Can't login? Can't stay logged in? Can't post? Can't see pictures or the registration code?
It sounds like Cookies are blocked or broken on your end. Read on to understand and fix.

Cookies are unique keys that let your Browser validate its identity to web sites. On our Site, a cookie is a 64-digit random code that only your Browser and our Site should know, and it goes stale and must be replaced after one week. Cookie freshness (validity) is up to each site: Some sites let you define how long their cookies remain fresh; other sites expire the cookie after the Browser is closed (a so called "session cookie").

Without a fresh Cookie and a properly working cookie mechanism, our Site has no idea who you are from click to click and consequently limits your access. The result is like being 'unable to stay logged in.' No Cookies = unknown identity = limited access.

When you load this current web page for the first time, your Browser has no cookie to send to our Site. Our Site sends your Browser a new, unique cookie. Your Browser should store this cookie for 30 days because we tell it to do so (our regular Site pages are made to last one week) and you will see a big red box below explaining that our Site received no cookie from your Browser.

Every time you subsequently reload this page, your Browser should send back to our Site that exact same Cookie that our Site sent to your Browser (i.e., the "egTestCookie" in the list at the bottom of this page), and you will see a big green box explaining how the cookie mechanism, from our Site's viewpoint, seems to be working fine. This passing back-and-forth of the unique Cookie ("cookie mechanism") is how our Site uniquely identifies your Browser, keeps you logged in and grants access to content.

If anything on your end blocks your Browser from properly receiving our "egTestCookie", or from correctly saving it, or from correctly returning it to our Site, then 'cookies are broken' and you will not be able to see pictures, post or stay logged in. It's just that simple. Without that Cookie for identification, our Site has no idea who you are and consequently limits your access as if you were an unknown guest, because, due to the failed cookie mechanism, you are an unknown guest.

I stay logged in for a week at a time. Everyone should be able to stay logged in for a week. You should be able to login, use our Site, stay logged in from click to click, and even close your Browser, turn off your computer...come back later (up to seven days later), turn your computer on, go to our Site and be automatically logged right back in immediately as if nothing happened.

If you're being logged out after every page load, there's something blocking cookies at your end, maybe a firewall like Norton or McAfee, or a cookie blocker? It could also be Microsoft's Internet Explorer "security" is set too "high" (quoted because Microsoft still does not understand true security).

The "login" actually happens automatically at every page load: Every time you click to load a page on our Site, your Browser is supposed to send a "cookie" to our Site. Our Site checks your cookie to see who you are. Anything that blocks cookies breaks the cookie mechanism.

1. When your Browser loaded this page, it did not send us a Cookie.

2. Therefore, we just sent a fresh Cookie to your Browser.

3. Now, make your Browser reload this page.

4. You should not see this message again.

5. If this exact same message appears again after reload (and again, and again), it means that something on your end is blocking or breaking Cookies, and you must fix it to allow Cookies before our Site will work properly. We require working Cookies.

1. "Software Firewalls" from Norton, McAfee and others are bad jokes that haphazardly break rules (and Cookies) while frantically attempting to cover Microsoft's ongoing security flaws. Uninstall or turn off these dangerous toys. Low-cost hardware firewalls from D-Link or Linksys provide much better protection without blocking or breaking Cookies or other crucial Internet standards.

2. "High security settings" in Microsoft's shabby Internet Explorer break Cookies and other Internet Standards with non-standard restrictions that are really just emergency patches foisted by Microsoft to fix its endless stream of severe security flaws. Turn down the Options/Privacy slider to Moderate or Low. Our Site poses no threat to your security.

3. Check other Browser settings: Sometimes Cookies are blocked by accident or by choice, often due to now outdated privacy concerns. Allow Cookies. They are fast and secure in modern browsers. Also, triple-check the obvious. One Member had his "display pictures" browser option turned off and suffered for months without any pictures! Several others have had "cookie blockers" turned on -- no wonder the cookie mechanism didn't work!

4. Try prepending "www." to the website name. Example: use http://www.eastghost.com/ instead of just http://eastghost.com/. This might help you right away. Try browsing this same page to see if cookies suddenly work with the "www." prepended to the domain name. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, but this exact solution worked for at least three people (that we know of, so far) who were using "firewall software."

5. You might consider upgrading to better browsers such as Firefox or Opera. Both are far superior and totally side-step all the Microsoft/Norton/McAfee problems while giving other benefits such as faster speed, stability and much greater resistance to the persistent security holes and other nonsense that plague stupid software. After being burned so many times over so many years, we've been trained to violently abhor all Microsoft and Microsoft-based software. We use Linux and MacOS exclusively.

Whatever solution you discover, please let us know. We'll adjust this information to help the next person.