Member:
Markus ⋅
Date: March 2, 2010, 07:34 PM
⋅ Subject: "Re: How does Show Members Online work?"
We don't currently have auto-logout --- I haven't seen the need for it, it's a bit over the top unless we're talking online banking or other critical applications like a domain control panel or the such, where substantial damage can be done by illegitimate account access. Your session ends and you are logged out in any case when you browser is closed, unless you choose "remember me" when you log in.
Speaking of the auto-login feature; in case someone was wondering why they get logged out of their home PC account if they log in at another location, it's because the login cookie that's in charge of remembering you is embedded with a unique hash smashed together with your password hash that gets reset every time you log in.
This is a useful security measure in the event that you for example logged in at an internet cafe and accidentally chosen "remember me"; then, instead of you account being open there indefinitely for anyone to have fun with, the cookie becomes invalid as soon as you log in again from somewhere else. (Happens to me all the time when I'm logging in at office and then at my laptop. I can look into coding a dual location login hash cookie setup if this bugs someone too much.)