overdrive.com constantly logging me out

[haertig]

Is anyone else seeing this? Recently, the website https://overdrive.com has been logging me out every few minutes. At first I thought it was just forgetting my credentials between login sessions - like a cookie or javascript problem. But after more testing, I login successfully, use the site for a while, then bam - it logs me off right in the middle of doing things (not idle). It's acting like an inactivity timeout ... except I am not inactive. I'm actively typing away, clicking on links, and using the website. I have not checked a stopwatch against the timeout-like occurrence, but I'd guesstimate it's in the 10 to 15 minute range. [edit] Update: Tested with a watch, timeout was about 20 minutes [/edit]

I've been using the website for years and never run into this behavior before. No changes to my computer, web browser, etc. The problems appear to have come out of the blue, starting maybe a few weeks ago. I don't remember the specific start date, because initially I thought it was a browser/cookie login issue and just kept re-logging in for quite a while before getting annoyed enough and deciding to start investigating. Web browser settings: Cookies and scripting are allowed on the *.overdrive.com domain, and have been for a long time. Web browser: Chromium (the opensource browser that Google Chrome is based on, but before Google adds all their spyware to it to turn it into Chrome).

[edit] Cleared all cookies and locally stored site data. Logged out. Exited browser. Re-logged-in. No change: still got logged out after about 20 minutes. [/edit]

[DNSB]

The first question that comes to mind is have you tried a different browser?

[JSWolf]

Same thing happens to me using the latest version of Firefox.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The first question that comes to mind is have you tried a different browser?

I wouldn't change browsers because Overdrive is misbehaving. But I agree it would make for more complete testing.

It looks like JSWolf has already done the testing with FireFox - so we know at least two different browsers are experiencing the same problem. My guess at this point is "all of them probably will". Overdrive engineers most likely attempted to add a timeout with a popup telling you your session is about to expire, except they forgot to put in the popup. Who knows why they thought they needed a timeout in the first place though.

[colinsky]

Seeing this recently -- did anyone have and find a way to fix this problem?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by colinsky

Seeing this recently -- did anyone have and find a way to fix this problem?

I am getting logged out of the libraries at Overdrive with Firefox.

[haertig]

It never logged me out of individual libraries (I am a member of seven of them). I was getting logged out of the main overdrive.com website. I would go to the main site so that I could search for a book title and it would tell me which of my seven individual libraries had it. To check it out I would have to proceed to the individual library site. But that was only after I had used the main site to find which individual library sites I would want to visit.

But then, maybe a year ago?, the main sire stopped allowing me to see search results for my individual sites. I could still do a search, but it wouldn't tell me which of my libraries had the book I was looking for. This made the main site totally useless for me, so I stopped going there.

But seeing this thread revived, I just now went back to the main site again for the first time in many months. And once again it allows me to see search results for my individual libraries! Yea! So now I'll start going back to the main site again. I do not know if the main site will still log me off every few minutes like it was doing before. I hope not, but I haven't tested that yet. Logging you off is a terrible annoyance, but the main site still adds value even with this nasty behavior.

I do see that the main site is really pushing Libby these days. It still appears to allow me to do what I want to do and use Overdrive. But it seems intent on trying to shame and belittle me for not using Libby instead. I guess that even after all these years, Libby must not be universally liked so they are begrudgingly still allowing the old Overdrive interface to be used. I did find it funny that back years ago when search results were presented for individual libraries, they had a button to go to each individual library the book was found at. I can't remember what the button was labeled, but it was something to the effect of "Go To Library". Now, when I used it today, that button says "Find with Libby". I already found it with Overdrive so "Find With Libby" at this point makes no sense. But when you click on that weirdly labeled button it still goes to the Overdrive website version of the individual library like it used to. So the function is the same as before, they just changed the button label to something nonsesnical.

I'm guessing that the Libby developers must not be trained or experienced software developers, and they're maybe just putting out partially modified code here and there on a whim. Probably no source code control or version/modification tracking. Not worrying about continuity or user confusion with inaccurately labeled buttons and features. "Wahoo programming" as we used to call it. This may be why Libby has not totally replaced Overdrive after all these years. Libby may be nothing more than a layer of heavy makeup on top of the original Overdrive, and there are parts of Overdrive that the makeup doesn't adequately hide and cover up. Kind of like the PhotoShop image editor. Several years ago that started to get really expensive, so they came up with a cheaper reduced feature version called "PhotoShop Elements" to sell to the more money conscious crowd. The thing is, they left the advanced capabilities in Elements and simply removed the user interface buttons and menus to access that functionality. It didn't take long for technical people to figure this out and write macros to mimic the missing buttons. And bam! PhotoShop functionality at Elements prices (there were some features that really were removed, but not many of them). Now I think PhotoShop is a subscription thing that is expensive, so many people simply moved to Gimp if they hadn't already. I'm starting to think that Libby is kind of like Elements. A superficial make up job on top of Overdrive. They can't get rid of Overdrive because Libby IS Overdrive - just using some smoke and mirrors to try and hide the fact. This is just my hunch, not a statement of known fact.