When logged into Patreon and clicking a link into my client’s website (gingerdaydreams.com), some users often find the site asking them to log in over and over again without gaining access to the members pages.
We have identified with some customers that clearing their cache has solved the issue. But we know there are users that are just not able to access rewards and don’t reach out for troubleshooting. How can we fix this for users?
The site itself may be caching pages for logged in users. That could create the illusion of infinite login.
You can check into the cache settings at the site (WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache etc) and see if there is anything that causes that issue. Disabling the caching plugin for a while and having an affected customer test it could help.
Also server side caching like opcache can cause such odd behavior as well. Confirming whether the site has opcache by asking the host may help.
Not sure if this is the same cause… but I ran into this problem. I reproduced the problem with a test account (err that I’m paying money for) & ran into the “Unlock with Patreon” → login → redirect back but still not locked in looping problem.
Personally, I had recently updated wordpress & the Patreon plugin to the latest version - 1.7.7. So that seemed suspicious. I reinstalled version 1.7.0 & I was able to login / see the locked the content with my test account.
I had also tried clearing cache / cookies with the test account but that did not fix problem. Not sure if I have any plugin on the Wordpress side which would have done caching (am not using WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache or anything with “cache” in the name).
I have almost the same problem, every time getting “Unlock with Patreon” → login → refresh → ALLOW, then page could seen, would be happy to know how to solve it .
Thanks
@PossibilityStorm @Naor_Naor That’s pretty odd. I cant reproduce this on a test site.
Both of you - can you check if your host has Opcache? Opcache may have cached the old version of one or more Patreon plugin you have and it may cause such issues. Also some caching plugins may cache pages even for logged in users. If you have any caching plugins, you can disable them and try logging in as patron.
How do you suggest dealing with caching beyond troubleshooting this current issue? Do you recommend not using any sort of caching plugins? Are they any that you do recommend using with the Patreon plugin?
You should definitely use a caching plugin, but it must be made sure that the plugin does not cache pages for logged in users. Better if they dont cache pages for known users. Known users are those who left a comment or in any other way known to be a previous visitor. (Having a cookie etc).
WP Super Cache has such settings sorted out by default and its a very light and powerful caching plugin. With over 2 million installations, it is a well tested and proven caching plugin as well.
Basically you can use any caching plugin, but some are way too aggressive in their default settings. Some even have internal behavior that creates such problems - and you cant modify that behavior.
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Opcache i mentioned is a server side cache type, and you must contact your host and ask whether they have it and how to refresh it if they do.
I Ctrl-F’ed for cache on my active plugin page and have no results. I don’t think we’re using any caching; though I took over the site recently so may be missing something. If there’s a way to export my list of all plugins, I can do that & upload.
Why does caching cause problems here? / Is this a bug in the Patreon which is intended to be fixed or a known issue which you all can’t do anything about? (Expect help us find the offending plugin / stop caching on related pages).
Cache plugins are not necessarily named with the word ‘Cache’ in their name. WP Rocket is a caching plugin for example.
Why does caching cause problems here?
When set to too aggressive, caching plugins cause this kind of problem for any plugin and any visitor since they save the state of a page in whole and serve that saved state. If that saved state is different than the last state of the page, then the visitor or user receives an old, stale page.