[AngelinaBelle]

Is this a SimplePortal problem? An SMF 1.1.11 problem?

SMF 1.1.11 -- forum in /smf/index.php
SimplePortal 2.3.1 standalone.  standalone page in /smf/PortalStandalone.php

I created a portal block with links. One of the links is of  .../smf/index.php?topic=46.0

* My theme is the default core theme
* Guests have a different theme.

* I log in
* From the portal page, I click on the link (...index.php?topic=46.0)

Result: I get to the topic, but SMF seems to have temporarily forgotten I've logged in. I get the "Welcome Guest" greeting, I see the guest's theme, and lots of buttons are missing (for all the things guests are not allowed to do).

But then, when I click on any link, everything is back to normal.
This bahavior is 100% reproducible.

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If, instead of starting from the portal page, I start from a forum page, and just paste the link into the adress bar, about 50% of the time I get this strainge behavior, and about 50% of the time things work the way I think they ought to work.

[ccbtimewiz]

Perhaps you have "www" in the URL of the link (or not)?

[AngelinaBelle]

Thank you.
That seems to make a difference.
I do not have "www" in the link. But I do  have it in the forum URL in my Server Settings.

Why does that make a difference? Somewhere, something is checking to make sure the current page url starts with the forum url, before deciding if I am logged in?

I cannot seem to force this behavior at simplemachines.org by leaving out the www. Is it better to use www... in any "internal" links, or better to leave them off, and leave the www off of the server settings.

Thanks for your help.
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Edit: The problem does not occur when I leave the "www" out of links to board indexes, or even to an individual attached file. SMF is inconsistant in comparing URLS to decide if I am logged in.

It seems that my problem relates to how SMF is designed, and has nothing to do with SimplePortal.

[Nathaniel]

Try turning on the 'Admin' -> Server Settings -> Feature Configuration -> 'Use subdomain independent cookies' setting. That should mean that it should work, with or without the www.

[AngelinaBelle]

Thanks. I've done that. Makes sense for my forum, since there are no subdomain forums.

Thanks for giving me SMF support at SimplePortal!