CONTINUOUSWAVE

I am having a very hard time logging in. If I can get in, topics don't load, pictures get dropped, the page locks up, sometimes I get kicked off and told I am blocked. Then I wait a few hours and all is well. Anyone else getting this or is it just me?

Mine has been fine.

Repeated log-in attempts with improper credentials will generally result is the website firewall implementing a temporary block. The firewall views repeated log-in attempts with improper credentials as a hostile attack.

Problems loading image files in forum threads which contain many images may be due to slow connections or cached pages in the browser.

I have noticed some unusual behavior recently with inclusion of image files hosted on other websites that are linked to as in-line images in a forum post, as well as problems with very recently added image files on the website itself that do not immediately appear in a forum post. I am investigating this problem, which I believe is due to the actual forum server operating as a virtual machine and not immediately reloading all necessary files into its temporary memory.

I keep the Board Index as a bookmark on my PC and that page has always opened immediately for me until lately. As for pictures with my latest postings, I have always taken them directly from the Canon camera program on my PC. They load to the site fine, but later when I return they are missing. If I go to the [edit] function, see the pictures still in the [attachments] , and without doing anything else, hit [submit], the pictures re-appear.

Thanks for the detailed report of the problem you are having with using the website.

The behavior you describe is most likely related to problems in transmission of data to your browser from the server due to loss of data in the network connection. To know where the problem is in the network is impossible to determine after the event has occurred.

At the moment, I know of only one thread where there is a problem with missing images which I believe is related to a problem at the website. That thread was just created a few hours ago. I anticipate that the problem will self-remedy when the server updates its cached memory files.

Ok Jim. When it happens I get a page that informs me I have been blocked due to my ISP. I can't remember what it was but it was one of the commercial firewalls available. Even if I try to get in from a Google search as a guest it remembers me and blocks me. If it happens again I will jot down the info and report it to you.

Repeated log-in attempts will generally result in the website firewall implementing a temporary block. The firewall views repeated log-in attempts as a hostile attack.

There is a some unusual behavior with the website's host's firewall.

The take-away: it's not you. Take a breath, breathe easily. Do not throw your computer at the plate glass window. At least not today.

The firewall only intervenes when it see repeated log-ins and connections from the same user or same ip-address.

As an experiment, I have altered the session timeout length. This may prevent users who are spending a lot of time browsing the website from having to repeat their log-in.

The firewall has been a TREMENDOUS asset as it has allowed me to block malicious attacks from the nations of China and Russia. Prior to the purchase of the firewall, the website was often under denial of service attacks from malicious operators in China and Russia, and service to ordinary users was completely disrupted.

That one or two users may experience a temporary problem connecting after having connected multiple times in a short period is going to be an artifact that has to be tolerated.

At this writing I am seeing no problems with connectivity to the website. The website response, including the forum area, is immediate and without any omissions.

The quality of service provided by the internet between two particular nodes of the network is subject to many influences. There may be at any time some disruption of service for a particular visitor, but this is entirely out of my control.

The basic principle of the TCP-IP network is a packet-switched connection, not a circuit-switched connection. For more about that distinction, please read about TCP-IP networking.

Circuit Switched Networks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_switching

Packet Switched Networks
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packet_switching

Phil T wrote:There is a some unusual behavior with the website's host's firewall.

The take-away: it's not you. Take a breath, breathe easily. Do not throw your computer at the plate glass window. At least not today.

Thanks Phil. Good to know!

jimh wrote:The firewall only intervenes when it see repeated log-ins and connections from the same user or same ip-address. The firewall has been a TREMENDOUS asset as it has allowed me to block malicious attacks from the nations of China and Russia. Prior to the purchase of the firewall, the website was often under denial of service attacks from malicious operators in China and Russia, and service to ordinary users was completely disrupted.

Considering the ongoing situation in Russia that was the first thing that I suspected. Since I reported the problem it has not happened again.

Oldslowandugly wrote:Since I reported the problem it has not happened again.

Remedy of a problem that has only occurred once is going to be very difficult.

No, it went on for several days. I could not report it at the time since I was blocked. Once I made it in I focused on updating the gearcase thread.

If the problem occurs again, send me an email. (The hyperlink to my user name "jimh" directs to an option to send an email.)

The worst approach to allowing a temporary ban to expire is to continually repeat attempts to connect to the banned resource. If you repeatedly attempt to connect to the resource when you have been informed that you are temporarily banned by the firewall, the temporary ban is extended with each attempt. The best approach to overcoming a temporary ban is to temporarily suspend all attempts to connect to the resource that is banning you. Sit out a day or two and try it later.

The problem with loading a thread that has 40-images is the thread has 40-images.

This may or may not be related to the concern. For almost a year my [bookmark] function was not working. I could not add nor delete a bookmark. I am using Mozilla Firefox which handles the bookmarks. I had literally thousands of bookmarks separated into folders. A few days ago all of my bookmarks vanished. The folders remained but were empty. My browsing history was also wiped clean. All other PC features were intact. Downloads, desktop, documents, everything else was fine. The strangest thing is that now the [bookmark] feature is functioning again. I am at a total loss about this and no one has been able to shed any light at all on the situation. Why I thought this may be related is that these things happened very close together.

I was unable to connect to the website. After a couple of hours, I was able to connect, as evidenced by this post.

That problem looks like it was at the host site. You were not blocked. There was a problem for for the firewall to redirect you to the host. There is nothing YOU can do except wait.

What was your local time of day when this occurred?

This was around 5PM. I was about to post some more on the gearcase rebuild thread. I tried several times between 5 and 9:30 with no success. By 9:30PM I was able to get in.