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Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?
Scheduled downtime, probably for a few minutes from 12:30am to 1:00am.Comment
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Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?
pics.defcon.org will be down for probably a few minutes from 12:45am to 1:15amComment
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Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?
Tew is finished.
Tesforums server is broken. We use that to test things before moving them to production. Ooops. Low priority to fix. Will work on them later. What did not work on test forums worked on all other servers. Learning is fun.
If you find problems or want to report a bug on the forums, post the issue online. If the forums do not work at all for this, send an email to defconforums@gmail.comLast edited by TheCotMan; August 24, 2011, 01:30.Comment
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Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?
Forum user BluKnight has passed mod review process to become "Forum Leader/Organizer" which applies to any forums for contests/events he may be a leader or organizer. This means he has been added as a Forum leader/organizer to the forum "SkyTalks" for Defcon 19, and will get this same status when the Defcon 20 forum for Skytalks is rolled out.
(I was supposed to do this a week or two ago, but forgot about it. Sorry about the delay. Good luck!)
-CotLast edited by TheCotMan; September 1, 2011, 18:09.Comment
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Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?
It has been nearly a month since Defcon ended, and those few threads in [forum=536]DEFCON 19 Planning[/forum] with activity since Defcon have been copied forward to the forum [forum=610]DEFCON 19 And beyond[/forum] and left opened there.
The forum [forum=536]DEFCON 19 Planning[/forum] is now closed to new posting. If you find there is a thread you would like to see copied forward to [forum=610]DEFCON 19 And beyond[/forum], please reply to this post with a link to the thread and why you want it copied forward.
In a few weeks, the [forum=536]DEFCON 19 Planning[/forum] forum will be moved into the [forum=124]Past Defcon Content[/forum] forum archive, and away from the top level.Comment
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Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?
Some time on Sunday or Monday, we will be performing maintenance on the Forums, The Test Forums, Defcon Pics server, and Tamper Evident Wiki.
Work will be done in serial, and down-time for each service may be 1 to 2 hours.
When I have a more specific window of down-time, I'll post another announcement about it.Comment
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Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?
"Ride and Room Sharing" forum has been idle for about 1 month, and it has been about 1 month since Defcon ended. It has been closed and moved back into the "Contests/Events/Parties/Social Gatherings" forum in the near-end category for "other" forums.
The Pre-Defcon 19/Defcon 19 Planning forum has been close for about 1 week and has now been moved into the Defcon 19 archive under the forum for past Defcon/archived content.
Calendar access to the Public calendar has been changed to allow L3 users to post events for DCG. Previously, only L4 or those with more access than registered users could post events. We'll test this out and see if it causes us problems.Comment
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Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?
Some new problems have appeared when accessing content on the Defcon websites if https is used.
As far as I know, this first appeared last week around Wednesday, and was reported. After some checks, Jeff decided to reboot the equipment associated with the firewall, and once it came back, all of the OS+Browsers I was able to duplicate the problem with before the reboot were working fine. It seemed the reboot removed whatever uncommitted change had been applied, meaning there was a problem with the live config, but not a problem with the base settings of the firewall.
Within 24 hours, similar problems returned, and were reported by different people.
The problems reported fall into two basic categories:
1) Blacklisting of IP:
* Access of http-only content at *.defcon.org works fine from any specific IP address.
* Attempting to visit any https content (such as when javascript is enabled, and a browser is directed to ask for information on "recent forum discussion" and connect to the forums using https, or clicks on any "media.defcon.org" which are by default written as https links, not http, result in the connecting IP being blacklisted.
* Once blacklisted, previous visits to non-https content at *.defcon.org no longer is reachable from the same IP until the blacklist entry expires.
* For testing this, a "safe" file to download from http that is http-only without javascript directives for your browser to download https content is: http://www.defcon.org/robots.txt (you can use this for https-only or http-only if you want)
2) Cert error:
* Cert Expired: "sec_error_expired_certificate"
* Cert Format error, handshake error, version error "Error 113 (net::ERR_SSL_VERSION_OR_CIPHER_MISMATCH): Unknown error."
I've been able to reliably duplicate it with a VM that is running Windows 7 (64-bit) and the latest stable MSIE 9.
If you have found you are able to duplicate these errors on one browser, but are able to get to the forums with another browser/OS, would you please let us know which OS-version and Browser(s) and version work and do not work? If I can reliably duplicate the same problem you are seeing, then Jeff will have a better chance at identifying the cause and fixing it.Comment
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Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?
Update:
Jeff was up late tonight (East-Coaster) and had time to check and test this. He has made a change, and now all of the cases I had for tests to fail reliably are not longer failing.
If you were having troubles but find access to the forums is working now, could you let us know if it is fixed for you now?
If one method of access worked, but another did not, could you let us know which one still does not work?
(I don't control the firewall or its rules, but am happy to gather information about what works and what does not so I can try to reliably replicate the problem, and help with testing to diagnose the cause of trouble with good tests.)Comment
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Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?
So far, everyone that has commented or replied to me about access to https content for *.defcon.org servers has not replied to my emails, IM, chats, and post her, or they have replied to say it is all working for them again.
Next order of business...
We have a significant upgrade to the forum software coming soon. Unlike almost all of the past upgrades and maintenance periods, this *will* have an impact on how you interface with the forums.
The new upgrade does not support the older themes, and will not import them to the new format. Any desired themes must be created manually.
We have two themes on the present Defcon Forums. The "Classic" is a throwback theme from many, many versions major forum software upgrades, kludged together with newer software to keep it working. The other is a Theme designed to better match the look and feel of the main Defcon webpage and the style it displays.
We have some controls over how we implement 2 themes, maybe 3 themes, but because the way themes are applied in the new software is significantly different in the new software, we will only be able to approximate the existing themes.
Mods are the first to provide direction and input. They will be getting a "sneak preview" of a theme to emulate "classic" and be able to provide input. Once the upgrade happens, I'll open up a thread for comments from you all as users on how to better approximate the present classic theme.
I will try to do the same with the present default, but don't expect too much; I am no artist.
Last, I was thinking of creating a new, "high-contrast" theme with simple "black" text on "white" backgrounds (or white text on black backgrounds) for easier reading. (I understand this may not feel like a Defcon theme, and it won't be any "default" but will be available as a functional choice for people that desire it.)
Expect more information on this sometime between the end of October and the middle of November.Comment
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Re: PUBLIC-NOTICES: Forum Changes/Fixes. Any Questions?
I have not had time to implement the high-contrast light-base as an alternate to the high-contrast dark-base. I will do that later.
Once I have it available, you all can vote on which high-contrast theme/style you want to keep. I am willing to support 2 themes: legacy and high-contrast.
Neil can provide a new default theme (if he is interested) to match the theme of the Defcon website. If he chooses to do so, then we will have at least 3 themes. If he is willing to support another theme, then we can have 4. These styles/themes are annoying during upgrades, as they can create unexpected complications or side-effects when upgrading.
I planned to get to this in October or November, but obviously, did not get around to it.Next order of business...
We have a significant upgrade to the forum software coming soon. Unlike almost all of the past upgrades and maintenance periods, this *will* have an impact on how you interface with the forums.
This weekend is when I am planning on the major upgrade.
Your feedback is welcome as we try to refine the themes I am willing to support.
Initially, there *should* be 3 themes installed by me. The "Legacy" theme, which many of you have tried is something I will try to continue to refine until we get "close enough" (for government work. ;-)
The other two themes I provide will not both exist for long. These will be "High Contrast" and you all will get to vote on which you would prefer to keep. The primary goal of the "High Contrast" is readability, NOT, "look and feel," so please vote based on only the criteria of "readability" not which one has a color-scheme that makes you feel better, or seems more hackish, or more lie Defcon.
Major Upgrade coming this weekend. Expected down-time is 2 to 4 hours. When I have more details on when this will start, I'll post that here and on a twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/#!/TCMBCComment
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