Why can't users have an option in their settings or when they log in for "keep me logged in" that sets a cookie client side? And then have that cookie expire really far out (so it's effectively permanent). If the user chooses that setting, as long as they don't clear the cookies on the computer(s) they logged in from, if the site determined the user was inactive, it could query the cookie for the log-in information and thus "refresh" or "relogin" the session without requiring user intervention, but without impacting site performance compared to the current solution?
Even failing that, can we get something fixed so that the following no longer happens (it IS ongoing right now):
1) I log in, do a few things, walk away for 15 minutes or so.
2) I come back, I'm timed out and presented with the login page, but in the background colors from my settings.
3) After I put my details (or anything at all, really) into the login box, and hit "Login"... the page refreshes but does nothing at all with the information I just put in. After this refresh, the background color is back to default, and if I login again on the 2nd page, then it works correctly. Quite annoying to have to submit the form once with dummy information just to get the form that actually works.