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Forum Functions & Functionality: Technical Problems & Known Issues

I just started using a popular VPN and when I have it turned on and try to access this forum my “IP address is banned”. I’ve tried changing which server I’m coming through but all seem to be similarly banned. Am I correct in deducing that this is because bad guys have in the past come through these same VPN servers to attempt unsavory actions against our forum site? And that I’m basically unable to use my shiny new VPN to come here? Urghhh.

This means of course that the NSA will continue to be able to monitor my activity here.
I use 'turbo VPN' which is free and have no issues accessing the site :p
 
Loading is very slow from this morning. No other site is affected. Don't know if it's just my area, NY state Spectrum.
 
Loading is very slow from this morning. No other site is affected. Don't know if it's just my area, NY state Spectrum.

I had some time-outs earlier in the day, too.

I don't know the cause, but it's nothing we've been warned to expect by the Tech-God.
 
I was experiencing random slow loading this morning as well. If anyone needs to know, I'm using mobile phone service in the Long Island NY area on the Verizon network.
 
I too couldnt access the site for about 30 mins earlier today
 
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I was experiencing random slow loading this morning as well. If anyone needs to know, I'm using mobile phone service in the Long Island NY area on the Verizon network.

I've been having random slow page loading and occasional time outs too, it's been happening all week, thought it was more computer issues here, but relieved to know it's not just me.
 
I've been having random slow page loading and occasional time outs too, it's been happening all week, thought it was more computer issues here, but relieved to know it's not just me.
Ditto here.
 
Yes ... This slow-down / bogging-down behavior has been steadily increasing during this past week. We're trying to determine whether there's a specific cause or problem.
 
I've had the slowing down/not loading etc. No problem, I just switch to one of those @Swifty webcams for a while.
 
Hmm, it seems speedier this morning and admittedly I am now browsing on a PC as compared to a phone - but I've noticed that the google analytic / google tag manager scripts add about a third to the page load time, if that's of any help.
 
Hmm, it seems speedier this morning and admittedly I am now browsing on a PC as compared to a phone - but I've noticed that the google analytic / google tag manager scripts add about a third to the page load time, if that's of any help.
It's often scripts and advertising from "outside" which slows sites down.
 
A query.

The various emoticons available for 'liking' a post? Are they extensible?

If so , could we add a 'knowing wink'? Especially useful in conspiracy discussions.

I'm really pleased we have more than just like - it always seemed wrong to like a post where one hated that whatever was brought to our attention had happened but one appreciated the poster for drawing attention to it. 'sad' covers that quite well.
 
A query.

The various emoticons available for 'liking' a post? Are they extensible?

If so , could we add a 'knowing wink'? Especially useful in conspiracy discussions.

I'm not sure.

We didn't actually request the ones we have, they just turned up with a board upgrade and it took us a short time to figure out how they worked.

Whether there are more, I'll have to enquire.
 
Some of the smileys have gone from the smileys list. They've been replaced with text.
Have they been deleted?
 
Some of the smileys have gone from the smileys list. They've been replaced with text.
Have they been deleted?

No. All the current smileys are still 'there'. If you see text rather than an image in the current smiley listing it means the download was interrupted before one or more smiley images were loaded (i.e., when the server's download is slow or you take an action that interrupts the process).

There's a second situation where this can happen ...

The entire current smiley set was collected and labeled from scratch when the forum migrated in 2018. Any smileys from earlier incarnations of the forum that weren't included in the new set (or were labeled differently after the 2018 exodus) are MIA as far as the server is concerned, and they will be replaced with their text labels in the display.

Having said that ...

I know of only one example of a post-2018 smiley that's really gone missing - the animated witch waving a magic wand. That one disappeared from the smiley set after only about 6 months. I have no idea what happened to it.
 
Do those happen to be the ones you've used most recently? Is your "Recently used" pane at the top of the smiley drop-down menu malfunctioning? Or ... ?

The BS smiley is usually the last one (or one of the very last ones) to load.

Edit to Add:

Did you copy and paste the labels of the MIA smilies into the body of your last post? All I'm seeing are the smilies themselves.
 
Do those happen to be the ones you've used most recently? Is your "Recently used" pane at the top of the smiley drop-down menu malfunctioning? Or ... ?

The BS smiley is usually the last one (or one of the very last ones) to load.

Edit to Add:

Did you copy and paste the labels of the MIA smilies into the body of your last post? All I'm seeing are the smilies themselves.
The 'Dunno' one was the only one used recently.
No, I just clicked on the text that was there instead of the smiley.
 
I can only see the text, not the emojis, in Myth's post.

Hmmmm ... :thought:

Thanks for that report ... Unfortunately, it complicates things and probably negates my first hypothesis about what's going on.
 
Mytho / Carlos:

Please advise me what device and connection you're using:

- Mobile / laptop / desktop
- Hard-wired / your own wifi / random wifi or wireless connection wherever you happen to be

It might also be helpful to know which browser you're using.
 
I can only see the text, not the emojis, in Myth's post.
Same here. I'm using a wired connection on a desktop PC with Vivaldi as the browser.

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1618528329919.png
 
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Thanks for the report, Vardoger ... :twothumbs:

I'm pretty confident the problem has something to do with downloading the smilies from the forum server (which is in North America).

The odd part is why there seems to be a consistent set of smiley calls that are timing out during the download process. My experiments indicate the number and identities of the smilies that time out (and never arrive) can change from call to call - sometimes including additional items above and beyond the ones noted above.

The outages don't correlate with smiley name, size or date of accretion to the available set.

I'll have to refer this to our tech cadre.
 
No problem, I just switch to one of those @Swifty webcams for a while.

Ah yes - CromeWatch. Like CrimeWatch, but more Norfolky.

I had something strange happen on the site recently: I received an alert to say that someone had quoted one of my posts. I clicked on the link, and it took me to a quote of someone else's post altogether! Neither the quoter nor the quotee had anything to do with something that I had posted. I logged out, and back in again, and the alert still took me to this strange post.

Has anyone else experienced something similar recently? It was all a bit:huh:
 
Ah yes - CromeWatch. Like CrimeWatch, but more Norfolky.

I had something strange happen on the site recently: I received an alert to say that someone had quoted one of my posts. I clicked on the link, and it took me to a quote of someone else's post altogether! Neither the quoter nor the quotee had anything to do with something that I had posted. I logged out, and back in again, and the alert still took me to this strange post.

Has anyone else experienced something similar recently? It was all a bit:huh:
Happened to me lately too, but I thought the posts were deleted and showed me the nearest posts instead.
 
Thanks for the report, Vardoger ... :twothumbs:

I'm pretty confident the problem has something to do with downloading the smilies from the forum server (which is in North America).

The odd part is why there seems to be a consistent set of smiley calls that are timing out during the download process. My experiments indicate the number and identities of the smilies that time out (and never arrive) can change from call to call - sometimes including additional items above and beyond the ones noted above.

The outages don't correlate with smiley name, size or date of accretion to the available set.

I'll have to refer this to our tech cadre.
I also am missing emojis, im on a samsung phone, private wifi, and using chrome

Screenshot_20210416-124831.pngScreenshot_20210416-124840.pngScreenshot_20210416-124845.png
 
I had something strange happen on the site recently: I received an alert to say that someone had quoted one of my posts. I clicked on the link, and it took me to a quote of someone else's post altogether! Neither the quoter nor the quotee had anything to do with something that I had posted. I logged out, and back in again, and the alert still took me to this strange post.
Has anyone else experienced something similar recently? It was all a bit:huh:

Do you recall which thread it was to which you were directed?


Happened to me lately too, but I thought the posts were deleted and showed me the nearest posts instead.

This is a viable explanation, but I'm not sure it's what happened in Peripart's case.

A you've-been-quoted alert link takes you to the location of the quote as of the time the alert was generated. If the post quoting you still exists and it's been moved you'll be taken to its new location, because the linkage is to the post per se rather than the thread in which it first appeared.

On the other hand ... The download and rendering of the thread's webpage can end up displaying a location on the page other than the specific post to which a link was directing you. This means you have to scroll a bit upward or downward to see the specifically linked / targeted post. I see this all the time. It's an effect dependent on the display size, relative positioning of posts, etc., etc., in effect when rendering the webpage on a given device and / or given browser.

As to Vardoger's hypothesis ... If the post quoting you had been deleted after quoting you but before you followed the alert's link you would arrive at the location where the quoting post once existed.

NOTE: Members delete their own posts all the time, and not just because of inadvertent duplicates. We mods see the deleted posts, whereas you can't.

Posts deleted by their authors are subject to permanent (and irretrievable) deletion in the course of our constant housekeeping activities. There's not a day goes by that I don't perma-flush a bunch of such deleted posts.
 
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