I'm trying to understand the purpose of the LoggedOut cookie. I have
two problems:
1) The comments state that it is in order to assist with caching /
refreshing the right information. However, the cookie is only set
(well, can only be set) if the user logs out very explicitly by
clicking the log out button. I suspect, many users will not do that,
e.g. by quitting the browser or abandoning the current session,
leaving that cookie absent or holding the wrong value. How useful can
this mechanism be -- but see next question -- if many/most people do
not / will not activate it?
2) Based on looking at the code, I'm not certain that the caching
behavior implemented with the LoggedOut cookie really works. Also, I
don't recall having ever seen a similar mechanism with any other
website. Is there any Wikipedia-specific functionality that can only
be accomplished with this cookie that somehow I don't see?
I'd really appreciate it if somebody in the know could help me here.
Alternatively, can we get rid of it?!?
Johannes Ernst
http://netmesh.info/jernst