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arc of the universe

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 11, 2023
175
196
hi

i enjoy macrumors site very much. thanks for all the efforts to make a great site.

i have a question

when i log in, i get a message at the bottom of my screen that encourage me to get notifications.
i do not want to get notifications, so i click the X icon on the right side of the box.
doing that prompts a second box. in this second box there is a phrase that SEEMS to me to indicate that if i click that phrase, then i won't be asked again about it. i always check this, but, the next time i log in i get these same two message boxes...

is there some setting on my computer that isn't allowing the proper script to run in order to not get repeatedly asked?
is there currently a way to not be asked every time?

the phrase i am always checking is "Never ask again"....
 

NoBoMac

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 1, 2014
5,793
4,391
Cookie blocking extension? Clearing cache/cookies after browser closes via a setting in browser of choice? Because...

Looks like no mention of which browser being used. So, some amount of guessing going on here.

Safari on all platforms, for me, is not asking about notifications. And since not seeing a significant amount of complaints around this, might be something with your configuration vs site issue.
 

arc of the universe

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 11, 2023
175
196
Cookie blocking extension? Clearing cache/cookies after browser closes via a setting in browser of choice? Because...

Looks like no mention of which browser being used. So, some amount of guessing going on here.

Safari on all platforms, for me, is not asking about notifications. And since not seeing a significant amount of complaints around this, might be something with your configuration vs site issue.
thanks for your reply.

i DO (religiously) manually delete all browsing history and cookies before i close my current session window. (safari by the way).
but is that really why this happens?
i would have imagined that the way your notification window request to agree to notifications, or, in my case, request to never be asked again, kept an equivalent cookie or whatever it might be called on your end, that marks my account as requesting to not be requested. if you are handling it as a cookie on my end, then of course that would be the reason.
so mystery may be solved, but it begs the question why do it that way, when a rational person is always going to be clearing his browser cookies/history between sessions. or, maybe i have neglected to locate a preference setting that is settable on my end?
 

casperes1996

macrumors 604
Jan 26, 2014
7,447
5,599
Horsens, Denmark
thanks for your reply.

i DO (religiously) manually delete all browsing history and cookies before i close my current session window. (safari by the way).
but is that really why this happens?
i would have imagined that the way your notification window request to agree to notifications, or, in my case, request to never be asked again, kept an equivalent cookie or whatever it might be called on your end, that marks my account as requesting to not be requested. if you are handling it as a cookie on my end, then of course that would be the reason.
so mystery may be solved, but it begs the question why do it that way, when a rational person is always going to be clearing his browser cookies/history between sessions. or, maybe i have neglected to locate a preference setting that is settable on my end?
Most people definitely do not clear cookies and history every session. It’s unnecessary to store that information about you on their end. And it might not be a preference for your whole account but for a specific device or browser and you might want notifications on a different device or browser. This they would need not just to store that you don’t want it but also device identifiers for each device you want or don’t want it for. I prefer it being a local preference on my end than them storing unnecessary device identifiers.

But here’s your most probably functional solution then. Say yes to the notifications and block them in your browser. I believe that would probably survive a cookie clearing but I’m not 100% sure.
 

arc of the universe

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 11, 2023
175
196
Most people definitely do not clear cookies and history every session. It’s unnecessary to store that information about you on their end. And it might not be a preference for your whole account but for a specific device or browser and you might want notifications on a different device or browser. This they would need not just to store that you don’t want it but also device identifiers for each device you want or don’t want it for. I prefer it being a local preference on my end than them storing unnecessary device identifiers.

But here’s your most probably functional solution then. Say yes to the notifications and block them in your browser. I believe that would probably survive a cookie clearing but I’m not 100% sure.
thanks.

i did your practical solution (accepting notifications; then going to Safari/Settings/Website/Notfications to turn off notifications) and I assumed that there would be macrumors.com site listing indicating that i am accepting Notifications from macrumors.
but there is no listing for macrumors at all there, so i cant turn it off.
it maybe that elsewhere i have turned off other ability somewhere for sites to access to certain functions that maybe preventing it from appearing there.

furthermore, in that same section i do not even have checked the box that would (seemingly) allow sites to even ask for Notifications.

Macrumors has an arms length of user settable Preferences. adding this to account level Preferences would be the most straightforward and simplest. and user friendly.
in the meantime, i will continue to just deny it.

in the event Macrumors is actually interested in fixing this, i can supply one more tidbit of info.
there is some sort of script that is not being able to be run on my computer probably due to my not allowing scripts to be run (?) - there is a brief mention of this in the lower left corner of my screen when i click "Never ask again".
however when i tried your solution to simply accept Notifications, there was no mention of a script not being able to be run, on the lower left portion of the screen.
 

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,156
15,646
California
i DO (religiously) manually delete all browsing history and cookies before i close my current session window. (safari by the way).
but is that really why this happens?
Yes it is... I have tested this before and your choice is saved with a cookie. If you keep deleting cookies, you will keep getting the popup.
 
Last edited:

arc of the universe

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 11, 2023
175
196
I agree, this is the reason. You are intentionally deleting the preferences that the site saves.
thanks for this. i appreciate it.

maybe Macrumors might make it a user Preference setting for people who pay USD 50 for the special super duper subscription.
 
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Boyd01

Moderator
Staff member
Feb 21, 2012
7,706
4,582
New Jersey Pine Barrens
Sorry if I'm missing something here, but I'm developing some complex sites that have a number of user preferences and the only way I know for a site to store them would with cookies or the localStorage API. When you clear cookies in your browser, these are all deleted. So, regardless of how much you pay to be a member, if you intentionally delete site data, it won't remember you.

But why do this every time? If you don't want site data to be saved on your computer, that's what private browsing is for. AFAIK, it automatically does what you're doing manually - deletes your history and stored data when your session ends. While you're actually browsing, the site can save cookies and localStorage data, but when the session ends, they get deleted.

there is some sort of script that is not being able to be run on my computer probably due to my not allowing scripts to be run

Do you have javascript disabled? I believe that will cause a whole host of issues with Xenforo (the software that MacRumors uses) and it should cause an alert to be displayed when you come to the site.
 

arc of the universe

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 11, 2023
175
196
Sorry if I'm missing something here, but I'm developing some complex sites that have a number of user preferences and the only way I know for a site to store them would with cookies or the localStorage API. When you clear cookies in your browser, these are all deleted. So, regardless of how much you pay to be a member, if you intentionally delete site data, it won't remember you.

But why do this every time? If you don't want site data to be saved on your computer, that's what private browsing is for. AFAIK, it automatically does what you're doing manually - deletes your history and stored data when your session ends. While you're actually browsing, the site can save cookies and localStorage data, but when the session ends, they get deleted.



Do you have javascript disabled? I believe that will cause a whole host of issues with Xenforo (the software that MacRumors uses) and it should cause an alert to be displayed when you come to the site.

thanks for your information. it was really useful to me to understand the situation. :)
 
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