It may just be at my end but only getting this symptom on pepipoo so posting this.

losing my logged in status - seemingly at random.

And - every time I go to my PPC 'forces' FAQ (it needs an update) I get a 'guest' screen so can't edit it.

yes I have deleted cokkies, cleared out browser cache etc etc.
been happening for a few days.

any changes at the board lately

(note for admin my proxy does adjust the referrer info but that has been so for some considerable time).

p.s. lost logged in status when I tried to post this new thread a min ago or so.

There've been no changes to the forum software that could affect logins/sessions for some months.

Have you tried a different browser?

nope (I also had not made any changes for quite a while), but will do now. I use whitelists so will drill through and give it a go. Ta.

I've had a persistent problem with one of my laptops and PPP.. it just will not stay logged in despite all attempts to clear it out and get it to behave.. I've since switched to using another laptop :/

I moderate on another forum and this happens more to AOL users than any other. My understanding of the problem (which may not be entirely accurate so bear with me) is the users I.P. address is not static. AOL seems to be particularly prone to this, and perhaps ISP's that don't have their own POP/Gateway such as Tiscali as an example!

Now the above may be a total crock, and I'm sure Fredd or someone else will confirm this as I'm not familiar with how this forum accepts cookies. But to speak now in the contrary, I can visit the forum here at home and at work without ever having to log-in!! so now I've contradicted myself it may remain a mystery!

I did try an alternate browser and the problem seemed to go away (as the event is inherently unpredictable hard to draw a solid conclusion). trouble is that alternate browser is heavily configured and I don't get to see in line pics etc. No wish to degrade the config on that browser so am sticking with the original for pepipoo. have upgraded to a new fix level on that browser so will see if that helps. If problem still there I will setup a 'log everything' proxy anf go through that and see what may be revealed. I checked network logs and nothing weird happening IP/DNS wise when I experience 'webbus interruptus'.
Also let networkminer (free tool) do a bit of monitoring but nothing jumped out there. this latter tool will amongst other things open your eyes to just how many websites you end up connected to during a session (unless you control things...)

AOL is always a problem because each individual request can come from any one of a large number of proxies in their network - the effect being that the user's IP address can (but doesn't necessarily) change from request to request. The proxies can also foul up geolocation matching, but we have that feature turned off on these forums.

AOL proxies also go in for aggressive caching, and seem to ignore "no cache" headers, which can be a real PITA. And I suppose they still have their own bastardised web browser, and email client that doesn't handle links properly, ...

Personally I think anyone using AOL as an ISP needs there head examined.

Most ISPs other than AOL assign dynamic IPs for long periods of time, so for most purposes they tend to look to be static during the average session. I guess bama's problem isn't his ISP changing IPs frequently, since things appear to work with a different browser.