Changes to Portal Greeting

Michael-the-webster here, wishing you all a good day and inviting you to log in to the Portal page (if that's not how you got here): Holistic Orchard Network portal page. You may notice a change in the greeting message at the top...
It's alive! ...well, it's aware of who you are (or at least it should be; if it thinks you're someone else, I need to be told about it.) Like Santa Claus, it knows if you've been bad or good -- i.e. whether or not you've been active on the forum recently, whether you've posted -- and it will likely know more in the future.
But for right now, what I need to know is if the information it's greeting you with appears to be correct.
How does it know this? When you log in to the Forum, the software places a cookie on your computer that identifies you and makes it easy for you to log in subsequently. The cookie persists for quite a long time, and then eats itself. One can always manage cookies from one's browser, but for the most part cookies are benign and best left alone.
Our new portal script uses the information encoded into the cookie on your computer to look up your recent activity and use it to fashion an appropriate and, we hope, engaging greeting.

It is not entirely clear to me just what I am supposed to see. What I do see is "Welcome David Maxwell". I am indeed David Maxwell, and I guess I am grateful for being warmly welcomed. But if I am supposed to be entertained by 40 dancing Virgins, or something more, I am not seeing it just now.

Broomholm Orchard
Zone 5b in Nova Scotia

It tells me Welcome Kevin and that appears to indicate cookiehood?

Sorry, David, we are temporarily out of stock in Virgins.

Kevin, you are correct. It may also have noted how long you've been participating, how many posts you have made, and how recently you logged in.

Yes, it sort of have a personal message, but my name isn't there... no "Welcome Claude".
I get the message coded 3A as follows:

Quote
text from top of portal page
Meanwhile, back at the portal... Your support of the Holistic Orchard Network empowers all of us! Keep sharing your intuitive thoughts and observations. Thank you for maintaining an active presence with your Orchard Profile. Active members like YOU are what make this forum a success! [3A]

However, my feeling is something doesn't go smoothly with the programming, as I can see strange text at the bottom of the portal page, and somehow, my intuition says this is some programming and should not appear on the page...:

Quote
text from bottom of portal page
i_goasite was here
i_forums was here
session dta u:T p:T m:T
2 guest udta: 6, cjoliprsf
known and logged in
[3] session: 6, cjoliprsf mdta: T
fn greet class: 3A
date added, joinymd, days, sincejoin: 1343150238, 2012-07-24, 1480, 4 years
** posts: 98
CLASS: 3A
psql: SELECT `message_id`,`forum_id`,`author`,`subject`,`body`,`datestamp`,`viewcount` FROM `phorum_messages` WHERE `parent_id`=0 ORDER BY `datestamp` DESC
i_events was here
SELECT * FROM `events` WHERE `start`>="2016-08-12" ORDER BY `start` LIMIT 3
2016-08-14 : 1471147200 : August 14, 2016
Sunday
startdt, enddt: 2016-11-11, 2016-11-13
ni_goahead was here

Claude

Jolicoeur Orchard
Zone 4 in Quebec
Author, The New Cider Maker's Handbook

Nice first step, Michael-the-webster. These greetings will vary according to the degree you participate in the grower forum.

Full-fledged members of the Holistic Orchard Network who have posted a grower profile see more "stats" than others. What's especially helpful in these cases is edit access to update your profile (which will soon feature some different questions so do check this out). Others eligible to have a profile thanks to membership financial support of these efforts will soon receive a personal invite from me to do so.

Active participants in the forum (who are not yet members) will be recognized for past posts and get to see how long it's been since that last post was made. We mean all this as a pat on the back for your shared insights, experiences, and holistic intuition are what make this forum worthy.

Growers with an idle account--who have yet to make a post--will be encouraged to take the plunge. There may well be issues with password access for some of you who actually never finished the registration process . . . just be patient and we will work one-on-one to get you in the forum groove. The new password system will definitely be more administrator-friendly, allowing us to reinitiate the process as need be.

These messages can change the more regularly you visit. All will be shaped further as "The Michaels" see how people respond and start to interact all the more with this online community. We're working out some kinks, adding some potency, and hopefully we'll see improved participation as a result. No promises on the forty dancing virgins but there could well be some occasional humor to go with your morning coffee as I learn the ropes of portal messaging.

Lost Nation Orchard
Zone 4b in New Hampshire



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2016 04:39PM by Michael Phillips.

Claude, you are looking at the second "already logged in, returning to the portal" message. If you log in fresh, you'll see a different message.
The little text you report at the bottom of the screen is diagnostic material -- see where it says "known and logged in"? I deliberately left this information there for use when someone actually has a problem. If it isn't there, they can't tell me what it says. When I'm sure everything is working properly, I will turn it off.

Mine says "Welcome Elizabeth Griffith", but nothing additional. Thanks for this, "The Michaels".

Door Creek Orchard
Zone 5a in Wisconsin

This is all well and good, but....Forget the virgins, can it tell me

1. Today's PowerBall numbers?
2. Why Jar Jar Binks was ever in the Star Wars movies and will he return?
3. the meaning if Life?
4. How I can update my grower profile?

Thanks, me.

Mike Biltonen, Know Your Roots
Zone 5b in New York

I jumped the gun on the "edit profile" link as part of the message. That's coming, my good friend Jar Jar Binks.

Lost Nation Orchard
Zone 4b in New Hampshire

Quote
Mike Biltonen
1. Today's PowerBall numbers?
2. Why Jar Jar Binks was ever in the Star Wars movies and will he return?
3. the meaning if Life?
4. How I can update my grower profile?

We are working on those, as well as my own personal favorite,
5. How do you make True Love stay?

We have cancelled the order for Virgins. Sorry, David.