Custom domain problems and clearing the cookies

Custom domain problems and clearing the cookies

michal frackowiak 1200498753|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

We have finally solved the problem which occurred on a few wikis hosted on custom domains — such as noooxml.org. For some reasons browsers were creating duplicate session cookies (differing only by a "leading dot" in the domain names). This resulted in a few odd behaviors like:

• infinite browser reloads (e.g. after logging in on the custom domain)
• not being able to create a new account on a custom domain

Although we have fixed this permanently we failed in one thing - we cannot fix your old cookies. Very odd. We thought we know almost everything about browsers and cookies, but none of our methods work after we spent hours on the problem.

If you experience any unusual behavior on a wiki hosted outside of the .wikidot.com domain, please clear all browser cookies associated with this domain. E.g. if I am on www.wikidot.org and it behaves strangely, I would need to remove cookies from the www.wikidot.org domain only. How you can do this depends on what browser you are using. Try googling for it or parhaps someone could post (link to) instructions for particular browsers?

Thanks for your understanding,

Michal

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Michał Frąckowiak @ Wikidot Inc.
Visit my blog at michalf.me

Re: Custom domain problems and clearing the cookies

Shadowlight 1204294785|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

To clear a cookie for a specific domain (say: acme.wikidot.com), in Vista using Internet Explorer version 7:

• Note the domain name
• Close any open windows in Internet Explorer
• Open the Internet Options control panel
• In the General tab, under Browsing history, click Settings. This will open the Temporary Internet Files and History Settings window.
• Click View Files. This will open a window called Temporary Internet Files, which lists all temporary files used by Internet Explorer.
• Set the View options of this window to Details.
• Click the Internet Address column heading. This will sort the view by the internet address, and will group all cookies together.
• Browse (scroll) down the list. You are looking for a cookie with an internet address that will read "Cookie:[e-mail]/" Of course, username will be the login name you use to log onto your computer, and acme will be the name of the specific wikidot.com domain. Similar rules apply to other domains, for the most part.
• Delete the cookie
• Close the Internet Options control panel

Similar rules apply to Internet Explorer 7 and 6 on Windows XP. Note that Vista uses a different location to store user data (compared to XP). By default the location of temporary internet files is hidden from casual browsing, and this is an easy way to access that folder.

Hope this helps —
— chris [Sydney, Australia]

last edited on 1204295490|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover by Shadowlight + show more

Re: Custom domain problems and clearing the cookies

wowstrategy 1215119054|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

in the site manager, it says to set a CNAME entry to wikidot.com, but my registrar won't accept a domain name with only 1 dot in it (i dunno whatsup). what is the specific host for dns services? such as dns.wikidot.com

sorry if this doesnt make sense lol

Re: Custom domain problems and clearing the cookies

Gabrys 1215194838|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

Try setting CNAME record to wikidot.com. (notice the dot at the end) or if this does not work either, set it to www.wikidot.com. (with or without the dot at the end). Hope this helps!

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Piotr Gabryjeluk
visit my blog

Re: Custom domain problems and clearing the cookies

wowstrategy 1215415233|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

thanks for the reply

i was trying to actually set the dns servers for my domain to wikidot, instead of setting the dns server to point to wikidot, anyway, working fine now, no problems

Re: Custom domain problems and clearing the cookies

David Marseilles 1218440307|%e %b %Y, %H:%M %Z|agohover

I believe this issue hasn't been completely resolved. I had no problems with my custom domains until this weekend. I then ended up with my wiihd.fortunz.com domain putting me through endless browser reloads, despite having worked flawlessly for months.

I cleared out all my custom domains from wikidot, let the whole thing clear out, then 1 by 1 set them back up. Once Phil turned me onto this thread, I was able to recreate the behavior by logging in at the custom domain of one of the sites after visiting the wikidot domain of the same, and then repair the problem by clearing out my browser of all wikidot and custom domain cookies.

Although I now (sort of) understand the problem and can prevent my own viewing experience from being compromised, I am still concerned about the 300 readers a day at wiihd I've worked very hard to build up. I can't really afford to lose any of them.