Post by: Eich on September 01, 2014, 03:31:22 PM
Suggest anything that might need improving or snazzing up of any kind. Different from bugs and fixes in that these aren't urgent.
Here is what different staff groups can and can't do:
What a skald can do:
* Split threads into new topics
* Name new threads resulting from thread-splitting
* Edit any calendar event
* Merge threads
* Move threads to different boards.
What a skald can't do:
* Change or delete anyone's individual post
* Delete, lock, or unlock threads
* Sticky threads
* Add holidays to the calendar
* See or deal with anyone's PMs
* Ban/delete users
* Do major technical fixes
What a moderator can do:
* Everything a skald can do
* Lock/unlock topics
* Sticky topics
* Delete posts
* Ban/delete users
* Issue warnings to users
What a moderator can't do:
* (Anything technical)
* Add holidays to the calendar
* Add those little country flags (or any kind of imagery)
* Work with bugs/downtime/whatever
* Change the news up there
* See or deal with anyone's PMs
What an admin can do:
* Everything a mod can do
* Create new boards
* Make things visible/invisible to guests
* Add flags/smileys
* Change the news up there
* Change your login username (not the display name, you can change this on your own in your profile)
* Technical things
* Add/remove holidays to the calendar
* Edit forum site code
* Database stuff
What an admin can't do:
* This mostly depends on the admin and what their coding abilities, etc. are
Post by: Sunflower on September 01, 2014, 03:50:35 PM
Post by: Nimphy on September 01, 2014, 04:01:56 PM
Changing the font color to black (or at least a darker gray) is my main wish. But I don't want to sound ungrateful -- it was so nice of you to build this playground for us!
He said everything. Also, can you do that status-thingy? Like, forum Thor, skald, Grade-A Blessed Feline...
Post by: Eich on September 01, 2014, 04:09:00 PM
He said everything. Also, can you do that status-thingy? Like, forum Thor, skald, Grade-A Blessed Feline...You can see above my avatar, there's a thing that says "Oh, look, a custom title!" I put that up there to show everybody that there's a location you can edit in your profile settings. You can give yourself a little title or status or something; it's purely nominal, and doesn't really affect anything, but it is fun. You can also add things like pictures or short bits of text in your signature, if you feel like it. Try playing around with the profile settings for a bit, and see what you can come up with.
Post by: Sunflower on September 01, 2014, 04:36:43 PM
In the real world, I get that a lot too because I have a masculine first name. Even when I use its more feminine-sounding nickname, people mispronounce it. At Starbucks, I just tell them "Ann."
Post by: Nimphy on September 01, 2014, 04:55:11 PM
Hi, Nimphy. If the "He" in "He said it all" = me, I'm actually female. :D
In the real world, I get that a lot too because I have a masculine first name. Even when I use its more feminine-sounding nickname, people mispronounce it. At Starbucks, I just tell them "Ann."
Dang! I'm so sorry... for reasons to me unknown, I tend to assume that people on the net are males until proven otherwise. The girls in the SSSS fanbase are proof, and even now I'm unsure of a lot of people's gender...
Post by: JoB on September 01, 2014, 05:25:21 PM
I've already noticed a slight lag with posts updating, the default font color is a light gray that's kind of hard to read, and the avatar sizes are limited to be kind of small, so I'll be looking into those things for the next few days.Posts, and the markup signaling new stuff (or lack thereof) in (sub)fora ...
If any of you find anything annoying of problematic, just tell me about it here and I'll see what I can do.
I don't see image formats, size, or filesize limits for the avatars posted anywhere. (I started with a 200x200 PNG and quickly scaled that down to 100x100 when it came out much larger than other avatars. Which still seems to be noticeably larger than what Disqus displays on the Minnasite.)
(Edited after getting bitten right now) Got auto-logged-out while typing this, had to copy-paste into a new reply form, as hitting "post" in the old browser tab didn't work anymore. I take it that the "after 60 minutes" autologout doesn't refer to idle minutes ... ?
Post by: noako on September 01, 2014, 06:13:13 PM
If Minna allows it, I can see plenty material from the comic - even in the very first page, one of those scenery shots would fit perfectly up there, I think?
Post by: Eich on September 01, 2014, 06:36:46 PM
Posts, and the markup signaling new stuff (or lack thereof) in (sub)fora ...If you're taking about the update lag after making a post, I think that's just something with the host I'm using. I'm using a free host at the moment, but if the something unusual happens to the site, I plan on upgrading my account so we can get better speeds. I've just been refreshing a lot, and that overcomes the lag problem for the time being.
I don't see image formats, size, or filesize limits for the avatars posted anywhere. (I started with a 200x200 PNG and quickly scaled that down to 100x100 when it came out much larger than other avatars. Which still seems to be noticeably larger than what Disqus displays on the Minnasite.)
(Edited after getting bitten right now) Got auto-logged-out while typing this, had to copy-paste into a new reply form, as hitting "post" in the old browser tab didn't work anymore. I take it that the "after 60 minutes" autologout doesn't refer to idle minutes ... ?
I was fiddling with the avatar sizes when you were setting up your account. 100x100 seems to fit fairly well for the purposes of the forum, I think, because we have a lot more room here than on the disqus pages.
Exactly right, you should be able to change how long you want to stay logged in for at each login, and I think you can change it permanently from your profile. Could you check and see about that while I look into the default font color?
I feel like the forum looks a bit bland. How about a picture in top, some kind of banner?I do plan on getting someone to help me out with redesigning the site. I chose this pre-made theme because it had a good ui and a neutral enough palette to start working with. I'll have to see whether or not I can share or give admin rights to someone so they can help out with making the place pretty.
If Minna allows it, I can see plenty material from the comic - even in the very first page, one of those scenery shots would fit perfectly up there, I think?
Post by: Richard Weir on September 01, 2014, 08:04:35 PM
For now I will go ahead but with more significantly changed text, and see if I can edit it later.
Post by: Eich on September 01, 2014, 08:29:24 PM
Is there any way to fine-tune the "duplicate post" detection? I decided to start a series of threads, one for each main character, for discussion of character development. For consistency I decided to use a cut-and-paste on each O.P.s, modified to fit each person. The forum refuses, claiming I am double-posting!That's unchangeable, unfortunately. Even if I could change up stuff like that, I don't have the kind of programming knowledge to do so. I think the best option is the one you suggested, editing the posts is probably the best way to go about getting around that. Though I'm not sure a separate thread for each character is necessary. It's more convenient for conversation's sake, but the threads will most likely end up scattered around on different pages of the board.
For now I will go ahead but with more significantly changed text, and see if I can edit it later.
Post by: Eich on September 02, 2014, 06:23:54 PM
I found the place to change to colors of text when previewing a post and changed it too but, for some reason, the change hasn't done anything on the site. I went back and double checked to make sure I had the right line of code, and I did, but previews are still in a grey color. I'm not sure if I can get around that, but if anyone dislikes it, I can try to find another work around.
Post by: Nimphy on September 03, 2014, 03:48:03 AM
Post by: Eich on September 03, 2014, 04:39:08 PM
I don't know if this is relevant, as it seems to be gone, but yesterday I tried to post a reply and the page redirected me to the 'create a new topic' option without displaying my comment. This happened three times, actually. I didn't have any problems this morning, but I thought I'd report it nevertheless.That's happened to me on SMF in the past. Not sure why it happens, I just back up and try again, usually. :\
Post by: Lenny on September 03, 2014, 07:57:39 PM
Post by: Eich on September 03, 2014, 10:44:48 PM
I've found a few oddities. When I've replied to a topic (using quick reply), the site redirects me out of the thread to the sub-topic thing (not the main page, but the ones like the SSSS Board etc.). Also, I tried logging in while viewing a thread, and it redirected me to a completely different thread after logging me in. And of course, actually showing the comment posted took a while, but that's been mentioned.Aright, so we're getting lots of SMF issues. I'll search around the SMF site and look for some modifications that might be able to patch the issues y'all are having.
Post by: Eich on September 04, 2014, 11:55:23 PM
Post by: Hedge14 on September 07, 2014, 05:42:36 AM
I have had quite lot of problems when modifying my posts. I get a message that I have already saved the post. Should that happen if I modify my posts in a short time period? In another forum where I have spent time there has been no problems like this and both forums use Simple Machines. Also, one time it did not give me this message at all, but it did not save my post either. It had been about 15 min from last time I had modified the post, so too quick editing should not have been a problem either?
Post by: JoB on September 07, 2014, 08:34:01 AM
I have had quite lot of problems when modifying my posts. I get a message that I have already saved the post.FWIW, I'm under the impression that that's connected to the "delayed content update" symptom. The one time I had that error message, I had a second look at the post I wanted to edit and saw that it was missing the previous edit I had saved. Shift-reload fixed that, and the second attempt at the second edit sailed right through.
Post by: Fen Shen on September 07, 2014, 08:44:50 AM
When I reloaded the thread, I saw that my first attempt to delete it had already been successful, but I couldn't see that without reloading.
Post by: Fimbulvarg on September 07, 2014, 08:53:41 AM
Yes, I think that is at least part of the problem. Yesterday I deleted a post, went back to the home page, looked into the thread again and my post was still there. So I tried to delete it again (thought I had clicked on somethinkg wrong) and received an error message.
When I reloaded the thread, I saw that my first attempt to delete it had already been successful, but I couldn't see that without reloading.
These bugs seem to be common. Pages often need to be updated to show recently added posts. The thing about post edits being blocked by the "already saved" error is easily worked around by just pressing backspace, saving your post and then reloading the article so you can try again.
Post by: Richard Weir 2 on September 07, 2014, 01:17:56 PM
Eich, it might be a good idea to check this out - good luck! (My suspicion is that the relevant blank email document is missing a mail-merge field or two.)
Post by: Richard Weir on September 07, 2014, 08:53:45 PM
Post by: Eich on September 07, 2014, 09:05:03 PM
Thanks for the fix Eich!Yep!
Post by: Nimphy on September 08, 2014, 11:53:38 AM
"Richard Weir" here, posting using a new user account - because I forgot my password and can't reset it. The forum "reset password" email fails to be sent, or can't get to me. I have checked all my various spam folders etc.
Eich, it might be a good idea to check this out - good luck! (My suspicion is that the relevant blank email document is missing a mail-merge field or two.)
Eich, same problem here. I still have access because I was logged in, but when trying to access from my computer I forgot password but the reset doesn't work. The email just won't get sent.
Post by: Eich on September 08, 2014, 05:06:01 PM
Post by: Eich on September 08, 2014, 05:53:04 PM
Now I can get working on some bug fixes and move on to the bigger improvements.
Post by: Richard Weir on September 09, 2014, 11:42:24 AM
Alright, so two people haven't gotten change password emails. I'll look into it after I get the site backed up in a few minutes. I sent you a pm with a change of password, so go ahead and check your messages.
Let's hope the change of password hasn't invalidated her cookie, in which case she won't be able to check! :o
Post by: Nimphy on September 09, 2014, 12:04:09 PM
Let's hope the change of password hasn't invalidated her cookie, in which case she won't be able to check! :o
Actually, I was blocked for a while, so Eich sent me the password (ever imaginative) to my email. "The powers of the admin are great indeed, most indeededly". Yesss!
Post by: Eich on September 09, 2014, 05:10:47 PM
I looked at their IPs and hostnames, and their IPs were all the same as mine, and their hostnames were all from the forum's host. Not only that, but when I was cross checking everyone's accounts to make sure it was okay to ban them without affecting anyone, about 95% of you all had the same thing going on... I've just deleted the bot accounts because I don't want to banlist an IP address that might belong to a real member.
This weirdness and the bots are definitely connected. My hunch is that it either has something to do with my backing up the site yesterday, or Minna's posting a link on her site. Most likely the backup thing. If anyone can help, or has any general knowledge on this kind of thing, it'd be appreciated.
Post by: noako on September 09, 2014, 05:59:25 PM
Something very weird is happening with these spam bots.
I looked at their IPs and hostnames, and their IPs were all the same as mine, and their hostnames were all from the forum's host. Not only that, but when I was cross checking everyone's accounts to make sure it was okay to ban them without affecting anyone, about 95% of you all had the same thing going on... I've just deleted the bot accounts because I don't want to banlist an IP address that might belong to a real member.
This weirdness and the bots are definitely connected. My hunch is that it either has something to do with my backing up the site yesterday, or Minna's posting a link on her site. Most likely the backup thing. If anyone can help, or has any general knowledge on this kind of thing, it'd be appreciated.
I have no idea how to help you in this. Sorry. Could we have some sort of spambot-filter, like email confirmation or writing numbers/letters like in some registeration sites?
Post by: ThisCat on September 09, 2014, 06:02:25 PM
I have no idea how to help you in this. Sorry. Could we have some sort of spambot-filter, like email confirmation or writing numbers/letters like in some registeration sites?
This would probably be a very good idea.
Post by: Eich on September 09, 2014, 06:07:31 PM
I'll check that out.
Post by: JoB on September 09, 2014, 07:21:40 PM
Something very weird is happening with these spam bots.According to Netcraft (http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http://ssssforum.pcriot.com), there's a HTTP accelerator (a.k.a. reverse proxy) sitting in front of the actual server (Apache running on a Linux host?). That'ld mean that the Apache sees the requests coming from the IP of that proxy, with the IP of the actual client stashed into an X-Forwarded-For HTTP header - which SMF likely isn't equipped out of the box to expect, if it knows to deal with that in the first place.
I looked at their IPs and hostnames, and their IPs were all the same as mine, and their hostnames were all from the forum's host. Not only that, but when I was cross checking everyone's accounts to make sure it was okay to ban them without affecting anyone, about 95% of you all had the same thing going on...
Post by: Eich on September 09, 2014, 07:28:18 PM
Anyway, I'm not really sure what most of that meant (Apache=helicopters and natives to me), but I appreciate the input, and I guess I gotta learn this stuff at some point. I'll ask for help on the SMF support site.
Post by: JoB on September 09, 2014, 07:53:26 PM
If neither you (as part of some SMF add-on you installed?) nor X10HOSTING (nor whoever acts as a go-between between the two of you) installed that reverse proxy, back when the client IPs changed from diverse to "everyone looks the same", I'ld suspect some kind of hostile intrusion ...
Post by: Eich on September 09, 2014, 08:20:41 PM
http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/FAQ#Why_the_name_.22Apache.22.3F ;)That's what I'm worried about. I can't very well ban an IP or hostname used by a troll or bot when it's the same IP and hostname for everybody else.
If neither you (as part of some SMF add-on you installed?) nor X10HOSTING (nor whoever acts as a go-between between the two of you) installed that reverse proxy, back when the client IPs changed from diverse to "everyone looks the same", I'ld suspect some kind of hostile intrusion ...
Post by: Nimphy on September 10, 2014, 03:24:24 AM
That's what I'm worried about. I can't very well ban an IP or hostname used by a troll or bot when it's the same IP and hostname for everybody else.
Can you suspend it, though? You could try for a day or so of suspension, and see if it affects the rest of us. Otherwise a captcha seems a pretty logical and easy solution to me.
Post by: Eich on September 10, 2014, 10:02:32 PM
Can you suspend it, though? You could try for a day or so of suspension, and see if it affects the rest of us. Otherwise a captcha seems a pretty logical and easy solution to me.It's my IP now, too. That's the big problem. I don't want to risk nullifying the site entirely by locking myself out.
I'll ask SMF about setting up a capcha to register. I'm also getting responses to my question about our email problem and the IP problem, so I'm looking into those.
Post by: Eich on September 10, 2014, 10:43:44 PM
Post by: JoB on September 11, 2014, 05:31:15 AM
Post by: Sunflower on September 11, 2014, 12:12:14 PM
I just posted, and the forum reports "my" IP as being 198.91.81.5, which is the server's IP and definitely not the one my connections go out onto the Internet with (says the local net admin). There must be something like the mentioned reverse proxy shielding the SMF software from the incoming requests.
I checked out all my posts. About half of them give the same IP as you: 198.91.81.5. The rest state my home IP, starting 76.14.
Hoping this data point helps...
Post by: Richard Weir on September 11, 2014, 03:05:55 PM
Post by: JoB on September 11, 2014, 03:59:28 PM
Post by: Eich on September 14, 2014, 12:15:23 AM
I'm not going to risk banning anyone by IP or hostname, just in case it was something more malicious than a glitch, so I'll be restricting myself to banning by email and usernames for a while, until I know for sure what was going on.
Post by: JoB on September 21, 2014, 05:01:16 AM
Post by: Richard Weir on September 24, 2014, 11:22:15 AM
I posted a new thread for us to map out Sigrun's character development. I then tried to post one for Mikkel but with new text, new title etc - and got the error message. I then tried to post a new thread starting with complete gibberish and still got the error message!
Basically, this feature seems extremely bugged.
EDIT: Posting here seems to have cleared the jam. Still, it's a nuisance.
I wonder if I am getting the wrong error message, and instead it should be telling me I have tried to post too soon after the first post? That is a sensible anti-spam option!
Post by: Sunflower on September 24, 2014, 12:52:18 PM
OK, the "You have tried to post this before" problem is a bug!
I wonder if I am getting the wrong error message, and instead it should be telling me I have tried to post too soon after the first post? That is a sensible anti-spam option!
I suspect the latter is more likely, because I got the same error message while doing something similar.
Post by: Eich on September 24, 2014, 04:42:33 PM
OK, the "You have tried to post this before" problem is a bug!I think that's connected to the slowness of the site. You know how you have to refresh to see any posts or changes? I think it's just assuming that you're still in the process of posting a thread. I'll ask the SMF pros about it, just in case though.
I posted a new thread for us to map out Sigrun's character development. I then tried to post one for Mikkel but with new text, new title etc - and got the error message. I then tried to post a new thread starting with complete gibberish and still got the error message!
Basically, this feature seems extremely bugged.
EDIT: Posting here seems to have cleared the jam. Still, it's a nuisance.
I wonder if I am getting the wrong error message, and instead it should be telling me I have tried to post too soon after the first post? That is a sensible anti-spam option!
Post by: ianazavi on October 03, 2014, 02:47:00 AM
I started a topic for learning russian, but I can't write anything in russian for those who want to learn it. :(
Post by: potatobunny on October 25, 2014, 11:40:32 AM
Post by: Nimphy on October 25, 2014, 11:44:12 AM
Post by: potatobunny on October 25, 2014, 11:45:57 AM
Okay, it just says "This page is not available". And I propose that the "Bugs and things to report" thread be sticky-ed for visibility.
Post by: Eich on October 25, 2014, 01:24:46 PM
Yeah, I've seen that too. I'll figure out what's going on when I get a chance, probably tomorrow sometime. If it goes away before then, it's probably got something to do with the hosting site. I'll have my phone with me, so keep me updated.
Post by: JoB on October 25, 2014, 06:00:22 PM
Post by: OrigamiOwl on October 25, 2014, 08:22:18 PM
Usually when the weird thing happens it tells me I'm logged out, but when I click another link or go back a page, I'm logged in again? Heh, even when I log in "forever" I have to log in every couple of minutes or pages :P
Post by: Silenter on October 25, 2014, 09:00:22 PM
Yup, I've been having the same problems- I'll click on a link, page turns white and says it's not connected to the server. Refreshing the page needs to done a few times, and then you get plain text, and anything you've written is deleted. Other times when this happens I just press Back, which is ok, it doesn't delete stuff, but you can't click anything :/I also had the same problems earlier today- but they don't seem to be happening that often as of now.
Usually when the weird thing happens it tells me I'm logged out, but when I click another link or go back a page, I'm logged in again? Heh, even when I log in "forever" I have to log in every couple of minutes or pages :P
Post by: Sparky Dragon on October 25, 2014, 11:22:20 PM
Post by: Sunflower on October 26, 2014, 01:13:54 AM
The forum has been loading strangely today; before the 25th October I've not had any issue with it in any way, but starting this morning, some time after I read a post where Origami Owl mentioned needing to try 6 times to post something, there's been occurrences where the page doesn't load and there's an error instead. I can't remember what the error page said, but the site has also loaded once or twice with plain text only. Will keep an eye out if it happens again.
I've had similar problems in the past 48 hours (i.e. since Thursday night 10/23 my time, or early 10/24 forum time). Lots of "Page Not Available" on my Chrome browser. But when I hit "refresh," the page instantly pops up.
Unlike potatobunny, I have not seen the site loading in plaintext only. The pages either serve up, or they don't.
Post by: potatobunny on October 26, 2014, 01:57:28 AM
Quote
Domain document root not found.
and
Quote
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator at no-reply@x10hosting.com to inform them of the time this error occurred, and the actions you performed just before this error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Post by: Sunflower on October 26, 2014, 02:18:26 AM
Post by: Sunflower on October 26, 2014, 04:02:36 PM
Quote
Hey, I'm having trouble getting into my account on the Fan-forum. I forgot my password and the password reset doesn't seem to be sending me the email I need to get in. Can anyone from the forum help? Apologies to the rest.
Can anyone help? Especially since he just wrote an excellent poem about Lalli's mage-vision that I'm sure we'd all like him to save for posterity. :)
Post by: Fimbulvarg on October 26, 2014, 07:31:15 PM
Potatobunny's last post reminded me -- I got the Internal Server Error message once or twice yesterday. Not this evening, though.
I've noticed that my IP has been different the last few days. It's back to normal now and coincidentally the loading errors seem to have stopped.
Post by: JoB on October 28, 2014, 08:48:55 AM
XML Parsing Error: unexpected parser state Location: jar:file:///usr/lib64/firefox/omni.ja!/chrome/toolkit/content/global/netError.xhtml Line Number 305, Column 54:
<div id="ed_netTimeout">&netTimeout.longDesc;</div>
-----------------------------------------------------^
(Durn, lost the line breaks and indentation during the copypasta ... The marker was pointing at the semicolon IIRC.)
Post by: Nimphy on October 28, 2014, 02:16:28 PM
Also, sometimes (dunno if it's just me or if it's even useful info at all) I see a particular profile pic (first Fimbulvarg, then mithyrsc, then Sparky Dragon, etc.) under every other avatar (first the correct one, then the wrong one, one above the other), except for yours, Eich. I don't see your avatar at all and only the wrong avatar shows up.
Post by: JoB on October 28, 2014, 04:23:39 PM
Post by: Eich on October 28, 2014, 05:18:41 PM
I just noticed that when I keep hitting "reload" in the browser, the "News" in the top right corner will switch back and forth, every couple reloads, between the "Link to the Comic" and the "Hey, Everyone!". IIUC it should be the latter, and naught but that one? If so, there's definitely something amiss proxy/cache-wise, rather than on the server running the forum itself ...I intended for there to be two news posts at once, but they liked to switch back and forth. We already decided to make the new language board, so I was going to take it down yesterday. Thanks for the reminder. Also, it seems that was causing the problems. As soon as I cleared the news, I stopped having to reload the pages to get the to load.
Edit: it's being glitchy again. :-\
Post by: Sunflower on October 29, 2014, 03:21:49 PM
Also, last night I got a message about "server cannot access this thread." Unfortunately, I didn't take a screenshot. But it was a single line of text at the top of a white screen. As with other problems, it went away when I reloaded.
Post by: JoB on October 29, 2014, 04:52:22 PM
Post by: Sunflower on October 29, 2014, 05:16:34 PM
Got one completely empty page and one with the one-liner "Domain document root not found." right now. (Which I find interesting because the DocumentRoot (http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/core.html#documentroot) IIUC is a concept only available on the server itself, not the caches and proxies.)
THAT was what I saw yesterday and couldn't remember! Not "server cannot access this thread." Thanks for jogging my memory.
I got it when I was trying to click on a thread by its screen number (#55 of General Discussion, I think), after I couldn't get in by clicking the "Most Recent Post" button.
Post by: JoB on October 29, 2014, 07:34:08 PM
Code: [Select]
00:25:20.552966 IP mylaptop.33297 > 198.91.81.5.80: Flags [S], seq 254282685, win 29200, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 195881290 ecr 0,nop,wscale 7], length 0
00:25:20.669602 IP 198.91.81.5.80 > mylaptop.33297: Flags [R.], seq 0, ack 254282686, win 0, length 0
00:25:20.669901 IP mylaptop.33298 > 198.91.81.5.80: Flags [S], seq 3575710619, win 29200, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 195881407 ecr 0,nop,wscale 7], length 0
00:25:20.783257 IP 198.91.81.5.80 > mylaptop.33298: Flags [R.], seq 0, ack 3575710620, win 0, length 0
00:25:20.783643 IP mylaptop.33299 > 198.91.81.5.80: Flags [S], seq 3057264016, win 29200, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 195881521 ecr 0,nop,wscale 7], length 0
00:25:20.901366 IP 198.91.81.5.80 > mylaptop.33299: Flags [R.], seq 0, ack 3057264017, win 0, length 0
00:25:20.901585 IP mylaptop.33300 > 198.91.81.5.80: Flags [S], seq 3674252768, win 29200, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 195881639 ecr 0,nop,wscale 7], length 0
00:25:21.017029 IP 198.91.81.5.80 > mylaptop.33300: Flags [R.], seq 0, ack 3674252769, win 0, length 0Could be a firewall throttling traffic or the connection rate, or the server running out of sockets or file descriptors to accept the connection attempts ...
Post by: Eich on October 29, 2014, 10:33:51 PM
FWIW, I just had a series of "cannot connect" and threw a packet sniffer at it while it lasted. There's nothing going on but the browser sending (a total of four) SYNs, and promptly getting RSTs back:Is it because there's lots of people, or posts, or something?Code: [Select]00:25:20.552966 IP mylaptop.33297 > 198.91.81.5.80: Flags [S], seq 254282685, win 29200, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 195881290 ecr 0,nop,wscale 7], length 0
00:25:20.669602 IP 198.91.81.5.80 > mylaptop.33297: Flags [R.], seq 0, ack 254282686, win 0, length 0
00:25:20.669901 IP mylaptop.33298 > 198.91.81.5.80: Flags [S], seq 3575710619, win 29200, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 195881407 ecr 0,nop,wscale 7], length 0
00:25:20.783257 IP 198.91.81.5.80 > mylaptop.33298: Flags [R.], seq 0, ack 3575710620, win 0, length 0
00:25:20.783643 IP mylaptop.33299 > 198.91.81.5.80: Flags [S], seq 3057264016, win 29200, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 195881521 ecr 0,nop,wscale 7], length 0
00:25:20.901366 IP 198.91.81.5.80 > mylaptop.33299: Flags [R.], seq 0, ack 3057264017, win 0, length 0
00:25:20.901585 IP mylaptop.33300 > 198.91.81.5.80: Flags [S], seq 3674252768, win 29200, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 195881639 ecr 0,nop,wscale 7], length 0
00:25:21.017029 IP 198.91.81.5.80 > mylaptop.33300: Flags [R.], seq 0, ack 3674252769, win 0, length 0
Could be a firewall throttling traffic or the connection rate, or the server running out of sockets or file descriptors to accept the connection attempts ...
I don't speak computer... I really hate to admit it, but I'm totally inept in situations like this.
Post by: JoB on October 29, 2014, 10:44:22 PM
Is it because there's lots of people, or posts, or something?People, or bots, or the limits (payable quotas?) are just way too low. And keep in mind that that's just my first off-the-cuff remote diagnosis ...
Post by: Eich on October 29, 2014, 11:08:25 PM
People, or bots, or the limits (payable quotas?) are just way too low. And keep in mind that that's just my first off-the-cuff remote diagnosis ...I can upgrade the site. It's pretty cheap, but I think it more than doubles the space we can use.
Post by: Sunflower on October 30, 2014, 02:27:18 AM
People, or bots, or the limits (payable quotas?) are just way too low. And keep in mind that that's just my first off-the-cuff remote diagnosis ...
Huh. So IIUC, there's just more traffic than the site can currently handle? And that's why we have to essentially "wait our turn" to get a socket connection, by refreshing several times?
If I looked up SYN, RST, and so forth via Google or glossary, would I get a usable definition?
I doubt I could learn enough to actually help you guys fix the problem, but at least I could file more useful bug reports.
Plus, I'm looking for writing work in Silicon Valley (helping genuinely technical types explain themselves to a non-technical audience), so I'd like to be a bit less clueless.
Post by: JoB on October 30, 2014, 10:23:49 AM
Huh. So IIUC, there's just more traffic than the site can currently handle? And that's why we have to essentially "wait our turn" to get a socket connection, by refreshing several times?Still nothing but a theory, mind. To put it into perspective, I'm standing behind Lalli right now, hear him shout "ONNI!" and an eerie voice answering "GO AWAY!", and guesstimate that Onni might be hard at work and has a bunch of (real world) customers waiting in line to get served.
If I looked up SYN, RST, and so forth via Google or glossary, would I get a usable definition?Dunno ... In order to "open a (TCP) connection", as your browser tries to do, there needs to be a "three-way handshake" done. The client side sends a packet with no data and (only) the SYN flag set, the server replies with an (empty) packet with SYN and ACK(nowledge), and the client should reply in a timely fashion with an ACK (still empty if there's no data to be sent yet). From there on, packets get sent back and forth with ACK (and possibly PSH (push) for "urgent" data) set. When the time comes to terminate the connection, another three-way handshake is done, only with the intent being signaled with a FIN flag instead of SYNs.
RSTs (resets) terminate a TCP connection in an irregular manner and without a full three-way handshake, that's why all sorts of hard- and software that are not really one of the communicating parties - like firewalls or load-limiting mechanisms - throw those at the communicating parties (with "forged" sender and recipient coordinates, if need be) to cause them to drop (or stop initiating) the connection.
Post by: Nimphy on October 30, 2014, 10:59:42 AM
Post by: Yannick on October 30, 2014, 03:59:33 PM
Post by: Richard Weir on October 31, 2014, 01:58:36 PM
See the Discus comments from http://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php#comment-1663105246
Post by: Clayres on October 31, 2014, 06:41:13 PM
Eich, Clayres has forgotten his password and would like you to email him a replacement. Thanks!
See the Discus comments from http://www.sssscomic.com/comic.php#comment-1663105246
Issue fixed, thank you, guys. I'll post that Lalli sketch tomorrow, because it's 11:41 pm here and I'm tired.
Also I'm female.^^
Post by: JoB on October 31, 2014, 06:44:28 PM
Also I'm female.^^Note to self: Expand set of flag icons to gender flags, demand for methods of clarification beyond SSSS cast is confirmed. :P
Post by: Richard Weir on October 31, 2014, 09:05:57 PM
Also I'm female.^^Sorries!
Post by: Clayres on November 01, 2014, 11:37:31 AM
Note to self: Expand set of flag icons to gender flags, demand for methods of clarification beyond SSSS cast is confirmed. :P:D Could be helpful.
Sorries!No problems reported here. ;)
Post by: JoB on November 01, 2014, 05:27:27 PM
Post by: potatobunny on November 01, 2014, 08:53:17 PM
Post by: JoB on November 01, 2014, 08:58:36 PM
So what was that thing yesterday with the entire forum missing? ???IIUC the server (not the forum software) went into lockdown after finding that the admin hadn't logged in for some time.
Post by: potatobunny on November 01, 2014, 09:35:02 PM
IIUC the server (not the forum software) went into lockdown after finding that the admin hadn't logged in for some time.Aaaaaah. Thanks for explaining!
Post by: Sunflower on November 01, 2014, 10:36:57 PM
Quote
It has everything to do with [being the 1st of the month].
No free trial ran out, or anything. I just didn't realize it was a requirement of the host site that I visit at least monthly. I haven't had cause to make a backup in a while, so I haven't been there. Now I know how to avoid it, so it shouldn't be a problem in the future.
Post by: potatobunny on November 02, 2014, 05:46:18 AM
Post by: Hrollo on November 06, 2014, 04:10:41 PM
Post by: ThisCat on November 06, 2014, 04:19:01 PM
Do we really need that profanity filter? So far I don't see many people trying to use profanities, but I do see regular words being mangled because the overzealous filter looks for spelling variations as well.
Um, I would probably swear more if it wasn't filtered. Now I just say frick a lot.
Post by: Eich on November 06, 2014, 04:29:48 PM
Do we really need that profanity filter? So far I don't see many people trying to use profanities, but I do see regular words being mangled because the overzealous filter looks for spelling variations as well.It's there for a reason. I wanted to keep this place somewhat "kid safe." I know, it's weird, I'm weird, but it keeps things a little tidier on my side, in the long run. Could you give some examples or quotes? I can dial it back if I know what to look for, or what's causing problems.
Post by: Nimphy on November 06, 2014, 04:57:31 PM
It's there for a reason. I wanted to keep this place somewhat "kid safe." I know, it's weird, I'm weird, but it keeps things a little tidier on my side, in the long run. Could you give some examples or quotes? I can dial it back if I know what to look for, or what's causing problems.
Thank you for keeping it kid safe, Eich! While some swearing every now and then is not something I mind (heck, I even swear from time to time), when every other word becomes a profanity it's definitely not fun.
But it is indeed true profanity filters sometimes filter out normal words. For example, when Bunny was sending some text in Japanese to me, it filtered out s-- in what were just normal introduction phrases!
Post by: Hrollo on November 06, 2014, 06:38:46 PM
What about the video game Assassin Creed? edit: ok this one comes out fine. You win this time!
Post by: Eich on November 06, 2014, 07:02:26 PM
Thank you for keeping it kid safe, Eich! While some swearing every now and then is not something I mind (heck, I even swear from time to time), when every other word becomes a profanity it's definitely not fun.I'm actually trying to tone down how much I swear irl. :P
But it is indeed true profanity filters sometimes filter out normal words. For example, when Bunny was sending some text in Japanese to me, it filtered out s-- in what were just normal introduction phrases!
Yeah it filters sequences like f.u.k.u and s.u.k.u in Japanese words. I believe the Latin word for "with" would also pose problem.I'll look into it. That's one of the things I can edit without help from the SMF guys.
What about the video game Assassin Creed? edit: ok this one comes out fine. You win this time!
I know the filter won't censor out words that it recognizes. I didn't censor ass but, I'm pretty sure that, even if I did, it wouldn't censor things like "assassin," or "assent."
Post by: Sunflower on November 06, 2014, 09:14:03 PM
At the risk of being called a beeyotch, I'd be OK with letting that word be used. I used it in a PM to someone saying, "I hope I don't sound b****-y." Instead, the software censored the whole word, so it was "*****y." In a way, that was worse -- those asterisks could stand for ANYTHING...!
In fact, is it possible to set looser standards for PMs vs. forum posts? Prissy as I am about our level of public discourse, I'm OK with consenting forum-ites using whatever language they want in one-to-one messages.
On second thought, I guess that would open the door to someone unilaterally using bad language on someone else in a PM. But none of us would do that, would we? :-\
Post by: Eich on November 06, 2014, 09:29:19 PM
I just noticed that the forum censors the B-word. (5-letter word for "female dog." Can I say "bee-yotch"?)I can't change where it applies, unfortunately. I'll work on making the filter more comprehensive this weekend, to avoid things like that in the future. I'll probably just uncover the first letter or something.
At the risk of being called a beeyotch, I'd be OK with letting that word be used. I used it in a PM to someone saying, "I hope I don't sound b****-y." Instead, the software censored the whole word, so it was "*****y." In a way, that was worse -- those asterisks could stand for ANYTHING...!
In fact, is it possible to set looser standards for PMs vs. forum posts? Prissy as I am about our level of public discourse, I'm OK with consenting forum-ites using whatever language they want in one-to-one messages.
On second thought, I guess that would open the door to someone unilaterally using bad language on someone else in a PM. But none of us would do that, would we? :-\
Removed the filter for the f-u-k combination, so romanji should have an easier time passing, now.
Post by: JoB on November 13, 2014, 05:55:40 PM
Post by: Eich on November 13, 2014, 06:05:21 PM
It seems that Clayres can't upload a new avatar (http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?topic=31.msg9544#msg9544), and when I tried to upload an attachment (http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?topic=41.msg9547#msg9547) (PNG of a measly 23 kB), I got "The upload folder is full. Please try a smaller file and/or contact an administrator." Same cause for both, mayhaps ... ?Just checked it out. The site says that there's currently 49 Mb of attachments. I'm not sure if that includes avatars or not, but they are listed under the same page, so I would assume so. If nobody minds, I can prune the attachments to whittle down the space they're taking up. It'll get rid of them, but it'll free up some space.
Post by: Lenny on November 13, 2014, 06:38:55 PM
Post by: Eich on November 13, 2014, 06:40:19 PM
Perhaps I'll add an announcement on the first post of the SSSS and aRTD forums that attachments are discouraged? If the site can only take 49Mb of them, it's best not to use them too much.Good idea. I'll do the same on the GDB museum.
Post by: Richard Weir on November 13, 2014, 06:41:24 PM
Post by: Eich on November 13, 2014, 06:50:05 PM
Since the same space seems to be used for attachments and avatars, it might be best to search for ways to disable the use of attachments, or new users are going to be forever unable to use avatars!There's a way to. I'll get on that after I get back from the thing I'm about to go do in a while.
Post by: Sunflower on November 13, 2014, 06:52:51 PM
Perhaps I'll add an announcement on the first post of the SSSS and aRTD forums that attachments are discouraged? If the site can only take 49Mb of them, it's best not to use them too much.
Huh, good reason not to use attachments, I guess. I PM'd kex with some photos of my favorite hike. While they weren't huge, they would eat into the 49 MB quota, so I'll delete them now.
Post by: Clayres on November 15, 2014, 10:49:41 AM
Quote
Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator at no-reply@x10hosting.com to inform them of the time this error occurred, and the actions you performed just before this error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
The avatar thing still won't work for me. While I usually get a blank page, this time I actually got an error report. Could it be connected to something else than the attachment problem, assuming that it is already solved?
Post by: Richard Weir on November 15, 2014, 11:04:47 AM
Post by: Eich on November 15, 2014, 11:07:54 AM
The avatar thing still won't work for me. While I usually get a blank page, this time I actually got an error report. Could it be connected to something else than the attachment problem, assuming that it is already solved?What method are you using to upload avatars? There's "Specify avatar by url," "Upload an avatar," and one other option that lets you choose from some pre-installed images on the site. I just tested it out, and those all work on the test account. It's most likely a problem on your end, but you can try the other methods, if you haven't already.
Post by: Clayres on November 15, 2014, 11:20:09 AM
What time did this happen? It's easier looking through error logs if Eich knows roughly when to look!The first time this happened was on Nov 13 around 4:30 p.m. I think. That's when I got the first error. The only other time was right before my earlier post, apart from that literally nothing at all.
What method are you using to upload avatars? There's "Specify avatar by url," "Upload an avatar," and one other option that lets you choose from some pre-installed images on the site. I just tested it out, and those all work on the test account. It's most likely a problem on your end, but you can try the other methods, if you haven't already.I use the upload option, but I'll try the other ones right know and report back once I have results.
Edit: The other options seem to work fine, it's only the upload that won't.
Editedit: Figured it out: appearantly the file was to large.:P Worked before, though. *shrugs*
Anyways, lesson learned. I won't try to upload any of my large pics anymore. (not that it's physically large, just has high resolution...)
Post by: Solovei on November 21, 2014, 05:09:30 PM
Like so:
(http://i.imgur.com/Hv5agjc.png)
This is, as far as I can tell, happening on every board, not just this one... Just thought I would bring it to Eich's attention.
Post by: Eich on November 25, 2014, 05:57:23 PM
So, I don't know if this is happening to anyone else, but all of a sudden the forum icons have all become broken images? But only the default ones, the ones that are emoticons or the "moved thread" icons are still okay I think?Weird. Is that still happening?
Like so:
(http://i.imgur.com/Hv5agjc.png)
This is, as far as I can tell, happening on every board, not just this one... Just thought I would bring it to Eich's attention.
Post by: Sunflower on November 25, 2014, 06:07:42 PM
Post by: Lenny on December 07, 2014, 06:27:25 PM
Post by: Eich on December 07, 2014, 06:29:58 PM
So, I've figured out the trigger for my problem. Long posts. A long post can't get through, a short post can. It's NOT restricted to my laptop, I have the same problem on my phone. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get to another WiFi source in order to test if it also happens on other networks. Also I don't know the exact definition of "short post" "long post" (as in how many characters they entail), only vague.This is the problem you've had with posting in the last couple of weeks?
Post by: Lenny on December 07, 2014, 06:31:42 PM
Post by: Nimphy on December 07, 2014, 06:33:08 PM
Yes, that problem. Also, I still can't edit or reply via the Reply function rather than the Quick Reply function without receiving Connection Reset errors. Post length does not matter there.
Doesn't matter whether your posts are short - frankly, I'm just glad to have you back :)
Post by: P__ on December 07, 2014, 06:35:03 PM
edit: it worked for me
edit 2: tried 20k, still no problem...
Post by: Lenny on December 07, 2014, 06:39:35 PM
-Firefox cache, history, cookies cleared
-Firefox reset
-A clean version of Chrome used
-Avast! and Superantispyware disabled (first one running only, other running only, then both disabled)
-Windows Firewall disabled
-Adblock whitelisted
Post by: Lenny on December 07, 2014, 06:40:37 PM
-Discovered that this is most likely restricted to SMF forums, or only SSSS forum (I can post without problems on all other forums I'm active on, and I have no problems on any other site)
-Discovered that it spreads over to mobile and is most likely restricted to my account
Post by: Lenny on December 07, 2014, 06:43:28 PM
Doesn't matter whether your posts are short - frankly, I'm just glad to have you back :)
:D Thank you, that makes me happy~ And I'm glad to be back, too, even in limited form.
Oh, I'll apologize for all the double-posting >.> Obviously I can't really not double-post due to the problem, but still...
Post by: Richard Weir on December 07, 2014, 08:15:45 PM
-Discovered that it spreads over to mobile and is most likely restricted to my account
AHAH! Does this forum have a mobile-friendly alternative url? Are you using that for your PC as well as mobile?
Alternatively, Eich needs to check every datum related to your account to which he has access, just in case there is some weird "you're such a newbie you only get to post short messages" tag that has become accidentally activated in your case.
Post by: Lenny on December 07, 2014, 08:24:00 PM
But anyway, all that aside means that no, I'm not using a mobile friendly site on PC.
Post by: Lenny on December 07, 2014, 08:40:36 PM
-can't edit posts
-can't reply via Reply
-can only reply with short posts in Quick Reply (hence double-posting everywhere ;;_;;)
Post by: Eich on December 07, 2014, 08:44:16 PM
Post by: JoB on December 07, 2014, 08:45:27 PM
Of course, this would imply that the size limit for your postings is somewhere below the standard Ethernet MTU of 1500 byte.
Do you run an OS where you can reduce your PC's network interface's MTU to see whether that makes the problem disappear?
(Windows 1 (http://superuser.com/questions/37686/how-to-tell-what-mtu-is-being-used-in-windows-xp) 2 (http://www.richard-slater.co.uk/archives/2009/10/23/change-your-mtu-under-vista-windows-7-or-windows-8/) - Linux (http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/centos-rhel-redhat-fedora-debian-linux-mtu-size/) - ...)
Post by: Lenny on December 07, 2014, 09:59:41 PM
Pinging ssssforum.pcriot.com gave me a "request timed out" at 1464 bytes and below, and a "Packet need to be fragmented but DF set" at 1465 bytes and above. If it's an MTU problem, it's an odd one.
Hmm.
Edit: Hopefully things should work - I tried going further, and after a whole no-mans land of "request timed out" it ended up being 1438 bytes.
Edit 2: JoB, you are brilliant. Thank you. Everything is working now. Thanks to Eich, Richard, Andy, and P__ for helping out, too, and trying to puzzle this out!
Post by: JoB on December 08, 2014, 10:49:58 AM
Pinging ssssforum.pcriot.com gave me a "request timed out" at 1464 bytes and below and a "Packet need to be fragmented but DF set" at 1465 bytes and above. If it's an MTU problem, it's an odd one.Assuming that you're giving the number of payload bytes you asked "ping" to add to its packets, your 1464 translates to an MTU of 1492 bytes (adding 20 bytes of IP header and 8 bytes of ICMP header), which is a quite common pMTU for people going through a DSL uplink (PPPoE needs to add another eight byte around the packets as they get sent). In that case, the FRAGMENTATION NEEDEDs you see should come from your own uplink, and you may recognize the IP they're being sent from. ;)
Hmm.
I tried going further, and after a whole no-mans land of "request timed out" it ended up being 1438 bytes.
Then, somewhere along the network path to the forum server, you hit some unit with an MTU of 1438+28 = 1466 byte that doesn't reply properly. *If* you can identify that one, that's a carrier in need of getting yelled at a bit ... :-/
(In case you haven't heard it anywhere / from anyone else yet, fiddling with your interface's MTU setting is a kludge that'd best be used only to diagnose the problem. If yell-at guy is not to be found, your next keyword would be to do "MSS clamping" on some local machine.)
Post by: Fen Shen on December 10, 2014, 04:20:48 AM
Quote
Error 503 Backend fetch failed
Backend fetch failed
Guru Meditation:
XID: 353009669
Varnish cache server
When I refresh for some times, it disappears and I can load the site. Is the problem on my end?
Post by: Nimphy on December 10, 2014, 05:17:06 AM
I recently get this message a lot:
When I refresh for some times, it disappears and I can load the site. Is the problem on my end?
Nein, I get that quite a lot too.
Post by: Eich on December 10, 2014, 06:25:39 AM
I recently get this message a lot:Can you be more specific about when you got the error? I got it some the other day when the site was lagging (was that Monday night?), but I haven't gotten it since. I think it's related to the host site.
When I refresh for some times, it disappears and I can load the site. Is the problem on my end?
Post by: Fen Shen on December 10, 2014, 08:28:42 AM
Post by: Richard Weir on December 10, 2014, 10:44:59 AM
Post by: Sunflower on December 23, 2014, 03:33:14 AM
http://imgur.com/msWf6qp
Any suggestions?
Post by: Nimphy on December 23, 2014, 08:15:47 AM
Post by: Unlos on December 25, 2014, 07:20:18 AM
As I PM'd Eich a few minutes ago, I'm having problems PM'ing one particular member. I keep getting this error message: (Imgur link shows screenshot.)
http://imgur.com/msWf6qp
Any suggestions?
I got the same error message when I tried to PM Sunflower today! Weird..
Post by: ThisCat on December 27, 2014, 05:47:28 AM
Post by: OrigamiOwl on December 27, 2014, 07:48:10 AM
Just wanted to mention that the word p**** is cencored, which is okay, but the word p****cat is also cencored, which can get weird. Any way to fix this?I also noticed this, and thought it odd, but you beat me to it. :)
Post by: Deirdre on December 27, 2014, 02:17:44 PM
I'm Polish and decided to introduce myself in Polish in the language-introducing thread. After sending the post I saw that Polish diacritics don't show properly (I get question marks and other things instead, like in cze?? (hello), ending normally with versions of "s" and "c"). It seems to me as a problem of the forum, couse I cuoldn't see them afterwards when I edited the post, either.
Post by: Eich on December 27, 2014, 02:26:31 PM
Just wanted to mention that the word p**** is cencored, which is okay, but the word p****cat is also cencored, which can get weird. Any way to fix this?Thought this might happen eventually.
I'll try something out that I just thought of.
Feel free to laugh at my not-knowing if it's only my browser/coding problem. ;)It's a forum problem. I was working on a fix, but I hit a snag.
I'm Polish and decided to introduce myself in Polish in the language-introducing thread. After sending the post I saw that Polish diacritics don't show properly (I get question marks and other things instead, like in cze?? (hello), ending normally with versions of "s" and "c"). It seems to me as a problem of the forum, couse I cuoldn't see them afterwards when I edited the post, either.
I'll get back on it.
Post by: Nimphy on December 27, 2014, 02:47:52 PM
Just wanted to mention that the word p**** is cencored, which is okay, but the word p****cat is also cencored, which can get weird. Any way to fix this?
That's a pain when saying stuff in Japanese, because "shit" comes up quite often inside words and gets censored, such messing up what little comprehension I do have.
Post by: ThisCat on December 27, 2014, 02:52:52 PM
That's a pain when saying stuff in Japanese, because "s***" comes up quite often inside words and gets censored, such messing up what little comprehension I do have.
Well, at least it's easy to guess what the missing letters are..
Post by: Eich on December 27, 2014, 03:37:16 PM
Sorry, y'all.
Edit: FIX'D (the pussycat one. The other one will just take running into every romaji word with "shit" in it, unfortunately). That was a weird workaround, but I got it figured out. If you stumble into any more compound words that are partially censored, I now have a way of un-censoring them.
Post by: Sunflower on December 28, 2014, 04:19:09 PM
We first noticed this in the Scriptorium thread. Several posts in the last 12-to-18 hours showed up empty of content. We could see who posted them and when (incl. OrigamiOwl, Solovei, and Unlos). The problem was first reported here:
http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?topic=193.msg15133#msg15133
Then I happened to review my received PMs and noticed that the same thing had happened to 4 or 5 of them. The external format of each remains, denoting the sender, subject, and date/time -- but no content. It wiped out (I think) 2 by Owl and 1 each by Solovei and Unlos. (I'll update this post once I've double-checked.)
I'm a pretty heavy user of PMs to lots of people, so although the Silence Plague only affects a small fraction of my correspondence, I'm unnerved by the prospect that it might strike again.
Is there a systematic way to back up PMs to desktop/offsite, other than to just copy-and-paste into a word processing document? I might be doing the Forum server a favor by removing so much text...
Post by: Eich on December 28, 2014, 04:47:42 PM
The last error was at 4:29:07
There's no problems with the memory limits, yet, so it's not tied to that.
I'll keep digging.
Post by: mithrysc on December 28, 2014, 04:48:01 PM
mysterious disappearances
Also just noticed this happening with my PMs. It seems to be happening the most in posts with linked content. (i.e. I really hope all you people downloaded your Secret Santa presents, because I no longer have links to most of them)
Post by: ThisCat on December 28, 2014, 04:54:39 PM
Post by: Eich on December 28, 2014, 04:56:09 PM
Post by: ThisCat on December 28, 2014, 04:58:35 PM
There are missing posts as far back as day one, in the GDT.
:( this is not nice.
Post by: Eich on December 28, 2014, 05:02:41 PM
:( this is not nice.Not at all.
This has to be something host-side.
Hush offered to help us switch to her host site, but she hasn't been around for a few days. X10 has been irking me for a while now and, if this is their fault, it's the last straw.
Post by: Eich on December 28, 2014, 05:15:34 PM
Tried posting this on the Forum just now -- no luck. (I can tell if it won't Preview.)Posting for Sunflower.
Looking in my *received* PMs, I am missing 13 in all, ranging from Sept. 22 to Dec. 26. They affect 4 or 5 people -- just a few of each that they sent me. The most frequent "silenced" ones were Dec. 22 or so to Dec. 26.
I'll count the casualties among my *sent* PMs shortly.
Also, Eich, I replied (randomly) to one of your Disqus comments about an hour ago, just to have another communications channel. I may also see if your external e-mail works, for backup.
Meanwhile, COPY AND SAVE, everyone!!!
Not sure why, but the "Preview" function is also not working correctly. I think it has to do with the length of the posts, because I couldn't see my preview when I tried posting one of the errors from the host site's error log.
Unfortunately, we just had another wave of errors at 7:01:58 so, like Sunflower said, if you have any important PMs, copy them to a document or text file now. I made a backup of the site at around 4:45, so those PMs can be restored but any urgent or special posts should be copied, if you need them for anything.
Post by: Sunflower on December 28, 2014, 05:16:45 PM
Among my *outgoing*/sent messages, 50 have been eaten out of about 150 total. Again, the distribution is random -- some very long and link-filled messages are still there, and no one recipient seems to be targeted.
The earliest eaten *sent* PM was Oct. 22. The latest was a whole bunch on Dec. 22-23, and a couple Dec. 26. It still seems to be happening on-and-off today; I'm having about a 50-50 chance of getting through to you via PM.
COPY AND SAVE YOUR TEXT, folks!!!
Post by: Nimphy on December 28, 2014, 05:28:42 PM
Post by: Sunflower on December 28, 2014, 06:07:52 PM
Not sure why, but the "Preview" function is also not working correctly. I think it has to do with the length of the posts, because I couldn't see my preview when I tried posting one of the errors from the host site's error log.
Actually, I suspect the "Preview" problem is a *symptom* of the Silence Plague -- that's how I can tell a post or PM isn't going to show up. And some of these "distress call" posts/PMs have been fairly short. (For me, anyway.)
EDIT:
No, I take it back. "Preview" didn't work just now, so I copied the posting text, cursed silently, and hit "Publish" anyhow.
IT PUBLISHED!?!!
OK, Eich is probably right -- the "Preview" must be independent of the content-vanishing problem. It's just that the two were happening at the same time, often enough that it fooled me into thinking one was causing the other.
I'm still copying every posting before I post, though....
Post by: Lenny on December 28, 2014, 06:51:23 PM
Post by: Eich on December 28, 2014, 07:02:17 PM
Post by: Piney on December 28, 2014, 07:07:13 PM
Alright, I've got Hushpiper on the case. She knows more about this kind of thing than I do, and she's helping us figure out what went wrong and what we can do about it.
Ah, good ~ I was just about to say I was having Lenny's exact same problem. (18 of my posts are missing)
Post by: OrigamiOwl on December 28, 2014, 07:08:48 PM
Alright, I've got Hushpiper on the case. She knows more about this kind of thing than I do, and she's helping us figure out what went wrong and what we can do about it.Phew OK. Sounds like a plan! Detective Chief Inspector Hushpiper!
Just to chime in, for my messages 10/36 received and 4/21 sent are missing, if those proportions help.
(And also Gwenno's cosplay picture and other's stuff is gone from the SSSS Museum ;_;)
Post by: ThisCat on December 28, 2014, 07:27:24 PM
I'm archiving what's left of it for now. Just to be sure.
Post by: Eich on December 29, 2014, 01:11:44 AM
Hush has done a marvelous job of investigating what happened, and it appears that we can restore the missing posts. The text is still in the database, it just seems like it doesn't know where to go, and is getting caught in limbo somewhere. Restoration is still a little up in the air, atm, but the text is at least there, and not lost to the ages forever and ever.
Post by: Lenny on December 29, 2014, 01:18:02 AM
Alright, so...
Hush has done a marvelous job of investigating what happened, and it appears that we can restore the missing posts. The text is still in the database, it just seems like it doesn't know where to go, and is getting caught in limbo somewhere. Restoration is still a little up in the air, atm, but the text is at least there, and not lost to the ages forever and ever.
Oh, that sounds much better than anything I'd expected. At the most I'd thought that the phenomenon could be stopped - that the missing text could be returned somehow is very good indeed.
Post by: Sunflower on December 29, 2014, 01:20:09 AM
Alright, so...
Hush has done a marvelous job of investigating what happened, and it appears that we can restore the missing posts. The text is still in the database, it just seems like it doesn't know where to go, and is getting caught in limbo somewhere. Restoration is still a little up in the air, atm, but the text is at least there, and not lost to the ages forever and ever.
Phew! And hooray! As far as I'm concerned, I can be calmer about losing temporary access to my content as long as it returns at some point.
Thanks to both of you for a job well done! If there's anything we non-admins can do to help with the problem, please let us know.
Post by: OrigamiOwl on December 29, 2014, 01:20:59 AM
Oh, that sounds much better than anything I'd expected. At the most I'd thought that the phenomenon could be stopped - that the missing text could be returned somehow is very good indeed.Yeah! That's a fantastic discovery!
Post by: Sunflower on December 29, 2014, 02:29:27 AM
FIX'D (the pussycat one. The other one will just take running into every romaji word with "s***" in it, unfortunately). That was a weird workaround, but I got it figured out. If you stumble into any more compound words that are partially censored, I now have a way of un-censoring them.
The good news: We can now say "pussycat."
The bad news: Some weird substitute command has taken every instance of the string "P-L-I-C" in my PMs and replaced it with "P-U-S-S-Y." For example:
Quote
I distract myself by thinking about something compussycated, either multipussycation problems or words in Hawaiian...
This is probably a compussycated problem -- can you repussycate it? ;)
EDIT: Let me stipulate that I spelled the above two words the right way, e.g. R-E-P-L-I-C-A-T-E. So now we have proof that the substitution operates in regular posts too...
Post by: Eich on December 29, 2014, 02:55:08 AM
The good news: We can now say "pussycat."Goodness gracious, that's hilarious.
The bad news: Some weird substitute command has taken every instance of the string "P-L-I-C" in my PMs and replaced it with "P-U-S-S-Y." For example:
This is probably a compussycated problem -- can you repussycate it? ;)
EDIT: Let me stipulate that I spelled the above two words the right way, e.g. R-E-P-L-I-C-A-T-E. So now we have proof that the substitution operates in regular posts too...
Unfortunately, it's also 3 a.m., and I need to go to bed.
Still, I did just learn something rather interesting from that... Thanks for point it out...
Hhopfully this won't be quite so funny when I wake up.
Post by: Fen Shen on December 29, 2014, 12:33:33 PM
I don't know if it's of any help for you, but while the forum was down I got a lot of different error messages.
First
Quote
Error 503 Backend fetch failedthen
Backend fetch failed
Guru Meditation:
XID: 270467113
Varnish cache server
Quote
Connection Problems
Sorry, SMF was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later.
and then
Quote
Service Unavailable
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Aand then again the first thing with the Guru. (I always imagine Guru Pathik...)
Post by: hushpiper on December 29, 2014, 03:01:20 PM
As far as the missing posts go: I should clarify that they ARE in the database, which is awesome news, and WAY better than if they were completely gone (0% chance of getting them back). But there's no indication as of yet as to whether we can get them back in working condition on the forum itself--we have to figure out why they're not showing up first, which is proving elusive. We'll probably end up having to contact the simplemachines people for more info. So cross your fingers but don't hold your breath! ;D
Post by: JoB on December 29, 2014, 03:54:01 PM
we have to figure out why they're not showing up first, which is proving elusive.FWIW: 19 of my newest 150 posts, 12 of the oldest 150, 1 of 5 PMs received.
If I may ask, is it established that it's always the same posts/PMs that fail to display across a) users and b) times / (re-)logins? The last white-out post I see right now in this thread is my own from 07-12-2014, 20:45:27.
Post by: Nimphy on December 29, 2014, 04:05:55 PM
FWIW: 19 of my newest 150 posts, 12 of the oldest 150, 1 of 5 PMs received.
If I may ask, is it established that it's always the same posts/PMs that fail to display across a) users and b) times / (re-)logins? The last white-out post I see right now in this thread is my own from 07-12-2014, 20:45:27.
Yes. I cannot see that either.
Post by: Deirdre on December 29, 2014, 04:12:40 PM
Post by: hushpiper on December 29, 2014, 05:07:13 PM
Post by: Piney on December 29, 2014, 05:12:59 PM
Post by: hushpiper on December 29, 2014, 05:22:42 PM
So, it seems that not only can I not post images, but I also can't quote people without my post disappearing...
(http://pogoprosthetic.com/a/nosense.gif)
Post by: Piney on December 29, 2014, 05:34:18 PM
Confirmed: quotes breaks things.Nevermind, spoke too soon. The preview was blank, mind. Let's try out an image:
^Hmm, looks like I spoke too soon as well. Probably a just fluke for the one thing I tried to post before.
Post by: Sunflower on December 29, 2014, 05:45:51 PM
The forum is baack! :)I couldn't even reach the Forum in the a.m. Chrome browser just said
I don't know if it's of any help for you, but while the forum was down I got a lot of different error messages.
Firstthen
and then
Aand then again the first thing with the Guru. (I always imagine Guru Pathik...)
It was timing out b/c taking too long to reach.
Plz excuse weird abbrevs; typing on my phone w/banana fingers.
Post by: Sunflower on December 29, 2014, 06:05:18 PM
We've confirmed that it's always the same posts, yes. If a post is appearing blank for one person, it will consistently appear blank for everybody all the time (they don't flicker in and out, for example). There don't seem to be any commonalities between which posts go missing either--not even the time of the posts seems to be consistent. We've got some disappearing as soon as they're posted, and some disappeared that were originally posted back in September. All the missing posts are in the database, and as far as I can tell there's no weird syntax errors/blank rows/etc associated with them (not that I'm very familiar with the simplemachines database structure). Piney tried posting a couple times in the same thread last night and it consistently came out empty for her as soon as she posted--I didn't think to test at the time whether she could post in other threads, but I think she can.
Thanks for all yr great work so far! I can confirm all eaten PMs are still eaten & no further existing PMs have vanished. (sent or received).
Post by: Sunflower on December 30, 2014, 12:05:30 AM
The good news: We can now say "pussycat."
The bad news: Some weird substitute command has taken every instance of the string "P-L-I-C" in my PMs and replaced it with "P-U-S-S-Y." For example:
This is probably a compussy[glow]cat[/glow]ed problem -- can you repussy[glow]cat[/glow]e it? ;)
EDIT: Let me stipulate that I spelled the above two words the right way, e.g. R-E-P-L-I-C-A-T-E. So now we have proof that the substitution operates in regular posts too...
The Kitty Substitution has infected other words in my PM. I was trying to say "R-E-C-I-P-R-O-C-A-T-I-N-G" and it came out: recipussycating
Ohhh! I see the problem! Any time there's a string of "P----" immediately before C-A-T, Eich's Substitution Spell turns that P---- string into the formerly forbidden synonym for "kitty."
Regardless of whether the author intended to say "kitty."
Post by: Sunflower on December 30, 2014, 12:08:10 AM
This one does Preview, curiously.
Post by: JoB on December 30, 2014, 05:41:54 AM
Plz excuse weird abbrevs; typing on my phone w/banana fingers.ObJoke (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vWm47yPLGc) ...
(... promptly doesn't preview.)
We've confirmed that it's always the same posts, yes. If a post is appearing blank for one person, it will consistently appear blank for everybody all the time (they don't flicker in and out, for example).Hmmm. I take it that you tried restarting stuff as well (so that, if any temp contact-to-database errors led to empty posts getting cached in the actual forum software, they should've gotten flushed out)?
I would expect established forum s/w like SMF to have a rather elaborate database scheme where there's not only tables storing the content of the posts, but also index tables to speed up access to that data. Any idea whether that's the case and, if so, whether those indexes might have gotten damaged? Does SMF happen to provide tools to verify and/or repair its own database?
Post by: JoB on December 30, 2014, 06:19:56 AM
http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?topic=5.msg15278#msg15278
and the subsequent
http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?topic=5.msg15280#msg15280
were consistently affected as soon as the complete URL
h t t p : / / w w w . c h i l i - s h o p 2 4 . d e / g e s c h e n k i d e e n / 9 2 0 / s p l a t - c h i l i - z a h n p a s t a - s h o c k - e x t r a - s c h a r f
(double-spaced to prevent the effect) appeared towards their end, even when I finally tried to put it in as mere text, rather than as a [ u r l = ... ] .
P.S.: It would be possible, though, that SMF tried to make the URL into a link automatically until I butchered it beyond recognition.
Post by: hushpiper on December 30, 2014, 11:41:50 AM
ObJoke (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vWm47yPLGc) ...
(... promptly doesn't preview.)
Hmmm. I take it that you tried restarting stuff as well (so that, if any temp contact-to-database errors led to empty posts getting cached in the actual forum software, they should've gotten flushed out)?
I would expect established forum s/w like SMF to have a rather elaborate database scheme where there's not only tables storing the content of the posts, but also index tables to speed up access to that data. Any idea whether that's the case and, if so, whether those indexes might have gotten damaged? Does SMF happen to provide tools to verify and/or repair its own database?
(No preview on this one either.) Yes to all of the above. I did everything on this side that I could without being too intrusive, then slapped everything up on my own webspace here (http://relevanttomyinterests.net/ssss-broke/) so that I could have a broken mirror I could break with impunity. (I also have a working version with the september backup here (http://relevanttomyinterests.net/ssss/).) I updated SMF, ran repairs on the database, had it re-index, cleared the cache, turned off the cache... I don't remember what else, basically everything I could think of. SMF doesn't seem to have a database verification script that I can find, their advice for a bad db is just to always have a backup. :P
I had the same thought as you about indexes, and went looking around for a metadata table or something like that, but I didn't find one--and SMF's documentation on their database structure is sparse. I even grabbed the post ID of one of the older posts that disappeared and grepped through both the good and bad databases for any mention of it to compare, and both versions seemed to be identical. TBH tho, doing that manually is kind of brain-melting so there's a good chance I missed something. I'll be seeing if I can use grep|sdiff or an SQL query to do it more efficiently sometime today.
There does seem to be a tentative connection with quotes and/or links in the affected posts: not all posts with links/quotes have issues, but all the posts I checked with issues seem to have links/quotes. I haven't checked out any PMs to see if that's the case with them as well. Back to grep I go...
Post by: JoB on December 30, 2014, 11:57:54 AM
There does seem to be a tentative connection with quotes and/or links in the affected posts: not all posts with links/quotes have issues, but all the posts I checked with issues seem to have links/quotes.And the post I kept editing in and out of existence turned out to have a link making the difference. Which would IMHO point to a (parsing?) problem in SMF, rather than a corrupt DB ...
Good DB (backup) with current SMF vs. "broken" DB under a downgraded SMF ... ? Or did the updates come with a DB schema change preventing that?
Post by: JoB on December 30, 2014, 12:30:39 PM
24.de/fan-artikel-und-praemien/ 791/splat-chili-spezial-zahnpasta-75ml?c=82
http://www.chili-shop24.de/fan-artikel-und-praemien/ 791/splat-chili-sp
(Hmmmm ... leaving the part after the "?" off leads to two strings of the exact same length ...) One more character and the post turns empty.
P.S.: Putting both into this post leads to an empty post, but the text reappeared when I clicked "edit" ... !?
P.P.S.: Same effect after adding the P.S.. I put an extra space into the two truncated links in hopes that the post'll turn readable then ...
P.P.P.S.: Presto. ::) I'ld say that there's some unintended (word) length limit in some string handling within SMF ...
Post by: hushpiper on December 30, 2014, 01:09:03 PM
And the post I kept editing in and out of existence turned out to have a link making the difference. Which would IMHO point to a (parsing?) problem in SMF, rather than a corrupt DB ...
Good DB (backup) with current SMF vs. "broken" DB under a downgraded SMF ... ? Or did the updates come with a DB schema change preventing that?
I did check both database dumps, the database structure and schema are identical except for the auto_increment, which I think shouldn't affect anything. I already tested two side-by-side installations with the exact same files that we have on the live forum: the working database works, and the non-working one doesn't. The only difference is the database.
So we're down to a setting or something stored somewhere in the database. My question is, if there's some kind of character limit at work, why's it showing up now instead of earlier...?
Post by: hushpiper on December 30, 2014, 01:10:09 PM
ETA: Been testing to reproduce on this thread in the broken mirror (http://relevanttomyinterests.net/ssss-broke) of the site, since just modifying a post over and over seems to be really buggy and unreliable. In fact, the whole thing is not as consistently reproducible as I would like. So far:
Long strings beginning with these do NOT result in a blank post: http, a:, a://, asdf://, hsdf://, ftp:/
Long strings beginning with these DO result in a blank post: http://, https://, ftp://, http:/, http:, ftp:
Post by: Sunflower on December 30, 2014, 01:18:45 PM
I followed your link and got a "This Page is Not Available" error message on my Chrome browser.
IIUC, JoB suspects that the character length of the link could trigger The Silence?
EDIT: That's weird, it didn't quote any of hushpiper's message (as you can see from the BBC code above).
Post by: hushpiper on December 30, 2014, 01:30:34 PM
I followed your link and got a "This Page is Not Available" error message on my Chrome browser.
IIUC, JoB suspects that the character length of the link could trigger The Silence?
EDIT: That's weird, it didn't quote any of hushpiper's message (as you can see from the BBC code above).
Ah, that's cuz it wasn't a real link, it was a random string of characters I jammed http:// to the beginning of for testing. ;) And yes, you understand correctly. What I'm wondering now is how and if this relates to the issues with quotes and PMs. I'm trawling through my examples of broken posts now, so far they all have 72-character or longer links in them. Will report as I get more info. Those of you with missing PMs, do you know if they had links in them?
Post by: Sunflower on December 30, 2014, 01:52:25 PM
What I'm wondering now is how and if this relates to the issues with quotes and PMs. I'm trawling through my examples of broken posts now, so far they all have 72-character or longer links in them.
Those of you with missing PMs, do you know if they had links in them?
I'm pretty sure all mine had links. To quote a PM I sent Eich re: the problem:
I now have about *20* sent PMs eaten!! They run from about Dec. 18 to the present -- but oddly, not EVERY message in that time frame -- about 1 in 10 is preserved.
Most of those, esp. on Dec. 22 and 23, were fairly routine: "Merry Christmas, _____. Here's your Christmas music playlist, at Dropbox (long URL follows)." But a few were fairly lengthy personal correspondence -- so it would be nice to get them back.
EVERY PM I sent that contained a Dropbox (i.e. long) URL has disappeared. All my sent PMs that have *no* links are still OK (as far as I can tell -- I haven't done a complete inventory). Sent PMs with short(ish) links seem OK -- though again, I haven't done a complete inventory.
Do you think there would be a difference between an embedded link and one where you just paste in the URL?
Post by: mithrysc on December 30, 2014, 01:55:59 PM
Post by: Sunflower on December 30, 2014, 02:04:26 PM
What I'm wondering now is how and if this relates to the issues with quotes and PMs. I'm trawling through my examples of broken posts now, so far they all have 72-character or longer links in them.
Those of you with missing PMs, do you know if they had links in them?
I'm pretty sure all mine had links. To quote a PM I sent Eich re: the problem:
I now have about *20* sent PMs eaten!! They run from about Dec. 18 to the present -- but oddly, not EVERY message in that time frame -- about 1 in 10 is preserved.
Most of those, esp. on Dec. 22 and 23, were fairly routine: "Merry Christmas, _____. Here's your Christmas music playlist, at Dropbox (long URL follows)." But a few were fairly lengthy personal correspondence -- so it would be nice to get them back.
EVERY PM I sent that contained a Dropbox (i.e. long) URL has disappeared. All my sent PMs that have *no* links are still OK (as far as I can tell -- I haven't done a complete inventory). Sent PMs with short(ish) links seem OK -- though again, I haven't done a complete inventory.
Do you think there would be a difference between an embedded link and one where you just paste in the URL?
EDIT:
Whoooooaaa, I tried pasting in a long URL just for chuckles, and that wiped out the previous message.
But short links like the one quoted below don't seem to trigger the problem:
...I'd welcome you all with a key to the city, cake, and coffee (like proper Swedish fika (https://sweden.se/culture-traditions/fika/)).
Post by: Sunflower on December 30, 2014, 02:11:41 PM
I'm fairly certain all my missing PMs had links in them, since all of them were people turning in gifts for the Secret Santa/ me sending out said gifts. I currently have three PMs-with-links remaining, and all those have urls less than 72 characters long.
So it seems like you've narrowed the problem down to PMs/posts with long links in them.
Do we know if *72* characters in the URL is the maximum?
Post by: hushpiper on December 30, 2014, 02:30:06 PM
...Except for when it does. Because it is not at all consistent, which makes it really hard to test different variables. So no, I wouldn't say we're sure, but there does seem to be some kind of correlation there.
ETA: Looks like 64 is the magic number, actually. ftp:// followed by 64 characters seems to consistently blank out, ftp:// followed by 63 doesn't. Same with http://.
Post by: JoB on December 30, 2014, 03:41:28 PM
What I'm wondering now is how and if this relates to the issues with quotes and PMs.I note that in a normal quote (with the "[ quote ]" having "author", "link", and "date" parameters), the "Quote from ..." caption above the actual quote is automatically turned into a link ... with an URL typically 60+ characters long, slowly increasing as the (decimal) board and message IDs get more digits ...
Post by: Sunflower on December 30, 2014, 04:01:28 PM
ETA: Looks like 64 is the magic number, actually. ftp:// followed by 64 characters seems to consistently blank out, ftp:// followed by 63 doesn't. Same with http://.
Huh, interesting. 64 is 2 to the 6th power -- could it have something to do with how the binary code on the underlying database is structured? (I have no idea if my speculations are helpful. I just used "Inspect Element" on my Chrome browser for the first time and it started showing me all this bizarre Web-wizardly stuff -- the underlying HTML code for this Forum, I suppose. I am full of awe of anyone who can actually understand it.... but I'm going to back away quietly before I break something.)
Post by: JoB on December 30, 2014, 05:40:48 PM
Huh, interesting. 64 is 2 to the 6th power -- could it have something to do with how the binary code on the underlying database is structured?That would imply that the database tries to parse words / links out of the stored content of the entire post (and actually bases the storage format on the result). I didn't dive into any forum software so far, but I don't think I've ever seen anything much different from the DB storing a VARCHAR and the parsing being done in the application on top in such cases - not the least reason being that it'ld take years until changes to the parsing (say, recognizing https:// URLs in addition to http://) would be reliably available in common databases.
Having that said (and not even knowing what language SMF is programmed in), there is parsing going on (to change URLs entered as plain text into links, if nothing else) and powers of two may have meaning there ...
... wait a second! 64 characters in full-blown Unicode coding occupy 4*64 = 256 = 2^8 bytes, i.e. anything beyond that makes a one-byte index roll over. Eich, any chance that the problem started at the same time as one of your attempts to convert the forum to Unicode?
Post by: hushpiper on December 30, 2014, 05:44:58 PM
Post by: JoB on December 30, 2014, 06:00:36 PM
I did find a utf8 conversion script that had a couple 63 character cutoffs that looked likely, so I tried updating the mirror site to use utf8. (Updated the table collations to use unicode, installed the utf8 english language pack.) It worked in terms of making alternative character sets work, so that was nice! :P Buuuuuut it didn't affect the blank posts. Maybe I missed something?Converting SMFs to Unicode has apparently been done in various, more or less different ways at different times, sometimes with two (maybe more?) official methods at the same time. I'm afraid that we can't be sure short of retracing Eichs exact steps ... which is one reason why I'ld guess trying to identify the problem in the code-as-is still is more likely to succeed than reproducing the timeline.
FWIW, UTF-8 tries to use only one byte per character whenever possible. The "full-blown Unicode coding" with four byte per character I mentioned above would be UTF-32.
Post by: hushpiper on December 30, 2014, 08:26:35 PM
FWIW, there was an option to enable UTF-8 in the installation process, so I tried it twice to see what it did. It made no difference either way. I then tried it again, with all brand-new files freshly unzipped, but this time importing the full dump from the broken database, and the posts disappeared again.
Post by: Sunflower on December 30, 2014, 10:18:51 PM
Quote
Sooooo for fun, I decided to do a brand new install of simplemachines, import only the content-related tables (none of the logs or settings ones) from the broken database, and see what that did. It worked: none of the posts that were previously missing are missing in this install.
FWIW, there was an option to enable UTF-8 in the installation process, so I tried it twice to see what it did. It made no difference either way. I then tried it again, with all brand-new files freshly unzipped, but this time importing the full dump from the broken database, and the posts disappeared again.
Wow. I love seeing a solution come together. If the Known World had you folks working in the lab, I think they'd have a Rash vaccine by now!
Post by: Eich on December 30, 2014, 10:35:13 PM
Sooooo for fun, I decided to do a brand new install of simplemachines, import only the content-related tables (none of the logs or settings ones) from the broken database, and see what that did. It worked: none of the posts that were previously missing are missing in this install.Wait, so... we have a solution? Or does the problem still have a chance of happening?
FWIW, there was an option to enable UTF-8 in the installation process, so I tried it twice to see what it did. It made no difference either way. I then tried it again, with all brand-new files freshly unzipped, but this time importing the full dump from the broken database, and the posts disappeared again.
Post by: hushpiper on December 30, 2014, 11:27:54 PM
The issue is that doing that screws with... all kinds of things. The theme, in particular, goes all screwy because it's both installed and not installed at the same time. Post counts go wonky, member counts go wonky. So I really don't want to do it on the live site. If possible, I'd prefer to see if I can fiddle with it and find the precise settings entry that's causing the problem so we can spot fix it instead of brute forcing it and causing who-knows how many problems. Will report back when I have more info. :)
Post by: JoB on December 31, 2014, 05:46:36 AM
I've narrowed it down to a single db table: the settings table. [...] The issue is that [reinitializing it] screws with... all kinds of things. The theme, in particular, goes all screwy because it's both installed and not installed at the same time. Post counts go wonky, member counts go wonky.I take it, then, that that table's holding data about the global forum's settings, rather than the users'? Like ... (the recent changes to) the profanity filtering ... ?
[Puts elaborate theory about SMF UTF8 conversion and the DB holding both pre- and post-conversion versions of posts and SMF doing on-demand conversion back into the mental drawer]
Post by: hushpiper on December 31, 2014, 10:25:23 AM
I take it, then, that that table's holding data about the global forum's settings, rather than the users'? Like ... (the recent changes to) the profanity filtering ... ?
[Puts elaborate theory about SMF UTF8 conversion and the DB holding both pre- and post-conversion versions of posts and SMF doing on-demand conversion back into the mental drawer]
*stares at you*
Holy son of a ever-[insert long-winded string of things for that filter to work on here]-!
Yes. Yes, the profanity filters are stored in the settings table. And they are one of a handful of entries (along with member counts, post counts, newest user, etc) that I completely ignored when I went through that table row-by-row last night to try to see which one was making the difference. Went to the settings and took out the most recent addition to that filter: problem solved. Posts are back.
And holy bleep this is like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, where in all the stories the detective has two cases but by the end they turn out to be the same case, cuz guys! Guys! This is what was causing the issue Sunny was talking about (http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?topic=10.msg15259#msg15259) where words like "reciprocating" turn into "recipussycating" and so on. The substitution was treating the *'s used to bleep out bad words as wildcards. I can only assume this was causing some kind of strange bug with its post conversion that possibly we should let SMF know about, just in case. JoB, you'd probably have more relevant ideas than me.
Gonna change the news line to let people know.
Post by: Piney on December 31, 2014, 10:50:10 AM
Post by: Richard Weir on December 31, 2014, 10:53:26 AM
Thanks and congrats to HP and Job!
Post by: Eich on December 31, 2014, 11:07:56 AM
Waaaaaaah! :D
JoB, if you want admin status too, just say so (I'll try to get new titles for the both of you. Solovei suggested "Slayer of Silence," which I quite like.). Thanks so much guys, all of forumdom is in your debt, and you will be welcomed into the halls of Forum-Valhalla!
Post by: Solovei on December 31, 2014, 11:18:49 AM
Post by: Fen Shen on December 31, 2014, 11:33:10 AM
Post by: Nimphy on December 31, 2014, 11:37:51 AM
EDIT: Now that I think of it, maybe it could be the third. There's still that time when Eich forgot to log in...
Post by: Sunflower on December 31, 2014, 12:24:17 PM
Yaaaaay you guys are amazing! I could hug both of you right now! :D
Yes! It's a New Year's Eve miracle. Laurel crowns of victory for both of you! Thanks so much!
Signed,
A grateful (and verbose) writer of posts and PMs
Post by: JoB on December 31, 2014, 02:07:45 PM
*stares at you*So far for why I didn't inquire about the profanity filter - the other recent change besides the UTF-8 topic - right from square one ... :-X
Holy son of a ever-[insert long-winded string of things for that filter to work on here]-!
The substitution was treating the *'s used to bleep out bad words as wildcards. I can only assume this was causing some kind of strange bug with its post conversion that possibly we should let SMF know about, just in case. JoB, you'd probably have more relevant ideas than me.Ehhh you might want to note that, while I can guess my way to how some application interfaces with the semi-known field of SQLDBs, I've never touched SMF (or any other forum software) and have no idea whatsoever what those profanity filter rules might actually look like. (Right now, I'm wondering how regex-style "*"s even can act as wildcards, given that DBs typically use "%" and the "*"s were in the texts rather than the filter expressions ... !?)
JoB, if you want admin status too, just say soYou, too, should take note of my actual level of ignorance (e.g., I have no idea what functions admin status even would unlock in the first place) before handing me the keys to the Minuteman silo ... !
(I'll try to get new titles for the both of you. Solovei suggested "Slayer of Silence," which I quite like.)Considering that the actual result (for now?) is that the profanity filter is back to its original overzealousness, "Four-Star Chaperone" might be more accurate ... ;)
I could hug both of you right now! :D... I didn't know they make arm extensions. >:D
[Makes Mikkel look like a bantamweight fighter]
Post by: hushpiper on December 31, 2014, 03:36:02 PM
I'm totally doing the "the clues were right in front of me all along!" thing right now. :P I was scouring through the code just yesterday, I saw the censorText references over and over and--nope, didn't think it was important. Lesson learned: when working on two issues at once, don't be afraid to assume they're related.
As for the question about how it can use regex-style * as wildcards instead of DB-style %... I don't think the database is actually involved here. As far as I can tell, the post information is stored in the database uncensored: when a page loads, it calls the display.php file which calls the load.php file, which pulls the information from the database and runs it through the censorText routine which--dun dun dun!--uses regular expressions. And, apparently, doesn't filter them properly for special characters within the text to be filtered. (Or maybe it does? I'll be honest, the code in that section make my eyes cross. Maybe it only has problems when you try to loop filters like Eich's substitution spell was doing.)
Why that then zeros in on 64-character links of all things, I don't know--I saw some link scrubbing routines in another file, but I think those were meant to be preparatory to inputting into the db and thus unrelated? Either way, there's very little error catching written into the load/display sections, so presumably it hit the censorText routine, ran into problems and failed to finish loading the post but continued anyway--leading to blank posts and no error logs.
Yay theories?
The issue with the over-strict profanity filter is easy enough to fix though, assuming I understand the issue correctly. So far we've been bleeping out bad words with asterisks, which have the downside of apparently also acting as wildcards. (Which is a cool thing that could probably be exploited, actually...) Assuming looping filters is permissable, all we'd have to do is replace * with a character that doesn't have special uses in regex, like - maybe. In the meantime, subject to further tweaking, I've checked the option to have it replace whole words only, so pussycat is safe while p**** should be bleeped. :)
P.S. Ooooohhh I love the sound of Slayer of Silence! It's all cool and mythological whilst also being goofily over the top. Trust Solo to come up with the best titles!
Post by: Sunflower on December 31, 2014, 03:36:21 PM
*stares at you*
Holy son of a ever-[insert long-winded string of things for that filter to work on here]-!
And holy bleep this is like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, where in all the stories the detective has two cases but by the end they turn out to be the same case, cuz guys! Guys! This is what was causing the issue Sunny was talking about (http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?topic=10.msg15259#msg15259) where words like "reciprocating" turn into "recipussycating" and so on.
The substitution was treating the *'s used to bleep out bad words as wildcards. I can only assume this was causing some kind of strange bug with its post conversion that possibly we should let SMF know about, just in case. JoB, you'd probably have more relevant ideas than me.
Haha, I guess that makes me the crazy old neighbor in the detective novel "Case Histories" (http://www.amazon.com/Case-Histories-Novel-Kate-Atkinson/dp/0316033480) who keeps pestering the police with calls about her cat going missing and the bad smell coming from her back yard...
"Case Histories" is a terrific story, by the way. I can't say much about it without ruining some of the surprises, but it manages to be funny, terrifying, and touching all at once.
Post by: Sunflower on December 31, 2014, 03:55:48 PM
I'm totally doing the "the clues were right in front of me all along!" thing right now. :P I was scouring through the code just yesterday, I saw the censorText references over and over and--nope, didn't think it was important. Lesson learned: when working on two issues at once, don't be afraid to assume they're related.
The issue with the over-strict profanity filter is easy enough to fix though, assuming I understand the issue correctly. So far we've been bleeping out bad words with asterisks, which have the downside of apparently also acting as wildcards. ... In the meantime, subject to further tweaking, I've checked the option to have it replace whole words only, so pussycat is safe while p**** should be bleeped. :)
P.S. Ooooohhh I love the sound of Slayer of Silence! It's all cool and mythological whilst also being goofily over the top. Trust Solo to come up with the best titles!
All hail our newly crowned Slayer of Silence! In the words of guest artists Simon and Garfunkel: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fWyzwo1xg0)
...(I)n the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
Fools said I, you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you
But my words like silent raindrops fell...
And echoed in the wells of silence.
I wish I could think of a way to reciprocate your great (and totally unpaid!) efforts. In the meantime, I will send out some job applications, check the multiplication on my tax records, and otherwise use all the p****cation words I can think of! ;)
Post by: JoB on December 31, 2014, 08:26:32 PM
Edit: This works, the other still hits the wall of "You don't have permission to access /index.php on this server." ...
Edit2: It's again a content dependent problem in posting. ::)
Edit3: The trigger is the (unmasked used of the) word "p e n i c i l l i n". :(
Post by: Richard Weir on December 31, 2014, 08:49:31 PM
Post by: Sunflower on December 31, 2014, 09:11:32 PM
Let's see whether this gets posted, the one I'm trying to send in the "Health & ..." thread runs into a 404 ...
Edit2: It's again a content dependent problem in posting. ::)
Edit3: The trigger is the (unmasked use of the) word "p e n i c i l l i n". :(
I saw that too, JoB. I tried naming the antibiotic Alexander Fleming discovered, and got the same error message. I changed it to "pen-cillin" and it worked.
So it looks like our Forum-Censor is getting a swelled head. No longer is it enough to replace naughty words with "p****" -- it blocks our messages altogether.
I wonder if it's a coincidence that the naughty word the Forum is (presumably) confusing "pen-cillin" with also starts with P...?
Post by: JoB on December 31, 2014, 09:33:21 PM
I wonder if it's a coincidence that the naughty word the Forum is (presumably) confusing "pen-cillin" with also starts with P...?I'd assume that the match in the swear word library actually startes with "peni" ...
Furthermore, *I* wonder whether there's a browser plugin to automate rainbow-ing penicillin and its ilk ... ? >:D
Post by: Sunflower on December 31, 2014, 09:48:07 PM
I'd assume that the match in the swear word library actually startes with "peni" ...
Furthermore, *I* wonder whether there's a browser plugin to automate rainbow-ing penicillin and its ilk ... ? >:D
So does this mean we can't say "penitentiary" and similar words? Or only if we make every letter a different color? (I'd really like a browser plugin that could do *that*!)
Post by: Eich on December 31, 2014, 10:02:27 PM
I'd assume that the match in the swear word library actually startes with "peni" ...That word isn't censored. That's just biology, which I trust everyone to be mature about. Plus, it's not exactly like it sounds good when used as an insult, so I don't see anybody calling names like that.
Furthermore, *I* wonder whether there's a browser plugin to automate rainbow-ing penicillin and its ilk ... ? >:D
Post by: Sunflower on December 31, 2014, 10:46:21 PM
That word isn't censored. That's just biology, which I trust everyone to be mature about. Plus, it's not exactly like it sounds good when used as an insult, so I don't see anybody calling names like that.
Huh. Good to know the Forum-Censor doesn't have an oversized Index of Forbidden Words. But in that case, why would "pen-i-cillin" trigger a complete message failure? It's not even the Silence problem that the P-word triggered. Is the site allergic to certain antibiotics? ;)
Out of curiosity, how does the Forbidden Words thing work? Does SMF offer a list of typical "bad words" (presumably starting with George Carlin's Seven Deadly Words) and the admin can use the list and/or add to it?
??? If you think it wouldn't be wise to discuss this in public, that's fine.
Post by: hushpiper on January 01, 2015, 01:24:33 PM
On SMF's censor, it's blank to start with and you put in a list of words you don't want on one side, and what you want them censored to on the other. It's pretty simplistic, really. There's no built-in list of words for it to use, and certainly pen-icillin isn't one of the forbidden words.
ETA: I killed that setting change I did before, that made it only censor whole words. Made no difference on the 403 issue. Gonna set up my mirror of the site again for playing with.
Post by: JoB on January 01, 2015, 03:05:18 PM
have you seen a 403 error on that word before?I don't think I've ever tried to use it in the forum before ...
And is anybody seeing this happen with any other words? (I think Kex was saying something the other night but there was too much New Years partying going on.)Back to fuzzballing ...
- Looks like leaving out any one character of the word lets the post pass muster.
- Adding one character, except dangling off the end, has the same effect.
- Replacing any character with a different lowercase one makes it work, too.
- Converting to uppercase, partially or completely, effects no change.
- No cigar when appending an insanely long suffix string, either.
- Or when putting quotes, percent signs, asterisks, angle brackets, ... - rather than letters - around it.
- Put underscores or digits around it, however, and it sails right through.
- Inserting markup instead of text - in this case, an empty [ b ][ /b ] - bypasses the problem as well.
Penicillinsurrogatextraktfabrikationsanlagenwartungstechnikerverzweiflungsgrund
Looks like the trigger's exactly to have a word starting with penicillin (case insensitive) in the raw data ...
Post by: Sunflower on January 01, 2015, 05:18:22 PM
I got repeated 403 errors about 10 days ago, when I was trying to send someone a PM. It didn't involve pen-icillin (I never had the occasion to use that word on the Forum till now). However, since we were discussing health issues, I used the word "pill." Could it be another P-word?
EDIT: No, "pill" seems to publish without a problem.
Well, now that we know to be on the alert, and we're saving copies of any text we post/PM, it shouldn't be too hard to catch other instances of the 403 problem if it recurs.
Post by: hushpiper on January 04, 2015, 12:47:33 PM
Additionally, attempting to preview a post with one of those words in it also redirects you to a 403, which is useful for troubleshooting at least.
Post by: Eich on January 04, 2015, 01:07:11 PM
Small development: under the theory that there was some sort of anti-pharmacy-spam measure at fault in the 403 mystery, I did some testing and found that via-gra also triggers the issue, as does cia-lis (though it's not consistent). So it does look like an anti-spam filter of some kind, though frankly not a very good one. :P Eich, did you put anything like that in place at any point?Nope. That must've been there from the beginning.
Additionally, attempting to preview a post with one of those words in it also redirects you to a 403, which is useful for troubleshooting at least.
Post by: hushpiper on January 04, 2015, 01:18:53 PM
Post by: JoB on January 04, 2015, 01:59:36 PM
Might be something on the host's end, to prevent spam/hacking via form submissions and protect their servers. The mirror of the site on my webhost doesn't appear to have that issue. *shrugs*The pcriot server has a reverse proxy sitting in front of it - Varnish (https://www.varnish-cache.org/), to be precise. If the filter's not on the server itself or part of SMF, it's either the proxy or some intrusion prevention system ...
Quick web search doesn't turn up anything, but I'm afraid that "varnish" and "poisoncillin" aren't very specific keywords ...
P.S.: I seem to be unable to provoke a 403 by SMF itself, it just redirects me to the homepage.
P.P.S.: It is outside the forum server:
Code: [Select]
$ host ssssforum.pcriot.com
ssssforum.pcriot.com has address 198.91.81.5
ssssforum.pcriot.com mail is handled by 0 ssssforum.pcriot.com.
$ ( echo "GET /index.php HTTP/1.1" ; echo "Host: foo.bar.baz" ; echo "Connection: close" ; echo "" ; sleep 10 ) | telnet 198.91.81.5 80
[...]
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
[...]
Via: 1.1 varnish-v4
[...]
Domain document root not found.
Connection closed by foreign host.
(Note that if this request had reached the forum server in spite of raw IP and mangled Host: header, it should have displayed the login page.)
Code: [Select]
$ ( echo "GET /index.php?foobar=$EVIL_WORD HTTP/1.1" ; echo "Host: foo.bar.baz" ; echo "Connection: close" ; echo "" ; sleep 10 ) | telnet 198.91.81.5 80
[...]
HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
[...]
Connection: close
00151
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
<html><head>
<title>403 Forbidden</title>
[...]
Post by: hushpiper on January 04, 2015, 05:57:41 PM
After poking around I'm pretty well convinced that it's mod_security doing it, not varnish. They've probably got SecFilterScanPOST turned on. When I get home I'll log in to the server and see if I can fiddle to get that turned off, though I wouldn't be surprised if the host's blocked those kinds of .htaccess shananigans. :P
Post by: JoB on January 05, 2015, 09:09:10 AM
After poking around I'm pretty well convinced that it's mod_security doing it, not varnish. They've probably got SecFilterScanPOST turned on.Seeing that we're not getting the 1.x default "deny" code of 500, but the 2.x's of 403, you might want to try SecRequestBodyAccess (https://github.com/SpiderLabs/ModSecurity/wiki/Reference-Manual#SecRequestBodyAccess) as well ... ?
Post by: hushpiper on January 05, 2015, 10:18:55 AM
Code: [Select]
<IfModule mod_security.c>
SecRuleEngine Off
SecFilterInheritance Off
SecFilterEngine Off
SecFilterScanPOST Off
SecRequestBodyAccess Off
</IfModule>But as I feared, they appear to be disallowing those .htaccess directives (which is only sensible of them)--or else those mod_sec rules aren't the cause. One of those things. :P
Post by: JoB on January 05, 2015, 12:34:58 PM
[Is in a cypherpunk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypherpunk) mood]
Post by: OrigamiOwl on January 05, 2015, 11:17:38 PM
(http://www.shadowfantasy.com/packages/Varjohaltia.jpg)
Post by: Eich on January 05, 2015, 11:25:39 PM
Ummmm I don't know if this is just me, but all the Norwegian flag icons have been replaced with:That is incredibly bizarre. So, to you, I'm now learning... lonely elf man?
(http://www.shadowfantasy.com/packages/Varjohaltia.jpg)
Not happening on my end...
Also, Hush and JoB, magic problem solving dream team of the century: Pessi has been unable to log in for a while. She said:
Quote
Yeah, I've been getting "Forbidden" for almost a week now every time I try to post something on the foorum. Can read what others post thoughI checked her profile and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. Is this something we can try to fix, or should I ask for more specific information from her in the comments?
Post by: OrigamiOwl on January 05, 2015, 11:33:21 PM
That is incredibly bizarre. So, to you, I'm now learning... lonely elf man?Oh.
Not happening on my end...
Yep, Lonely Elf Man is suddenly the forum's most popular language to learn... O___O
It's a bit funny... But I'll try seeing if it changes..
This is what it looks like:
(http://i60.tinypic.com/wi3wjd.jpg)
Maybe it's different on my laptop?
Post by: Sunflower on January 06, 2015, 12:05:19 AM
Ummmm I don't know if this is just me, but all the Norwegian flag icons have been replaced with:
(http://www.shadowfantasy.com/packages/Varjohaltia.jpg)
This is Varjohaltia's icon. He just joined the Forum today, (http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?action=profile;u=359) and has made exactly one post (that we know of).
I doubt he wields enough dark magic to do this deliberately. OTOH, about an hour ago I *did* share with him tips on how to create language flags in his Forum profile (i.e. : country : ) and he promptly did so. Could a software glitch somehow have caught onto the new flags on his profile?
EDIT:
I'm seeing everyone's Norwegian flags like normal: :norway:.
Owl, maybe something's messing up your account? Seems like several of us are having small, spotty problems. Poor Pessi can't post at all. And I can't post some things on first try. I got the 403 bug notice once this evening, but mostly it was just white screens. However, nothing's been eaten like before. I always save text before posting now, and usually just going back a screen and hitting Post again works.
Post by: OrigamiOwl on January 06, 2015, 01:06:42 AM
Post by: Nimphy on January 06, 2015, 04:40:12 AM
Post by: JoB on January 06, 2015, 05:48:17 AM
Ummmm I don't know if this is just me, but all the Norwegian flag icons have been replacedHmm. I don't see any mixup right now, and where the pictures in question do show up, they have very dissimilar pathes/filenames, so I cannot quite imagine them getting mixed up in the filesystem. Hushpiper, you have seen what a post looks like in the database - any chance that in that raw format, included images are referenced by some ID that needs to be resolved by another table lookup (which would IMHO be much more likely to replace one image with an existing other one than some URL garbling would)?
Also, Hush and JoB, magic problem solving dream team of the century: Pessi has been unable to log in for a while. [...] I checked her profile and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. Is this something we can try to fix, or should I ask for more specific information from her in the comments?Sounds quite like the mod_security issue, you just posted the username without a problem, if it's truly logging in that doesn't work, my first guess would be that the password triggers the Filter of Despair (That Looks at the Entire POST Data). Does trying to log in with an empty password "work" (i.e., yield a proper "login denied")?
If not, my next suggestion would be to delete all cookies that the browser may have stored for the forum. I have seen "random" session IDs turning out to include four letter words ... ::)
Post by: Sunflower on January 06, 2015, 01:15:21 PM
Sounds quite like the mod_security issue, you just posted the username without a problem, if it's truly logging in that doesn't work, my first guess would be that the password triggers the Filter of Despair (That Looks at the Entire POST Data). Does trying to log in with an empty password "work" (i.e., yield a proper "login denied")?
Ohhh! As Patient Zero for the P-Word Problem, now I get it! Her password may be something like "Pessi-catapult" and that would have the same effect as my "complication."
Or worse, "pen-icillin"... ;)
Post by: Nimphy on January 06, 2015, 02:19:33 PM
Ohhh! As Patient Zero for the P-Word Problem, now I get it! Her password may be something like "Pessi-catapult" and that would have the same effect as my "complication."You were not Patient Zero... I had the same problem with my PMs, but didn't bother to say anything. It was more amusing than anything, really.
Or worse, "pen-icillin"... ;)
Post by: Sunflower on January 06, 2015, 02:25:16 PM
I was writing a PM using the word "pen-icillin" (in fact, describing this problem to my correspondent). It got eaten. Grrrr. >:( (I got the usual 404 error message: "You don't have permission to access /index.php on this server." I can send you a screenshot, but you probably already have examples.)
Luckily, I am now compulsive about copying and saving text before I hit "Send." So I didn't lose the message. And I was able to test several variants.
Now I'm pretty sure the *only* trigger was the antibiotic's name in full -- not long URLs, quoting forum threads, or anything else. (I didn't try "V!agra" or "C-alis," though.)
Meanwhile, I'm having occasional problems sending. This is a lesser issue: When you hit "Send," the screen goes white. But when you go back via browser to your previous screen, your PM text is still there (though it may be missing the last few sentences, e.g. back to the last system save or Preview). Would you like a screenshot of that, the next time it happens?
If it turns out we can't ever name The Antibiotic, that's OK. We just need to warn people to Save Text compulsively.
Yours for safer text,
Sunflower
Post by: OrigamiOwl on January 06, 2015, 03:30:46 PM
Owl, I've been seeing your avatar as a tiny Australian flag since yesterday.D: well, it's not on purpose- I'm not that patriotic! :S
Is it still there?
Post by: mithrysc on January 07, 2015, 07:57:20 AM
Not really an improvement, but was there any reason the Language learning discussion (http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?topic=180.msg15611#new) was locked? I've been offline for a few days, and maybe something came up that I missed, so sorry if the answer's really obvious. :-\
Post by: Eich on January 07, 2015, 08:12:44 AM
Reposting this here, because noako appears to have gone MIA:Got it. Not sure why that happened... :-\
Post by: Varjohaltia on January 09, 2015, 12:42:58 AM
This is Varjohaltia's icon. He just joined the Forum today, (http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?action=profile;u=359) and has made exactly one post (that we know of).
I doubt he wields enough dark magic to do this deliberately. OTOH, about an hour ago I *did* share with him tips on how to create language flags in his Forum profile (i.e. : country : ) and he promptly did so. Could a software glitch somehow have caught onto the new flags on his profile?
...and I just made it through this forum thread, only to find I'm suddenly notorious. Yikes! No, alas, I'm afraid I have no explanation for what might have caused that. I did try a bunch of different BBCode variants for flags ([flag]fi[/flag]) etc. that resulted in nothing happening until being pointed in the correct direction, but that's about as much mucking with things that I tried to do :-o
Post by: Sunflower on January 09, 2015, 12:53:32 AM
...and I just made it through this forum thread, only to find I'm suddenly notorious. Yikes! No, alas, I'm afraid I have no explanation for what might have caused that. I did try a bunch of different BBCode variants for flags ([flag]fi[/flag]) etc. that resulted in nothing happening until being pointed in the correct direction, but that's about as much mucking with things that I tried to do :-o
Oops, sorry I made you (temporarily) notorious. :-[
The truth is, this forum develops glitches every so often. (That's one reason Eich is looking for another host; it wouldn't fix the SMF software problems, but it might fix some issues with overactive bad-word filters.) It's possible that the problem Owl reported could have stemmed from a problem with her account, not the forum at large or any other poster.
Meanwhile, did I see in your introduction that you work in network administration? If so, a secretive group of cyber-superheroes (Eich, Noako, hushpiper, and JoB) may quietly contact you at some point to help answer the Bat-Signal the next time the Forum goes wobbly...
Post by: OrigamiOwl on January 09, 2015, 07:10:57 AM
Post by: JoB on January 09, 2015, 07:45:05 AM
people are now learning the languages of JoB and Piney![Imagines the two current avatars shown next to each other]
Well, it seems that the glitch has a bit of humor, at least. ;)
Post by: OrigamiOwl on January 09, 2015, 07:56:37 AM
[Imagines the two current avatars shown next to each other]I know, I giggle when I see it....so it's not a baaaaad glitch at least...
Well, it seems that the glitch has a bit of humor, at least. ;)
Post by: Sunflower on January 09, 2015, 11:21:32 AM
It won't let me say "mail-order b-r-i-d-e-s."
I discovered this when I was facetiously commenting that my parents think everyone on the Internet is a former Nigerian oil minister with millions of dollars to smuggle out of the country, or mail-order.... uh, beautiful companions from former Soviet countries.
This problem can probably be worked around if we: 1) Train everyone to copy-and-save their content before trying to post; and 2) Alert people that certain terms popular in spam tend to trigger this bug. (e.g. "pen-icillin," "V!agra.")
But Eich, now that you're the Ruler of a Derelict Airport, are you still considering a different hosting service?
Post by: Piney on January 09, 2015, 12:57:50 PM
Hehehehe it's happened again XD people are now learning the languages of JoB and Piney! As it's probably only on my phone, I can endure it and it goes away eventually: so no fuss needed :3
[Imagines the two current avatars shown next to each other]
Well, it seems that the glitch has a bit of humor, at least. ;)
Oh my god, I'm a language now! I'm flattered ::) ...That's really hilarious imagining those two together.
Post by: Solovei on January 10, 2015, 12:14:22 PM
I've spoken about it to Hushpiper and she seems to think it's the sheer number of links in that post that's causing the issue? Is there a work-around for this, or...?
Post by: Richard Weir on January 10, 2015, 01:21:26 PM
The way round it would be to have more than one forum index post, each with a number of related links. So, say, "Forum Index - SSSS", "Forum Index - Other". Something like that.
Post by: Solovei on January 10, 2015, 01:34:55 PM
She could be right. A common feature of spam is a huge number of links, so the anti-spam system that bans peni-cillin could well be banning multiple links.I thought about that, but I woud've had to think about that when I was making the post, and "Reserve" a certain number of posts below the first one to edit later as needed. I don't think you can do that after the fact?
The way round it would be to have more than one forum index post, each with a number of related links. So, say, "Forum Index - SSSS", "Forum Index - Other". Something like that.
Post by: Richard Weir on January 10, 2015, 04:32:45 PM
It would be easier if you had moderator status, then you could lock/unlock it at will.
Post by: Eich on January 10, 2015, 04:51:44 PM
Also, while I was there, I changed the max number of recipients for PMs to 20, because 10 was rather low.
Post by: Sunflower on January 10, 2015, 04:58:55 PM
... I changed the max number of recipients for PMs to 20, because 10 was rather low.
Thanks! Now I can invite more people to the rank-promotion "receptions." :)
Post by: Eich on January 10, 2015, 05:03:59 PM
Thanks! Now I can invite more people to the rank-promotion "receptions." :)That was part of why :)
Post by: JoB on January 11, 2015, 09:40:46 AM
There's no admin setting that limits the number of links allowed in a post, that I could find.That doesn't surprise me, since the symptom of getting a 403 page is the one where we suspect mod_security, not SMF itself, to be the showstopper ...
Post by: Unlos on January 11, 2015, 04:33:23 PM
Post by: Sunflower on January 11, 2015, 04:36:44 PM
"You have timed out." (The whole text of the PM *and* all addressee info disappeared. Luckily, I had copied the text.)
I didn't have the PM open that long -- maybe 10-12 minutes, which is certainly less than other times I've been laboring over a long PM.
Could this be related to problems I've been having for the last 48 hours accessing this Forum? When I hit the Fan-Forum button on the main comic page, the browser spins for about 60 seconds, then times out. If I just close that browser tab and start fresh, it still often doesn't load. But if I hit the "Refresh" key on the browser tab that timed out, generally it'll load immediately.
EDIT:
Aaaargh, the "Timed Out" problem happened again! I was PM'ing Unlos just now, with the PM open barely 5 minutes and no elaborate links etc. -- and it STILL went blank!
The poor dumb Forum seems to be buckling under the strain of being used intensely...
Post by: Nimphy on January 11, 2015, 04:44:33 PM
A few minutes ago, I got a new error message while writing a PM:
"You have timed out." (The whole text of the PM *and* all addressee info disappeared. Luckily, I had copied the text.)
I didn't have the PM open that long -- maybe 10-12 minutes, which is certainly less than other times I've been laboring over a long PM.
Could this be related to problems I've been having for the last 48 hours accessing this Forum? When I hit the Fan-Forum button on the main comic page, the browser spins for about 60 seconds, then times out. If I just close that browser tab and start fresh, it still often doesn't load. But if I hit the "Refresh" key on the browser tab that timed out, generally it'll load immediately.
Everything she said. I've been experiencing it all day and almost lost a message because of it.
Post by: Sunflower on January 11, 2015, 05:53:42 PM
Given my notoriously long and link-dense PMs (which generally take more than 5 minutes to write!), "I think what we have here is a failure to communicate." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=452XjnaHr1A)
Post by: Sigrid Marie on January 11, 2015, 06:12:25 PM
Post by: Sunflower on January 11, 2015, 06:21:27 PM
I've tried a couple of times to PM Sunflower the list of links found on the following link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5rtnacqvlvkegmn/List%20of%20songs.txt?dl=0, something that has earned me the forbidden error almost all the time.
I had some luck breaking it to pieces and sending only a few links at a time, trying first to send the five first links on the list. This worked, so I got bold and PM'ed six links - getting the 403 error again. So, back to five links again - this worked - then the next five links - which gave me the forbidden message again.
I fear I have fallen prey to seeing connections where there are none so I gave up. Is there anything in that list that should trigger the error message?
I saved Unlos' list as text and then tried PM'ing it back to her. I omitted every possible permutation of particular links -- but it wouldn't send in any combination. Grrrr.
I also tried omitting:
* Every link that involved YouTube; Soundcloud; Vocaroo; Noteflight; or the Forum's own messages -- in case the forum censor objected to links from some specific domain. That didn't work either.
* The word "peep" -- just in case that's triggering the overactive censor. No dice.
I give up now.
O Forum-Vanir and Aesir, can you give us any guidance?
Post by: Richard Weir on January 11, 2015, 08:39:56 PM
Incidentally, I notice that this forum saves the list of unread topics and posts for each user and retains it between sessions. This is a pretty expensive feature in terms of server load, and most forums give up on it very quickly once they get a reasonable amount of traffic. I suspect that if Eich can turn it off then the stability issues (could not find website, timeouts etc) will go away - until the forum becomes even busier!
Post by: Piney on January 12, 2015, 01:20:44 AM
Post by: Sunflower on January 13, 2015, 01:23:14 AM
EDIT: Nope. At least this time, I left open the post more than 30 minutes, no problem.
Post by: Hrollo on January 13, 2015, 11:51:43 AM
http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?topic=181.0
Post by: Solovei on January 13, 2015, 11:55:15 AM
I'm getting 403 errors when I try to edit the first post in this thread:I think you're hitting the same issue I got with editing the forum index - the anti-spam protection thingy sees a post with (what it thinks is) too much links and stops it from going through...
http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?topic=181.0
Post by: Sunflower on January 22, 2015, 09:53:34 PM
I just noticed this about 15 minutes ago, i.e. 6:40 p.m. PST on Thursday.
Screenshot of examples below:
(http://i.imgur.com/EXfXX6j.png)
Post by: Varjohaltia on January 22, 2015, 10:12:15 PM
We're losing some images -- could it be a hosting problem? You can see it on the list of emoticons above and the nation/language flags, in particular.
I just noticed this about 15 minutes ago, i.e. 6:40 p.m. PST on Thursday.
That was my post :-) Maybe I should quit posting, if I keep breaking things (even unintentionally)!
Anyhow, I saw the same, and the site randomly would refuse to serve me pages on several threads when trying to move forward a page. Currently both issues seem to be better, though?
Post by: Sunflower on January 23, 2015, 12:07:26 AM
That was my post :-) Maybe I should quit posting, if I keep breaking things (even unintentionally)!
Anyhow, I saw the same, and the site randomly would refuse to serve me pages on several threads when trying to move forward a page. Currently both issues seem to be better, though?
Yep, they seem fine now. I don't know enough about hosting to determine whether it's the kind of thing that just clears up on its own.
Post by: Solokov on January 23, 2015, 06:19:20 PM
Quote
403 Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /index.php on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
The post has two quotes in it and generally I was talking about the ice on the lake nearby and the wreck that went into it and how I hope origamiowl got the good pain meds and that it didn't end up like my experience where the meds I got does nothing for me in regards to pain.
The page comes up when I try to preview or post the post.
Edit: I think I may have figured it out. Apparently the full name of the pain meds I got when my wisdom teeth got pulled was what was kicking me me over onto the 403 page...
Post by: Sunflower on January 23, 2015, 06:30:36 PM
Running into a 403 and 404 error over in the general discussion thread.
...I was talking about the ice on the lake nearby and the wreck that went into it and how I hope origamiowl got the good pain meds and that it didn't end up like my experience where the meds I got does nothing for me in regards to pain.
Edit: I think I may have figured it out. Apparently the full name of the pain meds I got when my wisdom teeth got pulled was what was kicking me me over onto the 403 page...
EDIT:
Aha! Now that I've seen your redacted post, I'm almost certain the pharmaceutical name was the trigger. We have previously noticed this problem with other prescription drug terms -- pen-icillin, Vi=agra, and so forth. Eich & Co. think it's probably due to an overactive spam filter, most likely on our host site (i.e. not an SMF software problem).
I'm going to try an experiment here: O*ycontin. Oxyc-ontin.
In any event, if this pharma-name thing turns out to be a persistent problem, we may need to put up a warning to avoid using those terms -- as a workaround until or unless we can fix the bug.
Post by: Solokov on January 23, 2015, 06:55:52 PM
EDIT:
Aha! Now that I've seen your redacted post, I'm almost certain the pharmaceutical name was the trigger. We have previously noticed this problem with other prescription drug terms -- pen-icillin, Vi=agra, and so forth. Eich & Co. think it's probably due to an overactive spam filter, most likely on our host site (i.e. not an SMF software problem).
You'd think a spam filter would just kick you back to the reply screen with a big red message that reads "your post contains word(s) that are against the terms of use"... but no it has to be cryptic about it with a 403 page with a 404 error attached to it. That's the worst kind of page because it's one that simply doesn't give a person any idea what just happened.
Post by: Sunflower on January 23, 2015, 07:08:50 PM
You'd think a spam filter would just kick you back to the reply screen with a big red message that reads "your post contains word(s) that are against the terms of use"... but no it has to be cryptic about it with a 403 page with a 404 error attached to it. That's the worst kind of page because it's one that simply doesn't give a person any idea what just happened.
I share your frustration. It's definitely a bug, not a feature. Even our built-in profanity filter doesn't make a fuss, just quietly replaces the naughty word -- say, "s***" -- with asterisks.
Eich and his brain trust have been trying to crack the code for a while, with no luck. Meanwhile, all we can do is warn people about avoiding even non-copyrighted names of first-generation antibiotics that spammers don't even try to sell! (e.g. pen!cillin) Let alone any more profitable pharmaceuticals.
On top of that, I think we're still having problems with posts that have too many or the wrong kind of links. (Sigh.) Poor Eich is going to face a long "honey-do" list when he gets back on Monday!
Post by: Richard Weir on January 23, 2015, 07:12:23 PM
Post by: Sunflower on January 23, 2015, 07:16:56 PM
We assume that the spam filter is part of the host server's software.
It's probable that it operates by inspecting all packets that are sent to the server, regardless of type, and blocks ANY packets that look like spam. It would be too complex for it to be programmed to understand what the packets contain, so all it can do is send back a generic transfer protocol error code that your browser reports.
The server software never sees the dropped packet, so it can't deal with the event in any way at all!
Interesting theory, Richard.
In that case, would it be futile to set up a manual spam filter for the pharma/spam terms, which could either asterisk them out as with swearwords, or at least return an error message to the writer, as Solokov suggested?
Post by: Richard Weir on January 24, 2015, 02:53:39 PM
However, there is a big gap between theory and actuality and that one may well be wrong. Maybe, if Eich and co work at it long enough, they will discover that the forum software is attempting to access a misplaced resource in the wrong directory, and that is causing the error. Or something!
Post by: JoB on January 24, 2015, 03:47:30 PM
Maybe, if Eich and co work at it long enough, they will discover that the forum software is attempting to access a misplaced resource in the wrong directory, and that is causing the error.That's why, as part of my experimentation, I threw "naughty words" at the server in such a way that the request wouldn't go to the forum s/w in the first place. They still triggered the error, so that very likely happens before SMF ever receives the data.
Post by: Sunflower on January 24, 2015, 06:42:56 PM
That's why, as part of my experimentation, I threw "naughty words" at the server in such a way that the request wouldn't go to the forum s/w in the first place. They still triggered the error, so that very likely happens before SMF ever receives the data.
So IIUC, our *host*'s sensitivity to pharma/spam terms is what's causing the 403 problem. Nothing to do with SMF. Yes?
Would it make sense to issue a general warning (either in the "News" slot at the top of the page, or via sticky at the top of this board) to all posters, to avoid the 403 problem by not using the proper name of any prescription meds? (And any other known trigger terms.*)
I realize that would only be a workaround till we actually find a fix. But at least it would spare posters some time and effort. (Or would explain to frustrated posters why the forum ate their work!)
Just a suggestion. We'd probably want Eich and hushpiper to weigh in first, plus anyone else who's interested.
P.S. Hmmmm. The host won't let me say "Russ!an br!des" either. The 404 errors stopped the instant I took out the original term.
Post by: FinnishViking on January 24, 2015, 07:04:16 PM
This also provides you guys a good platform to give news about new changes like promotions to mod and things like that, maybe a tread to name the new people that joined during the week?
Post by: JoB on January 24, 2015, 07:19:42 PM
So IIUC, our *host*'s sensitivity to pharma/spam terms is what's causing the 403 problem. Nothing to do with SMF. Yes?That's what I'ld conclude from the experiment's result, yes. Though I have to brandish Occam's Razor a bit to get there. ;)
Would it make sense to issue a general warning (either in the "News" slot at the top of the page, or via sticky at the top of this board) to all posters, to avoid the 403 problem by not using the proper name of any prescription meds? (And any other known trigger terms.*)Considering where new forum users come from, and how likely they are to start posting about their health issues before even having caught up with currently active threads :P , I'ld say it'ld be a tad more sensible than the current link back to the actual comic. 8)
Post by: Sunflower on January 24, 2015, 07:26:03 PM
Considering where new forum users come from, and how likely they are to start posting about their health issues before even having caught up with currently active threads :P , I'ld say it'd be a tad more sensible than the current link back to the actual comic. 8)
Why, JoB, are you casting aspersions on the nice people who read the Guardian? ;)
(Actually, I can imagine that even the Guardian -- which I gather is relatively highbrow among British daily papers, at least compared to the Sun and Daily Mail -- gets a lot of horrid trolling on its online comment pages, as Hrolfr testified. The Washington Post, which I read online, also attracts a relatively educated, affluent audience... and its comment pages are nonetheless full of horrid, lowbrow insults and nutty stuff.)
Post by: JoB on January 24, 2015, 07:32:42 PM
Why, JoB, are you casting aspersions on the nice people who read the Guardian? ;)No, I'm saying that new users of the forum are likely to have been pointed to it on Minna's site, and unlikely to have much use for the link pointing back to it on the forum's top right very often.
Post by: StellersJayC on January 24, 2015, 11:14:07 PM
|??5k"???Z???0?G?G+Uz1????Xs??l_k????Ap??,,j,Zvb???|?*???r??lB=??z/~? ???#?t?-q????x????)??{H??? ??7v? n=??%??n7?????Q|M????????*??n?p?\f?p\.?)??m????T??61hJ{0^7x?`F9?%??TT#\????Z?Kr0??`?r?,??*?L????? ^Us"??\?<&4?K?????2Y%??w??1UN??_??d"?U){?? ??z??s,1???H??V?C`?%?F?Wz?8e7#V# ??Q&3p4??!?qJ?O??lc??]??=d?H ??oc^?!??\X.%?P~Bng?TT????} q`???e$0?y7?rm???1[Pd?q0??????Q??%I0?I???1 sV?(?G????:???d?U?.aD??,???y2% ??,???\?I??Fl?]9G??$?H?0_q[??U?? #.?"AÃ?,?vL ???Y??????l%???$4&#???????J?c??wN?+ w?ew? js%??Z.\?" $]??}l?raUc???A)?R??vA$?? ?L??????9?p???]:???z??0 ??8??L?#&?\'hjB?x??????r???n?4P? j??@?I0?'?+?\?x???T?S??a?!!-?z???85d?CW??E?|q??x,.D???c???Tb ?_??#????M}:]?/p??e?z???8 p??????t6? ?I6?j72=mdq??T ?i???M5???@????#D ???K!??t??1??U?6a?1?H&??U?\8?(?qL${??*?V?E???h&%?E>8s??Uo.R???? \?{+??&Ie MmeE ??$???? ?u???uG?mOu?D??H?@c??/7N????)?B???|V?R% ?3+é ???\??!??)?t{?5T!\O?nm"D?_??? +cZ??} ?qfk?UQC??&)J\?ee???tzB??(?5?SN?H?\;a? na?a? ?m ?????& ?^_I?Yr =?@?B? ? ??lB?r_2?0?lA????;Ax??U?:}?q???v? zSJ???'??R2???K*??9?? (????e? *?W?=????(? ?39?j???&??4?3??¦??'?\^?JP??Q??U??|?? ????5???s?aXJ[F??{Q? ?)?????L??X???@XF?j??5?N?"????[?%??#Y|
EDIT: Replace the question marks with boxes and the smilies with two more boxes and you have a fairly good idea of what it looks like.
Post by: Pessi on January 27, 2015, 03:06:38 AM
Post by: Richard Weir on January 27, 2015, 01:26:42 PM
The easiest way round this is to create a document on the web somewhere and PM a link to it for starfallz. There are other ways, but they all involve a lot of trial and error.
Post by: undefined_ on January 30, 2015, 06:12:52 AM
I created an account a few days ago (undefined (http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?action=profile;u=391)), but couldn't log in (incorrect password). I thought the password was correct, but I tried resetting it anyway.
It didn't send an email. I tried resetting it a few times using my username and email address, but still nothing. I checked the spam folder, there's nothing there.
I think it might be my email address: I'm using a Gmail address with subaddressing (it has a + in it).
Post by: Nimphy on January 30, 2015, 07:26:29 AM
There seems to be a problem with the password reset system.
I created an account a few days ago (undefined (http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?action=profile;u=391)), but couldn't log in (incorrect password). I thought the password was correct, but I tried resetting it anyway.
It didn't send an email. I tried resetting it a few times using my username and email address, but still nothing. I checked the spam folder, there's nothing there.
I think it might be my email address: I'm using a Gmail address with subaddressing (it has a + in it).
Ah, many have that problem. You could ask Eich to directly restore your old password and email you the new one, if you want your old account (I did so)
Post by: Eich on January 30, 2015, 10:41:44 AM
There seems to be a problem with the password reset system.I've reset your password. Check your email and follow the instructions! :)
I created an account a few days ago (undefined (http://ssssforum.pcriot.com/index.php?action=profile;u=391)), but couldn't log in (incorrect password). I thought the password was correct, but I tried resetting it anyway.
It didn't send an email. I tried resetting it a few times using my username and email address, but still nothing. I checked the spam folder, there's nothing there.
I think it might be my email address: I'm using a Gmail address with subaddressing (it has a + in it).
Is it okay with you if I delete the "Undefined_" account?
Post by: undefined on January 30, 2015, 07:04:52 PM
I've reset your password. Check your email and follow the instructions! :)Thanks! :)
Is it okay with you if I delete the "Undefined_" account?
Yeah, you can delete that account, I don't need it any more.
Post by: Sunflower on February 04, 2015, 11:58:53 PM
MG
I actually can't get on the forum for some reason, which is why I keep blurting out comments.
... I have no [Forum] account, but that isn't my problem. The site literally won't load on my screen, so I'm afraid the error is on my end.
Not Me
My computer gave me "the blue screen of death" when I visited the forum today ( ? )
Post by: Fimbulvarg on February 05, 2015, 07:47:16 AM
Not MeThat sounds like a computer problem, not a forum problem.
My computer gave me "the blue screen of death" when I visited the forum today ( ? )
Post by: Sunflower on February 07, 2015, 06:37:06 PM
I kept getting the 404 error message when I tried to post something innocuous in the Art Museum thread. Process of elimination ID'd the triggers. I can see why our unwanted Net Nanny might think the terms are spam-errific, but it's getting MIGHTY intrusive...!
Post by: victrixia on February 17, 2015, 07:07:23 AM
edit. Lol, not spammy enough? And I think I misspelled Oxy-codone the first time. Okay, let's bring in the big guns. Ephe-drine. Via-gra. Vico-din.
And a 403 Forbidden it was. Looking at the network routing, it indeed blocks any posts with spammy words even before they reach the server, it looks at the content and if it spots forbidden words, it just returns a 403, which your browser then renders as the error message. If the server returns a 200, then you get access to the actual site, but otherwise nope. The 404 not found attached means that the server doesn't provide the default explanation file (its status is 'not found').
Basically there's nothing you can really do about this apart from switching to another forum provider, or advising people that when they get this error message, they should look through their posts for any words that might be considered spam. What a crude way of handling things! But I guess it has to be, since spambots often behave like regular users. :/
(Also the forum is really lazy about updated message database queries! It requires a separate refresh to see the new content, and sometimes previously added content seems to disappear when you reload. Talk about skimping on bandwidth.)
edit. are you duckING kidding me it reverted back to uncorrected spelling XDDD)
Post by: Koeshi on February 17, 2015, 09:42:24 AM
Post by: Sunflower on February 17, 2015, 12:26:58 PM
Your conclusion, that we can only fix this by changing forum hosts, is one our admins have been thinking for a while. It sounds like until we can change hosts, we really have no options beyond what we're already doing -- warning posters to avoid potential spam terms.
Thanks for sharing your computer skills!
And a 403 Forbidden it was. Looking at the network routing, it indeed blocks any posts with spammy words even before they reach the server, it looks at the content and if it spots forbidden words, it just returns a 403, which your browser then renders as the error message. If the server returns a 200, then you get access to the actual site, but otherwise nope. The 404 not found attached means that the server doesn't provide the default explanation file (its status is 'not found').
Basically there's nothing you can really do about this apart from switching to another forum provider, or advising people that when they get this error message, they should look through their posts for any words that might be considered spam.
What a crude way of handling things! But I guess it has to be, since spambots often behave like regular users. :/
Post by: victrixia on February 17, 2015, 06:43:38 PM
Judging by what Richard said its an issue with the host server, rather than the forum. SMF is a pretty common forum system, I don't think they would have an anti-spam system like that in place that couldn't be turned off, there are too many different interest groups out there for that to be a practical thing to include in their product.
Koeshi is actually probably right and it's the host server, not the forum server. My bad, I wasn't incredibly clear separating those two. But there's no way to tell what the forum server does, if it's the host server blocking posts, since they never reach the forum in the first place.
Post by: victrixia on February 18, 2015, 02:20:42 PM
Quote
Unwary Sunflower • 4 minutes ago
I am getting a 508 error when I attempt to connect. could I get a direct link?
That's a new one...? 508 means the incoming traffic is exceeding the resources allocated to you by the host, either the CPU, RAM or simultaneous processes limit. Basically, even if the bandwidth would be enough, the amount of traffic is too much for your share of the host server's hardware. That's an error code you don't see every day! :D
My favourite is this though:
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7006/6508102407_a4de65687b.jpg)
Post by: JoB on February 18, 2015, 03:22:29 PM
My favourite is this though:The cat's there to implement blackhole routing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_route) for IPoAC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers)? :P
Post by: victrixia on February 18, 2015, 04:54:49 PM
The cat's there to implement blackhole routing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Null_route) for IPoAC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers)? :P
XDDDDD yes.
Post by: Sunflower on February 18, 2015, 07:17:59 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/hNTC1Lp.png)
Growing pains, I'm sure. In a way, this is good -- a sign of our expanding popularity. But before long we may need to form a bucket-brigade to help Eich expand and/or move our host site.
I don't remotely have the tech skills to be useful, but does anyone else? Our Admin and his two "right-hand warriors" are really short on free time right now.
Post by: victrixia on February 19, 2015, 06:18:44 AM
I've gotten the 508 error twice now, once yesterday and then just now.
(http://i.imgur.com/hNTC1Lp.png)
Growing pains, I'm sure. In a way, this is good -- a sign of our expanding popularity. But before long we may need to form a bucket-brigade to help Eich expand and/or move our host site.
I don't remotely have the tech skills to be useful, but does anyone else? Our Admin and his two "right-hand warriors" are really short on free time right now.
Alright, good of you to post the error message too, so basically this really is what I first suspected and not the other option ('Infinite loop' - those happening on their own would be bad code :P ). If this starts to be a recurring issue, you can look into switching hosts or getting a larger package - but those tend to cost more money, too. Still, it wouldn't hurt to look into competing options. You'd just have to have some statistics of your general server load, the peaks, and what your host package entails right now and at what price. Moving hosts is a big operation, though by no means undoable.
If this was just a regular site and not a forum, I would look into tweaking the code so the end user gets more stuff cached and save resources that way, but by the way comments behave I get the feeling that's what's already happening. Then again there might be other ways to do that as well, but I'm not yet so familiar with those ^^
Anyway, while the error is annoying, it won't break anything, it just tells your visitors that they have to wait a bit outside while other customers get too drunk and have to be tossed out no wait -
I don't suppose there's the option of attaching custom messages to whenever your host returns an error status code? I've definitely seen those sometime, would help people understand what's going on.
Post by: P__ on February 22, 2015, 07:11:58 AM
(fortunately it didn't last, It worked again as soon as I refreshed)
too many SSSS fans for the forum's good :'( ;D
Post by: jayen_aitch on March 03, 2015, 01:34:15 PM
I don't think I have an interest in that anyway.
Post by: JoB on March 03, 2015, 06:05:56 PM
When I click the link it's never that interesting, because it says: Table 'achamber_ssss.smf_settings' doesn't existSomething tells me that it's the future server, which is currently in its setup and testing phase, that sends you those e-mails ...
Post by: hushpiper on March 04, 2015, 12:03:43 AM
Post by: curiosity on March 04, 2015, 03:18:00 PM
(http://i60.tinypic.com/2rh5obt.png)
It may be some little bug that will disappear soon, perhaps?
Post by: Eich on March 04, 2015, 04:18:07 PM
Is it just me, or Owl's kittie (that adorable furball) suddenly turned into some scheme? Same result when I check from my computer and my phone.That's... oddly specific. I'm still getting a picture of the cat.
(http://i60.tinypic.com/2rh5obt.png)
It may be some little bug that will disappear soon, perhaps?
At first glance, I thought this was a picture of something I had a test on yesterday. o_o
Post by: curiosity on March 04, 2015, 04:59:37 PM
That's... oddly specific. I'm still getting a picture of the cat.
At first glance, I thought this was a picture of something I had a test on yesterday. o_o
The cat is back now. Fake alarm, seems to be. Sorry for disturbing :P
Post by: Koeshi on March 11, 2015, 12:52:38 PM
Every time I log in for the past couple of days once logged in I am taken to a (seemingly) random thread, rather than the forum homepage. Has anyone else noticed this?
Post by: Fen Shen on March 11, 2015, 01:28:29 PM
Post by: JoB on March 11, 2015, 01:32:37 PM
Every time I log in for the past couple of days once logged in I am taken to a (seemingly) random thread, rather than the forum homepage. Has anyone else noticed this?No such effect here, I always end up on the same page you get when clicking "Home" in the top bar, the topics list with the grey/red SSSS logos. (I would prefer being taken to the "Show unread posts since last visit" page directly, but that's just one click, anyway.)
How do you get to the login page in the first place? Never-changing bookmark, or some other method? Could you try deleting all cookies for the forum site, just in case?
Post by: Fen Shen on March 11, 2015, 01:45:21 PM
Post by: JoB on March 11, 2015, 02:18:36 PM
I usually type the url into the browser (firefox).That invokes autocompletion, and IIUC Firefox prefers to autocomplete into the most frequently used URL, which may change. Or do you ignore the autocompletion and type the entire thing?
Post by: Koeshi on March 11, 2015, 04:16:48 PM
No such effect here, I always end up on the same page you get when clicking "Home" in the top bar, the topics list with the grey/red SSSS logos. (I would prefer being taken to the "Show unread posts since last visit" page directly, but that's just one click, anyway.)
How do you get to the login page in the first place? Never-changing bookmark, or some other method? Could you try deleting all cookies for the forum site, just in case?
Can't be that, happens on the incognito browser I use at work.
Post by: Fen Shen on March 11, 2015, 04:49:46 PM
Quote from: JoB
That invokes autocompletion, and IIUC Firefox prefers to autocomplete into the most frequently used URL, which may change. Or do you ignore the autocompletion and type the entire thing?
At home, I use autocompletion from time to time, but at work I type the whole URL.
Post by: JoB on March 11, 2015, 04:58:43 PM
Can't be [cookies], happens on the incognito browser I use at work.
At home, I use autocompletion from time to time, but at work I type the whole URL.... 'fraid I'm stumped for the moment, then. :(
Post by: Sunflower on March 13, 2015, 08:34:38 PM
I was trying to track down one of my 100s of PMs containing a certain word -- let's say "skald." I ran the search feature in the PMs, and it showed me half-a-dozen messages containing that word. I recognized the message I wanted, and clicked on it.
It refused to open the message, saying "You don't have access to this part of the forum."
However, when I went back back through time (e.g. 6 screens out of 15) and found the message manually, it opened just fine.
Is there some reason why I wouldn't be able to open a message directly from Search Results?
If that *is* a known behavior of SMF, no biggie. I was just wondering whether this is yet more evidence of how overburdened our current server is. (The Forum loads reeeeallly sloooowlllly for me. And from time to time I get the "cannot display b/c resources are overloaded" error message.)
Post by: Eich on March 14, 2015, 12:12:23 AM
This may be either a bug or an, ah, "undocumented feature."With a message like that, it's probably forum related. If it persists after the move, could you let me know?
I was trying to track down one of my 100s of PMs containing a certain word -- let's say "skald." I ran the search feature in the PMs, and it showed me half-a-dozen messages containing that word. I recognized the message I wanted, and clicked on it.
It refused to open the message, saying "You don't have access to this part of the forum."
However, when I went back back through time (e.g. 6 screens out of 15) and found the message manually, it opened just fine.
Is there some reason why I wouldn't be able to open a message directly from Search Results?
If that *is* a known behavior of SMF, no biggie. I was just wondering whether this is yet more evidence of how overburdened our current server is. (The Forum loads reeeeallly sloooowlllly for me. And from time to time I get the "cannot display b/c resources are overloaded" error message.)
Post by: Sunflower on March 16, 2015, 02:48:11 AM
It usually goes away after I refresh once or twice. (Or I wouldn't be posting now...)
Hopefully, it's just a sign of lack of capacity and will go away once we move servers.
(http://i.imgur.com/SJ2QADJ.png)
Post by: Fen Shen on March 26, 2015, 07:01:48 AM
Post by: Mayabird on April 09, 2015, 09:31:54 PM
Edit: Yep, just happened again:
Quote
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /index.php on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Post by: Richard Weir on April 10, 2015, 10:19:33 AM
Things that trigger it are large numbers of links, and a lot of spammy words such as v1agra, pn1cillin, and so on. If you search this tread you will see some more examples.
Try posting just the beginning of your message, then edit it to add more bits until you get the error. The last bit you add will be the bit the anti-spam doesn't like! (But what you posted before will still be there.)
Post by: Koeshi on April 10, 2015, 11:01:10 AM
Post by: Richard Weir on April 10, 2015, 02:41:51 PM
Post by: Mayabird on April 10, 2015, 08:05:26 PM
Post by: LooNEY_DAC on April 11, 2015, 06:40:57 AM
Post by: curiosity on April 11, 2015, 08:01:42 AM
So, Sunflower posted in the comments how the Forum's local time is supposed to match your location, but mine has always been EST/EDT, though I'm decidedly in CA. Is this me not using it right, or what?
Have you set the time offset among the settings? If you haven't, go to Profile -> Modify profile -> Look and Layout. It's right there, you can auto-detect the time zone.
(If you've done that already, sorry for the useless post)
Post by: Sunflower on April 11, 2015, 10:05:30 AM
Have you set the time offset among the settings? If you haven't, go to Profile -> Modify profile -> Look and Layout. It's right there, you can auto-detect the time zone.
(If you've done that already, sorry for the useless post)
Ohhh. I wonder if the Forum's *default* timezone setting is Eastern Standard Time, because that's where our Admin/Founder (Eich) is. I don't remember modifying my profile to reflect my personal time zone, but I joined so long ago that I *wouldn't* remember either way.
If EST is the default, then I may have misjudged Ooo-La-La's actual time zone...
Post by: Sunflower on April 17, 2015, 01:03:57 PM
UPDATE: Eich instantly did the right thing: KILL IT DEAD.
Post by: Richard Weir on April 25, 2015, 11:28:46 AM
Post by: curiosity on April 25, 2015, 11:34:28 AM
Odd: the forum doesn't seem to remember my login from one session to the next. Perhaps the cookie recipe needs adjusting?
Happens to me too when I follow the link to the forum on Minna's site. But everything's fine when the link is chosen from bookmarks or typed manually.
Post by: hushpiper on April 25, 2015, 11:46:07 AM
Odd: the forum doesn't seem to remember my login from one session to the next. Perhaps the cookie recipe needs adjusting?
Happens to me too when I follow the link to the forum on Minna's site. But everything's fine when the link is chosen from bookmarks or typed manually.
I suspect this is because the link on Minna's site doesn't include the https at the beginning, and login cookies have been set to https-only (for security). I'm considering putting a redirect to https for the site, which would resolve that. In the meantime, try just typing in https://ssssforum.com in your browser bar and see if it works properly then.
ETA: I've added in that redirect, so if you come to a non-https version of any page it should redirect to https. This adds a little bit to page load times, so it's still a good idea to update your bookmarks, but should help avoid problems with login cookies.
Post by: Richard Weir on April 25, 2015, 11:58:58 AM
In the meantime, try just typing in https://ssssforum.com in your browser bar and see if it works properly then.
Yup. That fixes it. Thanks! :)
Post by: DB (f.k.a. DaveBro) on May 06, 2015, 03:15:05 PM
Would you please update the Comic M!x link for the Final Four? It's still pointing to the 8-way elimination.
vr, RODB.
Post by: Piney on May 07, 2015, 06:38:08 PM
Post by: Unwary on June 01, 2015, 09:30:38 PM
http://sta.sh/01n29hwpwiwl
Post by: Krisse Kovacs on June 10, 2015, 06:47:20 AM
Post by: Krisse Kovacs on June 10, 2015, 08:06:28 AM
I dunno if it is the site or not, but some threads, when I open them makes me download weird files. it worked mostly on my tablet pc (I use it desktop mode), and now on laptop it happened once.
wait, maybe this is my devices, I checked, and only those treads are doing this, where I can find links, and both my tablet or laptop is not fully having all flash and such things and probably it is, if someone is more expert with computers, they should tell me what it actually is or my thought is right.
I am sorry!
Post by: Solovei on June 10, 2015, 12:20:23 PM
wait, maybe this is my devices, I checked, and only those treads are doing this, where I can find links, and both my tablet or laptop is not fully having all flash and such things and probably it is, if someone is more expert with computers, they should tell me what it actually is or my thought is right.I tried to find the post where Hushpiper explained this, but I don't remember what thread it's in right now.
I am sorry!
I get the same thing if I visit a thread on my tablet that happens to have some embedded videos in it. IIRC, these files aren't harmful in any way and are just little cache files. You can delete them if you want.
Post by: Krisse Kovacs on June 10, 2015, 12:40:17 PM
I tried to find the post where Hushpiper explained this, but I don't remember what thread it's in right now.thank you, now I understand this a bit. (I also saw it mostly in the fanvideo thread, and the music thread, so yeah)
I get the same thing if I visit a thread on my tablet that happens to have some embedded videos in it. IIRC, these files aren't harmful in any way and are just little cache files. You can delete them if you want.
sorry for disturbing
Post by: Solovei on June 10, 2015, 12:46:28 PM
thank you, now I understand this a bit. (I also saw it mostly in the fanvideo thread, and the music thread, so yeah)No no, it's no problem at all! :) That's what this forum is for!
sorry for disturbing
Post by: Krisse Kovacs on June 13, 2015, 09:14:48 AM
No no, it's no problem at all! :) That's what this forum is for!and do you know how to fix it? it is kind of annoying I can't see any videos in the replies, but it downloads these files. (on laptop at least)
Post by: Solovei on June 13, 2015, 11:36:18 AM
and do you know how to fix it? it is kind of annoying I can't see any videos in the replies, but it downloads these files. (on laptop at least)Okay I went and found the bit where Hushpiper talked about this...
Here's the two relevant posts:
https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=314.msg30705#msg30705
https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=314.msg30907#msg30907
I could send her a PM and ask on the status of that fix, if you want?
Post by: Guardian G.I. on June 14, 2015, 07:45:52 AM
It's definitely not a quirk of SimpleMachinesForum software, because there's no such problem at other forums running SMF.
Post by: Eriaror on June 14, 2015, 09:53:58 AM
If you're using the quick-search box on the right of the navigation bar when you're viewing a thread, it only searches the contents of that thread. When you use it from a board view, it searches that board, when you use it from the main page, only then it searches on the whole forum. If you want to search the whole forum for something, I recommend the dedicated search page (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=search).
Edit: Oh, now I see it... Lalli being mentioned only 30 times in the Art Museum is not possible... something is wrong here...
Post by: hushpiper on June 17, 2015, 11:35:10 AM
and do you know how to fix it? it is kind of annoying I can't see any videos in the replies, but it downloads these files. (on laptop at least)
Annoying, isn't it? Sadly there will probably not be a fix anytime particularly soon, since it would require custom PHP coding that's a bit above my knowledge. I'll be contacting the youtube embed extension's author and asking him about it at some point though. My apologies!
Post by: ParanormalAndroid on June 17, 2015, 11:39:06 AM
Annoying, isn't it? Sadly there will probably not be a fix anytime particularly soon, since it would require custom PHP coding that's a bit above my knowledge. I'll be contacting the youtube embed extension's author and asking him about it at some point though. My apologies!I'm getting the same issue on an Android tablet (Kindle Fire)- it happens with some embedded pictures too. I think it's something to do with the way the Android OS handles these embedded files, but I'm an absolute novice with PHP so I can't help I'm afraid.
Post by: hushpiper on June 17, 2015, 12:04:18 PM
I'm getting the same issue on an Android tablet (Kindle Fire)- it happens with some embedded pictures too. I think it's something to do with the way the Android OS handles these embedded files, but I'm an absolute novice with PHP so I can't help I'm afraid.
Hmm, if you could point out a particular page that's doing that, and the name of the file that's getting downloaded, I'd appreciate that. It's probably something to do with flash, same as with the youtube thing, but I'd wanna confirm it's not a separate issue.
Post by: ParanormalAndroid on June 17, 2015, 05:40:16 PM
Hmm, if you could point out a particular page that's doing that, and the name of the file that's getting downloaded, I'd appreciate that. It's probably something to do with flash, same as with the youtube thing, but I'd wanna confirm it's not a separate issue.Okay, so I tested it on page 2 of the 'Music in Your Language' thread (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=489.msg42164#msg42164)
A download prompt came up for every video, and when I clicked 'confirm' it downloaded a .swf file for each video.
These were in the format, for example, Gsdp2zSCjY.swf, where the video linked here: was concerned, so https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x would give me x.swf.
Seems to be that the unique identifying part of each for the embedded Youtube videos was encoded as a .swf file on my tablet, but I don't have the slightest idea why.
Clicking on the files just gave me a generic 'cannot open file' message, and I still couldn't open the videos (they showed up as blank spaces), plus I was spammed with download requests again. Curiouser and curiouser, said Alice.
Okay, so I've also noticed that some of the images (such as some flags in people's signatures, and weirdly every one of the formatting buttons for when you post a reply, showed up as generic 'image not found' pictures, but were still usable.
I don't have a clue why all this happened, but I assume it's some quirk of the particular brand of Android used on the Kindle Fire.
EDIT: After googling .swf files, they appear to be related to Flash. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWF)
I'm assuming that embedded Youtube videos use Flash and the OS didn't like it, or misinterpreted them.
Post by: Koeshi on June 18, 2015, 05:45:23 AM
Post by: Krisse Kovacs on June 18, 2015, 02:33:42 PM
but I dunno what to do with tablet. it can open youtube vids, but not if it is embed on the forum.....
Post by: Krisse Kovacs on June 25, 2015, 01:09:33 PM
Post by: Sunflower on June 25, 2015, 02:49:48 PM
I am unsure it is a bug or not, but I turned of the email notifications (I guess) but i still get emails, how can I turn it off then, if that does not do anything? can you fix that?
Are you unsure if you actually turned off the e-mail notifications? Would you mind trying it again, and tell us what you did? Screenshots would help. Thanks!
Post by: Krisse Kovacs on June 25, 2015, 09:20:01 PM
Are you unsure if you actually turned off the e-mail notifications? Would you mind trying it again, and tell us what you did? Screenshots would help. Thanks!well, thanks, I went back, all settings were right, but for some reason, one topic was added to send me notification (I also realized why only from that topic I kept getting emails since i turned it off)
I deleted that and now hopefully it is okay. if not, I will tell.
Post by: viola on June 30, 2015, 10:29:29 AM
Post by: Sunflower on June 30, 2015, 10:35:49 AM
Ok I don't know if this is just me or what, but instead of the little green squares next to people's names when they are online I see little german flags. Also for some strange reason the little green square is showing up as one of the happyfaces. I am currently viewing on safari on my iphone 4 if that helps any. I took screen shots but I can't post pictures from my phone easily.
Hmm, I'm not seeing the problem on my iPhone 4. Have you tried refreshing the browser?
Post by: viola on June 30, 2015, 10:43:29 AM
Hmm, I'm not seeing the problem on my iPhone 4. Have you tried refreshing the browser?
Yes. They're still there. I'm going to see if anything happens when I take off the internet. Also some profile pictures are switched. Ana has Haiz's picture and Ana hasn't changed her profile pic. I was just talking to her.
Post by: viola on June 30, 2015, 10:50:46 AM
Post by: hushpiper on June 30, 2015, 10:54:28 AM
I dunno how to fix on tablet, but I accidentally fixed on laptop, which had same problem. I just downloaded adobe flash????
but I dunno what to do with tablet. it can open youtube vids, but not if it is embed on the forum.....
Yeah, that's basically what we figured--youtube requires flash, most mobile browsers (and some laptops) don't have flash support, viewing with flash support fixes it. Would still be nice to have a more graceful fallback for those who don't have flash, but this would require some PHP coding and possibly some back and forth with the plugin author. We'll be looking into it.
Ok I don't know if this is just me or what, but instead of the little green squares next to people's names when they are online I see little german flags. Also for some strange reason the little green square is showing up as one of the happyfaces. I am currently viewing on safari on my iphone 4 if that helps any. I took screen shots but I can't post pictures from my phone easily.
Hmm, that sounds like it could be a cache issue, possibly. Try clearing your cache: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24682904/how-do-you-clear-image-cache-in-iphone-5s-safari-browser
ETA: Forgot to mention, one of the big changes in the upgraded hosting would be the presence of varnish caching. That could make the forum run way faster, but might also cause bugs. FWIW.
Post by: ParanormalAndroid on June 30, 2015, 11:02:35 AM
I reset my phone and it seems to be back to normal now. I guess it just means I need a new phone :PNah, something like that would happen anyway. Although you could use it as an excuse...
Post by: Curry on June 30, 2015, 12:41:06 PM
I reset my phone and it seems to be back to normal now. I guess it just means I need a new phone :P
iPhone 4 (not even an s oh my god) squad for the WIN!
Although yes, I am trying to trade mine in for a newer model, mainly because mine is so old and broken that it can't download the new ios.
Post by: hushpiper on July 05, 2015, 03:10:47 PM
ETA: Tentative success, at least on chrome browser on android. Calling everybody with a mobile device--or a device that doesn't run flash--to test it out themselves.
Post by: ParanormalAndroid on July 05, 2015, 04:26:51 PM
Generally, it looks like a mobile theme squashed into a desktop theme.
However, the new theme looks pretty good on my iPhone 5, although the titles for threads are still very narrow and don't use all the available space.
Uh..
Did that help? I'm not sure they were very helpful descriptions. I'll see if I can get some pictures if they weren't.
Redacted, Eriaror previously mentioned it as a known bug (and I'm blind or something) so no issues with the new theme then.
Post by: viola on July 05, 2015, 07:42:36 PM
Post by: Trinka on July 06, 2015, 05:19:02 AM
Guys, IT LOOKS WEIRD NOW!
Am I experiencing bugs? Does anyone else use their phones to check the forum? Because I am having some issues, check out the screen grabs from my phone:
This is the home screen, where are the logos? how do I know if there are posts I haven't checked?
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oILobzYoZLlx-NFgPxiGlWuc0ew70D0O8Pg4LAfW5K8=w369-h655-no)
The S.S.S.S. thread looks WRONG. All the thread options are jammed on one side! And I can't tell if there are any new posts like in the computer version.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0K6kwuqRA6ZvJPmN06WayVZDrs0eF5RUnCHvY-92NWA=w369-h655-no)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9Oh7CPXcEnOiVDimNPJ529Tth7cXqKDLFRsA0ljV9qk=w369-h655-no)
There aren't any pictures to go with user accounts anymore!
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/XvNhEnT0myx5SAXffHzTZYcNENc83PvcoglkeD5PTvQ=w369-h655-no)
How do I reply to a topic? I CAN'T, THERE IS NO BUTTON ANYMORE
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YA8aPw2sd63VFim6BklirVxA2OY1pkGWsEs7cq6VffU=w369-h655-no)
HELP GUYS I'M FREAKING OUT
I
NEED
MY
MOBILE
UPPPDDAAATTTEEESSS!!!
*clutches knees and rocks in the corner*
Post by: DB (f.k.a. DaveBro) on July 06, 2015, 05:49:13 AM
Post by: DB (f.k.a. DaveBro) on July 06, 2015, 06:01:36 AM
Post by: Eriaror on July 06, 2015, 06:17:42 AM
This is the home screen, where are the logos? how do I know if there are posts I haven't checked?SMF devs decided to hide that functionality on mobile. Working on undoing that right now.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oILobzYoZLlx-NFgPxiGlWuc0ew70D0O8Pg4LAfW5K8=w369-h655-no)
The S.S.S.S. thread looks WRONG. All the thread options are jammed on one side! And I can't tell if there are any new posts like in the computer version.Known bug in SMF's mod.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0K6kwuqRA6ZvJPmN06WayVZDrs0eF5RUnCHvY-92NWA=w369-h655-no) (https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/9Oh7CPXcEnOiVDimNPJ529Tth7cXqKDLFRsA0ljV9qk=w369-h655-no)
There aren't any pictures to go with user accounts anymore!That's weird, I had user avatars when I last checked. Will look into it.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/XvNhEnT0myx5SAXffHzTZYcNENc83PvcoglkeD5PTvQ=w369-h655-no)
How do I reply to a topic? I CAN'T, THERE IS NO BUTTON ANYMORE
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YA8aPw2sd63VFim6BklirVxA2OY1pkGWsEs7cq6VffU=w369-h655-no)
Currently there's no option for users to turn off mobile layout, but I can make one real quick if there's demand. ;)
Post by: viola on July 06, 2015, 06:23:02 AM
Currently there's no option for users to turn off mobile layout, but I can make one real quick if there's demand. ;)
Yes please. And thank you :)
Post by: Auleliel on July 06, 2015, 07:00:13 AM
Post by: DB (f.k.a. DaveBro) on July 06, 2015, 09:57:17 AM
Most of the issues experienced are not our fault (http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/arrow-signs-not-my-fault-shifting-blame-18471565.jpg), but bugs and/or wrong design decisions in SMF's mod, which is in admittedly in Beta, so it can have bugs and wrong design decisions.
>snip!<
Currently there's no option for users to turn off mobile layout, but I can make one real quick if there's demand. ;)
ObFilk: Not My Fault, sung by Clam Chowder. ;). Yes please, to the button. Absolvo te. ;D
Post by: hushpiper on July 06, 2015, 10:13:13 AM
Sorry I put the new theme up without letting you know, and that it took me so long to do so! I'm kinda glad that I did though, most of these usability issues wouldn't have occurred to me just from messing around with it on the dev site. An on/off button would be excellent while we're in this transitional period. PM me with whatever you've got when you're ready and I'll slap it up ASAP. :D
Currently the mobile theme comes up when the window you're looking at the site in is smaller than a certain size--I'm kinda wondering if it'd be better from a usability perspective to have certain changes linked to window size (like the smaller header image, so that the page isn't stretched and buttons are a decent size), but others linked to the browser's user agent? *muses*
ETA: fiddling with the mobile mod seems to have fixed the issues with the thread listings being all squashed. Eri's working on the other changes now, like a boss.
Post by: Eriaror on July 06, 2015, 12:05:46 PM
- Make the new posts stars appear on every layout ✔
- Make avatars appear on every layout ✔
- Make avatars have the right size everywhere ✔
- Fix topic lists and the like getting squeezed ✔
(and keep reporting odd things as you stumble across them)
Post by: ParanormalAndroid on July 06, 2015, 12:06:41 PM
Making an off button didn't succeed, but we fixed all them bugz! Namely:*applause*With these fixes I believe the mobile layout is now usable. Enjoy! :)
- Make the new posts stars appear on every layout ✔
- Make avatars appear on every layout ✔
- Make avatars have the right size everywhere ✔
- Fix topic lists and the like getting squeezed ✔
(and keep reporting odd things as you stumble across them)
Post by: Trinka on July 06, 2015, 01:21:19 PM
Sorry for freaking out guys, I just really like the mobility of having the forum in my pocket wherever I go. I'm gonna try the mobile version now (whilst actually being logged in) to see how it looks.
Post by: hushpiper on July 06, 2015, 01:23:07 PM
Well I feel silly now *blushes profusely*
Sorry for freaking out guys, I just really like the mobility of having the forum in my pocket wherever I go. I'm gonna try the mobile version now (whilst actually being logged in) to see how it looks.
Don't feel silly! We've been working on the mobile theme specifically to help out people like you, so if it's not working for you we do want to know.
BTW guys: also let me know if you see any icons that aren't showing up, for example next to threads in the thread listing. Some of those don't seem to have gotten uploaded properly, so I've just been spot-fixing them where I find them.
Post by: Trinka on July 06, 2015, 01:29:54 PM
Don't feel silly! We've been working on the mobile theme specifically to help out people like you, so if it's not working for you we do want to know.
I'm responding to this via my phone, it looks so much better now! All of the threads are not pushed up to one side, there are the "new" buttons next to them which is awesome, the different topics now have the stars showing whether or not I have read them; good job with that!
I love how much easier it is to post comments now! All of the options are bigger and fit perfectly into the phone, love how I don't need to zoom in to select emoticons anymore!
Looking much better, thank you for taking care of this so quickly!
Post by: Auleliel on July 06, 2015, 10:03:24 PM
Otherwise, the fixes to the mobile version are great so far. :)
Post by: viola on July 06, 2015, 10:47:13 PM
One tiny thing about the mobile version... On the main forum page could there be a "new replies to your posts" link, like there is on the PC version? That is something I use almost constantly, and I don't want to have to type out the URL every time. :-\
Otherwise, the fixes to the mobile version are great so far. :)
Yes and an all new replies button as well.
Post by: Fimbulvarg on July 08, 2015, 11:16:41 AM
(http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/ag444/Fimbulvarg/wt_zpsgm3frwze.png)
Post by: Auleliel on July 08, 2015, 11:20:56 AM
I don't think the forum theme appreciates it's new child(thread):Interestingly, it looks fine on the mobile version.
(http://i1375.photobucket.com/albums/ag444/Fimbulvarg/wt_zpsgm3frwze.png)
Post by: Eriaror on July 08, 2015, 11:23:23 AM
Post by: DB (f.k.a. DaveBro) on July 08, 2015, 02:03:19 PM
;D
Post by: Haiz on July 09, 2015, 02:51:43 AM
Spoiler: this is an example • show
Spoiler: it's an example too • show
one can read apostroph'd spoilers with the quote function though. this has been a psa
Post by: viola on July 09, 2015, 03:15:28 AM
iiit's probably not a bug but more like a Coding Thing, but I've realized that if you put an apostrophe (and probably other punctuation) in a spoiler description, the spoiler won't work.Spoiler: this is an example • showSpoiler: it's an example too • show
one can read apostroph'd spoilers with the quote function though. this has been a psa
Oh man I've been trying to figure out why some spoilers don't work. I just assumed it was my really old phone/computer. Thank you for the psa.
Post by: Eriaror on July 09, 2015, 05:12:19 AM
Code: [Select]
[spoiler=Doesn't work]Nope[/spoiler]These two characters mark beginnings and ends of strings (variables for storing text) in computer code and when the program encounters them, it may think that a string has ended there and messes up. If you cannot avoid these characters in spoiler titles, write a \ before the ' or ". This tells the little buggy piece of code that that ' or " is just a piece of text, not the end of a string, and it should go on. ;)Example:
Code: [Select]
[spoiler=Don\'t test, does work]Hey, this works![/spoiler]Spoiler: Doesn't work • show
Spoiler: Don\'t test, does work • show
Edit: I tested more, the problem seems to be in the expand/collapse code of spoilers, we'll see if we can do something with it.
Post by: Fimbulvarg on July 11, 2015, 06:17:27 AM
Post by: Eriaror on July 11, 2015, 08:09:23 AM
Post by: hushpiper on July 11, 2015, 10:27:36 AM
Unintentional side-effect. Fixed. :)
Glad you knew what was up there, because I was about to be hella confused. O.o
Post by: Haiz on July 12, 2015, 03:59:15 AM
Post by: viola on July 12, 2015, 04:28:18 AM
Post by: Eriaror on July 12, 2015, 07:33:32 AM
Has anyone complained about images being really squished on phone version yetI believe I can blame this on old phone browsers, the expected behavior (and what happens on decent browsers) is:
- Images scaled down by specifying width scale down nicely to fit in the page, retaining dimensions.
- Images scaled down by specifying height retain their size even when the page gets narrower than them, and spawn a horizontal scrollbar. I couldn't get the same nice resizing just with CSS in this case, and it's still better than getting them squeezed horizontally.
Post by: Fimbulvarg on July 17, 2015, 07:10:11 PM
Post by: Eriaror on July 18, 2015, 05:07:30 AM
What kind of browser are you viewing this in? Because on that picture either the browser is some dumb old one or some styles didn't load at all. (The second is more likely because that search field lacks all its styles.)
Have you tried
Post by: Fimbulvarg on July 18, 2015, 02:19:17 PM
Now that is messed up.
What kind of browser are you viewing this in? Because on that picture either the browser is some dumb old one or some styles didn't load at all. (The second is more likely because that search field lacks all its styles.)
Have you triedturning it off and on againdoing a hard refresh?
Firefox. I checked this morning and the bug was still there but right now it's gone. Some minor glitch maybe?
Post by: hushpiper on July 29, 2015, 02:42:46 PM
Needless to say I will be yelling at people on my end over this: it's gonna be a good idea to upgrade eventually, but I'd like to do that at a time when I know the new platform better and am more prepared to deal with any bugs that may arise. If I'm not successful... I'll let you guys know so that you'll be prepared. So this is just a heads-up.
Post by: Silent Fox on August 11, 2015, 10:10:16 PM
Has any one had trouble with using the little bold/italic/etc buttons? they don't seem to work for me. Although it could just be my computer (recently upgraded to Windows 10?) as Flickr is also refusing to give me BBC codes to post photos here. :(
Post by: viola on August 11, 2015, 10:15:34 PM
Hope this is the right place to post this....
Has any one had trouble with using the little bold/italic/etc buttons? they don't seem to work for me. Although it could just be my computer (recently upgraded to Windows 10?) as Flickr is also refusing to give me BBC codes to post photos here. :(
I had a similar problem. Are you using the Edge browser? Because on Edge the code buttons don't work and you can't insert quotes. It's some sort of browser error. If you use chrome it shouldn't be a problem.
Post by: ParanormalAndroid on August 12, 2015, 06:59:28 AM
So we may be running into some possible issues: the hosting account the forum is currently on might be getting force-upgraded some time in the next few weeks. This is a good thing and a bad thing. The new server will be faster, shinier, and easier to upgrade if we outgrow it. However, it will also probably result in bugs. Possibly a lot of bugs.Well, that's irritating- you don't get any choice?
Needless to say I will be yelling at people on my end over this: it's gonna be a good idea to upgrade eventually, but I'd like to do that at a time when I know the new platform better and am more prepared to deal with any bugs that may arise. If I'm not successful... I'll let you guys know so that you'll be prepared. So this is just a heads-up.
What hosting service are you using, out of interest?
Post by: Silent Fox on August 12, 2015, 05:31:31 PM
I had a similar problem. Are you using the Edge browser? Because on Edge the code buttons don't work and you can't insert quotes. It's some sort of browser error. If you use chrome it shouldn't be a problem.Ah, yes I believe I am using Edge. I'll ask my computer-guru father (aka the one who insisted on installing it) about looking into Chrome. Thank you!=D
Edit: Going through Internet Explorer, while it removes the "reply/notify/mark unread/send this topic" buttons at the bottom of the page, ultimately works with an ungodly amount of fiddling. -_-. Father you will hear from me! *shakes fist* >_<
Post by: Sunflower on August 17, 2015, 02:05:49 PM
I often use my browser history to reach this forum. When I click on ssssforum.com, it shows me the un-logged-in Guest view. Which is fine. (I grumble about the few seconds' extra work to enter my ID and password, but it's all legit.)
--> BUT I just discovered Friday that if I click on any individual board from the Guest view, the page automatically logs me in, without my inputting my ID and password. Can that be right?
Post by: JoB on August 17, 2015, 03:14:15 PM
I just discovered Friday that if I click on any individual board from the Guest view, the page automatically logs me in, without my inputting my ID and password. Can that be right?Any chance that you ever ticked the "Always stay logged in" box on the login form? Explicitly jumping to the login form might override your browser's having a perpetual access already at hand ...
Post by: Sunflower on August 17, 2015, 03:43:47 PM
Any chance that you ever ticked the "Always stay logged in" box on the login form? Explicitly jumping to the login form might override your browser's having a perpetual access already at hand ...
Why yes, I did tick that box. In that case, is the forum software behaving as expected?
I'm happy not to have to log in (nobody but me uses my computer) -- just want to make sure I hadn't stumbled over a security bug.
Post by: JoB on August 17, 2015, 04:33:50 PM
Why yes, I did tick that box. In that case, is the forum software behaving as expected?I don't know for sure, I don't want my machines to do eternal automated logins, so I never tried that out myself.
If you want to know for sure, tell your browser to delete all cookies for the domain ssssforum.com. (Um, if you can still find those controls in current browsers, that is ... >:( ) That should restore it to the original behavior, and automatic login shouldn't reoccur until you tick that checkbox again ...
Post by: kjeks on August 18, 2015, 12:13:10 AM
If you want to know for sure, tell your browser to delete all cookies for the domain ssssforum.com. (Um, if you can still find those controls in current browsers, that is ... >:( ) That should restore it to the original behavior, and automatic login shouldn't reoccur until you tick that checkbox again ...
you can do this, BUT there is a set of cookies that will reinstall itself despite being deleted. That does not go for SMF-cookies though.
Post by: Ana Nymus on September 05, 2015, 10:11:04 AM
Post by: kjeks on September 05, 2015, 11:59:17 AM
I don't know if anyone's had this problem before, but the forum keeps telling me I have a new PM, even though I don't. The popup only comes up when I login, but the little [1] notification won't go away. It's not a huge problem, just a bit annoying, but I'd be grateful if anyone knows how to fix it.
You could try deleting your forum cookie, maybe it the problem is done for the moment.
Does the problem exist on any device or only on mobile (I had it on mobile once and deleting cookies helped)
Post by: Ana Nymus on September 05, 2015, 04:21:54 PM
You could try deleting your forum cookie, maybe it the problem is done for the moment.
Does the problem exist on any device or only on mobile (I had it on mobile once and deleting cookies helped)
It happens no matter what device I'm on. And I tried deleting the cookies, but the message still shows up.
EDIT: Getting a new PM seemed to fix the problem, so all is well!
Post by: misea on September 07, 2015, 02:21:12 PM
Post by: Mélusine on September 07, 2015, 02:22:04 PM
Sooooo the PerSSSSona star icon thingy isn't popping up when I'm in the SSSS board. Is it just me or ?Same for me.
Post by: Sunflower on September 07, 2015, 02:41:47 PM
Sooooo the PerSSSSona star icon thingy isn't popping up when I'm in the SSSS board. Is it just me or ?
Likewise. I see the broken GIF indicator where it should be.
Post by: viola on September 07, 2015, 02:50:38 PM
Sooooo the PerSSSSona star icon thingy isn't popping up when I'm in the SSSS board. Is it just me or ?
Same for me.
Likewise. I see the broken GIF indicator where it should be.
Eri is on it, it should be fine soon.
Post by: Eriaror on September 07, 2015, 04:18:18 PM
Post by: Sunflower on September 07, 2015, 04:25:17 PM
Fixed it (the easy way, for now). Sorry for leaving it in for so long. ::)
Thanks so much, Eriaror! Have I mentioned lately how glad I am to have an official Forum-Smith in residence?
Post by: misea on September 07, 2015, 04:49:05 PM
Thanks so much, Eriaror! Have I mentioned lately how glad I am to have an official Forum-Smith in residence?
Seconded! Thank you Eriaror!
Post by: Fimbulvarg on September 08, 2015, 11:42:52 AM
Post by: Sunflower on September 08, 2015, 11:55:24 AM
Is the General Discussion Board supposed to be invisible to users who aren't logged in from now on or is that a bug?As per Forum-Thor Eich, that was intentional:
https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=590.msg64551#msg64551
(FYI, it was an issue of visitors possibly taking an inappropriate interest in posters' personal info.)
Post by: Fimbulvarg on September 10, 2015, 06:28:41 PM
As per Forum-Thor Eich, that was intentional:
https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=590.msg64551#msg64551
(FYI, it was an issue of visitors possibly taking an inappropriate interest in posters' personal info.)
I'm aware of the reason, I posted here before the announcement was made.
Post by: Ana Nymus on September 11, 2015, 11:32:56 AM
Feartheviolas and squirrel emoticon switched
JoB and Canadian flag switched
Mail icon in place of Danish flag
Those are the ones I've been able to discern just by looking at the mobile version. There are probably more subtle ones that I haven't noticed. Just thought someone ought to know! (I'm on an iPhone by the way, if it makes a difference)
Post by: viola on September 11, 2015, 11:43:26 AM
Um, so I've noticed a problem with pictures and icons while on mobile. Namely, profile pictures and flags and other icons get switched a lot. The ones I noticed so far are as follows (I think)
Feartheviolas and squirrel emoticon switched
JoB and Canadian flag switched
Mail icon in place of Danish flag
Those are the ones I've been able to discern just by looking at the mobile version. There are probably more subtle ones that I haven't noticed. Just thought someone ought to know! (I'm on an iPhone by the way, if it makes a difference)
Oooh! I'm a squirrel!
I've actually had this problem before too when I had an iphone. It hasn't really happened since I got an android. One time though everyone had Haiz's avatar and I was really confused.
Post by: Piney on September 11, 2015, 02:49:28 PM
Um, so I've noticed a problem with pictures and icons while on mobile. Namely, profile pictures and flags and other icons get switched a lot. The ones I noticed so far are as follows (I think)
Feartheviolas and squirrel emoticon switched
JoB and Canadian flag switched
Mail icon in place of Danish flag
Those are the ones I've been able to discern just by looking at the mobile version. There are probably more subtle ones that I haven't noticed. Just thought someone ought to know! (I'm on an iPhone by the way, if it makes a difference)
I get different glitches every time I go on mobile (iPod touch, also an Apple product), and mobile for me is just synonymous with glitches at this point:
Spoiler: show
Post by: Haiz on September 11, 2015, 03:10:47 PM
I get different glitches every time I go on mobile (iPod touch, also an Apple product), and mobile for me is just synonymous with glitches at this point:Spoiler: show
i'm so sorry for laughing but I'm finding the screencaps incredibly funny
Post by: Piney on September 11, 2015, 03:32:07 PM
i'm so sorry for laughing but I'm finding the screencaps incredibly funny
Ha, don't be, it's hilarious. I turn on my iPod in the morning like, "I wonder whose icon the French flag will be today?" ::)
Post by: Ana Nymus on September 11, 2015, 03:34:50 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/hm9V1FX.png)
Apparently I am only mostly sort of myself :P
Post by: Eriaror on September 11, 2015, 04:28:08 PM
(http://i.snag.gy/bcesD.jpg)
Chapter breaks = heart breaks. Truth.
(http://i.snag.gy/mLPsb.jpg)
This must have some implied hidden meaning...
(http://i.snag.gy/IZ8Na.jpg)
Of course you quote everything in Hungarian. Hol itt a probléma?
(http://i.snag.gy/tW0Oy.jpg)
Manifestation of language learning difficulties?
(http://i.snag.gy/mEBvQ.jpg)
Just standard mess. You can move on, nothing to see here.
_________________
Glorious fun aside, I'm taking a very wild guess that clearing the browser's cache might make it better? Actually I have no idea.
Post by: JoB on September 11, 2015, 04:37:26 PM
JoB and Canadian flag switchedWhat! This is an insult, and maple reason to leaf this forum at once! :P
Post by: Daéa Reina on September 11, 2015, 04:41:21 PM
I get different glitches every time I go on mobile (iPod touch, also an Apple product), and mobile for me is just synonymous with glitches at this point:Spoiler: show
OH GOSH
This is wonderful. xD
(http://i.snag.gy/bcesD.jpg)
Chapter breaks = heart breaks. Truth.
(http://i.snag.gy/mLPsb.jpg)
This must have some implied hidden meaning...
Well, if this is some kind of conspiracy against brazilians, I'm out of here.
Also, I'm the american flag?
Post by: jay on September 11, 2015, 05:38:29 PM
Post by: Lenny on September 12, 2015, 02:48:11 AM
What is occurring on Android is that none of those super awesome deviantART or tumblr links are showing up. The old buttons like the website and email links are showing up, but the new ones not.
(Also, is it perhaps possible to also have one of those buttons for public facebook pages? I use that more than tumblr, and know a few other people also have them.)
Post by: viola on September 14, 2015, 12:24:53 AM
(http://i.imgur.com/IQtqiB8.png)
Post by: Eriaror on September 14, 2015, 01:55:02 AM
Ok so the forum has all of a sudden decided I am not authorized to view my own PMs...Try logging out and logging back in?
If it persists, I'll look at it when I get home from school.
Post by: viola on September 14, 2015, 09:10:05 AM
Try logging out and logging back in?
If it persists, I'll look at it when I get home from school.
I tried. I even logged in from my phone and that still happens. It doesn't happen for all PMs but a few of the conversations it won't let me see at all.
Post by: Haiz on September 22, 2015, 04:18:32 PM
Post by: Sunflower on September 22, 2015, 04:44:40 PM
so there's a thing that annoys me with the child boards, namely the "new" buttons that appear when there are unread replies. sometimes these glaringly orange buttons won't leave the main page until ALL the new replies are read/marked as read - anyone else have that problem?
Huh. Sometimes I have that problem, sometimes not. I just checked it out now and the "new" button on the Personal/GDB child board disappeared as soon as I read *one* of the unread threads. But in the recent past, I've had not only your problem, but in fact that the "new" orange button won't disappear even *after* I've read every single unread thread.
Post by: viola on September 22, 2015, 04:52:51 PM
Huh. Sometimes I have that problem, sometimes not. I just checked it out now and the "new" button on the Personal/GDB child board disappeared as soon as I read *one* of the unread threads. But in the recent past, I've had not only your problem, but in fact that the "new" orange button won't disappear even *after* I've read every single unread thread.
Actually this just happened to me
Post by: Piney on September 22, 2015, 04:54:17 PM
Huh. Sometimes I have that problem, sometimes not. I just checked it out now and the "new" button on the Personal/GDB child board disappeared as soon as I read *one* of the unread threads. But in the recent past, I've had not only your problem, but in fact that the "new" orange button won't disappear even *after* I've read every single unread thread.
Oh, that last part has been happening to me for months with all of the boards, even when I was still using the old theme. (I'm pretty sure even before the self-insert child board was made? I can't remember because it's just a thing I expect at this point.) I never said anything because I always just thought the problem was on my end. I've found that if I click the most recent post on a board, that it shows on the home page, then go back to the homepage, the star won't be red but there'll still be all the other unread posts. (But that method only works for the child boards if the most recent post was from a child board :P) Of course sometimes this happens with the child boards, but for me it's not exclusive to child boards, and marking them all as read from the homepage works just as well for either.
Post by: Eriaror on September 23, 2015, 04:37:59 AM
If you read one unread board/thread and then press Back, there's a good chance that the browser loads the whole page from cache, instead of getting it again from the server, so you're actually seeing the page in its past state, when you haven't read the said board/thread yet. So, try pressing the Home option in the menu to get the site in its real state.
Post by: Haiz on September 23, 2015, 04:54:09 AM
I'm not entirely sure that this is the problem you're referring to, but:I almost never press back...
If you read one unread board/thread and then press Back, there's a good chance that the browser loads the whole page from cache, instead of getting it again from the server, so you're actually seeing the page in its past state, when you haven't read the said board/thread yet. So, try pressing the Home option in the menu to get the site in its real state.
edit: i figure the "new" button gets stuck there if I click that one to check unread replies instead of the normal link to a childboard, because if I do that it's fine.
Post by: Jethan on October 01, 2015, 12:02:58 AM
Post by: viola on October 01, 2015, 12:09:32 AM
I have a glitch on the My Messages tab, it keeps indicating I have 1 unread message, but no new message has shown up and it won't go away.
Ana Nymus had this problem too, for her getting a new PM solved the problem.
https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=10.msg64054#msg64054
I'll send you a PM and we'll see if it fixes it.
Post by: Jethan on October 01, 2015, 06:20:48 PM
Ana Nymus had this problem too, for her getting a new PM solved the problem.
https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=10.msg64054#msg64054
I'll send you a PM and we'll see if it fixes it.
Thanks! It's fine now.
Post by: Piney on October 06, 2015, 05:57:08 PM
Spoiler: show
Post by: Haiz on October 06, 2015, 06:34:40 PM
Don't know if this is the right thread for this anymore, but I'm here with more mobile glitches. Got any new ideas?omg yesssSpoiler: show
- viola is hereby decreed to be the entirety of denmark.
- "trying to learn sunflower but pronounciation"
- "ssssoulcount: 0,5 party karris"
- *jethan peeking out at the sound of party*
that emil header looks pretty good though
(excellent reply #444 if you don't mind me saying so)
Post by: Laufey on October 06, 2015, 06:49:02 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/ZNia28c.png)
I love how the only languages that are correct there are Finnish and English, that I do speak, and Norwegian which is on my wishlist. Icelandic has turned into a large quotation mark, the mobile version does not seem to trust my abilities. I guess it's true that I'd butcher Chinese just as thoroughly as I butcher Swedish, but I'm definitely not learning Latin. ;D
Post by: ParanormalAndroid on October 06, 2015, 06:52:18 PM
Don't know if this is the right thread for this anymore, but I'm here with more mobile glitches. Got any new ideas?Oooh, very very broken.Spoiler: show
Eriaror should be told about this directly, it's his mobile theme.
Post by: Piney on October 06, 2015, 07:02:54 PM
Oooh, very very broken.
Eriaror should be told about this directly, it's his mobile theme.
Informed him a few weeks ago and he didn't know what's going on. The glitches change every day, and sometimes it doesn't glitch at all.
omg yesss
- viola is hereby decreed to be the entirety of denmark.
- "trying to learn sunflower but pronounciation"
- "ssssoulcount: 0,5 party karris"
- *jethan peeking out at the sound of party*
that emil header looks pretty good though
(excellent reply #444 if you don't mind me saying so)
Also Mélusine speaks Viola not too bad, and Noodly is trying to learn Sunflower...
Post by: viola on October 06, 2015, 07:06:58 PM
Don't know if this is the right thread for this anymore, but I'm here with more mobile glitches. Got any new ideas?
(http://i.imgur.com/EBGy9MH.png) (http://i.imgur.com/tI3sn4i.png)
Curry is the entirety of Norway and Noodly survived Curry.
I kinda want to just keep taking photos the glitches to see what happens, because this is hilarious XD
Post by: Mélusine on October 06, 2015, 07:13:13 PM
Also Mélusine speaks Viola not too bad, and Noodly is trying to learn Sunflower...Actually, speak Vi is not really difficult, you just have to remember to try to steal things (and not only clothes) often :P
Post by: Curry on October 06, 2015, 07:51:39 PM
Curry is the entirety of Norway and Noodly survived Curry.
I kinda want to just keep taking photos the glitches to see what happens, because this is hilarious XD
Ah yes, you know, I'm a very difficult-to-survive phenomenon. Chaotic neutral and all that. ::)
Post by: Fimbulvarg on October 07, 2015, 08:32:58 AM
I kinda want to just keep taking photos the glitches to see what happens, because this is hilarious XD
It's clearly NOT a glitch, it's a feature.
Curry is the entirety of Norway
Curry for Pres!
Post by: viola on October 07, 2015, 09:15:56 AM
It's clearly NOT a glitch, it's a feature.
Yes! And we should all thank Eri for this masterful creation that gives us insight into who people really are.
Post by: Piney on October 09, 2015, 11:42:12 AM
Spoiler: show
Post by: ParanormalAndroid on October 09, 2015, 12:26:46 PM
Glitches of the day:All fear the Fimbulvoid.
(http://i.imgur.com/l1ddihO.png)
Post by: Haiz on October 09, 2015, 01:33:29 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/l1ddihO.png)
what godforsaken infinity rank did fimby get promoted to now
Post by: Piney on October 09, 2015, 01:36:01 PM
what godforsaken infinity rank did fimby get promoted to now
It wasn't even related to Fim; it was like that in all of the quote boxes and header boxes :P
Post by: Haiz on October 09, 2015, 01:39:46 PM
It wasn't even related to Fim; it was like that in all of the quote boxes and header boxes :P
*whispers* ultimate mass-promotion party
Post by: mithrysc on November 17, 2015, 10:50:24 AM
(http://i.imgur.com/sgpyeYa.png)
It seems the bubbles are a bit overzealous. (Forum looked like this when I logged in, and I actually did have an unread message. Upon checking the message the bubble army went away.)
Post by: Eriaror on November 17, 2015, 01:00:47 PM
I like the new bubble that tells you the number of messages you have, but...er....Whooops, that's what happens when you publish things before you check how they run. Left a = instead of a == in the code part I edited... ::)
(http://i.imgur.com/sgpyeYa.png)
It seems the bubbles are a bit overzealous. (Forum looked like this when I logged in, and I actually did have an unread message. Upon checking the message the bubble army went away.)
It should be fixed now.
Post by: Auleliel on November 20, 2015, 12:45:38 AM
Post by: Eriaror on November 20, 2015, 02:23:38 AM
Sadly I'm not certain what is causing this, maybe some quirk in the database. I ran a "Find and repair any errors" admin task, but that found no error, so if you experience this again we'll look into it more deeply. :)
Post by: Auleliel on November 20, 2015, 05:12:33 AM
Edit: The same thing just happened with the Language Exchange thread--I was sent to Nimphy's post on page 7 instead of to page nine, and the most recent post on page nine is from October.
Post by: Curry on November 20, 2015, 07:08:48 AM
I can confirm this, I came across it once or twice yesterday, when it threw me to about the 500th page of the GDT instead of the new one.
Sadly I'm not certain what is causing this, maybe some quirk in the database. I ran a "Find and repair any errors" admin task, but that found no error, so if you experience this again we'll look into it more deeply. :)
I had this exact experience and was wondering if somebody had edited their post or merged something. Very confused :0
Post by: viola on November 20, 2015, 09:16:32 AM
I just was sent to page 28 of the Meetup thread instead of page 59, and when I went to page 59 there were no new posts. Could this problem possibly be caused by someone making a post and then deleting it?
Edit: The same thing just happened with the Language Exchange thread--I was sent to Nimphy's post on page 7 instead of to page nine, and the most recent post on page nine is from October.
Ah I think I know what happened. I've been reorganizing some old threads, merging some duplicates, moving threads that were on the wrong board, and trying to clean up a bit. I know I merged another meetup thread into the current one at some point and I also changed the language exchange thread. What probably happened was that you were viewing it as I was changing it and it got confused and sent you to a random page.
I know it glitches sometimes when you're looking through board pages and something has been merged or deleted, and the forum displays more thread spaces than there are.
Here's what we'll do: I won't move or delete or merge things today (unless some weird emergency comes up) and you guys let me know if it's still happening. If it is then I'll go take a look at the database for threads and see if it's alright. If not, we know that it was probably caused by my moving things around last nighll
I apologize for all this craziness!
Post by: Solovei on November 21, 2015, 11:41:51 PM
Post by: viola on November 22, 2015, 12:08:27 AM
Uh, I noticed that the Forum Index thread I made seems to have been unstickied? I can't find it at all, actually... o.O Does anyone else have this happen too?
We moved the forum index to the Forum and Website Discussion board (this one) along with Len's how to insert images thread a month or so ago so that it would be in the same place with the helpful information. It's stickied right there :) https://ssssforum.com/index.php?board=4.0
Post by: Solovei on November 22, 2015, 12:15:09 AM
We moved the forum index to the Forum and Website Discussion board (this one) along with Len's how to insert images thread a month or so ago so that it would be in the same place with the helpful information. It's stickied right there :) https://ssssforum.com/index.php?board=4.0Ah, that's probably a good place for it! Thanks :)
Post by: mithrysc on January 05, 2016, 07:19:27 PM
Spoiler: show
Post by: viola on January 05, 2016, 07:29:10 PM
For some reason spoilers don't work when wrapped around tables (I was trying to get the list of Secret Santa people up):Spoiler: show
Yeah I've found that too. For some reason the BBC code is weird about that. I can think of something that might fix it, I'm going to go try it out and get back to you.
Post by: Rabbit on January 05, 2016, 07:35:13 PM
Yeah I've found that too. For some reason the BBC code is weird about that. I can think of something that might fix it, I'm going to go try it out and get back to you.
Quotes and embedded videos also don't work with spoiler tags, it was a minor PITA with the advent calendar.
Post by: viola on January 05, 2016, 08:09:09 PM
Yeah I've found that too. For some reason the BBC code is weird about that. I can think of something that might fix it, I'm going to go try it out and get back to you.
Quotes and embedded videos also don't work with spoiler tags, it was a minor PITA with the advent calendar.
Update: I've looked into it and tried a few things, but they didn't work. I think there's something wrong with the code that reads the post code and makes it into yet another code. I'm going to keep poking things.
The youtube is a bit different because it's actually an added modification, which is probably why it doesn't work.
Post by: JoB on February 07, 2016, 07:02:09 PM
1. Is someone currently changing fonts and font sizes, in particular for the pagetop menubar ... ?
2. Is it possible that edits to preexisting posts do not make the topic (re)appear in the "Recent Unread Topics" page?
(http://i.imgur.com/qiC3JZY.png)
Post by: viola on February 07, 2016, 07:12:45 PM
Two questions:
1. Is someone currently changing fonts and font sizes, in particular for the pagetop menubar ... ?
2. Is it possible that edits to preexisting posts do not make the topic (re)appear in the "Recent Unread Topics" page?
(http://i.imgur.com/qiC3JZY.png)
1. Yes, Eriaror changed the fonts for the page menubar earlier today
2. I'm not sure about the edits, I think they make the post appear unread while viewing the general forum, but I know for sure they don't appear in the "recent unread topics" page.
Post by: JoB on February 13, 2016, 09:35:13 AM
Firefox 44.0 on a Linux laptop, the emote gets displayed to me just fine, both in the original posting and the reply-editing form.
Post by: DB (f.k.a. DaveBro) on March 24, 2016, 07:06:24 PM
Even forcing a higher page using ...page=496, etc, in the URL just takes me to the "Huh, it looks like there's no blog for this comic." (IIRC)
So I've cleaned out my history and rebooted; no change. I can't even see the preview on the home page.
Any diagnoses? :-\
Post by: Fimbulvarg on March 24, 2016, 07:13:32 PM
I can't even see the preview on the home page.
There is no preview at the moment because a new page went up. Does clicking on where the preview should be take you anywhere?
Post by: DB (f.k.a. DaveBro) on March 24, 2016, 08:45:13 PM
I have successfully solved the problem via Inverse Murph-ology--describing said problem and asking for help immediately sent it into hiding. ::) The preview is back, and my phone can once again "see" past 495. Dunno why it acted up, but now it's juuust fiiiiiinnnne. O:-)
I'll happily take theories on why the netbooks weren't affected (Win 7 & 10, respectively) but the phone was.
The 495 limit started yesterday, but the preview has been invisible but clickable for about 2 weeks or more.
EDIT: Difficulties probably just Minna working on the pages, with my worries inflamed by approaching unavoidable phone replacement.
Post by: LooNEY_DAC on April 01, 2016, 12:46:41 AM
Post by: Johannabelle on April 01, 2016, 12:48:50 AM
It seems certain words like o-f are being replaced by character names thus: Mikkel, which is amusing but also annoying....
Tuuri, is this the year's april fool's joke? :P
Edit: lol, Tuuri it is. You guys got me Lalli a bit, I was thinking someone hacked in here and changed stuff Lalli funsies but then I realized what day it is. If anyone wants a post decoded, I've also figured out the words being changed, you can pm me. Though I suggest figuring it out yourself, it's fun.
Edit 2: I just went to bed but I realized that pm actually isn't going to work because the words are still changed there, so I came back to tell everyone that you're on your own! c:
Post by: JoB on June 23, 2016, 05:55:41 PM
For most of the day, my workplace (ISP is a subsidiary of Entega) could not get a connection to the server; still can't. I tried from our hosted servers (at Interxion) just to verify, and everything's A-OK there.
Post by: Sunflower on June 24, 2016, 03:02:31 AM
I don't think that this is something that needs to, or even can, be fixed on the forum server's end, but let me post this FYI just in case:
For most of the day, my workplace (ISP is a subsidiary of Entega) could not get a connection to the server; still can't. I tried from our hosted servers (at Interxion) just to verify, and everything's A-OK there.
So do you think our Forum server is rejecting your workplace's connection request? I'm assuming if you can access the Forum from one account but not another that our servers are more-or-less working, just being overly fussy about whom they allow to access the site...?
Post by: viola on June 24, 2016, 09:50:15 AM
I don't think that this is something that needs to, or even can, be fixed on the forum server's end, but let me post this FYI just in case:
For most of the day, my workplace (ISP is a subsidiary of Entega) could not get a connection to the server; still can't. I tried from our hosted servers (at Interxion) just to verify, and everything's A-OK there.
I would PM hushpiper, she deals with most of the server related things.
Post by: JoB on June 24, 2016, 10:08:33 AM
So do you think our Forum server is rejecting your workplace's connection request?No, that would be ... weird. It rather seems to be something about the peering between the top-tier Internet providers, or even the local ISP on our side. traceroute is showing odd results, too, way before the probes should get anywhere near the server.
I'm tunneling through our hosted servers for the moment. If things haven't fixed themselves next week, I'll get serious about the analysis.
Post by: starfallz on August 04, 2016, 11:56:03 AM
Post by: P__ on August 04, 2016, 02:38:24 PM
Post by: Yuuago on August 04, 2016, 02:40:55 PM
got the same problem as Starz. My most recent mail from the forum was on July 2nd
Thirding this. My most recent mail appears to be from July 16.
Post by: Mélusine on August 04, 2016, 02:53:52 PM
Post by: viola on August 04, 2016, 04:00:26 PM
Post by: starfallz on August 04, 2016, 08:45:00 PM
Post by: Ragnarok on August 04, 2016, 09:57:13 PM
Post by: Juniper on August 12, 2016, 08:29:47 AM
Post by: Gwenno on August 12, 2016, 11:05:06 AM
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/O3ZB5EAHoPw/hqdefault.jpg)
Post by: Gwenno on August 13, 2016, 07:14:28 AM
Post by: Solokov on August 23, 2016, 05:36:00 PM
Ragnarok and I have noticed the occasional pm vanishing into the ether, generally these are response messages in a chain and not new messages. Is this a known issue or did we stumble onto something new?
Post by: viola on August 23, 2016, 08:17:47 PM
Skimming the thread in the meantime.
Ragnarok and I have noticed the occasional pm vanishing into the ether, generally these are response messages in a chain and not new messages. Is this a known issue or did we stumble onto something new?
This actually happens to me as well, I'm not exactly sure what is happening with it, Hush was looking into it but I think some other things came up and it got pushed aside. Send her a PM, she might have a solution for you.
Post by: Solokov on August 23, 2016, 10:29:03 PM
Post by: Guardian G.I. on October 22, 2016, 03:32:46 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/Ysdxe2w.png)
It started a few days ago.
Post by: Athena on October 22, 2016, 03:43:25 PM
Here's a weird thing - very often the site goes offline with this error when I try to load it, especially in the morning and afternoon (European time):
(http://i.imgur.com/Ysdxe2w.png)
It started a few days ago.
It seems to be caused by the DDoS attacks going on in the US (and some other countries) right now. (http://heavy.com/tech/2016/10/ddos-attack-outage-map-what-websites-areas-regions-are-affected-source/) (the forum is hosted on a server in the US I'm pretty sure) The admins are doing what they can. There's talk of getting the forum moved to a different server host as a possible fix, not really sure about that?
Post by: Olga Veresk on April 13, 2017, 06:35:28 AM
In profile, I have this email notifications option:
Notify by email every time you receive a personal message: Always
But I didn't get notifications about 2 private messages from 10 April, and I saw them only today when decided to check the Forum. They weren't in Spam folder.
So, is there any chance to check and fix it?
Post by: JoB on April 13, 2017, 03:15:53 PM
In profile, I have this email notifications option:[temporarily activates e-mail notifications and PMs self]
Notify by email every time you receive a personal message: Always
But I didn't get notifications about 2 private messages from 10 April, and I saw them only today when decided to check the Forum.
[e-mail notification arrives]
Well, at least it's not SMF (the forum software) that's failing. That leaves everything between the forum's hosting's mail systems and your screen to be verified. ;) Your profile's e-mail address ist current?
Both the forum and the first mail server are in Bluehost/Unifiedlayer's address space, so that looks OK, but I have to say that I'm a bit puzzled about the envelope sender ("From_") being 'pogopros@fast27.fastdomain.com' (while the "From:" header is '"The Stand Still, Stay Silent Fan-Forum" <webmaster@ssssforum.com>') ...
Post by: Olga Veresk on April 14, 2017, 05:20:55 AM
It seems to be okay now, I began to get notifications about new PMs yesterday.
But I still haven't got notifications about 2 messages from April, 10.
Post by: Villainous on April 28, 2017, 08:17:47 PM
When I page down on the site, the image also scrolls and changes in a vertiginous way. The code seems to have an JavaScript onScroll function built into it, that while cool, makes me slightly dizzy.
Part of the problem may be that I'm paging rather than scrolling, but just the same.
Incidentally, I really like the little ribbon running down both sides of the content.
Just a thought. Thank you!
Post by: Sunflower on April 29, 2017, 01:07:12 AM
Hello, if I might request a small change, it would be the banner image inbetween sections on the SSSS site.
When I page down on the site, the image also scrolls and changes in a vertiginous way. The code seems to have an JavaScript onScroll function built into it, that while cool, makes me slightly dizzy.
Part of the problem may be that I'm paging rather than scrolling, but just the same.
Incidentally, I really like the little ribbon running down both sides of the content.
Just a thought. Thank you!
Hi, Villainous.
If you're talking about the actual SSSS comic site (http://sssscomic.com/index.php), I'm afraid we can't help you. Minna Sundberg owns the comic site and runs it herself. (I personally don't care for that kind of scrolling either, because it makes me dizzy too.)
To contact Minna, you can try either Disqus: https://disqus.com/by/minnasundberg/ (reply to one of her comments)
or her Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/sssscomic.
She's also on Facebook and Tumblr too, as you can see on the comics page.
Hope that helps!
Post by: Róisín on May 01, 2017, 12:39:08 AM
Which is what I am trying to do, but unsure if I'm in the right place? Hope you can help. I'd forward the message, but not sure how to make that work either.
Post by: Sunflower on May 01, 2017, 12:43:00 AM
Hi helpful people! I hope this is in the right place. I just had a message from Meran ni Cuill saying "Hey Roísín, I can't get to the next page. Got grabbed off to spam. Can you let someone know please?"
Which is what I am trying to do, but unsure if I'm in the right place? Hope you can help. I'd forward the message, but not sure how to make that work either.
Is Meran talking about the next page of this Forum, or of the comic? If the latter, I'm afraid we can't help. If the former, can you ask her what the spam looks like? (Sorry to rope you into essentially the role of a police dispatcher...)
Post by: Róisín on May 01, 2017, 01:28:35 AM
Post by: P__ on May 01, 2017, 05:21:47 AM
Quote from: Meran Ni Cuil
I'm not able to get page 713. I get grabbed off to a "prize page".
Has the comic been hacked???
Post by: Ana Nymus on June 05, 2017, 12:21:41 AM
(http://i.imgur.com/Tc2Z50K.png)
In addition, I can't expand the list any further. So, I can't jump to page 100, for example. Maybe this happened when the previous/next page buttons were added? Whatever the case, it's not a huge bug, but I wanted to bring someone's attention to it regardless.
Post by: ButterflyWings on July 16, 2017, 03:24:50 PM
I have received two reports so far (myself and one other user who cannot use the top right log in menu to log in).
Instead we have to go via the login link on the menu bar.
This one here:
https://cl.ly/273F121x2f38
Wish: Have users able to log in from the top right as well as from the login link in the menu.
Post by: Basse on July 16, 2017, 03:30:30 PM
Issue:Had the same problem here as well.
I have received two reports so far (myself and one other user who cannot use the top right log in menu to log in).
Instead we have to go via the login link on the menu bar.
This one here:
https://cl.ly/273F121x2f38
Wish: Have users able to log in from the top right as well as from the login link in the menu.
Post by: P__ on July 16, 2017, 04:52:35 PM
Post by: thorny on July 17, 2017, 10:03:00 AM
Also, probably, Fimbulvarg, who told me about the workaround and has therefore presumably also seen the problem.
Post by: viola on July 17, 2017, 01:38:09 PM
Post by: hushpiper on July 18, 2017, 02:19:22 PM
Belatedly, regarding this thing:
...I didn't get notifications about 2 private messages from 10 April, and I saw them only today when decided to check the Forum. They weren't in Spam folder.
So, is there any chance to check and fix it?
...Both the forum and the first mail server are in Bluehost/Unifiedlayer's address space, so that looks OK, but I have to say that I'm a bit puzzled about the envelope sender ("From_") being 'pogopros@fast27.fastdomain.com' (while the "From:" header is '"The Stand Still, Stay Silent Fan-Forum" <webmaster@ssssforum.com>') ...
The fastdomain.com thing is the way that the webhost (which is technically Fastdomain rather than Bluehost--same company, same servers, but less crowded and a little more stable) handles PHP email. I believe there was a way to disguise that which we had going before the most recent migration, but there was trouble getting it to work post-migration, so this (which at least gets the email sent out properly) was the compromise. It's functional, but not pretty. If the weird sender address bugs people I can take another look.
About the main issue though, if it was just those two emails then it's likely to remain a mystery, for better or for worse. Unfortunately sometimes emails do just disappear, and there's so many factors that it can be hard to track down. If it's ongoing though, we definitely need to take a closer look.
Post by: Ragnarok on July 19, 2017, 10:20:14 AM
Post by: viola on July 20, 2017, 08:16:16 AM
For some unknown reason, user signatures on mobile are shoved far to the right instead of under the user's post.
It has something to do with the recent changes Eri made to the phone/tablet mode. I've let him know.
Post by: Unlos on August 02, 2017, 05:15:13 PM
[img height=800 width=475]Image[/just an example]
My phone (android with chrome browser) doesn't handle that too well, and I have to sidescroll to see the whole picture. When only one dimension is given, however, the phone manages to adjust the picture to fit the screen just fine.
So
[img width=475]image[/example] adjusts perfectly to the screen.
Would it be possible to set only one dimension when the board auto-adjusts images?
Post by: Unlos on August 20, 2017, 05:27:27 PM
Buuut it makes scrolling through a thread on mobile a bit of a hassle- for almost every post I scroll past, the whole thread jumps back, just a little bit. It took me a little while to understand why the thread kept backtracking like that, but it seems to be because a users picture and info line gets bigger when you tap the top of their post?
Post by: Athena on August 20, 2017, 07:52:46 PM
Yay, the latest update makes everything pretty and centered again!
Buuut it makes scrolling through a thread on mobile a bit of a hassle- for almost every post I scroll past, the whole thread jumps back, just a little bit. It took me a little while to understand why the thread kept backtracking like that, but it seems to be because a users picture and info line gets bigger when you tap the top of their post?
Yes, Eri made it so that when you tap on a post on mobile it shows all hidden information; post count, rank, etc.
Overall a good idea, but I've been thinking; having it on one tap is a little irksome, it gets in the way when trying to open spoilers, for another example. Maybe if it did the same on a double tap, if possible, might be better?
Post by: P__ on August 21, 2017, 05:09:06 AM
Post by: Clayres on October 01, 2017, 02:40:11 PM
(https://screenshots.firefoxusercontent.com/images/82805e87-29d9-4bdc-8c71-5bb54613cb64.png) (https://78.media.tumblr.com/457354846b0f7fd32497ab65ad464b9a/tumblr_ox5qfzGgyu1w2hmino1_1280.png)
Edit: Also, saving edits is impossible, clicking on the button does nothing (only on this particular page).
Post by: Ragnarok on October 01, 2017, 07:19:37 PM
Post by: Solokov on October 01, 2017, 07:28:56 PM
Issue also persists across Chrome and Internet Explorer so it doesn't seem to be a browser issue.
Post by: Lazy8 on October 26, 2017, 06:39:16 AM
Access denied. Your IP address [**.**.**.**] is blacklisted. If you feel this is in error please contact your hosting providers abuse department.
I'm not sure what if anything the mods can do about this, and I eventually fixed it by disconnecting and reconnecting my VPN, but I still thought that somebody ought to know.
Post by: viola on October 26, 2017, 09:45:45 AM
I got this message just now when I tried to access the forum:
Access denied. Your IP address [**.**.**.**] is blacklisted. If you feel this is in error please contact your hosting providers abuse department.
I'm not sure what if anything the mods can do about this, and I eventually fixed it by disconnecting and reconnecting my VPN, but I still thought that somebody ought to know.
Could you PM me the blacklisted IP address? It's possible that you had one that was banned, we've had to ban some due to spam and abuse.
Post by: Lazy8 on October 26, 2017, 06:46:18 PM
Post by: viola on February 07, 2018, 05:39:49 PM
Post by: Lazy8 on February 07, 2018, 06:17:43 PM
Post by: thorny on February 10, 2018, 10:52:17 PM
Post by: Sunflower on February 12, 2018, 04:05:36 AM
Yes, I can see it, and can read threads on it.
Ditto. I saw Roisin's post there that another Forumite couldn't get the Personal board to work. I wonder if that problem was caused by something in her own system, e.g. overactive virus protection.
Post by: viola on February 12, 2018, 10:43:43 AM
Post by: Mélusine on February 12, 2018, 02:27:31 PM
I checked the title privileges and refreshed them, it should be working, Melu is it showing up for you now?Not working on my computer neither my phone. I begin to wonder if I have done something wrong *Doesn’t understand*
Post by: Sunflower on February 15, 2018, 02:14:37 AM
Not working on my computer neither my phone. I begin to wonder if I have done something wrong *Doesn’t understand*
Hmm, that's tricky. You can post, so obviously you're logged in -- so it's not like login problems are keeping you out of the Personal section.
Just to eliminate that possibility, would you mind logging out and then logging back in?
Post by: Mélusine on February 15, 2018, 07:19:38 AM
Just to eliminate that possibility, would you mind logging out and then logging back in?Done without a change. I see all the child boards except this one.
There is no way à wrong manipulation of mine I wouldn’t have noticed could make it disappear ? :/
Post by: viola on February 15, 2018, 11:46:55 AM
Done without a change. I see all the child boards except this one.
There is no way à wrong manipulation of mine I wouldn’t have noticed could make it disappear ? :/
Maybe if you ignored it? But usually that is by topic. Can you get to the personal topics if you click direct links to them from the unread posts section? Maybe try clearing your cookies?
Post by: viola on February 15, 2018, 12:51:31 PM
It was because of her promotion, when she moved to a new user group, that user group hadn't had its permissions properly set up. Róisin is in the 18+ group which allowed her to continue to see the personal board while Mélu couldn't. That's why it was so puzzling. I've fixed the post count user groups by having them all share from the same template rather than each having their own permissions since they all have the same permissions anyways. I've also added a few small things that should have been allowed anyways like deleting your own polls and a few other small things.
Post by: Mélusine on February 15, 2018, 02:25:28 PM
Post by: Keeper on July 16, 2018, 09:22:39 PM
Post by: Hrollo on July 16, 2018, 10:10:06 PM
Post by: hushpiper on July 16, 2018, 10:18:19 PM
Chrome just flagged the forum as "Not secure," citing its security certificate being out of date. Is that right? I'm sure the forum is still safe to use, but wanted to make sure you guys know.
Got a similar warning in firefox.
Well that's annoying, given the cert's supposed to expire tomorrow and that's when I was going to replace it. I'll take care of it; meantime, yes, the forum's still safe to use. My apologies!
Post by: Athena on July 16, 2018, 11:27:25 PM
Post by: hushpiper on July 17, 2018, 01:28:53 AM
Post by: thorny on July 17, 2018, 10:34:47 AM
-- I got that insecure-site warning from Firefox last night here (EDT USA), and decided instead of overriding it just to go to bed. as I suspected it would be fixed in the morning.
Seems OK now. Thanks for fixing it!
Post by: wavewright62 on July 17, 2018, 07:13:09 PM
Post by: wavewright62 on August 15, 2018, 10:55:21 PM
Hi! It’s been a while since someone posted something in this tread...
I’m new to the forum and as I entered I found the map a cool idea!
But what a disappointment when I visited the map and it is blocked because it has a limit of 100 visits :'( :'( :'(
Is there something to do to bring the map project alive again?
Cheers!
That's sad :-[
I could still access it with my editing link, but indeed the website says:(and that means 100 views ever, not per month/year or anything - making it useless for anything much more than a temporary and not-public use)
"Therefore, as of 1st April 2018, ZeeMaps will limit the number of views on free maps to 100. (Free maps means maps that are not owned by an active paid plan). When you reach 100 views, your map will ‘freeze’ and it can only be unfrozen by upgrading to a paid subscription plan."
Sadly, their cheapest non-free plan costs 20 dollars each month (or 200 a year), which is quite steep in my opinion. The alternative would be making a map on another website (either letting go of old markers and minnions, or importing them: it seems it's possible to export them from Zeemaps, though I didn't have the permissions)
Seems like a good idea. Eik must be able to export the map as an admin
I was not aware of the peril to the Minnion Map - but OTOH the vast majority of those markers are quite out-of-date. Is this something that can be exported, or perhaps recreated iin a different capacity?
Post by: P__ on August 16, 2018, 05:32:38 AM
Post by: Kis on August 16, 2018, 08:26:29 AM
https://www.mapcustomizer.com/my-maps/SSSS%20Fandom/edit
Although there seems to be no option of importing data. I'll start searching for more websites like this in a few hours, maybe there is something better
Post by: Kis on August 16, 2018, 11:47:26 AM
Here's the link:
https://umap.geonue.com/en/map/anonymous-edit/971:wsGeX4pUtSmpfNRjq_6iE7qBZ_U
Post by: P__ on August 16, 2018, 03:52:59 PM
Try it, thenasks me to log in, so it wouldn't do. (there's a "bulk entry" option, but it seems to require a text format).
https://www.mapcustomizer.com/my-maps/SSSS%20Fandom/edit
Although there seems to be no option of importing data. I'll start searching for more websites like this in a few hours, maybe there is something better
Umap could be the perfect solution, I'll look at it some tomorrow :)
Post by: JoB on September 17, 2018, 02:02:46 PM
Quote
Hi, I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, but I'm trying to register on the fan forum, and keep getting an error message. I looked all over the forum and can't find a way of messaging the admins, so I'm hoping someone here will be able to help.-- Jody S (http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=968#comment-4100401051)
Post by: Gwenno on September 17, 2018, 03:37:35 PM
Cry for help from the comments section:
-- Jody S (http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=968#comment-4100401051)
Thanks for the update. I've replied to Jody and hopefully, we'll be able to get to the bottom of this soon :)
Post by: viola on September 18, 2018, 11:36:25 AM
Cry for help from the comments section:
-- Jody S (http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=968#comment-4100401051)
She should be able to log on now, I fiddled around with a few things. There is something wrong with our spambot blocker.
Post by: JodyS on September 18, 2018, 12:53:17 PM
Post by: Sunflower on September 18, 2018, 03:03:38 PM
w00t! I'm in!
That's great! Thanks, Viola, and welcome, Jody!
Post by: Gwenno on September 18, 2018, 04:10:36 PM
Post by: JoB on September 19, 2018, 11:09:12 AM
Searching for my own posts that mention "kartoffelsalat" returns an empty list of matches (which is likely correct up to the moment I submit this post).
Searching my posts for "edition" displays many matches (including those with "expedition"), which is to say that a snippet of their content is shown, with the keyword highlighted.
... I suppose that the first result is not quite as it should be?
Post by: midwestmutt on October 03, 2018, 08:58:40 PM
Post by: JoB on October 04, 2018, 05:20:57 AM
She should be able to log on now, I fiddled around with a few things. There is something wrong with our spambot blocker.Is it possible that the symptom has resurfaced (http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=973#comment-4128058863) (with another user trying to register, of course)?
Post by: viola on October 04, 2018, 07:46:32 AM
I seemed to have accidentally deleted the reenactment topic when I meant to delete a post that was not working with attaching pictures. Can this be recovered or is it gone for good?
I will look into it today.
Is it possible that the symptom has resurfaced (http://sssscomic.com/comic.php?page=973#comment-4128058863) (with another user trying to register, of course)?
How many times in a row did they try and make an account? Usually if that happens and you F5 and try again it works. It thinks they're a bot.
Post by: P__ on October 05, 2018, 06:12:41 AM
I seemed to have accidentally deleted the reenactment topic when I meant to delete a post that was not working with attaching pictures. Can this be recovered or is it gone for good?I suppose there's warning messages when deleting stuff. If this can be done, I recommend changing the *thread deletion* message so that it's stated very visibly everywhere that the whole thread will disappear. These problems are but one miss-click and one only-glancing-at-the-warning away
Post by: viola on October 07, 2018, 02:09:46 PM
I seemed to have accidentally deleted the reenactment topic when I meant to delete a post that was not working with attaching pictures. Can this be recovered or is it gone for good?
I can't find a way to get it back without reverting the site back to an earlier state. I'm sorry.
Post by: midwestmutt on October 15, 2018, 08:20:26 PM
Post by: JoB on October 20, 2018, 03:45:36 AM
Post by: Mebediel on October 20, 2018, 01:14:45 PM
Another user-to-be (http://sssscomic.com/comic2.php?page=1#comment-4153771091) who cannot register, I'm afraid ...They're in now!
Post by: JoB on October 24, 2018, 07:27:48 AM
Post by: Ragnarok on October 25, 2018, 08:49:03 AM
... I don't speak any of the cyrillic-written languages, but I do have a hunch that the antibot filter is a tad too user friendly (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=profile;area=showposts;u=1653) now ... :(
A new one, JenniferLov, has popped up.
Post by: wavewright62 on October 25, 2018, 03:45:20 PM
... I don't speak any of the cyrillic-written languages, but I do have a hunch that the antibot filter is a tad too user friendly (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=profile;area=showposts;u=1653) now ... :(
There are a few brand-new Russian users in the ranks, some of whom are now banned for the last few rounds of spam, and some of whom have not yet posted anything. These have email addresses and usernames in a suspiciously similar format to the last two banned users.
OTOH, Tumblr has some Russian blogs generating quality SSSS content, so Russian domains in and of themselves are not untrustworthy. I'd love to see some of those works shared here.
So, new readers, do introduce yourselves over in the Introduction Thread, (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=131.0) and then maybe share with us some ideas why you are so fond of these series before sharing the link 20 times? That's how we roll around here.
Post by: P__ on October 26, 2018, 11:14:51 AM
Post by: JoB on October 26, 2018, 01:15:50 PM
Would preventing people with no posts from making new threads help solve the problem, or would it instead just spread it out to pre-existing threads that didn't ask for it, do you think?I can think of an array of limits that would allow newcomer behavior but curb the sudden burst of link-laden posts from a spambot, but that's not very helpful unless the forum software supports such limits (or you want to roll your own code), I'm afraid. Having that said, it seems that SMF 2.x supports putting users into profiles with different permissions (https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/SMF2.0:Permissions#Post_Moderation) as well as settings so that users below some post count must do "verification" before posting, which seems to consist of randomly chosen knowledge questions (https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/SMF2.0:Security_and_Moderation#Anti-Spam) from a set that SMF would need the admin to provide ...
Post by: viola on October 27, 2018, 02:33:01 PM
I can think of an array of limits that would allow newcomer behavior but curb the sudden burst of link-laden posts from a spambot, but that's not very helpful unless the forum software supports such limits (or you want to roll your own code), I'm afraid. Having that said, it seems that SMF 2.x supports putting users into profiles with different permissions (https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/SMF2.0:Permissions#Post_Moderation) as well as settings so that users below some post count must do "verification" before posting, which seems to consist of randomly chosen knowledge questions (https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/SMF2.0:Security_and_Moderation#Anti-Spam) from a set that SMF would need the admin to provide ...
We've actually put a lot of this in place. I switched it out recently with a recaptcha but I don't think there is a way to stop it completely. We can keep adding restrictions but there are always going to be some that get through and we will just have to stop those ourselves when we see them. That is part of our job after all :)
Post by: JoB on November 26, 2018, 10:57:44 AM
Also:
Emails to this site's webmaster come to me, as well as to all the mods and admins, butOffhand, I don't see any menu or help that would direct (non-logged-in) people to try e-mail-ing in case of (login) problems, much less what address to use. Is that intentional?we've already made the blood sacrifice on the Rune of Confidentialitywe take confidentiality seriously.
Post by: viola on November 26, 2018, 11:06:03 AM
Sorry to be the one who keepsdragging in somewhat-dead crittersreferring you to users' complaints in the comments section, but here (http://www.sssscomic.com/comic2.php?page=19#comment-4212646630) we have a case of "password lost and cannot make a new account" ...
Also:
Offhand, I don't see any menu or help that would direct (non-logged-in) people to try e-mail-ing in case of (login) problems, much less what address to use. Is that intentional?
I'm on it.
Post by: JoB on December 01, 2018, 10:37:50 AM
Post by: wavewright62 on December 01, 2018, 03:34:11 PM
Something new ... is it possible that Kis (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=profile;u=1450)' home IP has somehow gotten onto a (server side) blacklist (http://www.sssscomic.com/comic2.php?page=22#comment-4220494489)?
Yes. I found Kis' ban among the dozens of hits that have happened within just the last 24 hours, and removed it. I don't know whether the ban will be reimposed if Kis tries again now, though, as I can't find a whitelist/always allow list?
Post by: viola on December 02, 2018, 11:27:37 PM
Sorry for all the craziness with access lately. In the last few weeks we've had hundreds if not thousands of attemps to access the site by spambots. We're trying to figure out the most effective ways to prevent spam and sometimes it's a little too effective and prevents actual humans.
Post by: Kis on December 03, 2018, 06:10:00 AM
Post by: JoB on December 03, 2018, 11:32:31 AM
Sorry for all the craziness with access lately. In the last few weeks we've had hundreds if not thousands of attemps to access the site by spambots. We're trying to figure out the most effective ways to prevent spam and sometimes it's a little too effective and prevents actual humans.I take it that fail2ban, or something acting in the same way but built into SMF, is already in action?
How about the registration page JavaScript-loading a web bug from a different site, and checking a la Port Knocking that the registering browser did that ... ?
[ponders use of client certs in the browser, or in OpenVPN connections]
[and then there are such things as site-toplc-specific CAPTCHAs ...
(http://www.seosmarty.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/captcha-7.jpg)(http://www.seosmarty.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/captcha-2.jpg)
]
Post by: wavewright62 on December 03, 2018, 01:24:07 PM
For us it may be:
Complete the phrase: Sigrun Eide is the __________ of the expedition.
1) most qualified captain
2) most best captain
3) man with a past
4) Mary Sue
Post by: viola on December 04, 2018, 10:08:08 AM
Post by: Ragnarok on December 10, 2018, 10:38:21 AM
Post by: wavewright62 on December 10, 2018, 06:15:55 PM
Next I tried logging out and attempting to create an independent profile, again using my work identity. That registration failed - I immediately got an 'Error has occurred!'
So far as I know, nothing about me, my ISP, or my IP address, should trigger the anti-spambot protocols - am I correct?
Post by: viola on December 10, 2018, 11:30:58 PM
Can we get an indian flag ( :india: ) added to the list? Or something to indicate Hindi at the very least.
Tadaaa!
Post by: Unlos on December 21, 2018, 03:24:18 PM
Post by: wavewright62 on December 21, 2018, 08:01:55 PM
Dilandu reports that he's suddenly banned from the forum, I'm guessing it's the antispam things that are a bit too effective again. Can anyone help him?Poor Dilandu, I can see him attempting to log in from all sorts of devices. This is among the hundreds of continuing attempts by the Russian spambots to enter. (This is not hyperbole. There were well over 800 hits since the evening of 10 Dec, at which point I stopped scrolling back.) I identified several basic IP addresses, but they must switch them around, because a different crop have started attempts this week.
Post by: JoB on January 21, 2019, 02:15:04 AM
Over in the comments (on page 42), Kis asked whether someone could unban him (again).
Post by: wavewright62 on January 21, 2019, 02:53:33 AM
Post by: viola on January 21, 2019, 10:26:30 AM
Post by: hushpiper on October 12, 2019, 12:05:54 AM
Post by: Ragnarok on October 12, 2019, 09:59:53 AM
Quick heads-up: I've removed the BotScout mod from our forum, as it was doing its job of keeping spam registrations away too well--by shutting down registrations entirely. I'm looking at options to potentially keep it around, but for the moment, just keep a close eye out for spammers. ;)
Found one!
Seriously though, good luck.
Post by: wavewright62 on October 12, 2019, 08:19:25 PM
I try to scope new registrations for dodgy entities, ones where the IP addresses and hosts don't match each other, as well as email addresses from known spam sites. I especially look for the new class where they put up a website that mashes together completely random phrases from medical journal websites, as a vehicle for generating spam email entities. The Palau address was one of those.
I don't get to check every day, so I'm sorry I missed that one.
Thanks hushpiper for your help!
Post by: hushpiper on October 12, 2019, 10:03:40 PM
It also probably wouldn't be hard to just block Ukraine's IP space wholesale, but that would cause issues for any Ukrainian members or prospective members, so I don't know how good an idea it is.
ETA: Email verification has downsides as well--like the possibility that the verification message might go to spam, although that doesn't seem to be an issue in gmail so far--but it's a common mitigation. Having people contact us by other means if they run into issues seems to be a decent workaround so far?
Post by: wavewright62 on October 13, 2019, 08:01:33 PM
I see one user awaiting email verification now, and I am curious to see the outcome.
The ban on Ukrainian IP is not universal - it is total for one particular mobile bandwidth provider, true, and partial for another provider. So far, I have not heard of any bounced users being from the Ukraine, though, even from among our Russian Forumites.
The newest ban on a gobbledy-gook website has possibly yielded three thwarts within 24 hours, from what I can tell. All of those were trying, as their first touch on the website, to access a thread left by the bot that got through, that has since been banned. Apparently the bot registered another user *while I was instituting the ban* and it never got to post, poor baby.
Post by: Unlos on November 17, 2019, 03:32:03 PM
Post by: viola on November 18, 2019, 11:10:38 AM
Post by: wyrdgrin on November 27, 2019, 02:56:43 AM
Do we have a possibility to set up control questions in the signup process? Super easy ones, but where you need to click the correct answer?
The lovely Wyrd (Hush's other half) has joined the admin team and is working behind the scenes to outfit the forum with protection from spam bots. It will take a bit of time but we should have better security without making things difficult for users.
Right now it's gathering site statistics and reviewing what the forum software is capable of and to make sure it can keep doing what it's doing.
For logging in for the future the initial goal that would affect users would be:
Email only login: using just your private email that you signed up with instead of your public facing user. Less softhacking attempts or spoofiing.
Captcha validation: There's a few heuristics with this but the idea is to use what's on the shelf for the software so it's futureproof.
Everything else should be in the background handling most of the heavy lifting.
With that being said due to holidays, time, pumpkin bread, and just life in general I'll work on this when I can. :)
Happy holidays!
Post by: wavewright62 on January 21, 2020, 04:38:11 PM
Example:
37 Guests, 4 Users (0 Buddies)
Users active in past 15 minutes:
wavewright62, (3 others whose names are redacted)
Most Online Today: 848. Most Online Ever: 848 (Today at 15:30:09)
Now, I would love to think these new usage records that have been reset repeatedly since early December are due to resurgent interest in the Forum and SSSS in general, but the disjoint between the record online figures and the number of registrations/posts leads me to believe that there is something else going on. I should note that I have not seen any hits from banned IPs in a time range any of the times I checked.
Can someone with more visibility into the traffic patterns please take a quick look to see what might be going on?
Post by: viola on January 22, 2020, 01:56:37 PM
Post by: wavewright62 on January 22, 2020, 03:14:39 PM
Post by: Solokov on January 29, 2020, 08:17:41 AM
Post by: Gwenno on January 29, 2020, 09:50:18 AM
vaanikapoor55555 is spamming the forum.
Wowza, that was some intense spamming. I'll go clean that up a bit now. Yikes, been a while since we've had something quite that bad
Post by: wavewright62 on March 01, 2020, 03:18:25 PM
https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=559573.0 (https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=559573.0)
Post by: viola on March 01, 2020, 06:15:04 PM
Our error logs are filling with deprecation errors (8192: Function create_function() is deprecated), but I found a possible fix?
https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=559573.0 (https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=559573.0)
The forum software was in need of an update, and I just fixed that so hopefully it helps.
Post by: Unlos on March 15, 2020, 06:18:35 AM
While logged out, I found no login icon, the only visible option I found was the register button (which I tested but as expected it only lead to registering which did not work since I already have an account). Then I went to this thread to leave a note, but there was no reply button (I forgot to take a screenshot but if you need it I guess I could log out again). Trying to omit the reply button by clicking Violas name did however lead me straight to the login page, along with a note of "you need to be logged in to do this". So there's a back entrance to logging back in case any other users have trouble finding the login icon.
I have Android 8.0.0, might be relevant.
Post by: JoB on March 20, 2020, 01:56:43 PM
"An Error Has Occurred!
The topic or board you are looking for appears to be either missing or off limits to you."
(Been a while, but I remember that the last time I used that link, I was taken to sort of a feedback page to state why I feel the post to be removal-worthy.)
Edit: Now I get that error just trying to open the thread. Guess the admins just happened to remove it while I still had it open?
Post by: wavewright62 on March 20, 2020, 04:47:58 PM
When I try the "Report to moderator" link below (several of) the spam posts here (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=1117.msg160033;topicseen#new), I get a page that says
"An Error Has Occurred!
The topic or board you are looking for appears to be either missing or off limits to you."
(Been a while, but I remember that the last time I used that link, I was taken to sort of a feedback page to state why I feel the post to be removal-worthy.)
Edit: Now I get that error just trying to open the thread. Guess the admins just happened to remove it while I still had it open?
The latter occurred, admin nuked it before it got reported. But, that doesn't answer why *you* couldn't report it.
Post by: viola on March 21, 2020, 12:48:38 AM
When I try the "Report to moderator" link below (several of) the spam posts here (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=1117.msg160033;topicseen#new), I get a page that says
"An Error Has Occurred!
The topic or board you are looking for appears to be either missing or off limits to you."
(Been a while, but I remember that the last time I used that link, I was taken to sort of a feedback page to state why I feel the post to be removal-worthy.)
Edit: Now I get that error just trying to open the thread. Guess the admins just happened to remove it while I still had it open?
It's because I deleted the thread as you opened it. I think it was just bad timing, because now I get the same error message when I try to view the thread or the link you attached.
Post by: JoB on November 18, 2020, 05:05:10 AM
(So I lost the image URL, but that's not a problem, as the jokes the images refer to are quite dated, anyway.)
Post by: viola on November 18, 2020, 10:27:11 PM
Hmmm, was there an attempt to auto-modify forum signatures lately? Just now I noticed that I needed to adapt the language flags in mine, but also that the image off to its right was missing. Turns out that my .sig was suddenly up to the 500 characters limit, cut off in the middle of the "[url=...]" preceding the "[img]...[/img][/url][/td][/tr][/table]".
(So I lost the image URL, but that's not a problem, as the jokes the images refer to are quite dated, anyway.)
Yes, the limit is a bit smaller now, but I only changed that this month. Sorry about the chaos. The image url, at least the one that used to hold up the ip address, I'm pretty sure had been broken for a while. I remember looking at it a few months ago and wondering if maybe the url moved.
Post by: JoB on November 22, 2020, 03:57:36 AM
The image url, at least the one that used to hold up the ip address, I'm pretty sure had been broken for a while. I remember looking at it a few months ago and wondering if maybe the url moved.Yeah, seems that danasoft.com went incommunicado about mid-year ... time to tidy up my
Spoiler: decisions, decisions ... • show
Post by: viola on November 23, 2020, 07:39:40 PM
Yeah, seems that danasoft.com went incommunicado about mid-year ... time to tidy up myroomsig some more, I guess ...Spoiler: decisions, decisions ... • show
Yes XD but also that could end up creating a lot of bot traffic here as well which we wouldn't want either :P
Post by: wavewright62 on December 18, 2020, 11:30:58 PM
so can I center stuff:squirrelcookie: :squirrelcookie:
it should be a doddle
but it never seems to
:squirrelcookie: :squirrelcookie:
I can't figure out why centering formatting works in messages, but not in posts. Any ideas? when I sent the above message to myself as a test, it worked fine.
People have been sending me stories for the Advent Calendar, and the centering formatting does not happen - instead the commands and their brackets appear. It happens whether I cut and paste, or if I format freshly typed words or image tags. For the calendar, the numeral banners are formatted as centered, and they appear, centered properly. But, any images or text below them will not.
Edit: hey, it works in the quotes, too. Here it is in the body of a post:
so can I center stuff
it should be a doddle
but it never seems to
:squirrelcookie: :squirrelcookie:it should be a doddle
but it never seems to
:squirrelcookie: :squirrelcookie:
Oh duck you. NOW it doesn't happen. A
Spoiler: we shall try it within spoilers • show
Okay, it happens within spoilers. By design, the Advent Calendar uses spoilers. Can this even be fixed?
Further edit: maybe not. I found report of this glitch from January 2016. Result then: no, it can't be fixed. Okay.
Post by: JoB on December 19, 2020, 03:44:19 AM
Okay, it happens within spoilers. By design, the Advent Calendar uses spoilers. Can this even be fixed?If the "Preview" function properly mirrors the actual "Post"ing, then the breakage happens only when the innermost [spoiler] has a title (i.e., is of the "[spoiler=yadda yadda]" format:
Spoiler: broken example • show
Spoiler: works as intended • show
barOK, let's see what happens when I actually "Post" this ...
Post by: wavewright62 on December 19, 2020, 04:02:01 AM
Post by: JoB on December 19, 2020, 04:31:00 AM
OK, let's see what happens when I actually "Post" this ...OK, seems to be
The center-in-titled-spoiler combo certainly yields interesting failure modes. I've seen one instance (that I cannot reproduce offhand anymore) where properly balanced tags yielded a working spoiler (with non-working centering inside), followed by "[/spoiler]", as if I had put in an extra closing tag ...
If you want to center everything inside a titled spoiler, it seems to be a sorta-acceptable workaround to put the [center] around the [spoiler] (it seems to only change the title, which is suddenly - but unsurprisingly - centered as well):
Spoiler: foo • show
FWIW, all the "alignment" tags fail in that way, while the IMHO next-closest relatives (pre, sup, sub, tt) work:
Spoiler: foo • show
PSA: Do not use the "Toggle View" button while doing such experiments, it will royally hose the tags in the text you typed so far. >:(
Post by: JoB on December 19, 2020, 04:35:03 AM
The center-in-titled-spoiler combo certainly yields interesting failure modes. I've seen one instance (that I cannot reproduce offhand anymore) where properly balanced tags yielded a working spoiler (with non-working centering inside), followed by "[/spoiler]", as if I had put in an extra closing tag ...Ah, this was how (extra tag - here, a [b] - around the [center]):
Spoiler: foo • show
[/spoiler]
Post by: JoB on December 19, 2020, 04:47:20 AM
Spoiler: show
Spoiler: now b0rken • show
Post by: Jitter on December 19, 2020, 05:33:35 AM
Post by: JoB on December 19, 2020, 07:43:44 AM
Now, a bit of magic ... :
Spoiler: this spoiler is broken • show
Spoiler: this spoiler WORKS : show
Visible difference: Colon ":" instead of a bullet before the "show"/"hide" "link".
Source difference:
Code: [Select]
[spoiler quote=": title text "]instead ofCode: [Select]
[spoiler=title text]Edit to add: ... I'm still curious what the "log" flag does. [...]
... OK, it doesn't work at all. Probably for the better. :3
Post by: wavewright62 on December 19, 2020, 11:53:25 PM
(http://i.imgur.com/ErsBGkX.png)
Research ftw, my good sir
Post by: Mirasol on January 21, 2021, 10:58:10 AM
Lately I´ve been continuously getting a bug where the little red "new"-sign on threads where I haven´t read some messages yet just disappears, without me having clicked on the thread. Usually after I clicked on one, all the other ones or at least the one directly below it are gone. They reappear most of the time if I completely go back to the home-page and come back, but then it happens all over again. Is someone else running into this issue too?
It´s really not that big of a problem, just kind of annoying sometimes.
Post by: wavewright62 on January 21, 2021, 02:31:28 PM
Thanks for pointing it out. More experienced minds may know.
Post by: viola on January 21, 2021, 06:15:56 PM
Post by: wavewright62 on January 21, 2021, 11:30:21 PM
Post by: Mirasol on January 22, 2021, 02:05:23 PM
Does it make a difference if you refresh the page? Sometimes if you hit the back button the site doesn't log that you've read a message.
Like Wave said, it´s kind of the opposite problem. It logs messages as read that I haven´t read yet. I usually refresh the page every time when I go back to a board, so it´s more safe to say that it only happens when I refresh it.
Post by: Tarnagh on March 28, 2021, 09:20:23 PM
Is there a way to make "night mode" permanent, rather than toggling it every time I return to the site?
Post by: viola on March 28, 2021, 09:31:07 PM
Um. Apologies if this isn't the proper thread to ask this but I'm really not sure where else to put it. This isn't really a bug/thing to fix (nor is it an "improvement" so far as I can tell) but ...
Is there a way to make "night mode" permanent, rather than toggling it every time I return to the site?
It depends on your cookies, it should stay on if you're using the same device and you have cookies on. If you're switching between devices or clearing your cache or using different browsers it will revert to normal.
Post by: Tarnagh on March 28, 2021, 09:58:54 PM
It depends on your cookies, it should stay on if you're using the same device and you have cookies on. If you're switching between devices or clearing your cache or using different browsers it will revert to normal.Hrm. I only have a PC so it's this same device every time. Cookies should be on. Unless the squirrel cookies are staging an uprising. ;) I'll poke it a little more. I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong.
ETA: Figured it out, I guess. There's a quirk in the Universe that says if I comment/complain about something, it will fix itself. This seems to be the case once again because now dark mode is staying on! LOL
Post by: wavewright62 on March 29, 2021, 01:21:21 AM
Hrm. I only have a PC so it's this same device every time. Cookies should be on. Unless the squirrel cookies are staging an uprising. ;) I'll poke it a little more. I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong.
ETA: Figured it out, I guess. There's a quirk in the Universe that says if I comment/complain about something, it will fix itself. This seems to be the case once again because now dark mode is staying on! LOL
(https://i.imgur.com/S9L8TRx.png)
Calling a tech always works!
Post by: Jitter on March 29, 2021, 12:38:28 PM
Post by: Tarnagh on March 29, 2021, 08:07:48 PM
Tarnagh, that’s offically known as the Demo Effect. Sometimes it materializes by causing a malfunction when you are about to demo something. But even more prevalent occurrence is things working when you are trying to show someone that it doesn’t.If it's any consolation, it's not working properly anyhow. I'm noticing that once I've set it for night mode, it works fine until I close the browser ... which is why I thought it was fixed before.
I just have to reset it every time I open the browser again. Ah, well. I can live with it. :)
Post by: viola on March 29, 2021, 10:07:13 PM
If it's any consolation, it's not working properly anyhow. I'm noticing that once I've set it for night mode, it works fine until I close the browser ... which is why I thought it was fixed before.
I just have to reset it every time I open the browser again. Ah, well. I can live with it. :)
There is one more thing you can try. If you go to profile: modify profile: look and layout, the first option says current theme, and you can click change and there are a few options you can choose from. That should put night mode as your preference and then it would remember it every time you log in.
Unfortunately there are a few wonky theme things that need to be fixed, but will have to wait until the next version of SMF is released, and it's still in beta mode for the time being.
Post by: JoB on May 10, 2021, 03:26:15 AM
- The User Help Page (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=help) still tells us to insert flags with the country name,, e.g., ":germany:" (→ :germany:), rather than the two-letter code, ":de:" (→ :de:).
- A number of links in the pinned "Important Information" thread (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=416.msg17211#msg17211) are broken because they're still using the forum's old hostname "ssssforum.pcriot.com". (I suppose that that's not actually limited to that one HowTo thread, either.)
Post by: viola on May 10, 2021, 09:05:33 AM
Two minor things:
- The User Help Page (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=help) still tells us to insert flags with the country name,, e.g., ":germany:" (→ :germany:), rather than the two-letter code, ":de:" (→ :de:).
- A number of links in the pinned "Important Information" thread (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=416.msg17211#msg17211) are broken because they're still using the forum's old hostname "ssssforum.pcriot.com". (I suppose that that's not actually limited to that one HowTo thread, either.)
Thanks for letting us know!
The help page is incredibly frustrating to update becuase it's hard coded into the site and the only way to change it is by updating the code. I have a number of things I need to fix on it, but it's on the list of things to do during the reorganization.
Post by: JoB on May 11, 2021, 02:28:42 AM
The help page is incredibly frustrating to update becuase it's hard coded into the site and the only way to change it is by updating the code.... change the menu bar instead and have the "Help" entry point to a topic/post for easier editing, then ... ? ;)
(Speaking of the menu bar, I suppose that the link to www.hummingfluff.com doesn't match "City of Hunger" anymore, either ...)
ETA: Of course, replacing the Help page with a plain posting will sink all hopes of ever again having it auto-adapt to a user's preferred language, but it seems that the account settings (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=profile;area=account) offer only English and Finnish, anyway ...
Post by: Annuil on May 11, 2021, 11:17:22 PM
Tarnagh, that’s offically known as the Demo Effect. Sometimes it materializes by causing a malfunction when you are about to demo something. But even more prevalent occurrence is things working when you are trying to show someone that it doesn’t.Oh, goodness, my dad used to be a system administrator, he worked with servers for some company and he had tons and tons of stories of how people would call him and some of his colleagues about problems with their computers and the moment they called everything started working perfectly well!
He still has the power over some electronic devices. Most of the time it's enough for him to just come close to something that doesn't work and it forgets its problems and runs without any issues o_O O_o
And things not working when you want to show them to other people?.. I think that's the curse of humanity :'D We are doomed to fail every time we demo anything...
Post by: JoB on July 30, 2021, 12:14:18 PM
Please try to join the 18+ group (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=profile;area=groupmembership) without setting a birth date first. It seems to (now?) have worked for me, too ...
(On the page to enter your birth date (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=profile;area=forumprofile), did you notice the "Change profile" button to the lower right to actually submit your changes?)
1. I tried that, and I'm off limits.I can confirm that even if my profile settings page reports "Your profile has been updated successfully" in green, my birth date remains 0001-01-01 (instead of the test values I entered, e.g., 2001-11-11).
2. I know you're being thorough... Yes, I used that button each and every time. And it never worked. The birthdate will not change.
ADDITIONAL: I followed the link in JoB's email and I'm in the Mature Group... but my birthdate hasn't been changed still.
Puzzling!
... probably quite good that people now can join the 18+ group without the background check. (Or did I really pass as a 2+-millennia-old when I tested the join/leave functionality? ;) )
Post by: viola on July 30, 2021, 06:45:57 PM
@Yastreb if you're having trouble joining still I can assign you to the group.
Post by: Yastreb on July 30, 2021, 09:57:12 PM
@Yastreb if you're having trouble joining still I can assign you to the group.
Thanx for the thought, but I made it there. The irony is that after some thought, I realised that the chapter I posted wouldn't be the proper first chapter in any event.
Post by: JoB on November 29, 2021, 07:58:14 AM
Post by: Keep Looking on November 29, 2021, 11:26:15 AM
FYI (Róisín herself remains unfazed), it seems that she cannot see all the threads anymore, as the Birthdays one in particular is missing / gives her an error; see details in this post (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?topic=5.msg186510#msg186510) and the replies thereto.
Alrighty. That sounds like it might be an issue with the roles (eg. the new fancy post count role she has) - I'll see about getting it fixed.
Post by: Róisín on November 29, 2021, 10:19:44 PM
Post by: Keep Looking on November 30, 2021, 01:35:08 AM
Thank you thank you, whoever fixed this! It now seems to be working again. Yay!
I'm glad that my somewhat slap-dash fix actually worked!! Welcome back to the personal boards.
Post by: Róisín on November 30, 2021, 03:50:23 AM
Post by: Mirasol on January 20, 2022, 11:00:43 AM
I seem to be getting a bug lately that the "Crying while laughing" emote, no matter whether I type the code out or I directly click on it, doesn´t show up in my messages anymore. Is this happening for anyone else? Here: :'D
Testing other emotes, the same seems to be happening with the "Cry" emote: :'( All others are fine as far as I can tell.
(I only tested the picture emotes, not the flags)
Post by: Jitter on January 20, 2022, 01:35:12 PM
:'D 😂
Abov, the first is the Forum emote, the second one is from the Emoji keyboard on my iPad and looks like an emoji to me.
Post by: Keep Looking on January 20, 2022, 08:54:27 PM
Post by: Keep Looking on January 20, 2022, 09:04:23 PM
o_O :) <3 ;) :D ;D >:( :( :o O_o O_O 8) XoX :lalli: :? :tuuri: ::) :emil: :P :sigrun: :-[ :mikkel: :-X :reynir: :-\ :siv: :-* :torbjorn: :3 :onni: :V :trond: :'( :sparkle: ^-^ :kroner: >:D :hat: :)) :betterhat: :haw: :headbang: :'D :squirrelcookie: O:-)
Post by: MoreJoB on March 05, 2022, 03:33:52 PM
(Firefox 97.0 on Fedora 35.)
Post by: Jitter on March 05, 2022, 05:37:03 PM
No, More of JoB is not my husband, he deleted the account when we were satisfied it had been activated.
Post by: Keep Looking on March 06, 2022, 06:56:51 AM
Post by: Jitter on March 06, 2022, 07:04:10 AM
Post by: nuffe on March 09, 2022, 12:00:34 PM
Post by: Jitter on March 09, 2022, 12:01:45 PM
Post by: JoB on April 18, 2022, 05:01:04 AM
Post by: Jitter on April 18, 2022, 06:45:38 AM
Post by: Gwenno on April 19, 2022, 06:26:07 PM
Seeing "Book 4 kickstarter is live" and "Minna live-streams ...", I wonder whether the autorotating "News" box top right could use a little update ... 8)
Hahah, a fair observation ;D The Kickstarter message has been removed! I also noticed that I forgot to update the Comic of the Month message for April, which has also been fixed :)
Post by: JoB on May 02, 2022, 05:42:22 AM
Spoiler: SCNR • show
Post by: wavewright62 on May 02, 2022, 06:20:11 AM
Post by: thegreyarea on May 02, 2022, 08:23:49 AM
Instead of "prologue" we could have "None" or "non-SSSS", and then let prologue images remain there, or move them to chapter 1, that could be renamed "Chapter1+prologue".
Likewise, instead of "unknown characters" we could have "Others" or "non-SSSS".
Not a perfect solution, I know... but an improvement.
Post by: Keep Looking on May 03, 2022, 06:53:42 AM
Post by: wavewright62 on May 07, 2022, 04:04:26 AM
I've gotten the hang of adding images (including having a screenshot of the existing categories there to avoid duplication/redundancy).
One thing I learnt the hard way and have yet to go back and fix: the size of the image at the time of uploading is the size it will be, even if you subsequently change its size at the source.
This may not be the place for it, but how I'd structure the Reaction Image search sidebar menu:
Character tag - the main 8 each get their own (Tuuri, Lalli, Emil, Sigrun, Onni, Mikkel, Reynir, and Kitty)
The Quartet
Prologue characters
Family members of the SSSS crew (arguably the Prologue characters can go in here too)
Supernatural beings / Trolls / Beasts
Other SSSS characters
Other Minna Sundberg
Other
Source - unspecified, or
SSSS Prologue
SSSS Adv. 1 & 2
Other Minna Sundberg
Other media
Then a comma-delimited keyword search (as it is now). Maaaaybe also a box of 'Popular keywords' that contains a drop-down list of any keywords with more than x number of entries, such as cake, blep, Sleipnope, etc)
The 'other Minna Sundberg' leaves scope for ARtD, CoH, one-off art, LP, the newer comics, etc.
For the emotions, I would consider paring it down considerably and installing a drop-down list, with up to 5 choices per entry. You really could bundle anger, upset, chagrin, distressed and offended under 'upset', or bundle nice, supportive, smiling, happy, joy, enthusiastic and excited (probably more) under 'positive' or 'happy'. Then choose the image you think fits best.
Post by: Jitter on June 18, 2022, 08:52:34 AM
Post by: dmeck7755 on June 18, 2022, 08:59:39 AM
Is anyone else experiencing loads of ”this site is currenlty unavailable” with he Forum? I am, but I don’t know if it’s my end or the Forum’s, I haven’t had time to surf anywhere else.Yes.
I thought it was my VPN, but tried a few different networks and th same thing. Today seems pretty good (so far)
Post by: tehta on June 18, 2022, 09:12:43 AM
Post by: thegreyarea on June 18, 2022, 07:50:29 PM
(One can guess there's a lot of cyberwarfare going on these days, with widespread effects...)
EDIT: Meanwhile I watched carefully and it seems the Forum is particularly affected... :(
Post by: Keep Looking on June 18, 2022, 11:59:14 PM
I have noticed that my ao3 and tumblr have been struggling to load sometimes, even when other sites are loading fine, but if it's affecting the forum particularly badly I can try and see what can be done about it.
(edit: in fact, it's acting up as I'm trying to post this comment)
Post by: Keep Looking on June 19, 2022, 12:10:29 AM
Post by: Keep Looking on June 20, 2022, 10:45:00 PM
I've noticed today going on the forum that I haven't experienced any issues so far, so potentially the host may have resolved the issue themselves already. However, if you guys are still experiencing issues please let me know so that we can get this sorted.
Post by: thegreyarea on June 21, 2022, 01:23:22 AM
I had no issues for a while. Seems the host did it's homework! :)
Many thanks for Looking after it and for trying (together with our dear Wave) to make the reaction hoard better.
Post by: Keep Looking on August 04, 2022, 02:30:38 AM
Sorry for the long wait (I've had a weirdly large amount of stuff going on in my life, haha) but I've finally updated the reaction image hoard!
Post by: JoB on August 04, 2022, 06:52:56 AM
I've finally updated the reaction image hoard!... is it just me (and my FF 103.0 on Linux), or has it become impossible to search for anything other than by hitting "Load all Images" and eyeballing the entire list?
Post by: Jitter on August 04, 2022, 07:08:08 AM
Post by: Keep Looking on August 04, 2022, 10:27:59 AM
... is it just me (and my FF 103.0 on Linux), or has it become impossible to search for anything other than by hitting "Load all Images" and eyeballing the entire list?
Oh, no, that's not great. Yeah, that's not working on my one either. I must've bumped something in the editing process! I'll see what I can do to fix it over the weekend.
Post by: Keep Looking on August 07, 2022, 02:27:36 AM
Post by: JoB on August 07, 2022, 05:46:36 AM
Alrighty, the search function in the reaction image hoard should be working smoothly again!... bar some metadata confusion, I'm afraid ...
Example:
- Searching with "Filter for Chapter: Other Media" does not yield any matches.
- Searching for the "AstralSounds" category and clicking the one match open shows "Chapter NaN", then clicking "Edit" does not show any "Chapter", but "Source" is already set to "Other Media".
- The one match for "SwordInterval" listed "Chapter: Prolouge" [sic!], when I changed "Source" to "Other Media", it changed to "Chapter NaN", too.
(Both images correctly show up when searching for "Non SSSS characters" now, though.)
Post by: Keep Looking on August 07, 2022, 06:41:00 AM
... bar some metadata confusion, I'm afraid ...
Example:
- Searching with "Filter for Chapter: Other Media" does not yield any matches.
- Searching for the "AstralSounds" category and clicking the one match open shows "Chapter NaN", then clicking "Edit" does not show any "Chapter", but "Source" is already set to "Other Media".
- The one match for "SwordInterval" listed "Chapter: Prolouge" [sic!], when I changed "Source" to "Other Media", it changed to "Chapter NaN", too.
(Both images correctly show up when searching for "Non SSSS characters" now, though.)
Ah, that's not great! I'll see if I can find the issue for that this week. I'm glad that the character tags are working, but there must be something that's not lined up quite right with the chapter/source tags.
Post by: JoB on December 05, 2022, 03:17:27 AM
Post by: Keep Looking on December 06, 2022, 07:21:20 PM
I'm getting timeouts from the server quite frequently lately (like ~15m before now, i.e., 05-Dec 8 am UTC), am I just (repeatedly) picking the wrong time to try or ... ?
I've got no idea what's going on because I haven't changed anything on the forum recently, but you're not the only person experiencing this - I also couldn't load the forum 15 minutes ago as it kept timing out. It's probably an issue on the hosting end but if it keeps happening I'll see what can be done to address it.
Post by: Jitter on December 15, 2022, 10:39:42 AM
Post by: thegreyarea on December 15, 2022, 02:20:41 PM
I can't find anywhere what is current Forum time, because I have my settings for my own timezone. I know it's somewhere, but where oh where?Funny, I never knew that one could change the forum time... :)
To (try) to answer your question, the Forum time seems to be GMT-5, i.e. US Eastern Time zone (New York)
BTW I'm also getting time-outs quite often these days. I'd like to ask Keep to ask someone if there's any problem...
Post by: thorny on December 15, 2022, 02:30:26 PM
Post by: lwise on December 15, 2022, 03:14:57 PM
Post by: JoB on December 15, 2022, 04:12:33 PM
I can't find anywhere what is current Forum timeIt's probably not what that page is meant for, but I do get told what the "current forum time" is here (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=profile;area=theme).
(I might be wrong, though; since the EU does its DST switching on other days than the US, the ability to set a constant offset from "forum time" isn't going to be error free, anyway, so I just leave it set to zero, and "forum time" and "my personal time" cannot be distinguished.)
Post by: wavewright62 on December 15, 2022, 04:22:51 PM
Post by: Keep Looking on December 16, 2022, 03:30:09 AM
Last time I asked Hushpiper about the timeouts (back in June when they were happening quite often) they said that it was probably an issue with fastdomain (the host of the forum). If people feel that the timeouts are getting really bad, I can potentially talk to Hushpiper about moving the forum to a different host or box, so keep me updated if you're finding it really disruptive.
Post by: JoB on December 16, 2022, 03:39:05 AM
On desktop, I can see the Forum time in the 'Hello wavewright62' box with the links to unread posts.No, that's the personal time"zone" (actually a fixed offset) you have set in your profile (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=profile;area=theme).
I just set my offset to +6 for a test, now that page shows me "16-12-2022, 09:33:42" in the "Hello JoB" box but "Current forum time: 16-12-2022, 03:33:42" underneath the field where I enter my offset.
Post by: wavewright62 on December 16, 2022, 04:52:11 AM
No, that's the personal time"zone" (actually a fixed offset) you have set in your profile (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=profile;area=theme).
I just set my offset to +6 for a test, now that page shows me "16-12-2022, 09:33:42" in the "Hello JoB" box but "Current forum time: 16-12-2022, 03:33:42" underneath the field where I enter my offset.
Ah.
So, I never did that.
Therefore I assume I have the default, Forum time. (I do have a fair grip on local time time, what with the clock in the corner of the screen, and the 16-18 hour difference.) In December, it becomes important that I know Forum time.
Post by: Jitter on December 16, 2022, 11:28:56 AM
I knew it was somewhere in the bowels of the profile, but didn’t quite get onto the “look and feel” form. So thank you JoB!
Post by: JoB on December 16, 2022, 11:55:06 AM
I also know what the time is here now, but I want to see when previous posts have gone up :)FWIW, test-changing my offset from the default "0" to "6" also changes the "Today at 11:28:56" displayed above your post to "Today at 17:28:56".
If only it were to accept proper timeZONES as the setting, rather than a simple (fixed) offset to whatever "forum time" is, it would be a really useful localization tool ...
(I know there's a unixoid OS underneath the forum, so there's a system clock running on (DST-less) UTC and a catalogue of timezone definitions that receives OS updates, available to all software that knows to make use of such features.)
Post by: Keep Looking on December 17, 2022, 06:02:54 AM
(I have to admit, though, that before now I didn't actually know that the personal time feature existed)
Post by: JoB on December 17, 2022, 08:59:05 AM
Do you want me to see if we can change the way that you can self-allocate what personal time it shows you (ie changing it into choosing a timezone from saying how offset you are from forum time which afaik is american east coast time)? It doesn't sound too impossible to do.I would consider it a notable improvement of SMF, but not for myself, thanks. I log in straight to the Recent Unread Topics page (https://ssssforum.com/index.php?action=unread) to catch the news, and when I dig into the forum's past (and were concerned with the original posting timestamp in the first place ...), the important part rather is the date and not the exact time. 8) I'm just noting that if I wanted the timestamps to be properly given per my timezone, the differing DST rules between that and the forum time would prevent the "constant offset" mechanism from achieving that.
(... already / so far. Can't wait for the EU to abolish DST switching altogether.)
FWIW, we're running SMF 2.0.19, so we seem to be sorta caught in between existing mods (https://custom.simplemachines.org/index.php?action=mods) for 1.1.x (https://custom.simplemachines.org/index.php?mod=1504) and 2.1 (https://custom.simplemachines.org/index.php?mod=4297) ... :3
Post by: thorny on May 25, 2023, 09:27:44 AM
Quote
Table './pogopros_ssss/smf_sessions' is marked as crashed and should be repaired
Other sites were working normally for me.
I presume it was repaired, whatever it is, as things seem normal now. But I don't see anything on the forum about it. Was it somehow just me, or was it a forum problem?
And also: is there a way I could have reported this for attention, given that I couldn't get at the boards to do it here?
Post by: Keep Looking on May 25, 2023, 10:26:43 AM
I do check the forum every day to see what's happening in case an issue like this comes up and I need to find a way to resolve it or contact someone who can (usually hushpiper). However, my email is keeplooking353@protonmail.com if you want a way to get in touch or alert me to things if you can't do so through the forum.
Post by: thorny on May 25, 2023, 02:44:03 PM
-- and I figured the lack of notice was probably due to mods being busy. :)
Post by: thegreyarea on May 25, 2023, 07:26:52 PM
(of course the Forum has to be standing over something. Nobody leaves a website on the ground, it's not hygienic)
Thankfully it's all good now. :)
Thanks Keep, and Hushpiper. You are great! Also I wrote down the contact email, just in case.
Post by: wavewright62 on May 26, 2023, 06:39:28 PM
Post by: NightMareMage on November 04, 2023, 11:37:11 PM
So I came back after IDK how long and found that my access to the Mature Board was gone. When I click on it it says, "The topic or board you are looking for appears to be either missing or off limits to you."
I am not sure if it is down for others. I also thought that maybe my access was removed because I did not have my age in my profile, so I fixed that.
Sorry again if I should have taken this somewhere else on the forum, but this thread was the closest I could find for this issue.
Post by: Keep Looking on November 05, 2023, 03:58:00 AM
Post by: Keep Looking on November 05, 2023, 04:24:15 AM
It appears that something has broken with the mature board and / or some of the forum membergroups because normal (non-admin) members do not seem to be able to access the mature board (clicking on it gets an error readout). The mature board definitely still exists because I can access it, and after some poking at membergroups I am still not sure what is going on, so this might take a while to resolve.
Would any of the mods be able to let me know if they're able to access the mature board?
I might take a while to fix this issue as I am honestly stumped as to what is going on (and have exams this week), but thank you for letting me know what's happening.
Post by: Jitter on November 05, 2023, 10:37:18 AM
Post by: Jitter on November 05, 2023, 10:38:44 AM
Post by: NightMareMage on November 09, 2023, 06:56:19 PM
Post by: Keep Looking on November 10, 2023, 07:45:20 AM
Post by: Keep Looking on November 11, 2023, 09:29:15 PM
Post by: Keep Looking on November 11, 2023, 09:36:10 PM
Post by: thorny on November 11, 2023, 10:01:27 PM
Post by: NightMareMage on November 11, 2023, 10:37:03 PM
And thank you to whoever fixed it. If that person was not you Keep Looking , then thank you anyway as I know you were going to when you had time.
Post by: JoB on January 07, 2024, 05:30:02 AM
Post by: Keep Looking on January 07, 2024, 07:21:20 AM
Post by: Keep Looking on January 07, 2024, 07:29:03 AM
This seems like a fairly major issue with the search function in general, and one I am definitely not confident in my own abilities to solve. If people are finding this an issue I'm happy to contact Hushpiper and see if they can do anything.
Post by: wavewright62 on January 08, 2024, 02:44:21 AM