Trying to handle a case where a user did not have their user account created.

app/lib/auth.coffee

@@ -43,7 +43,12 @@ init = ->
   module.exports.me = window.me = new User(storedUser)
   me.url = -> '/auth/whoami'
   me.fetch()
+  
+  retry = -> me.fetch() # blindly try again
+  error = -> setTimeout(retry, 1000) # blindly try again
+  me.on 'error', error, @
   me.on 'sync', ->
+    me.off 'error', error, @ if firstTime
     me.url = -> "/db/user/#{me.id}"
     trackFirstArrival() if firstTime
     if me and not me.get('testGroupNumber')?

server/routes/db.coffee

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ module.exports.setup = (app) ->
     parts = module.split('/')
     module = parts[0]
     return getSchema(req, res, module) if parts[1] is 'schema'
-    return errors.unauthorized(res, 'Must have an identity to do anything with the db.') unless req.user
+    return errors.unauthorized(res, 'Must have an identity to do anything with the db. Do you have cookies enabled?') unless req.user
 
     try
       moduleName = module.replace '.', '_'