[ic] AOL losing session data.

Dan Browning interchange-users@icdevgroup.org
Mon Aug 26 20:14:01 2002


At 07:06 PM 8/26/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>On Mon, 2002-08-26 at 18:19, Dan Browning wrote:
> > At 05:48 PM 8/26/2002 -0500, you wrote:
> > >Quoting Dan <ic@concolor.org>:
> > >
> > > > Does anyone have an idea of how to keep AOL users from losing session
> > > > data? I have had quite a few AOL users come in through affiliates and
> > > > the affiliate has not recieved credit for their order. This is an
> > > > intermitant problem with some AOL users not having a problem while
> > > > others do.
> > > >
> > > > I am using IC 4.8.5
> > > >
> > > > Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
> > > >
> > > > Dan Sabath
> > > > concolor web services
> > >
> > >Hi Dan,
> > >
> > >I think the problem lies in the fact that AOL caches the pages of a 
> site, and
> > >that is why the users may not be getting proper credit.
> > >
> > >Hope this helps.
> >
> > I would also add that it is a solvable problem, as AOL wont cache unique
> > URLs (mv_pc=..., etc.).
>
>I wish it were this easy. They are coming in via a URL which includes
>the mv_pc= variable.
>http://www.purebio.com/cbin/purebio?mv_pc=0101cws
>
>It might be an issue with post variables in the URL.
>I've checked it with AOL v.7 but haven't been able to get a hold of any
>end users who know which version they are using.

Aha, I see what you mean.  You don't get the benefit of the random mv_pc 
since you are using it to track affiliates.  Yes, I am a Master Champion 
Black Belt in the ancient art of "The Obvious".  If I were you, I'd look 
into using another variable for the affiliate tracking or for the unique 
URL (perhaps forcing id=? even if they do have cookies enabled).

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