why does apple community sign me out?

There has been an intermittent log-out bug here for some time. The Mods are aware of it.

After several months of its lying low, it bit me again yesterday. However I have always been able to sign in again and continue without any more logouts until the next morning. So your not being able to get back in after one of those is the more pressing issue in my mind.

Is this happening on the iPhone 12 shown in your equipment line or a different device? If from a computer, some useless utilities like anti-virus or so-called "cleaning" apps can interfere with log-ins. Third-party password managers may contribute.

Knowing what device is affected and its OS version may prove useful in our helping you with this.

TheQuestionAsker58 wrote:

Every time I open the community website I get signed out and the sign in button never works. Is that how it’s meant to be?

There is a no-activity time limit that appears to be what is happening from your description. Just reload the page and sign in. You posted here so sign in seems to have worked. As you achieve higher levels the no-activity time clock will be relaxed.