Relax everybody! It's been fixed.
Since the server underwent routine maintenance yesterday (Tuesday) a few users have been reporting problems logging in to the site. The symptoms are that you try to log in, it looks like you have succeeded but when you click a link you get logged out again.
We're very sorry about all this and we'll get everything sorted out as soon as we can. This post will be updated with news, suggestions and fixes as we get them.
We have not yet determined the underlying cause. The problem is random which is making it hard to pin down. Some people have it, some people don't: the fix works for one person but not somebody else and so on. There has also been a suggestion that members who chose 'always stay logged in' are ok: the problems seem to have affected those who were logged out during the maintenance.
The good news is that once you are logged in the site is faster now.
Edit: We now believe we know what the underlying problem actually is. We're still working on what's causing it.I'm happy to report that we now have workarounds for several browsers. Thanks to THobson, Planck, Hawkins and Baddo for these tips. If the fix for your browser doesn't work, try the fixes for the other browsers. You never know.... If something works for you, and hasn't already been mentioned, please post it on this thread.
Internet Explorer & FirefoxThis seems to work for most IE users. Some Mozilla users report that it works, others report that it doesn't. Certainly worth a try.
1) Log in to the site as usual
2) Close Internet Explorer
while still logged in3) Open Explorer
4) Go to OFPEC
After doing this, everything should be fine.
Internet Explorer & Opera1) Log in from the
OFPEC homepage (menu column on the left ... down at the bottom)
2) Err .... that's it. The problem persists only when logging in from the forums page.
Mozilla1) Go to the Edit Menu -> Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> Cookies
2) Change the Cookie Lifetime Policy to 'Accept Cookies Normally'
Mozilla now works as it should.