After registering with "Contributor ChoralWiki" some while ago for doing some minor editing, I now always seems to be directed to that part of CPDL. I don't know why that happens, but this is indicated by the message below:
"Login required
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This is the CPDL Contributor ChoralWiki which requires registration to view most pages. If you only wish to browse ChoralWiki, please visit one of the Visitor ChoralWikis. Otherwise, you may log in to gain full access to this site."
I can, of course then click the link to "Visitor ChoralWikis", but would prefer to be able myself to set as a preference to which part of CPDL I would be directed at first. Most of the time, I am not interested in doing editing, and would thus prefer not to have to log in first.
How can I control to which part of CPDL I will be directed by default?
Wilbour
Visitor ChoralWikis or Contributor ChoralWiki
Re: Visitor ChoralWikis or Contributor ChoralWiki
You can control it through the logout. When rou're logged into the contributor wiki, the way you logout determines the way your next access will be treated. If you just close your browser without logging out explicitly, the system (more precisely: a cookie stored on your computer) will remember that you didn't logout, and the next access will be directed to the contributor wiki. Instead, if you explicitly logout before closing your browser, the system will direct you to a visitor wiki.Wilbour wrote:How can I control to which part of CPDL I will be directed by default?
An alternative way to be directed to a visitor wiki is to manually delete any cookie on your computer beginning with cpdl_wikidb. This will clear all ChoralWiki cookies, including the login cookies. In the long term (about one month) the login cookies expire anyway, so you'll be eventually directed to a visitor wiki even if you didn't logout explicitly the last time you accessed.
Max
Re: Visitor ChoralWikis or Contributor ChoralWiki
Hi Max (Choralia),
Thanks for your response. I have tried the first method you recommended, and it seems to work. I wish it were more intuitive, though, or could be set on the Preferences page.
Best regards
Wilbour
Thanks for your response. I have tried the first method you recommended, and it seems to work. I wish it were more intuitive, though, or could be set on the Preferences page.
Best regards
Wilbour
Re: Visitor ChoralWikis or Contributor ChoralWiki
User preferences are only available after logging-in, as before logging-in the user is anonymous and therefore it's impossible to know his/her preferences. Use of preferences is incompatible with direct access to the visitor wikis. The mechanism should be necessarily related to cookies, that are stored on the user's PC so they are available before logging-in. For example, cookies can be used to direct the user to the same type of wiki (contributor vs. visitor) he/she accessed last time.Wilbour wrote:I wish it were more intuitive, though, or could be set on the Preferences page
Max
Re: Visitor ChoralWikis or Contributor ChoralWiki
Hi again Max,
Thanks for your further explanation. If I understand you correctly, a cookie is left on the user's computer telling the site (when the user returns) that he/she had been logged in to the contributor type of wiki, and had not logged out when the session was ended for some other reason, such as time-out. Based on this information, when the user returns to the site, it is decided to re-direct the user to the contributor type from the otherwise default visitor type.
It seems to me, based on what you said, that it would be rather easy to allow the user, who has an account in the contributor part, to set a preference there to which part he/she wishes to be brought the next time. This preference could be included as a simple flag in this discussed cookie, thus informing the site (without the user being logged-in) to which part the user wishes to be directed to at the next visit.
Just a suggestion, and maybe I misunderstood something.
Many thanks for your advice.
Wilbour
Thanks for your further explanation. If I understand you correctly, a cookie is left on the user's computer telling the site (when the user returns) that he/she had been logged in to the contributor type of wiki, and had not logged out when the session was ended for some other reason, such as time-out. Based on this information, when the user returns to the site, it is decided to re-direct the user to the contributor type from the otherwise default visitor type.
It seems to me, based on what you said, that it would be rather easy to allow the user, who has an account in the contributor part, to set a preference there to which part he/she wishes to be brought the next time. This preference could be included as a simple flag in this discussed cookie, thus informing the site (without the user being logged-in) to which part the user wishes to be directed to at the next visit.
Just a suggestion, and maybe I misunderstood something.
Many thanks for your advice.
Wilbour
Re: Visitor ChoralWikis or Contributor ChoralWiki
Not much easy indeed: the contributor/visitor wiki concept is specific to ChoralWiki, invented to manage a large quantity of traffic (even more than half a million page impressions per day) through a cluster of multiple low-cost shared server. This solution is definitely less expensive than a dedicated server, while it adds a lot of redundancy and therefore it is very robust. Insread, user preferences are a native wiki function, so to add the contributor/visitor wiki preference we should hack the MediaWiki software. This is not impossible, however it's quite time consuming.Wilbour wrote:it would be rather easy to allow the user, who has an account in the contributor part, to set a preference there to which part he/she wishes to be brought the next time
If I had some time to spare for hacking the MediaWiki software, I'd rather prefer to implement an automatic switching from any visitor website to the contributor website based on login: whenever a user is on a visitor website, he/she is automatically directed to the contributor website as soon as he/she attempts to login. Actually the current solution is already quite close to this behavior, which would be optimum IMO: if it works fine, we could even remove the top banner to switch from visitor websites to the contributor website and vice versa, as the switching would be entirely automated, and even transparent to the user. This implementation would probably be simpler than hacking the preference page.
Max
Re: Visitor ChoralWikis or Contributor ChoralWiki
Thanks Max for your further comments.
Whatever changes you make, the present way it works is not optimal (IMHO), as at least I could not see the link between that I had to be logged out actively first before I would be automatically connected to the visitor part when I connected to CPDL at a later time (as I was used to be while clicking my bookmark to CPDL previously). Unless one is aware of this link, removing the top banner for switching between visitor websites and contributor websites, would make it even more difficult to get where one wants to get. Redundancy is not always a bad thing.
I would suggest that you complement the banner text with information for how it is supposed to work in relation to logging out and how one would be directed as a consequence. Another place to provide that information would be where the user (who was previously logged in as a contributor) is denied entrance to the visitor side. Presently, one is only told that one is not connected to the visitor side (despite one clicked the same link as in the past), and has to take a further action to do that, but not why that is, and how one would accomplish this to happen automatically in the future.
Another solution would be to let the standard URL for CPDL to always link to the visitor side, where one would have the option to log in to be brought to the contributor side (this seems to be similar to what you suggested). The present situation where one (in some situations) is brought directly to the contributor side has no advantage (as far as I can see), as one still has to log in before one can do anything. You could still have a separate URL for the contributor side if you wish to give that option.
Whatever you decide to do, thanks a lot for yours and others great contributions to this excellent site.
Wilbour
Whatever changes you make, the present way it works is not optimal (IMHO), as at least I could not see the link between that I had to be logged out actively first before I would be automatically connected to the visitor part when I connected to CPDL at a later time (as I was used to be while clicking my bookmark to CPDL previously). Unless one is aware of this link, removing the top banner for switching between visitor websites and contributor websites, would make it even more difficult to get where one wants to get. Redundancy is not always a bad thing.
I would suggest that you complement the banner text with information for how it is supposed to work in relation to logging out and how one would be directed as a consequence. Another place to provide that information would be where the user (who was previously logged in as a contributor) is denied entrance to the visitor side. Presently, one is only told that one is not connected to the visitor side (despite one clicked the same link as in the past), and has to take a further action to do that, but not why that is, and how one would accomplish this to happen automatically in the future.
Another solution would be to let the standard URL for CPDL to always link to the visitor side, where one would have the option to log in to be brought to the contributor side (this seems to be similar to what you suggested). The present situation where one (in some situations) is brought directly to the contributor side has no advantage (as far as I can see), as one still has to log in before one can do anything. You could still have a separate URL for the contributor side if you wish to give that option.
Whatever you decide to do, thanks a lot for yours and others great contributions to this excellent site.
Wilbour
Re: Visitor ChoralWikis or Contributor ChoralWiki
This is precisely my favorite solution, however we have also to consider those users who select the "rembember me" function when logging-in to the contributor website: I think that they should go straight to the contributor website instead.Wilbour wrote:Another solution would be to let the standard URL for CPDL to always link to the visitor side, where one would have the option to log in to be brought to the contributor side (this seems to be similar to what you suggested).
The wiki login system is rather complicated, with several cookies interacting to determine the login status for the current session and for future sessions. Therefore, I would like to gradually go towards my favorite solution through some steps, and check that there are no drawbacks on a step before passing to the next step. I would envisage the following steps:
1) modify the dispatching system so that users are always directed to a visitor website, except users who selected the "remember me" function when they logged-in last time;
2) if everything is OK with the previous step, enable the "register/login" on visitor websites, and ensure that, if a user attempts to login from there, the user is always automatically re-directed to the contributor website;
3) if everything is OK with the previous steps, remove the top re-direction banners as they would be unnecessary at this point.
I've just implemented step 1. Please notify me should any inconsistent behavior be observed.
Max