Problem: The Thunderbird RSS reader is great, but it doesn't log me into the forum.

Logging in is important because, if you are logged in:

1. the topics that you read in Thunderbird will be "marked as read" the next time you visit the LAVA forums using a regular web browser.
2. the RSS reader can access Premium Member, Scripting, and other Forums with access restrictions

Note: I believe that this tip only works for subscriptions where you have not selected the "Show the article summary instead of loading the web page" option. It only works when the entire HTML page for the posting is viewed.


Step 1: Make sure that cookies are enabled.

Ensure that the user preference network.cookie.cookieBehavior is set to a value of 3. To do this, open the Configuration Editor dialog. By pressing the Config Editor button in the Advanced>>General section of the Options dialog. Note: I am using Thunderbird 1.5 and this setting was already set to 3, by default.



From the Config Editor, type "network.cookie.cookieBehavior" into the filter, to make this preference easier to locate, in the preference list. If the Value is not "3", then double-click the preference to open the value editor. Change the value and press OK. Close the Config Editor and press OK, to close the Options dialog.




Step 2: Log in to LAVA forums using FireFox with the "Remember Me" option.

Before you copy your FireFox cookies, you need to make sure that your cookies are correctly set to log you into the LAVA forums. Make sure that you have logged into the LAVA forums using the Remember Me option, which will set the appropriate cookies, needed by Thunderbird.




Step 3: Copy your FireFox cookies to Thunderbird.

Locate your FireFox cookie file (cookies.txt). On Windows XP (on my computer) this is located at:

C:\Documents and Settings\jim.kring\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\9pmdq8kt.default\cookies.txt

Overwrite the ThunderBird cookie file (cookies.txt) with a copy of the FireFox cookie file. On Windows XP (on my computer) the ThunderBird cookie file is located at:

C:\Documents and Settings\jim.kring\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\od6t6tp9.default\cookies.txt


Step 4: Restart Thunderbird and verify that you automatically log in.




Step 5: Celebrate!!!

Go to the fridge, open a beer, and enjoy it while you catch up on the latest LAVA forums postings.




References:

Thunderbird FAQ: How can I get Thunderbird's RSS reader to use cookies?