PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

forums and pics were down for about 10 minues this evening with an ugly "server configuration" error page.

Sorry about that, I was updating an antispam system and typed an "S" when I should have typed a "D". (Obviously, it's fixed, and everything should be working.

Please report any problems you find with the forums here.

Thanks!

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

pics.defcon.org is going to go down for maintenance later today. I'm guessing it will go down at around noon pacific time), and be down for up to 1 hour.

The forums should continue to operate during this outage on pics.

[TheCotMan]

More system maintenance. Will be down 1 hour from 9:00pm to 10:00pm pacific time.

More system maintenance. Will be down 1 hour from 9:00pm to 10:00pm pacific time.

Should have read 9:00AM to 10:00AM.. as in, 7 minutes from "now".

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

Maintenance complete. Please reply below if you notice something is broken, or if something that was working, no longer is.

Thanks!

[Thorn]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

Some avatars have gone missing. DT's, Noid's, Converge's and mine for example. Well, at least I'm in good company. ;)

[TheCotMan]

Some avatars have gone missing. DT's, Noid's, Converge's and mine for example. Well, at least I'm in good company. ;)

Weird. I must have cached copies of them. I'll clear my cache and verify, troubleshoot and repair.

Found another item. When edit is selected (edit post) it seems a second selection is required for the edit window to appear.

/me ponders.

Weird. I must have cached copis of them. I'll clear my cache and verify, troubleshoot and repair.

Yep. I can duplicate it. I know a general "why" and know what is causing this, but I don't yet know how this munging is taking place.

All of the custom avatars, avatars, images, and whatnot are still on the server. Nothing has been lost.

Found another item. When edit is selected (edit post) it seems a second selection is required for the edit window to appear.

/me ponders.

Don't know about this one yet.

Yep. I can duplicate it. I know a general "why" and know what is causing this, but I don't yet know how this munging is taking place.

All of the custom avatars, avatars, images, and whatnot are still on the server. Nothing has been lost.

Found. Fixed. Strangely enough this fix, fixed both problems.

For you to see this working for all images, you may need to clear your cache.

I think I'll report it as a bug to the developers.

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

The "Waiting Period" post in "The Rules" forum has been altered:
1) The 0-6.99999 days waiting period has been changed to 24 hours.
2) The 7-13.9999 days waiting period has been changed to 1-13.9999 days waiting period
3) the "Yet to be named Social Forum" has been renamed "The /dev/random (Social Forum)"
4) Unconfirmed email accounts are more restricted than Confirmed email accounts. This is now stated in the forums *before* users sign-up (in the space befor e they click the checkbox saying they've read the rules) and in the confirmation e-mail message they are sent.
5) The Infraction notices (new, not well tested yet or used) will now email people notices with links to the rules.

Let us know if you have any questions.

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

Rebooted the forums box a few times today at around 1:45-3:00pm to verify that all of the forum-related services will come up after a reboot without any admin's intervention.

Configured, tested, verfiied.

Also, DT upgraded some network equipment, and we worked (and are still working) to fix bulk upload of images to pics.

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

6 reboots later, and we know how to fix one of the two major problems on pics.defcon.org.

The last major problem that has yet to be fixed is mail.

Sorry about all of the unannounced reboots over the past 12 hours.

[DJ Jackalope]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

Sorry about all of the unannounced reboots over the past 12 hours.

Ye shall be punished with beer and thanks! Thanks for keeping us all informed!

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

The "Pre-Defcon 14" and "Drunken Banter" forums have been moved to the DC14 archive.

The "Presentation Discussion archive" forum has been moved to the DC14 content discussion. Due to lack of use, this presentation-specific subforum probably won't repeat this extra forum, format for DC15.

The Post DC14 Discusson forum is still being used, so there is no date, yet, to close it and archive it.

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

I have put in a temporary ban oto prevent new users from registering with email addresses from these domains:
* cashette.com
* gawab.com

This is to try to diagnose a problem. Existing users with confirmed email addresses in these domain are not banned, this ban of these hostnames only denies new users from registering with email addresses from those domains.

This should only last a few days.

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

I have just added support for a new script that will allow Leaders/Organizers of forums (such as forums for contests or events) to harvest email addresses of forum members that post in specific threads (such as signup threads.)

They can't harvest email addresses from any thread, and those threads where harvesting will be allowed *should* have a notice included, letting posters know that they are agreeing to give the leader(s)/organizer(s) of that forum their email address JUST BY POSTING in that thread.

Leader(s)/Organizer(s) of other subforums can't harvest email addresses from signup threads in other forums, unless they are also listed as a leader/organizer in those forums.

This should help attendees to signup for the forums with an email address, and then signup for a contest, just by posting a message in a specific thread. This means they won't have to put their email address in a PUBLIC post, nor will they need to PM their email address to all of the the Leader(s)/Organizer(s) for any forum. This also should allow organizers to visit one place to get a full list of people interested in participating, along with their forum name, email address, and the content of their post.

Easy for everyone, and email addresses don't appear on the web for anyone to snarf and place in their favorite spam-bot.

Hacker Jeopardy for Defcon 15 will be the first to use this.

Follow the directions in their signup thread:
https://forum.defcon.org/showthread.php?t=7944

and post the information they request, and whenever they choose to run a report, they should get the email address you have associated with your forum account.

Let me know if you have questions.

Thanks!

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

I have just added support for a new script that will allow Leaders/Organizers of forums (such as forums for contests or events) to harvest email addresses of forum members that post in specific threads (such as signup threads.)

There was a problem with the authentication portion not working for non-mods.

I think it has been fixed, and it will hopefully be re-tested by oone or more of the organizers from Hacker Jeopardy tonight.

[TheCotMan]

Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?

I think it has been fixed, and it will hopefully be re-tested by oone or more of the organizers from Hacker Jeopardy tonight.

Yay! It works. So, when you signup in the Hacker jeopardy signup thread, you are giving permission for all of that subforums listed leaders-organizers to get access to your forum-registered email address. If you want them to use a different address, you can change your forum registered email address in your UserControlPanel. (This still requires that you check that email account for the forum email verification request before it is committed to your user profile.)

Please avoid publishing your email address in your posts, since we can't really be sure that is yours, or some passive-aggressive DoS attack on some victim. (We tend to remove email addresses from posts made by people claiming it is their address for this reason. In the past, I've taken the time to PM the organizer and the poster wit the email address posted before the address is removed, but I can't guarantee that will alays be the case.)