Technical Support Helpdesk

Topic

Report anything you have here. Not wish lists for face recognition login and stuff like that but things not working.

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GET CHEAP SUNGLASSES HERE

(Bot simulation test)

Anyone want to buy some boner pills?

Not a bot test, just me trying to make some cash on the side.

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DavidM, garjones, Dave

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njerry

Huh, my VPN turned itself off at some point, testing again,

I’ve tried posting twice in the politics thread this morning, and both times my post has just disappeared once I hit submit. Let’s see if this one actually gets posted…

There’s always a hiccup with the first post(s) on a new page. I don’t think they’re lost, they just hide for a while for some reason.

thecarrier.net/forums and thecarrier.net/forum are two different pages. Can you reconcile them to both show the forum one, or make the “forums” link on top of every page direct to thecarrier.net/forum ?

Reason for this: the forums page does not show you your PMs. The forum one does.

Yeah I’m aware, it’s a double edged sword I’m afraid.

I applied the Quantum template to ‘forums’ which gives the much improved design and usability but doesn’t allow the same flexibility in add-ons like the messaging one. So to consolidate them I either lose the template or I lose the messaging function.

The header link and breadcrumbs in BBpress are also hard coded and I can’t change them.

I’ll have a look and see if I can do a workaround by adding a more convenient link to the PM function.

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DavidM

I see, don’t give it too much time. As in, it’s not that important if it’s a hassle setting it up.

I just realised looking around that there’s a ‘forum’ link at the bottom of each page. Just below ‘Privacy Policy’. That’ll take you to the PM option if it makes it a little easier.

Alright, I’ll keep that in mind. And it will help!

It’s mostly hard for me when using the phone, as it’s unnecessarily tricky to just delete the s from the adress bar on a touchscreen compared to how fast it is on the PC.

Thanks for checking it out!

garjones wrote:

there’s a ‘forum’ link at the bottom of each page. That’ll take you to the PM option

Yes, that works. Notified of contact by e-mail, and respond through that way, but then no proof that ever happened the normal way I log in.
Okay, so I’m not insane. Now it’s just down to ‘issues’…

Looks like my post in the Sports Thread didn’t make it.

Yo, who’s the joker that’s deleting posts? Is that where we’re at now? Not cool.

Jon wrote:

Yo, who’s the joker that’s deleting posts? Is that where we’re at now? Not cool.

Yo, was that the one where you claimed Elliot Page had come out as trans because he was seeking attention? Not cool.

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Rocket, Martin Smith, Todd, Dave, lorcan_nagle

Steve Sensible wrote:

Jon wrote:

Yo, who’s the joker that’s deleting posts? Is that where we’re at now? Not cool.

Yo, was that the one where you claimed Elliot Page had come out as trans because he was seeking attention? Not cool.

So fucking what? Can’t I have an opinion now? Why post the story then?

And what about the 2nd one? The one where I asked to maybe just put that kind of celeb gossip stuff in its own thread? Was that offensive too?

I don’t see a technical issue being raised here.

Including its predecessor this has been a moderated board for 18 years, nothing has changed and nothing has malfunctioned. Moderators will manage if a point is off topic, the easiest solution for everyone else in that scenario is scroll on to the next post they are interested in.

 

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lorcan_nagle, Todd, Dave

But…what if THIS is the last post I’m interested in? What then, Gar? WHAT THEN!??

Then you’ll miss this:

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njerry, Sean Robinson

garjones wrote:

I don’t see a technical issue being raised here.

Including its predecessor this has been a moderated board for 18 years, nothing has changed and nothing has malfunctioned. Moderators will manage if a point is off topic, the easiest solution for everyone else in that scenario is scroll on to the next post they are interested in.

 

Yeah sorry, not a technical issue but I didn’t know where else to complain, since my first complaint got deleted.

Also, they could’ve just said that instead of deleting posts… but hey, I guess we’re back to mods having their little power trips… fine.

(sorry to put all the mods in same basket, I’m sure they’re not, but the one responsible ain’t taking the credit, so… )

 

Can’t access any post in the Sports thread, or any page in it.

Not that big of a deal, just odd that for me everything else is fine and problems only that thread (like has someone posted something to make it wonky?).

Sean – try logging out of the board and back in again, clearing the cache as well if you can. I have found before that a thread can get ‘stuck’ for a user and that has freed it up.

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Al-x

I just tried something to fix the Sports thread, see if it works now Sean.

(I’ve noticed in this and other threads there can be a problem with moving on to a new page when there are ‘hidden’ posts marked as spam, and the total number of posts is over a given hundred but the number of posts visible is just under that hundred. So it seems to get confused as to whether there should be a new page or not. I’ve unspammed some of the hidden posts in the Sports thread to try and fix that.)

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Todd, Sean Robinson, garjones, Al-x

I can’t read new posts in the DC Movies thread. I’ve logged in and out half a dozen times, cleared my browser cache like it’s the 1990’s and it still doesn’t work on three different devices.

The most recent post is at the bottom of page 4 can you see that?

The only post on page 5 is the pinned first post from the thread. It’s one of the weirder things the board does.

Thanks, yes I can. All I was seeing using the “show new posts” button or clicking on the link showing the time of Rocket’s post was Meadows’ post from June, but if I click on page 4 I can read Rocket’s post. That’s a weird bug.

I think it’s the same thing as I mentioned above. Let me see if I can fix it.

Does it work for you now Steve?

It’s still broken in as much as from the outside it says that page 5 is the latest page, but even having just posted in there, my post showed up on page 4. So if I just click on page 4 I can see my post, but clicking on the new post button takes me to page 5 where for some reason David Meadows’ post from June shows up. :shrug emoji:

David’s post is there because it’s the first post of the thread, which appears at the top of every page.

I’ll try and fix it again.

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Steve Sensible

You need to make me a mod so I can get a perfect score.

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Rocket, Todd

I’ve noticed that when I go into the Creative Central forum, it seems to take longer to load. I don’t have that issue with the others.

I get the same and it’s very weird because basically all the sub-forums get set up in exactly the same way. Will have to delve into why it could happen.

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Todd

Please please please give me back the ignore function please

There’s no point Anders, it never allowed you to ignore the Admins/Mods. 😉

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Did someone say something? I could swear I got a notification about this thread.

I had an issue today a few times (and a few days ago) that when I tried to go to the board, it asked me if I wanted to download. After a few minutes, the board came up.

This happened on my phone and laptop.

I’ve had the same issue a few times.

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Todd

PS4 said data not supported then fixed itself a few minutes later.

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Todd

I had it too, Googled the issue and it said if you clear browsing data it goes away, it’s some error with cacheing the page. I did that and it worked and hasn’t come back.

There is a more complex solution at the site’s end that involves PHP setup, it’s a little beyond me and I’ll get my dev guy to look at it but it may be some time as he’s got an urgent deadline on a big project at the moment.

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Todd

A fix is a fix! Thanks!

Just wanted to let you know in case you didn’t: The moderators dungeon is now invisible again.

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Todd, garjones

Anonymous wrote:

Just wanted to let you know in case you didn’t: The moderators dungeon is now invisible again.

Then how will we know nobody has posted in it for 2 months and 3 days!

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JRCarter, Todd

Transparency is dead.

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Todd

Yeah a few new updates have gone through today, you may spot some other small changes here and there.

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Todd

First note, anything I say in this thread is only to help. You are already ‘above and beyond’ and sometimes it ‘is what it is’.

Second, I finally remembered to mention the fact that videos inserted into a post overlap the text (some/most) in the same post when viewed on my phone (android – Samsung Galaxy Note 8), but everything fine when viewed on home PC.

So of course after I start typing I try to find a reference and notice I can read the text in a post with a video when viewed from my phone.
The video still does overlap below the text, where the ‘thanks for the post’ is, but that’s nothing as it’s a huge improvement.

Third, could be my phone, but sometimes things are best viewed on my phone sideways.
As soon as that happens, it stays on the post I’m looking at, but will always go to the top of the page when I return my phone to vertical.
Now that I type that, that’s more of an issue with my phone, or the way Android reads this boards software (I guess? I don’t know).

Fourth, well, I’m glad I started with that first post as I probably have added nothing constructive (like a few of those days that end in a “Y”).
So now it’s a ‘thanks for everything’! Cheers!

This board is annoying. Can somebody make my post reappear in the DC Comics thread? I really can’t be arsed to post it again.

It got caught by the spam filter for some reason, maybe due to the links, I don’t know. I’ve approved it so it should be visible now.

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Steve Sensible

I just posted in the trades thread and I think it got caught in the spam filter (there’s a lot of links in there). Could someone fish it out? Ta.

Should be visible now!

Thanks!

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Dave

Just for future reference there’s a limit of 10 links a post in the filter because a certain strain of spam shoots out dozens of links. So in an Amazon trawl like that it may be an idea to split into sections across a couple of posts.

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Martin Smith

My “Comics shipping March/April” thread in the comics section seems to be awaiting moderation and not visible.

Take your time.

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njerry

Should now be visible Sean.

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Sean Robinson

[Sean Robinson]

Just seeing if I can post as the board seems to hate me today.

Or I’ve been a bad boy? It’s ok, I probably deserve worse.

Unless those bastards at GamesRadar are coercing you to shut me down.
Sons of bitches! I actually still use their site.
Kind of like that homemade pizza I love that I don’t let cool down and burn the roof of my mouth.
Umm, no it’s not. I enjoy the pizza.

Edit: I can post here. Maybe it’s just an issue with links and pics.
Not a big deal. Enjoy your weekend, and spending your payoff money…

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Sean Robinson.

Wow, I posted in the wrong thread. I was going to post here to, just to say that I can’t use this button anymore:

If I use that, and paste a link to an image as I’ve done many, many times, the post will not post. It won’t give me an error message either, just reload the page as is. It doesn’t matter if I include text in the message.

I can’t copy and paste an image directly into a post either. Which I’ve also done many, many, times. Same as above.

(disregard Big Gay Al, he’s headed for another thread, just stopping by)

Yeah I’m getting the same issue too. Let me look into it.

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Dave

Can someone un-spam-filter my post in the movie trailers thread? Ta.

Steve, all you have to do is stop posting spam.

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Todd

Steve Sensible wrote:

Can someone un-spam-filter my post in the movie trailers thread? Ta.

I can’t see one in that thread at the moment, sorry.

Did it have an image embed in it? Those aren’t posting properly at the moment.

DavidM wrote:

Steve, all you have to do is stop posting spam.

There’s nothing wrong with posting spam.

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Todd

It was a trailer. I assumed it was flagged as spam because I posted it first in the TV thread, realised my mistake then posted it in the film thread. I guess the board swallowed it. No great loss – it looked like a shit film anyway.

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Dave

Steve Sensible wrote:

No great loss – it looked like a shit film anyway.

Now I REALLY want to see that trailer!!

[Steve Sensible]

Just for you, Jerry…

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Steve Sensible.

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njerry

I think I just had an image heavy post encounter the spam filter in the toy thread, if someone could rescue it, thanks.

I think I found the one you meant – can you see it now?

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Todd

Whatever the problem was seems to have fixed itself by the time I read this.

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NICE

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Todd

I’m sorry, but it crossed my mind that I haven’t received a Patreon E-mail on the first of the month in a while.
A quick check with my bank and it seems the last payment I’ve made was October 1st.

Can you confirm this?
Unsure what happened, was never my intent to not contribute.

I know I had to reset things when my card card expiry date changed, but positive I did that and a payment went through.
Maybe I screwed up and it didn’t continue on past that point? Unknown.

I will rectify this soon. Sorry about that.
_____________________________________

Since we’re talking money, how are we in general terms?

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Al-x

Hi Sean,

Yeah your account is marked as ‘declined’, must not have properly registered the new card number.

Jerry’s one is in the same status too.

We’re OK at the moment, I paid hosting for a couple of years to take us up to late 2023 but I’ll build up what we have until then we have to renew.

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Sean Robinson

garjones wrote:

Jerry’s one is in the same status too.

I’m trying to send payment with my correct credit card info, but I keep getting a message saying I’m not permitted to send funds in “that currency”. I’ve got to get my IT person (AKA my wife) to help me out here.

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garjones

njerry wrote:

I’m not permitted to send funds in “that currency”.

You’re not trying to pay in Rubles are you?

 

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Todd

What a way to find out Jerry is a Russian spy!

 

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Todd

NYET!!! Jerry is not Russian spy working to undermine evil USA. Jerry is good American comrade who like apple pie with borscht.

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garjones

Hi. Am I not permitted to post in certain areas of the forums? Had a post swallowed last night and wondered if there was a restriction there.

Daniel R wrote:

Hi. Am I not permitted to post in certain areas of the forums? Had a post swallowed last night and wondered if there was a restriction there.

There is not a restriction on your account Daniel.

There are a few filters built into the software that hide posts they think are spam. I’ve made as many reductions to that as I can, there are trigger words that can be rather random, a few spam trigger words can stop them and it could be a mention of sunglasses combined with another one. Unfortunately if I switch it off entirely we get 200 spam attempts an hour.

It was crazy when I started the board and saw a thousands sign up in one day only to realise about 3 of them were actual people.

It’s fine. I understand better than most – I write software like this for a living.

I seem to remember, back when we made the transition from the old Millarworld forum, that I mulled building some forum software for the community. The actual code to build a basic, functional, internet forum is actually not that complex, believe it or not – the sharp end of the complexity is in making it useable when the vast majority of traffic out there isn’t human.

 

the sharp end of the complexity is in making it useable when the vast majority of traffic out there isn’t human.

Not all of us can be human, Daniel.

Stop be speciest, you bigot!

[Daniel R]

Just as a general professional courtesy thing, I wouldn’t be a very good software engineer if I didn’t point out that you really should sort out enabling HTTPS. I haven’t done a proper audit of the site for vulnerabilities, but one of the things that tends to invite attacks is leaving these things open. Are you using a DDOS mitigation service as well?

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by Daniel R.

Thanks Daniel. I’d enable it if I knew how, Google tells me I need SSL which it seems I have: 

Not sure how to enable it from there.

Basically one of my staff set up the bare bones of this site in one afternoon and then I have tinkered around doing the rest with about 2% knowledge of really how to manage websites. 😂

[Daniel R]

You using CloudFlare or something similar? Hard for me to advise without looking into your setup, and I’m more of a coder than a web ops guy, but I can offer some advice if you’re struggling.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by Daniel R.

I’m using CPanel.

[Daniel R]

I’ll admit to no experience with CPanel – quick google-fu got me this – https://docs.cpanel.net/cpanel/security/ssl-tls/#install-and-manage-ssl-for-your-site-https.

These sort of SAAS platforms tend to make this reasonably intuitive, but it varies based on the software. If it was AWS or CloudFlare I could maybe talk you through it, but without direct access I can only provide pointers. There should be a facility in the software to associate an SSL certificate and enable https for a given domain – it looks like you have a certificate for the domain set up, but the domain itself isn’t associated with it. I’d look under Manage SSL sites and take it from there.

Sorry I can’t help further.

 

• This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Daniel R.

It’s not on that page but I think I figured it out, the secure padlock is showing for me now.

Nice one. Let me know if you’re still attracting as many attacks – most domain service providers have an attack mitigation service; I’d expect CPanel to have one too.

Chances are if you’re not already using it, it’s due to it costing money, but it might be worth checking – I think Cloudflare’s is free, as is AWS’s, so there’s a good chance.

Thanks Daniel the feedback has been very useful.

Yeah I have attack and DDOS mitigation stuff built in but from as far as I can tell a good chunk of junk traffic is rather unavoidable. When we switched over from the previous (and I won’t deny better) board software there was an option we could possibly afford to retain it if it weren’t for the spambot traffic. It seems more an expected general hum than an attack as far as I have seen but I’m not an expert.

I’ll keep an eye on how the https setting may reduce that though.

Using SSL won’t make a difference to the spam ratio. All it does is encrypt the traffic between the user and the server, to protect our posts from being intercepted and read (vital if we were passing credit card numbers — which we’re not). But spammers can still access the board and post, nothing will change in that respect.

Have the fonts and/or colours on the board gone weird for anyone else? Or is it just my browser/computer that’s randomly decided to do this?

The text entry field is displaying normally, which is strange.

Everything still looks normal to me.

Best I can tell, it’s something to do with my browser deciding it can’t display the font Raleway Thin in a way that’s readable, even though it was yesterday. But I’d noticed the same on another website last week, so I don’t know why it was affecting that and not this until today.

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Martin Smith wrote:

Best I can tell, it’s something to do with my browser deciding it can’t display the font Raleway Thin in a way that’s readable, even though it was yesterday. But I’d noticed the same on another website last week, so I don’t know why it was affecting that and not this until today.

Try changing the size/zoom on the page.

It doesn’t really make it readable until it’s up to large print book size. The font is still displaying weak and grey, even then.

I’ve found a browser plug-in that can block specific fonts, which seems a decent stop-gap until I work out what the actual cause is. It’s working here (replacing Raleway entirely with Arial) but not on that other site, oddly (again).

I think Gar Jones is trying to tell you something, Martin. Something you don’t want to hear…

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Todd

You’ve probably dealt with, but I’ll just say.

‘DavinMa’ has 274 topics. I can’t find a single one, but it does say that is was active recently.

Same for ‘Galanen’. 57 topics, and also recently active.

Not opposed if they have something to say. I may like them more than some co-workers.
Hell, maybe more than a significant portion of the voting population.

Unless they align with right wing/Elon Musk/Joe Rogan/Kanye West/Donald Trump/Nickelback/UK politicians/and tons more.
Then fuck them.

They are spam bots. The system most of the time identifies that and automatically removes their posts, hence you can’t see any of them, but the plug-in that shows the stats and last posts still shows them.

 

Any chance we can get the spam filter to leave me alone when I’m posting? Everything I’m posting is being blocked.

Not sure why that is, but let me try to unspam some of the posts manually. Including the one above!

[Daniel R]

I use Brave browser or Firefox with uBlockOrigin plugin for privacy reasons. It’s possible the WP plugin you’re using can’t resolve my domain and is flagging me as suspicious.

[edit] – regarding the duplicated posts – please just use the last one.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by Daniel R.

So the last person to post in the Comics Forum is a URL?
WTF? They can’t possibly think me or anyone else would click on it?

But what would it get me?
Dammit, its calling to me like the shiny red button that destroys the universe.

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Christian