Bugs and things to fix

[StellersJayC]

Um, here's an interesting one: I'm having text that looks like the below appear in various places around the forum. The first time it happend was when I refreshed the update page. Since then it has... Inserted itself into various posts on the General Discussion Thread. It looks like this, but is much, much longer:

|??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$0?y7?rm???1[Pd?q0??????Q??%I0?I???1sV?(?G????:???d?U?.aD??,???y2%??,???\?I??Fl?]9G??$?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.

[Pessi]

I get "Forbidden" every time I try to post in the vocaroo thread. I've vocaroo'ed the Finnish SSSS names for starfallz and can't post them now

[Richard Weir]

It appears that the site's webhosting company runs an anti-spam program that intercepts ALL communications to their server and blocks packets that contain certain words. Known examples are the names of various proprietary drugs such as pen-icillin, and lots more.

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.

[undefined_]

There seems to be a problem with the password reset system.
I created an account a few days ago (undefined), 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).

[Nimphy]

There seems to be a problem with the password reset system.
I created an account a few days ago (undefined), 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)

[Eich]

There seems to be a problem with the password reset system.
I created an account a few days ago (undefined), 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).

I've reset your password.  Check your email and follow the instructions! 
Is it okay with you if I delete the "Undefined_" account?

[undefined]

I've reset your password.  Check your email and follow the instructions! 
Is it okay with you if I delete the "Undefined_" account?

Thanks!
Yeah, you can delete that account, I don't need it any more.

[Sunflower]

FYI, admins:  At least two Disqus posters can't reach the Fan-Forum site at all.  Is there any reason to think it could be us, not their computers/whatever?

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 ( ? )

[Fimbulvarg]

Not Me 
My computer gave me "the blue screen of death" when I visited the forum today ( ? )

That sounds like a computer problem, not a forum problem.

[Sunflower]

Aaargh.  The forum's weird censor has NOW decreed that the card games "po-ker" and "Texas Ho-ld Them" are verboten.   

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...!

[victrixia]

Okay, I'll just test this thing here so I can see the network routing. Oxycod-one. Aspirin. Advil. Lemsip.

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)

[Koeshi]

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.

[Sunflower]

Great analysis!  I don't think we've had the technical plumbing under the "naughty words" problem explained so clearly.

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. :/

[victrixia]

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.

[victrixia]

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!

My favourite is this though: