One of the complaints that not only members of Blotanical have had about the site - for I have had them too - is the painful logging out after a short period of time. Plus, members would have to login every time they visited.

Fortunately those days are now gone. When logging in now you will notice the "Remember me" checkbox in the Log In form. If you click this, a cookie will be placed on your machine so that every time you visit Blotanical it will remember you and you can continue as if you hadn't even left.

While this is a helpful function it does come with some cautionary notes. Firstly, you will need to ensure that your browser is set up to accept cookies. Most are by default so you won't have to do anything, but if you've turned them off then this feature won't work without reinstating the acceptance of cookies.

Are cookies harmful?

Only if you eat too many! No, cookies are just little pieces of data that are left on your machine to help sites like Blotanical offer more personalised functionality. They can't actually do anything to your computer but some people prefer to turn them off due to privacy reasons.

What if I use more than just one computer to login to Blotanical?

No problems. Blotanical will notice that the cookies are different and will force you to log in again for each computer you use. Each time you change computers, whether it be between work, home or elsewhere you will be required to log in at the start of each session.

The importance of logging out

Because each cookie has an extended time period it may become more important for members to log off after their sessions. Obviously, this loses the effect of the remembering functionality but if you are using a machine that other people can access that may not be as trustworthy as yourself (ie. internet cafes, libraries etc) then you may find your Plot can be attacked and used for purposes not of your own doing.

If you only, or predominantly, use your home machine then logging off is not really an issue. In fact, it's better not to log off so that Blotanical can remember you when you come back.

Site problems

Much care has been taken in testing this feature to ensure that your experience on Blotanical is uninterrupted due to the changes. However there are often bugs that lie in the code waiting for the unexpectant user to discover. If you notice that problems have arisen in navigating throughout the site due to this update then please write about it in the comments or inform me through the Help Desk.