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Them: "When I click the button, the menu shows up. But it disappears as soon as I hover over it"

Me: What's your username?

Them: jdoe@somehost.com

  $ mysql -e "SELECT useragent FROM login_audit WHERE user = 'jdoe@somehost.com'"
  +---------------------------------------------------+
  | useragent                                         |
  +---------------------------------------------------+
  | Mozilla/1.22 (compatible; MSIE 2.0; Windows 3.1)  |
  +---------------------------------------------------+
Me: thumping noises on wood

Them: Yes?

  $ mysql -e "DELETE FROM users WHERE user = 'jdoe@somehost.com'"
Me: Problem resolved, goodbye.

(Admittedly this is probably why they don't let me do support, but the point remains, it's trivial and you should have this info.)



And for someone doing basic support who doesn't or shouldn't have access to the database? These sites make that sort of thing easy.


A great job to give an intern is to get them to write a nice front-end for support techs to use. Then get a manager in training to audit the code.


Or just use the site linked in the OP


Writing SQL over the phone? That sounds like a massive pain. Especially one handed, I don't get a fancy headset. Thinking on the phone is hard enough.

In my own case the clients have multiple users using one account so you can never be sure who's user agent in the logs corresponds to what.


What about someone who can't log in using a browser which is not their usual?


> What about someone who can't log in using a browser which is not their usual?

You're assuming a couple things about our hypothetical login_audit table, neither of which are neccesarily true and both of which would make our audit table functionally as useless (at least to me) as the OP's site

  * That we only store the last useragent
  * Only successful logins are recorded
In the latter case, I probably needn't (but I will) point out that failure to make any entry in the table would imply more serious connectivity issues being afoot.




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