[morecharac]

Why aren't my settings stored with my account?

For some reason my BBO cookies expire once or twice a month. Whenever they expire they take my preferences with them and I have to reset exactly the same settings.

Every.

Single.

Time.

I have a cookie manager add-on for Firefox and even that can't prevent BBO cookies expiring.

This is absurd.

[fromageGB]

Do you mean "local storage" rather than "cookies"? My confirmations for bids and cards and couple of other things are in local storage. Many of my cookies expire after a year.

[morecharac]

 fromageGB, on 2020-November-27, 12:07, said:

Do you mean "local storage" rather than "cookies"? My confirmations for bids and cards and couple of other things are in local storage. Many of my cookies expire after a year.

I mean why aren't they stored with my account on BBO? (To me, local storage means my own computer.)

Once or twice a month BBO just plain forgets who I am. Cookie expiry seems to be the culprit.

[fromageGB]

Local storage is indeed on your computer. I would expect your settings to be held there rather than in a BBO server. This is common practice, and if you used multiple devices for BBO in different circumstances, say desktop at home and tablet on the move, I would think you might want different settings. Having one global setting for your ID would not be so useful. Conversely, if you did use different similar devices it might be inconvenient to have to set each one up, but they should not auto-delete.

In firefox you can see yours by logging into BBO then open the three-line firefox menu. selecting Web Developer / Storage Inspector. Your BBO stuff is shown then, opened on cookies, but the content is not that meaningful to me. Click on local storage and you will see all your settings. They will not appear if you have not changed the default, but once you click on the slider blob to change one, it will thereafter appear always, with y or n as your chosen option - these are easily observed.

As you can see, the settings are held in local storage, and "cookies" are not to blame, although something may be deleting your local storage. Do you periodically run some clean-up program that might be clearing caches?

Firefox has good control over this stuff - why do you have a cookie manager add-on? I have my basic firefox set (3-line menu / preferences / privacy and security) to custom, blocking all third-party cookies, and beneath, under cookies and site data, I have ticked "delete cookies and site data when firefox is closed", and to the right of that click "manage exceptions" and add the web site address www.bridgebase.com and click "allow". (Firefox prepends http:// https:// itself.)

As I said, my settings are retained happily. Conversely, data for websites that I do not wish to retain are removed on exit - completely unlike chrome / chromium which is supposed to delete but does not - which is why I switched.

[morecharac]

I've been using Firefox for a decade and I did not know any of this. Thanks.

I started using a cookie manager because CCleaner became something I wouldn't leave on my computer.

[fromageGB]

Just for info, on my pc the firefox files of mine are held in a directory ~/.mozilla/firefox/"unique id".default/storage/default (this is linux, Windows will be different, but you should be able to find it) and in here is a directory for www.bridgebase.com which is where the data will live. In here is a directory called cache containing caches.sqlite which will have the settings (but I do not have sqlite to open it). The fact that it is named cache makes me suspect it will be your cleanup or add-on that is deleting it. See if you have any selective control over what it may or may not attack.

[morecharac]

Update: Went through all the steps and things were fine for a while.

Tonight, BBO has once again forgotten who I am and taken my settings with it.

It doesn't happen to my wife's computer.

Another misery for the ages.

[barmar]

As fromageGB said, the web version of BBO doesn't use cookies to store your settings, they're stored in Local Storage.

You can view the saved information in Firefox by going to Tools->Web Developer->Storage Inspector, expand Local Storage and then click on www.bridgebase.com.

I'm not sure what would be causing them to be wiped, it's not something our software does, unless you click on "Restore Defaults". The per-user settings all have keys beginning with the username, e.g. I have key=barmar_playing_pictures, value=n because I've selected diagram mode when playing.

[morecharac]

 barmar, on 2020-December-09, 17:58, said:

As fromageGB said, the web version of BBO doesn't use cookies to store your settings, they're stored in Local Storage.

You can view the saved information in Firefox by going to Tools->Web Developer->Storage Inspector, expand Local Storage and then click on www.bridgebase.com.

I finally resorted to checking all the BBO cookie-related stuff in local storage and changed anything expiring in 2020 to 2021; I'll know by December 17 if it worked.

Why this happens on my computer and not my wife's is beyond me.

[barmar]

 morecharac, on 2020-December-09, 23:51, said:

I finally resorted to checking all the BBO cookie-related stuff in local storage and changed anything expiring in 2020 to 2021; I'll know by December 17 if it worked.

Cookies and Local Storage are different.

There are no expiration times in Local Storage. Cookies have expiration times, but that's not where the BBO account settings are saved.

[fromageGB]

 morecharac, on 2020-December-09, 23:51, said:

Why this happens on my computer and not my wife's is beyond me.

Does you wife have the same cookie manager, or CCleaner? If so, are its/their settings or preferences identical?

[mycroft]

or have you set your browser to clear cookies and local storage on browser close?

[fromageGB]

 mycroft, on 2020-December-10, 15:21, said:

or have you set your browser to clear cookies and local storage on browser close?

Can't be the case as it is not happening every time.

[mycroft]

I'm not saying this is the case, but could it be that sometimes OP closes the browser tab, and sometimes closes the browser/shuts down the computer? I've known people to be imprecise not realising the difference.

[bbstar]

Solution for the problem

Create a bookmark with a following content:
javascript:(["bbstar","you_other_username"].forEach(userID=>{localStorage[userID+"_general_animate"]="n";localStorage[userID+"_general_sound"]="n";localStorage[userID+"_keyboard_entry"]="y";}))

This will disable animations and sound, and enable keyboard entry.
Make sure to use your own username. Add/remove the settings if necessary.

Testing:
1. Make sure to reset the settings in bbo.
2. Close browser (or bbo tab).
3. Open BBO tab.
4. Click the bookmark
5. Login to BBO
6. Voila, the settings are updated.

[morecharac]

 mycroft, on 2020-December-11, 09:38, said:

I'm not saying this is the case, but could it be that sometimes OP closes the browser tab, and sometimes closes the browser/shuts down the computer? I've known people to be imprecise not realising the difference.

No, neither condition applies.

I sometimes log out of BBO, sometimes just close the tab. Neither seems associated with forgetting my local settings.

I'll know in five days if my suspicion about an expiring cookie or setting is the culprit. If not, I'll give bbstar's suggestion a try.

[morecharac]

 bbstar, on 2020-December-12, 02:22, said:

Solution for the problem

Create a bookmark with a following content:
javascript:(["bbstar","you_other_username"].forEach(userID=>{localStorage[userID+"_general_animate"]="n";localStorage[userID+"_general_sound"]="n";localStorage[userID+"_keyboard_entry"]="y";}))

This will disable animations and sound, and enable keyboard entry.
Make sure to use your own username. Add/remove the settings if necessary.

Testing:
1. Make sure to reset the settings in bbo.
2. Close browser (or bbo tab).
3. Open BBO tab.
4. Click the bookmark
5. Login to BBO
6. Voila, the settings are updated.

I don't think my javascript understanding was good enough to handle this even fifteen years ago. Could you please walk me through what I'm substituting where?

Changing expiry dates on cookies accomplished about as much as whispering in a wind tunnel.

[smerriman]

Have you tried just getting rid of the cookie manager add-on? This sounds like the most likely culprit, since one shouldn't be necessary at all. (Even though BBO's settings aren't stored in cookies at all, those types of add-ons can also clear localStorage).

The "solution" by bbstar above isn't actually a solution at all, just a slighter quicker way to re-enter all of the settings you want to use after you've noticed they've disappeared without doing them one by one in BBO. Which is therefore still going to require you to do this once or twice a month. But exactly what code to use will depend on which settings you want to change.

[morecharac]

 smerriman, on 2020-December-21, 13:42, said:

Have you tried just getting rid of the cookie manager add-on? This sounds like the most likely culprit, since one shouldn't be necessary at all. (Even though BBO's settings aren't stored in cookies at all, those types of add-ons can also clear localStorage).

The "solution" by bbstar above isn't actually a solution at all, just a slighter quicker way to re-enter all of the settings you want to use after you've noticed they've disappeared without doing them one by one in BBO. Which is therefore still going to require you to do this once or twice a month. But exactly what code to use will depend on which settings you want to change.

The cookie manager's been gone since shortly after asking for help. The problem still occurs.

The only add-on I could see possibly making any difference is NoScript and then only if BBO is using some intermittent invisible script on logout. But my wife uses it as well and has no trouble being remembered.

Still stumped. Still frustrated.

In retrospect, I wonder if AdBlocker Ultimate is the culprit.

[bbstar]

 morecharac, on 2020-December-21, 10:24, said:

I don't think my javascript understanding was good enough to handle this even fifteen years ago. Could you please walk me through what I'm substituting where?

Changing expiry dates on cookies accomplished about as much as whispering in a wind tunnel.

Creating a bookmark:
1. Replace "bbstar" with your username "morecharac".
2. Copy the stuff (starting with "javascript", ending with the braces).
3. Create a bookmark in browser.
3a. Title: bbo cookies
3b. Url: Paste whatever you copied.