Question logging off?

squintz

Pirate Lord
Greetings. This is a 'duh' question fer sure.
I close down firefox without closing tabs while logged in on the pirate forums.
Does the forum still have me as active to the rest of the forum? Am I still using server resources if I stay logged in when I shut down firefox and computer?
 
Short answer: It doesn't show you as active, and it doesn't take up any resources server-side to keep you logged in.

Long answer: The website domain is handled by the registrar NameCheap. The website data is hosted on a server in a big room(s) full of server racks. These are literally rooms with racks full of computers that are set up to run the bare minimum software to host services. When you sign in to the forums it makes a connection to the server to handle your request, the forum software parses your request, and it sends the data back to you that it was successful.

When you are inactive on the forums for a certain amount of time, it stops showing you as active. It isn't the best system, but if someone has something time-sensitive to tell you or ask you about, they should really have you on another platform like Discord.

Your browser might handle logins in one of two different ways. When you sign in for the first time, your browser might ask you if you would like to stay logged in, or remember the password. If you get the first kind of box, clicking yes will store a cookie in the browser containing your login information, and if you get the "remember password" box clicking yes will store your username and password (securely?) in the browser. If you add the auth cookie from the first box you will be automatically signed in to the forums because that data is stored on your computer. In no case will the forum server itself keep you logged in.

As far as using the actual website goes, forum software doesn't take up that much memory. It's the posts, not the active users, that consume memory on the server.
 
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Short answer: It doesn't show you as active, and it doesn't take up any resources server-side to keep you logged in.

Long answer: The website domain is handled by the registrar NameCheap. The website data is hosted on a server in a big room(s) full of server racks. These are literally rooms with racks full of computers that are set up to run the bare minimum software to host services. When you sign in to the forums it makes a connection to the server to handle your request, the forum software parses your request, and it sends the data back to you that it was successful.

When you are inactive on the forums for a certain amount of time, it stops showing you as active. It isn't the best system, but if someone has something time-sensitive to tell you or ask you about, they should really have you on another platform like Discord.

Your browser might handle logins in one of two different ways. When you sign in for the first time, your browser might ask you if you would like to stay logged in, or remember the password. If you get the first kind of box, clicking yes will store a cookie in the browser containing your login information, and if you get the "remember password" box clicking yes will store your username and password (securely?) in the browser. If you add the auth cookie from the first box you will be automatically signed in to the forums because that data is stored on your computer. In no case will the forum server itself keep you logged in.

As far as using the actual website goes, forum software doesn't take up that much memory. It's the posts, not the active users, that consume memory on the server.
Thank you for the complete informative answer. I have firefox set to remember my tabs from last time, so it logs me into the forums auto. Just thought I was hanging around after shutting down my sys.

You want to see a big server room? Search for amazon servers - then choose images, now those are big rooms. lol
Thanks again.
 
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