, despite subscribing it's still blooming awful.

In the last few days the top blue bar menu has been on the wonk for me.
Portrait on a Mobile/Android/Chrome

Same for me on chrome android. I'm a digital subscriber. Have to log in most times, menu off to one side as mentioned. Been going on weeks. Using the site less and less as frustrating.

Yeah, the recurrent request to accept cookies thing has reared its head again for me, after several months of it only happening if I visit an external link in the same browser tab.

Android user here - there's no way of knowing if I've clicked the thread title or thread starter until too late.

Having to constantly baccept cookies on every new page is a little tiresome.

The search function is abysmal. It’s also difficult to post pictures, and on my phone I keep getting error messages when I scroll down. The content posted is a joke as well.

I was with you until the last sentence.  If you really think that then why stay? The content and the people are the things that keeps me here. I'm prepared to tolerate (just about) the shonky interface because the breadth of knowledge and expertise on here is awesome. It's a close run thing though sometimes.

I let my sub for singletrack expire.. after quite a few years as a paid up member due to the ongoing issues with cookies and never ending logouts. It was so annoying that I was visiting less and less. Sorry web team but your own ineptitude, and I'm sorry to be rude, but it is that, is killing the site for users.

No other web forum has these ongoing issues.

Jeff

No issues here, chrome on Android on a Moto G. Had the cookies pop up once and now fine.  The top bar is offset but still works.  Not using any funny blockers or tools.

These problems are the worst to track down until you work out what the 'random' part of these problems is caused by 🙁

I've had the same difficulties logging in, on chrome and android. It only took 2 atemps this morning though, which is better. Last week no matter how many refreshes I did it was impossible to log in at times. I cleared the cache 2 days ago which seemed to help for a day.

Odd because desktop chrome on MacOs seems to have been fine the whole time.

And now every thread or main page I return to I’m getting asked to accept cookies. Every single time. Every threads every return to the thread menu.

Same problem on Samsung/Android.
No issues on Windows 10 laptop.

Such hardship,it's almost unbearable 😫 Can anybody suggest some coping strategies,I fear the worst.

You're in Belgium, Leffeboy, no issues here in France either with Android MotoG or W10 Firefox. I'm beginning to think some of these issues are regional, perhaps related to IP address or service provider.

Just turned off my WiFi (sky) and turned on data (through giffgaff).... 3 tries to log in and get 'manage cookies' every time again, so that theory isn't seemingly right unless there's some commonality between sky and giffgaff?

Yeh Fasthaggis, I get it's not the biggest trauma in life, but if you're going to run a website/forum and want people to engage then it really should be able to work like others manage.

I've not had log in issues but as of last night I'm accepting the cookies EVERY SINGLE PAGE LOAD . Android user

Such hardship,it’s almost unbearable 😫 Can anybody suggest some coping strategies,I fear the worst.

Start a thread whining about it.

I had yesterday the cookies warning on every refresh, plus multiple logging out. Seems better today. Chrome on Android 12.

Working fine here on pc and phone

I’m not a paid up member

Ah 🤷‍♂️

I understand your frustrations but please realise that many other sites have a lot of staff working on tech 24/7, and we have 2.5 people weekdays only, who have had to tackle a host of legacy issues to get the site to where it is today. They don’t just run the site - they also run all the electronic membership system, our office network, our printer etc etc. It’s a lot for a small team.

And yes, there are problems, and some of them annoy me too. Some of those above we know about and tech is working to fix them. But some of the issues above I don’t recognise, or they’re issues I have had in the past but are now fixed for me, so I can’t say if they’re bugs peculiar to your browser/platform/membership combo, or what. Sometimes the problems lie with our ad delivery system, and then we have to have a back and forth with them and their coders to figure out what the problem is and get them to fix it - it’s not always an issue within the power of our tech team. Not to pass the buck, but just to explain the situation.

The most helpful thing you can do is email tech tech-support@singletrackworld.com and give them a description of what’s happening, ideally screenshots, and info on which devices you’re using. That way they can look into it properly and get back to you.

There was a time when the 'keep me logged in' check box achieved pretty much nothing so I got out of the habit of clicking it. About 2 months ago I ticked it for the first time in years (you have to click it before you fill in user/password because it disappears too quick otherwise) - and to my surprise.... it works and I now almost never have to log in and have never needed to tick that box again.

The only issue I'm currently having is the mis-alignment at the top of each thread, and that's simply annoying

No login problems

No cookie problems

That's on Chrome/Android 13 and Chrome/Win 11.

I see page formatting is all out still.

Only time I get the cookies thing popping up is if I use the back button.

I see page formatting is all out still.

Yeah tech don’t work weekends.

I'm having issues with chrome on android. Not staying logged in, having to accept cookies frequently etc.

I’m beginning to think some of these issues are regional, perhaps related to IP address or service provider.

Nah.... Always use a VPN. It doesn't matter which country I'm "in" the fee problems still exist....

Cookies. Log out. Not recognising the first login attempt....

Yeah tech don’t work weekends

This has been going on long before Saturday/Sunday arrived.

It’s only happening for me on chrome on Android, but happening a lot. Keeps logging me out.

This has been going on long before Saturday/Sunday arrived.

First reports I seen were when they added the notifications, the same time as I noticed it happening, which was at the end of this week.

The content posted is a joke as well.

Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. Nobody forces you to stay; if it’s some sort of masochistic compulsion to stay just because it then gives you something to whine about, bugger off to Pinkbike and winge over there.

FWIW, about all I’ve noticed lately is posts taking ages to finally load, but that could be due to a number of causes. I’ve had one or two issues with the cookies login, but they’ve been few and far between, I think only once over the last month or so.

I use Brave/DuckDuckGo on my iPad, using a VPN, Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, along with whatever iOS 16 tracking and security facilities are currently available, so slowdown could be anything really.

Sorry web team but your own ineptitude, and I’m sorry to be rude, but it is that, is killing the site for users.

No other web forum has these ongoing issues.

I don't think it's ineptitude. From having read post from them (the web team) I think unfortunately they have a bit of a hacked together word press system to work with. You might say "just use another system" but it I expect the cost of migration is just not feasible for a small business. It's one of those "how do get to X?", "Well I wouldn't start from here." Type situations.

For what it's worth I find sometimes when the page hangs I just close the tab and reopen in a new tab.

I keep getting the privacy agreement message each time i view a page. It's a bit annoying.

I keep getting the privacy agreement message each time i view a page. It’s a bit annoying.

I kept getting that and in a pique of dissatisfaction I deleted/closed all the adverts of the RH side and, miraculously the problem seemed to go away.

This is it from my phone, or a variation of, for about 2 months and I can't get around it - I simply can't log in, which is a bit annoying after a while.

[img] [/img]

It's dogshit on my phone as well can't be arsed being more descriptive than that.

Logged my self out earlier, honestly I don't know how any free member copes. I'd pay double not to have to look at that again.

Can't add a few more pics to my Doggo's own STW thread so really pissed off with this site now

There are quite a few broken things for me, some consistently and others intermittently. Too many to bother reporting really. But it's all tolerable, and I stay for the content and the community.

Yes they have some horrible cobbled together system which makes everything difficult from what I read.

Very erratic for me, on either Android phone, laptop with Google or non magic Ipad.
Site has a mind of of its own. Logs out, doesn’t log out, cookie preference shite.
It’s the barmiest site I go on.

Rock solid here beyond the transient issues with caching last week.

Windows 10 desktop PC, up-to-date Chrome browser. I don't log out of the site, don't shut down the computer, don't have any add-ons installed which might interfere with cookies. I do run an ad blocker, but I have a full membership so that shouldn't matter.

I have never seen the logout issues or the cookie consent pop-up issues often reported aside from when the site has been actually broken (I've actively tried to reproduce them, even) and I've been here over a decade. So what's different in our client loadouts?

The answer is YMMV

safari user here, pretty tech savvy, and its only recently (as in weeks) that the 'keep me signed in' check box has actually been selectable when using a mobile device.

.....and now I logged out to double check, and got the same error message as bearnecessities for a few attempts.

Seems stable enough here on the landline/firefox.

Did have one 502 but sorted itself on an F5 and apart from taking a bit of time things(touch wood) seem to be ok if youre wired in, so from the answers maybe its down to phone signals.

I was getting cookie preference on every single page yesterday evening for quite a while, and then it suddenly stopped. Only had to log in twice though. No more problems since.

I've tried Opera on android phone since earlier post and not had any issues.
Just tried again, same device but chrome - cookies question and failure to log in multiple time 🙄

So what’s different in our client loadouts?

It shouldn't matter, I know that you're an IT guru and can give me a gazillion tech reasons (in hexadecimal code 🙂 ) why it does matter, but the site should work for everyone with a functioning device

I'm getting FOMO as it's fine on Mac, PC, iPhone for me on various browsers. Can someone do a youtube of how bad it is, perhaps with some shouting so i can empathise?

FWIW, no problems apart from a brief 502 error.
Pixel 6a/Android 13/Brave browser (with whatever default settings Brave uses)
I don't login from multiple devices.

And I'm a freeloader as well...

Fine with Edge on PC and android phone. Constant re-logins with another android phone and Chrome.

Same as @Cougar, and apart from the cache issue last week, rock solid.

I had issues and then paid for a digital membership. All the issues disappeared. Perhaps, as Hannah said, the ad delivery system is the root cause and you should pay the equivalent of a pint a month to access the forum and all the other content?

Chrome on Android, works fine here. Only thing I can relate to, if I tidy my phone and log out of this site, when I log back in, if I use my stored details, I can't then tick Remember Me and will have to log in next time - as long as I remember to login manually and tick the box, all is good. 🙂

I pay for membership and it still happens though. This is what the issue is.

Samsung S21Fe
Android 13
No add blockers or other stuff.
Viewing through chrome.
Have cleared cookies on multiple occasions yet still asks me to login. I login and read the bike forum, if I swap over to chat forum (or vice versa) I then have to login again.
When I go to login you go to click the stay logged in and the screen suddenly changes logging you in or an error message showing the login page again.

It's been like this for a fair few weeks, I kind of thought someone somewhere would iron it out as these things usually do but it's still going on and beginning to make using the site very frustrating and frankly unusable.

Hopefully the info above will assist in resolving the problem.

@brokenbanjo - unfortunately not that simple. I'm long time digital subscriber and had move browser used to be able to log on/ find the site remotely usable.

Definitely not as slick as it used to be using only a Google phone but what I notice is there must be so many over the past two or three years have fled, can't believe they will just be lurking waiting to pounce when the right thread turns up

When I tried to login this morning (Windows 11 & Chrome 108.0.5359.99 - what a version number!) I got the same error as @BearNecessities but a hard refresh of the page got past the issue. I got the same on my Android 13 phone using Brave browser and a second attempt got past the issue.

It’s constant the need to log in that gets me. Because going to do so loses the page you’re trying to view.
“Member content” - go log in.
Now I can’t find the bloody page and the search isn’t that useful to say the least.

If I go to the site from within gmail app on the iPhone following a newsletter link, say, I’ll get to the “member content” roadblock and gave to log in. Now where’s the page I was viewing? As I am viewing through gmail - an email client app there’s no multi page browser setup which means to try retrace my steps I’m closing the site - back to the email then. Lick the link again.
Oh. Now it’s logged me out.

AND it’s SO slow. Compose comment. Click submit. Often takes a couple of minutes. 30 Mbps on EE 4G here so that’s not it.

I’ve never come across another members site where logging in doesn’t take you back to where you were when you clicked the log in button.
I do hope the techies can make it work better.

As maccruiskeen posted earlier.
Before logging in, check the keep logged in box.
Its fixed the logging in issue so a little bit happier

For me “checking the keep logged in box.” didn’t help.

It shouldn’t matter, I know that you’re an IT guru and can give me a gazillion tech reasons (in hexadecimal code 🙂 ) why it does matter, but the site should work for everyone with a functioning device

It shouldn't matter, I agree. But it demonstrably does.

(Atypical transient outages aside) it works fine for most people. Others complain of getting "constantly" logged out or nagged by the cookie consent dialogue on ever page. So there HAS to be something quantifiably different client-side which the site doesn't like, if that weren't the case then everyone would be affected equally. Whether that may be some browser setting or plug-in, or something people are doing differently when they're interacting with the site, no-one seems to know. And until that gets identified it's not possible to fix it no matter how many complaint threads get created.

As for my "IT Guru" opinion, I'll put that in a follow-up post.

It is my belief that something is interfering with cookies. Both the member login status and the GDPR acceptance tags are stored in cookies local to that individual machine (PC, phone, Mac, Commodore 64, whatever). If the site cannot read those cookies, you will get the login / consent prompts accordingly. The Million Dollar Brucie Bonus Take a Look What's Behind Bully question though is... why?

I spent a lot of time looking at the logout issue (as a user not as STW Tech) back before the site had its last major upgrade. I failed to replicate the symptoms but I did observe how the tracking cookie behaves and found a bug.

This is how it works. Or at least, how worked last I looked, though I doubt it's changed much.

There are two types of cookie: a "persistent" cookie which will live for a period of time specified when it is created, and a "session" cookie which is valid for that browser session. This is what the "remember me" tick box does. If you tick the box then it creates a cookie with a Time To Live of two weeks, which is the default setting for a Wordpress site. If you leave it empty then it creates a session cookie instead, the TTL for this should be until you close the browser, but it's down to the browser to define what it means by a session. So all other things being equal, Remember Me should ask you to log in once a fortnight, otherwise you should be good until you shut the browser or restart your device (though Chrome does something a bit odd here IIRC). If it's not then there is Something Else Going On, there has to be. Either the cookie isn't being written correctly, it's not being read correctly, or something is changing it between write and read.

This is the bug I found: Before the last upgrade it was possible to craft a URL which would take you to the forum index if you were logged in, and to an advert-free login page if you weren't. For a while I recommended this to what was then "Subscribers" complaining about adverts when they got logged out. However, this had the side-effect of replacing the persistent cookie with a session one - effectively unticking the Remember Me box. I came up with a theory as to why this might be happening (little more than an educated guess TBH) but we were still on the old "rat's nest" codebase and the incumbent Tech at the time was frightened to death of changing anything. In any case, that redirect no longer works following a fairly recent update (which I'm guessing is related to the complaint of not going back from whence you came after logging in) so it's moot but...

... the reason I mention it at all is because for me it was actually beneficial. My primary device is a PC which never gets shut down, so a session cookie for me was actually far, far longer than a persistent one. I'd only get logged out when something changed server-side. The point here is, this was a workflow difference, what I was doing wasn't the same as what everyone else was doing. Ie, what I was using wasn't overly relevant, rather how I was using it was. Perversely, someone using my oh-so-clever redirect URL with a different browser or who diligently closes down stuff they're not using might have been causing more login issues than they were mitigating. Without shadowing someone that would have been really difficult to diagnose.

A poster said earlier, "I login and read the bike forum, if I swap over to chat forum (or vice versa) I then have to login again." How do they swap over? There must be half a dozen different ways of navigating that. The lozenge bar, the link to the Forum overview page, the back button in the browser, opening a new tab... maybe one of those ways bollockses the cookie and I've never noticed because I do it in a different way. Maybe it's something specific to the mobile view which I hardly ever use? Someone else was talking about links within Gmail on an iPhone (a niche combination if ever there was one), the chances of the devs tripping over that is vanishingly small unless it's information proffered unsolicited. Yet instead they have bug reports like "It’s dogshit on my phone as well can’t be arsed being more descriptive than that." Right you are squire, we'll make it 17% less dogshit just for you. Tom, remove all the canine excrement from the site when you're back in on Monday will you? I'm surprised no-one mentioned it before.

As for the consent form,

I haven't looked at it in depth (or indeed, at all!) but there may be an additional factor here. [Disclaimer: this is a complete guess.]

I believe that this is managed my a third-party plugin. Theoretically, it is possible that a browser might be flagging this as a security risk and blocking it. I believe that Safari has some sort of aggressive security setting for this which is enabled by default, something like "cross-site cookies." If you're getting this issue on an iDevice (or Safari on a Mac) then it might be worth having a look. Obviously, report back if it fixes anything please.

Other than that, most of the above still stands. Something is buggering about with your cookies, what is it? Adblocker? Browser security settings? A malformed Bookmark? A weird corner of the site which is broken and you keep clicking? Something else?

Is there anyone out there affected by either problem who has sufficient technical nous to use a cookie inspector and watch its behaviour?

Is skimresources breaking links for everyone else?

I just get go.skimresources........ in the address bar, and "Hmmm....can't reach this page"

this link https://singletrackmag.com/singletrack-deal-finder/
doesn’t load any deals,
Mac, Firefox and Brave browers - same result.

And it seems that Mark's ponned thread with reference to iOS issues has disappeared (though those issues remain - the site is unusable (for me) on iOS and IpadOS )

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/site-update-monday-12th-december/

I'm getting the repeated logging out, which I don't think has been a problem before.

The cookie issue disappeared for me for a while, now it's back.
But the worse problem now is the adverts!
So many adverts, I'm getting adverts over the top of other adverts.

My screen is so full of adverts it looks like a scene from a bad movie where the stupid computer user presses the wrong button and is bombarded with ads.

The site remains unusable.

The site seems to have settled down and become stable for me in the last few days.  No more logging out, 502 errors etc.  Good work hamsters 👍

Typed a reply to someone over a coffee, took 10 mins or so in between other stuff. Hit send, it didn't post and logged me out. CBA to re-type it all. Happened a couple of times in the last week. Just FWIW.

On posts i keep getting 'waiting for proxy tunnel'

only on this site... but every time i post.

Why are you connecting through a proxy?

Googling that error throws up lots of results and a suggested fix. Might be worth trying.

@Cougar - I don't disagree with any of your comments/ analysis but - and I say this as someone for whom the site usually works fine - it's still the case that many folk experience problems with only this site. That suggests something "unique" in the coding/setup.

Site Update – Monday 12th december

Interesting - I can't see that from the Chat Forum page.