Can not log in to main page or articles, Forums are fine.

[Unolocogringo]

Ok...........
Need a hand with a small problem.
I can sign into the forums just fine.
When I try to sign in to the main site I get a darkened screen with a small black "X".
When I try to sign in to comment on articles I get a smaller framed version of the same page? I keep flash disabled, just can't stand all of the annoying adds and pages with commercials that play at full volume before the page loads so you can stop it.
I also have all of the do not track or follow lists enabled. With internet security settings at medium high.

I know that the advertisements are what keeps Toms Hardware on the internet.
But I do not like the fact that after viewing a few pages I have 12 to 15 tracking cookies placed on my computer from them.
Is there a middle ground where Toms can receive money for ads but not place all of the tracking cookies on my computer.
I discovered this about a month ago while looking for a part for the generator in our motor home. found the part I was looking for . Logged into Toms Hardware and there was an advertisement for my part on the main page.
Started looking a little deeper and I had an untold number of tracking cookies from here.
Here is hoping for a solution .
I have enjoyed being a reader and contributor since 1996. Toms has been part of my daily routine , I would hate to give it up .

 

[jpishgar]

Hey there! Sorry you are having issues logging in to the main site. Could I possibly trouble you for a screenshot of that darkened screen with the small black "X" you are encountering when the login fails for you? What browser are you using, and on what Operating System?


Regarding the ads, Tom's supported 100% by the ad revenue it receives, and is able to keep our reporters employed, bandwidth costs paid for, and servers operational with the advertisements. Without the ads, there'd really be no Tom's... or there might be something similar, but with a paywall like the New York Times. In the recent weeks, we've upgraded our forum software and made sure that if you are a registered user here, the ads are turned completely off in the forums. This is a way to give back as much as we can to our contributing users and ensure their experience is as good as we can make it. So far, our veteran users seem to really appreciate the change.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Hey there! Sorry you are having issues logging in to the main site. Could I possibly trouble you for a screenshot of that darkened screen with the small black "X" you are encountering when the login fails for you? What browser are you using, and on what Operating System?


Regarding the ads, Tom's supported 100% by the ad revenue it receives, and is able to keep our reporters employed, bandwidth costs paid for, and servers operational with the advertisements. Without the ads, there'd really be no Tom's... or there might be something similar, but with a paywall like the New York Times. In the recent weeks, we've upgraded our forum software and made sure that if you are a registered user here, the ads are turned completely off in the forums. This is a way to give back as much as we can to our contributing users and ensure their experience is as good as we can make it. So far, our veteran users seem to really appreciate the change.

I totally understand the need for ads, that is why I don't use add block and such. The tracking cookies are a totally different beast and will continue to block them.. But with everything set to defaults I can not log in.

I am using IE 10 and win7. screenshot from 7 and IE.
I also use IE8 and XP.

The X is just above the "best Graphics card for the money article.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

I used to get that little X..

It is actually the sign in to your account window (but sort of miniaturized)

I think I cleared all cache/cookies etc to make it appear properly....

As a temp measure I used Norton Toolbar login to insert my name/password to get past it...

All the best Brett

 

[jpishgar]

Almost looks like a layers malfunction, or something gone wrong with the pop-up. Popup blocker disabled? It shouldn't do that even if it was treating it as a popup though. And it only does this in IE10 for you?

 

[Unolocogringo]

I quad boot on the same computer.
I can log in just fine on Win XP IE 8, Win XP IE 6 for business applications that require it. Just not Win 7 IE 10.
I normally run Win 7 IE 10 for folding @ home 24/7 unless I need to do mail or process credit cards.. Then I boot into which ever XP I need.

I have set IE to defaults. Removed all of the DO Not Track or follow lists. Enabled pop ups, Installed flash, updated JAVA. Turned off pop up blocker and lowered IE security settings.
Still no dice logging in on the main page or articles. Although I now get a solid black page when trying to log in on articles. where before I got a small framed version of the same page as the pop up for sign in.
Hardware is in my profile and I produce arround 50,000 points per day folding so hardware stability is not a problem.

 

[Unolocogringo]

I tried to edit it to add I clicked "OPEN" but could not edit .
Had to post a new post.




























Tried to log in again.
Got the page in page on the home page this time. Restarted the browser after clearing cookies and history and Got a CDW pop up about the same size with the darkened background as before..

Tried again after a fresh IE restart .Tried to log in and got a download message.
Save or open or cancel " signin.json " 280 bites.
Hope this helps track down the problem.

 

[jpishgar]

Thanks for sticking with us on this, trying to get to the root of the issue. Could you check to see if you are in compatibility mode?

 

[Unolocogringo]

In normal mode I get the darkened page with the x on main page. In compatibility mode I get the page in page scenario.

On articles I get a solid black page trying to sign in. In compatibility mode I get the page in page again.
I do not get the compatibility mode option in the forum pages.

 

[jpishgar]

I can't replicate this issue, but Brett mentioned he used to see the same thing before he cleared his cache and cookies. I'll bug it up and let the development team know, and see if anyone else on the team can replicate this problem and get to the root of the issue.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Another issue that might or might not pertain to the original problem.

On pages that I have participated in where A best answer has been chosen ,if I view them, I see "select as best answer" "and Deselect as best answer".

 

[jpishgar]

Okay, that sounds like its got to be a caching issue. That text no longer exists in the new platform. It should say "Pick as the solution".

 

[randomizer]

Ok, I think I've found the cause of this specific issue after running into it myself when reading an article, but I have not found the cause of the root issue. This problem happens when you have logged in to the forum but for whatever reason you are not recognised as logged in outside of the forum (ie. the root issue). When the modal window appears it is meant to be filled with an iframe that has contents from http://www.tomshardware.com/community/signin?iframe=1&socialProxy=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.com%2FsocialProxy.php. However, when you are already logged in this URL will return a 302 redirect to the website root (the home page). I assume that the iframe at some point tries to set its width and height based on the dimensions of some element in the login form, but since it's actually the home page that loaded it can't find it and so the width and height are 0px. In compatibility mode the frame must be handled differently so its height and width are not set to 0, which is why you can still see it.

I have managed to reproduce with with 100% repeatability as long as I am not recognised as being logged in. Once i log out from the forum I get the correct signin form, again with 100% repeatability. What I do not know is why I am not recognised as being logged in properly.

EDIT: It looks like when signing in from the forum the browser makes a silent request to sso-en.bestofmedia.com where it gets a session cookie. If you have 3rd party cookies blocked or a plugin that blocks trackers this will probably fail, as it currently does for me. If I manually navigate to this URL and then head back to the TH home page I am correctly logged in. When logging in from the home page to begin with this issue doesn't appear to occur.

 

[Unolocogringo]

My wording above is incorrect. it does say "pick as solution ".
Logged out of the forums and tried logging in on the home page.
I can only log in if I accept 3rd party tracking cookies. Not good.

 

[randomizer]

This behaviour should be changed anyway, because as of Firefox 22 third party cookies will be blocked by default unless the domain already has a cookie set (which would have been first party). Safari has pretty much always had this behaviour so I have a feeling that Safari may exhibit this problem out of the box.

 

[jpishgar]

Thanks for the update on this, randomizer. I'll let the devs know you were able to replicate and the reasons why.