[JRP3]

I don't think it's a problem with the forum software as I've never had that problem, and I've made a few posts here Maybe it was a temporary server problem?

[Amberwolf]

Well, it's definitely a Vbulletin software issue, as a search for the error message finds a lot of reports of the problem, including this one on the Jelsoft forums themselves: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/archi.../t-143403.html
Most of the posts are old, there, but I expect that if I searched their full forum (instead of just the google general search) I'd find more threads about it that include more recent reports of it.

At least back then, it had something to do with the WSIWYG editor, and changing to Standard editor fixed it, but I haven't tested that here (if there is an option).

EDIT: and I couldn't post this from Firefox, had to do it from IEinTab in FF.

[rbgrn]

Originally Posted by Tesseract

The newest spamming technique appears to be putting links in your signature and then making nearly relevant posts to a thread... For example, is this post spam or not:

http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums...0&postcount=54

Hard to say, but the link in the signature certainly seems odd for a EV forum.

So, I was thinking... a lot of this funny business could be prevented if one was blocked from embedding links in either their posts or signature line until they've made 10 posts...

Seem like a reasonable idea? Is it easy to implement?

I thought about implementing that mod but I realized that it actually becomes harder to fight spam with it. The spamming software they use is smart and if it is rejected on the first post, it automatically creates 10-15 posts without links, then the one or two with the links. It's not defeated and for us it translates to: more spam and harder spam to find because it's not clearly advertising.

I'm hoping that vBulletin version 4 finds a way to combat the spam a little better.

[Amberwolf]

Ok, well setting to Standard editor in my UserCP settings lets me post using FF now. None of the other fixes (including any of the .mozilla /etc fixes or other fixes on my end of things did anything).

[JRP3]

I've been posting all along using FF with no problems. I really think it's on your end.

[Amberwolf]

Well, I thought it might just be that, but I got it in IE6 on my laptop (usually I do things from my desktop) when I was trying stuff earlier, but I didn't have time to pursue it then (had to get to work), and it's not happening now. The laptop has no security software on it at all, and default settings for IE6, with no plugins installed at all in IE, and no FF. It's just used for testing things on the network/internet. So at least I know it is not just a FF thing, nor is it something in security settings to block scripts/etc.

When it happened both in this thread yesterday and in the one earlier today, I could see that there was a new post by someone else between the time I hit quote to bring up the reply page, and the time I actually submitted the reply and got the error.

I can't remember if there was a new post in the other thread I was trying to help in before.

The only other thing common to all was that when it *started*, I was trying to quote someone, although that was not part of the problem when I tried to do post new things or replies afterward, once it "broke completely" (until changing to Standard editor).


The intermittent nature of the problem means that there must be some specific conditions to trigger the bug, so most people probably do not see it, but it is still a bug in the software if it is not accepting the text submitted in the form, regardless of the conditions that trigger it.

As has been noted elsewhere in the many threads about this issue on various forums, no specific browser or OS is required to cause the problem, so there must be specific conditions in the Vbulletin software that create the issue, though I still do not know what the root cause itself actually is, or the exact conditions that cause it.

Once the problem is triggered, it appears to persist for some, but not for others. Some people can get around it by creating a whole new username for a board that won't accept posts from their original username, implying that something is created locally on their system to persist data for that board/username, which is not kept in cookies or cache (because clearing those does not fix it for everyone (did not for me).

When the problem occurs in FF, the .mozilla file (which I need to research the contents of) can be deleted to fix the problem for some people (did not for me, though I simply moved the file to a USB thumbdrive and unplugged it, rather than deleting it, then moved it back when it did not change anything).

For some people, setting the editor to Standard from WSIWYG (the default on most Vbulletin forums) fixes the problem, but for others it must first be set to Basic and *then* Standard. That probably depends on which version of Vbulletin is running, I suspect. But in either case, changing back to WSIWYG still doesn't let me post--I have to leave it in Standard.

[Tesseract]

Originally Posted by rbgrn

...The spamming software they use is smart and if it is rejected on the first post, it automatically creates 10-15 posts without links, then the one or two with the links. It's not defeated and for us it translates to: more spam and harder spam to find because it's not clearly advertising....

How about this... you know how vB requires you wait 1 minute in between reporting posts? How about making you wait 1 minute (or more) between starting new threads?

EDIT: Ooo! I just saw a really good idea on another board: a spam-bot "honey pot" subforum. Anyone who posts there automatically gets their account and all posts deleted.

[rbgrn]

Originally Posted by Tesseract

How about this... you know how vB requires you wait 1 minute in between reporting posts? How about making you wait 1 minute (or more) between starting new threads?

EDIT: Ooo! I just saw a really good idea on another board: a spam-bot "honey pot" subforum. Anyone who posts there automatically gets their account and all posts deleted.

The forum software already limits how fast you can post. The bot software is adaptive and works around all of that. Also - I've noticed that the software also seems to only post to specific forums. What I'd really like is if 2 or more people report a post, that the posts from that user go into quarantine until an admin can login, check it out and ban the user. I'll see what the latest version of vbulletin can do. Maybe there is a mod or something that will work that way.

[ZX-E]

Originally Posted by ohio

live chat room

Did we ever have a vote whether or not to have a live chat room? The forum seems really active and I know I would use it.