Logging onto ldstech.org is very confusing

[dennisn]

1. I go to ldstech.org, and click on "Sign In" in the upper right corner.
2. I immediately get a message telling me that my session has expired and
directing me to login again.
3. There is nowhere on that page to login. Thinking it is perhaps a mistake,
I go to the Forums section. There I discover that the message is real, because
I am not allowed to reply to threads or to post new threads.
4. However, at the top, I can find a place to login with my username and password.
5. I am now able to post new threads.
6. I spend several minutes typing in a new idea in the new ideas forum. But when
I click on "Submit New Thread", I am advised that I have been logged out, and
need to log in again. This, without any kind of a warning popup or anything.

This kind of confusion / poorly designed user interface I have never encountered
on any of the other lds websites. I find it somewhat ironic that the website which
should be the most tech-savvy of any has the most confusing login procedures
and user interface. I hope somebody reading this can pass it along to whoever
maintains this website.

Thanks.

[aebrown]

1. I go to ldstech.org, and click on "Sign In" in the upper right corner.

Although I agree that this particular path is confusing, I was surprised that you were going to "ldstech.org" -- I had no idea that such a domain existed. I always use tech.lds.org, which is the real domain name.

Apparently ldstech.org will redirect to tech.lds.org. Somehow the interaction between the redirection and the sign-in process is what causes the strange behavior you reported. If you instead change your first step to go to tech.lds.org, you won't see the odd behavior.

In any case, I will report this issue to the appropriate people. In the meantime, I would recommend that you use tech.lds.org.

[russellhltn]

I spend several minutes typing in a new idea in the new ideas forum. But when I click on "Submit New Thread", I am advised that I have been logged out, and need to log in again. This, without any kind of a warning popup or anything.

In my experience, that's pretty normal for forum software unless you check "remember me" or "stay logged in". From what I understand, part of the problem is that while you're composing your message, the system has no idea you're still there an active. Everything is taking place in your web browser with no actions going back to the forum server. As far as it knows, you've closed the page. Note that the church is using a standard software package for the forum, so it's somewhat limited in what it can do.

One way to avoid the problem (other then using the checkboxes mentioned above) is to do a "preview" every 5-10 minutes. That forces the browser to talk to the forum software and show that it's still active.

[davesudweeks]

Another option might be to type your ideas in a text editor or document program. Then copy the text and paste it into the forum post box.