[Ann Drysdale]

The world is on its way to hell in a handcart and we’ve lost the drag shoe. So much so that when I Googled the object to check whether it was one word or two, I could find only pages of extravagant high heels in large sizes and a wider fit.

That made me feel suddenly happier, though I am still in despair over much else that is happening to the world I thought I’d made. Trailblazing reforms I fought for in my youth are now being cast aside by subsequent generations and so much that I know to be wrong is being daubed on flags and saluted by millions.

These matters are discussed here by minds more focused than mine and with a political vocabulary that I have always lacked. I read, I learn. I have got used to opening the Eratosphere page and feeling the security of its familiar face. Lately, though, that too has started to be less predictable and I am wondering why.

At first, I found I was repeatedly required to sign in even when I hadn’t signed out. I thought perhaps this was a site security issue and did it cheerfully. That has now ceased to be the case, but I find the protected forums need signing-into at every visit. I don’t mind this if it means the forums are keeping sensitive work safe.

But for the last few days each time I visit the Sphere it appears in a format that I find particularly unappealing and I have to go to User CP to change its appearance to my preferred, I may even say “beloved”, format, which is the one called “Default Style”. Now each time I open it up it appears again in what, to me, is a nasty, noisy “Vision Collision” and I feel overruled and unhappy. I sigh, I change it back again. And again.

And what I want to know is, not how Mr Death likes his blue-eyed boy but what “Default” means.

[John Isbell]

Default is in ourselves, that we are underlings.
It's also nice to be reminded of a nice poem e.e. cummings wrote.
Eratosphere formatting has not misbehaved here at my Texas end of things. And I don't have to sign in at any point. I'm not sure what that means, but I hope the problem clears up. I wish you all joy of the worm.

Cheers,
John

[Mark McDonnell]

Oh, after 3 years the sphere still holds surprises. I didn't even know there were 'display options'! I now realise it has always opened for me in 'vision collision': with a dark blue border around everything, yes? 'Vision collision', it seems, has been my 'default'. Thanks for introducing me to actual 'Default', I like it. The poems look cleaner somehow.

(There's also something called 'creative creature'!)

Cheers Annie and don't let the bastards get you down etc...

Edit: thank goodness Matt (below) is a wealth of techno-nous!

[Matt Q]

Hi Annie,

I also don't have these problems you're describing.

I do find that Sphere becomes inaccessible for very short periods on a very regular basis. I can't leave the "who's online" screen up, automatically refreshing, for very long before I get an error message.

Your problem sounds like it might be related cookies, or 'biscuits' as we call them in the UK, which store a record of things like your username, passwords and so on, so that you're recognised on your return.

If you can access a list of your cookies, you'll find the Sphere's cookies under the heading "ablemuse.com". Were you to delete these, the site would 'forget' you completely, and you'll need to log in afresh. Hence why I think your problem might be cookie-related.

Are you having this problem with other sites, or just Eratosphere?

If it's just the Sphere, then I guess (and I am just guessing!) that it's possible that the cookies are corrupted, in which case deleting them might be an idea, since then they'll be created afresh ("rebaked"?) next time you log in. (Speculating even more wildly, maybe your cookies became corrupt because the site keeps going down for very short periods, and did so while your cookies were being updated.)

How do you delete individual cookies? Well google "how to delete individual cookies" along with the name of your browser. Here's how to do it with Chrome. Find "ablemuse.com" in the list and click on 'delete'. Then log back into the site. Navigate away from it, go back, and see if you've been wholly remembered.

Try to avoid deleting all your cookies, if you do this, everywhere you've ever been will forget all about you and you'll have to log back into everything that needs a login (email, facebook, etc).

Incidentally, here's a top tip: when you're trying to read an article from the New York Times, say, or some other site that says, "you've reached your free article limit for this month", go find its cookie and remove it. Then that site forgets all about you and your free article limit is reset.

best,

Matt

[Ann Drysdale]

I see what you mean by cookies but what I am trying to understand is why, if the system regards me as a stranger, it does not revert automatically to the "default style". It seems unkind.

Is that a worm in your basket or just biscuits?

[Matt Q]

Hi Annie,

Did you try deleting your cookies? Did it fix the problem?

Having corrupt cookies doesn't necessarily mean that the site regards you as a stranger. It more like being mis-remembered than being forgotten. Individual cookies may be unreadable, or readable but wrong.

As to whether cookies could affect your display style, I don't know. I don't know exactly what information they store, since it's in code. I could try to find out, I guess, but it might just be easier to delete your cookies and see if that works. There is is a Sphere cookie called 'style' which in my case is set to 'null'. Whether that's display style or not, I don't know.

-Matt

[Ann Drysdale]

I deleted 24 hoursworth... I'll let you know.