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If I am logged in on StackOverflow, and click "Log out", first of all, it shows some log in IDs info and a few more lines.

Under usual circumstances on most other websites, at this point I should be logged out already. But StackOverflow won't. It will require you to pinpoint yet another button "Log out" and then click it again, so that you are logged out.

AND, you are not really logged out. If you come back to StackOverflow and click Log in, after 2, 3 seconds, it automatically logs you in, without asking for your password.

Maybe the "Log out Globally" can work something better. But I wonder, if I am at Apple store or at a net cafe, how do I know I logged out but really didn't? Somebody can come back to StackOverflow.com and log in automatically and do everything that I am allowed to?

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  • possible duplicate of Do not ask for confirmation on logout
    – fretje
    Commented May 2, 2011 at 15:01
  • 2
    If your browser still have cookies for openid side (for eg google / gmail), it won't ask you password for Stack Overflow login, even you logout->login SO.
    – YOU
    Commented May 2, 2011 at 15:04
  • 2
    @Arjan - global login credentials are only applied after explicitly logging in using an OpenId. Simply visiting a site doesn't restore them.
    – Kevin Montrose
    Commented May 2, 2011 at 15:39
  • @Kevin, I stand corrected. I really thought I've seen different behavior, but even visiting my profile page on a site for which I still have a cookie, does not get me the Global Login local storage again. Deleted my confusing comment. (One minor thingy though: after "Log Out Everywhere" I now get redirected back to the home page which looks like I am still logged in. Hovering my user name, or browsing to some question, shows I am not really logged in though. Tested in both Chrome and Safari...)
    – Arjan
    Commented May 2, 2011 at 15:49
  • Note that the log out page says "If you are logged in to Meta Stack Overflow through multiple computers and wish to logout from them all, or you are using a public computer, click below". So you need to use "Log out everywhere" to clear the Global Network Auto-Login HTML5 Local Storage too. That still will not clear the usual cookie for any other Stack Exchange site though. So, "Log out everywhere" from one SE site, will not log you out from all sites.
    – Arjan
    Commented May 2, 2011 at 15:51
  • As an aside, in that Apple store: Safari will not clear HTML5 Local Storage when you remove the cookies. So: first use "Log out everywhere" to clear that, and after that clear all the cookies.
    – Arjan
    Commented May 2, 2011 at 15:58
  • 2
    I failed to find the logout button, thus I'm hanging around here all night and day.
    – stacker
    Commented May 2, 2011 at 19:18
  • You could always go Incognito (cool name for a cool browser) or In-Private (boring name for a boring browser)...
    – Cole Tobin
    Commented Jul 28, 2013 at 15:37
  • 1
    @Cole IE is a browser? :P
    – Doorknob
    Commented Jul 29, 2013 at 13:36
  • @Doorknob I think, but I'm not sure.
    – Cole Tobin
    Commented Jul 29, 2013 at 16:59
  • 1
    @Cole I'm pretty sure that it's a Microsoft tool used for downloading Chrome or Firefox.
    – Doorknob
    Commented Jul 29, 2013 at 23:15
  • @Doorknob a tool, huh? Like these swagglets?
    – Cole Tobin
    Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 0:45
  • @ColeJohnson Heh :P But coincidentally, I have been commenting and answering from mobile this whole time (because I didn't have access to a computer), and just now I obtained access to a computer. It had IE. I downloaded Chrome, in about 5 minutes, and proceeded to close IE immediately :P
    – Doorknob
    Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 0:47
  • I always keep a copy on my flash drive so I don't have to even use "IE" to install it on the desktop. I download Chrome from Chrome Portable, install Chrome, then close Chrome Portable and launch Chrome :)
    – Cole Tobin
    Commented Jul 30, 2013 at 0:49
  • Related: Tell me how to log out of Stack Exchange OpenID
    – This_is_NOT_a_forum
    Commented Jan 3, 2018 at 14:08

1 Answer 1

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+50

This made me not use SO in the beginning.

If you are using any OpenID to log in to stackoverflow then you need to log out of that openID separately. e.g. if you use yahoo then if you want to completely log out of SO then you need to firstly log out of yahoo mail and then log out of stackoverflow. That takes care of automatic login.

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  • 1
    That's correct. This is not Stack Overflow's fault, it is a feature of OpenID. More discussion here.
    – Cody Gray
    Commented Jul 28, 2013 at 14:50
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    @CodyGray It isn't Stackoverflow's fault but there is no simple explanation either. It isn't SO duty to tell people how to use OpenID but putting this in FAQ can be really helpful for new users. I wanted to use SO but didn't use it for at least one month. The only reason was that I couldn't find out how to log out of OpenID properly. Google search didn't help much. I accidentally found the way.
    – Aseem Bansal
    Commented Jul 28, 2013 at 14:56
  • Correct, if I remove my cookies of openid.stackexchange.com then I have to enter my password, otherwise I don't have to. Thanks for your answer!
    – ProgramFOX
    Commented Jul 31, 2013 at 12:36

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