[LINK] barnes and noble cookie crazy

[Jan Whitaker]

Linker may be interested in these messages I sent to B&N and adjust 
your systems accordingly if you want to 'play' with them.

To: Customer Service

This is a technical comment about performance of your new online 
system. I was unable to create an account on the system. Whenever I 
click Sign In, a shadow screen comes up, disappears, and then a page 
is presented saying I need to enable cookies.

I enabled cookies JUST for Barnes & Noble, however the same message 
came up that I have not.

I am using the latest version of Firefox, not one of the programs 
listed on your 'how to' list. That makes me wonder if you have tested 
the system with Firefox.

I found after some experimenting that a different URL is required to 
be allowed to set cookies: cart2.barnesandnoble.com . When I allowed 
that, things worked [well sort of; the system didn't like my password 
which I had just set via the ereader!]

I suggest that your solution page list allowing cookies for that 
specific URL instead of asking people to open up their entire 
computer to cookies, which is an intrusion that is often unnecessary 
and in some cases dangerous.

I then found the need for another cookie to be allowed for another 
url:  my.barnesandnoble.com

Please adjust your instructions for this one as well.

I do hope this works out as the more barriers to access and security 
holes in your system, the more that IT aware buyers will go elsewhere.

Regards,
Jan Whitaker

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Message 2

Gee, you're batting 1000 -- not.

I just tried to download books in the elibrary and once again was 
told there was a technical error. Guess what! Another cookie!! Only 
this time the system gave NO hint of the problem, just said to sign in again.

I enabled the edelivery.barnesandnoble.com URL for cookies and the 
download was successful.

I suggest that the technical folks get this sorted out. If there are 
individual cookies required all over the website, you are going to 
drive people crazy trying to figure out what they are.

I'm starting to question that I've signed up for this.

Regards,
Jan Whitaker


Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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