Recent forum and main site outages...

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JP Michael
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Joined: Sun Oct 27, 2019 4:19 am

Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by JP Michael » Sat Apr 11, 2020 2:33 am

Images can no longer be posted by hotlinking to offsite weblinks (or, perhaps more specifically, dropbox).

This website's image dimensions script seems to no longer recognise valid images less than 800x600 imported using the

Code: Select all

[img] [/img]
BBCode.

I specifically attempted to post the following in my recent weather images thread:

Code: Select all

[b]Filamentary Clouds - Sydney, 11/04/2020 10:00 AEST[/b]
[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/xjtde4ia0gba7fu/Filamentary%20Clouds%20Sydney%2011.04.2020.jpg?raw=1[/img]

[b]Meteorological Weather Map - Australia 11/04/2020 10:00 AEST[/b]
[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/0p3q1f68mwf3k9s/11.04.2020%2010.00%20Meteorological%20Weather%20Map.png?raw=1[/img]

[b]Wind Energy Map - earth.nullschool.net 11/04/2020 10:00 AEST[/b]
[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/2t1n73k5i9n96xr/Screenshot%202020-04-11%2012.13.22.png?raw=1[/img]
Attempting to post that code generates an error at the top of screen:

It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image. Please verify that the URL you entered is correct.

Both the urls and the images are correct and formatted to size.

Keith Ness
Posts: 49
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2014 1:53 pm

Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by Keith Ness » Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:08 pm

Whatever you did, nicely done. The v2.0 link is now showing in Firefox. Thanks

Oh, I didn't see JP Michael's post. I hope this fix isn't related to it.

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davesmith_au
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Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by davesmith_au » Sat Apr 11, 2020 6:12 pm

Keith Ness wrote: Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:08 pm Whatever you did, nicely done. The v2.0 link is now showing in Firefox. Thanks
Too good. Even I don't know what I did ... :lol:

Seriously though, the backend site management is a nightmare, especially to the unwashed, like myself. Trouble is, when I have a serious issue, support techs are not always as helpful as one might expect. Most simply follow the "help" documentation for cPanel, or WHM, or Wordpress, or whatever. People who actually know their way around (especially around php's inner workings or server issues) are very few and far between... I just keep nutting through an issue again and again, until I get the result I want.

In this instance we paid "professionals" to migrate the site to a new dedicated server, but when the 3.0 forum did not work as expected, their assistance was about as useful as a hip pocket in a t-shirt. I finally got it working, which they happily took the credit for. There was actually one guy who was very helpful and though not a technician himself, he kept prodding their people for me. All I can say is, good help is hard to find!

Having said all that, the 2.0 forum isn't perfect. I can't access the 2.0 Admin panel to update or make any changes (the fix I did was server-side), but it is meant to be a read-only static archive, and in that respect it does what it's meant to.

Cheers, Dave.
"Those who fail to think outside the square will always be confined within it" - Dave Smith 2007
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JP Michael
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Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by JP Michael » Wed Apr 15, 2020 3:56 am

Still cannot post legitimate images, as much as I would like to be able to :(

Would you be able to poke around with those settings, davesmith_au ?

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davesmith_au
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Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by davesmith_au » Thu Apr 16, 2020 5:28 am

JP Michael wrote: Sat Apr 11, 2020 2:33 am Images can no longer be posted by hotlinking to offsite weblinks (or, perhaps more specifically, dropbox).

This website's image dimensions script seems to no longer recognise valid images less than 800x600 imported using the

Code: Select all

[img] [/img]
BBCode.

I specifically attempted to post the following in my recent weather images thread:

Code: Select all

[b]Filamentary Clouds - Sydney, 11/04/2020 10:00 AEST[/b]
[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/xjtde4ia0gba7fu/Filamentary%20Clouds%20Sydney%2011.04.2020.jpg?raw=1[/img]

[b]Meteorological Weather Map - Australia 11/04/2020 10:00 AEST[/b]
[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/0p3q1f68mwf3k9s/11.04.2020%2010.00%20Meteorological%20Weather%20Map.png?raw=1[/img]

[b]Wind Energy Map - earth.nullschool.net 11/04/2020 10:00 AEST[/b]
[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/2t1n73k5i9n96xr/Screenshot%202020-04-11%2012.13.22.png?raw=1[/img]
Attempting to post that code generates an error at the top of screen:

It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image. Please verify that the URL you entered is correct.

Both the urls and the images are correct and formatted to size.
JP Michael wrote: Wed Apr 15, 2020 3:56 am Still cannot post legitimate images, as much as I would like to be able to :(

Would you be able to poke around with those settings, davesmith_au ?
Started looking into this the other day too, then promptly forgot ... thanks for the reminder! To minimise our server being clogged up with full res images, there are a number of parameters which must be met.

But firstly, we do not allow "hotlinked" images (images from other sites displaying in our posts). There are a number of reasons for this, including potential privacy issues, bandwidth issues, porn spam issues, and some sites generally unhappy about other sites hotlinking images.

You CAN however, post a link to an image, for people to click if they wish to see the full size, offsite image. These must be placed between

Code: Select all

[url][/url]
tags rather than

Code: Select all

[img][/img]
tags.

As for uploading images, you can use GIMP (free, open source) or any image manipulation software, to copy and then resize an image to fit our parameters (no greater than 512 MB, 800W X 600H) and post that inline (using the

Code: Select all

[img][/img]
tags). Our software will then check its size, and in most cases display a thumbnail 300 x 300 max in its place, with an option to take a better look at the uploaded image.

Hope that helps :)

Cheers, Dave.
"Those who fail to think outside the square will always be confined within it" - Dave Smith 2007
Please visit PlasmaResources
Please visit Thunderblogs
Please visit ColumbiaDisaster

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JP Michael
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Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by JP Michael » Thu Apr 16, 2020 10:28 pm

Thanks Dave. The problem is I did resize my images to fit the 800x600 requirements before uploading them to my Dropbox for later reference. I have used this method before with no issues, albeit prior to the recent server migration. Since then my usual method linking to my Dropbox has not worked, even if the images are formatted correctly.

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Brigit
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Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by Brigit » Thu Jun 25, 2020 10:54 pm

test

[img]https://i.ibb.co/LvqpSM2/220px-Renderin ... arth-2.jpg[/img

It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image. Please verify that the URL you entered is correct.

It appears that the plain vanilla image hosting site, imgbb com, can no longer be used to resize and post images.

Thanks for the help in the above post Dave. But but an image hosting site is necessary even with GIMP, isn't it? Does any one have a way to post an image within the new Rubbish Policy? (;
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

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JP Michael
Posts: 538
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Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by JP Michael » Fri Jun 26, 2020 1:35 pm

Brigit wrote: Thu Jun 25, 2020 10:54 pm test

[img]https://i.ibb.co/LvqpSM2/220px-Renderin ... arth-2.jpg[/img

It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image. Please verify that the URL you entered is correct.

It appears that the plain vanilla image hosting site, imgbb com, can no longer be used to resize and post images.

Thanks for the help in the above post Dave. But but an image hosting site is necessary even with GIMP, isn't it? Does any one have a way to post an image within the new Rubbish Policy? (;
The problem is with this new forum, probably some back-end code which detects the image dimensions got knocked around. Images no longer post here. Period. You have to make do with hotlinks (url)(/url)

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Brigit
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Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by Brigit » Fri Jun 26, 2020 7:45 pm

test 484x481

[img] https://imgur.com/a/O1ZIVhz [/img

It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image. Please verify that the URL you entered is correct.


I hope Dave Smith has a chance to look into this, and let us know what the forum rules are regarding posting images.

Until then, I don't think there is any reason to believe this is an intentional change in policy.
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

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JP Michael
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Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by JP Michael » Fri Jun 26, 2020 11:06 pm

Brigit wrote: Fri Jun 26, 2020 7:45 pm I don't think there is any reason to believe this is an intentional change in policy.
As I said above, this is unlikely an intentional change of policy but rather an unintentional corruption of the code which is verifying image dimensions before posts can be made.

@davesmith_au should hopefully get his attention!

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Brigit
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Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by Brigit » Sat Jun 27, 2020 6:11 pm

Dave Smith probably has a lot of spinning plates right now. He'll be by eventually.
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

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nick c
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Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by nick c » Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:09 pm

Dave Smith probably has a lot of spinning plates right now. He'll be by eventually
Yes, lots of plates. I have sent him a PM. All the settings look okay to me but that is Dave's domain.

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Brigit
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Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by Brigit » Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:01 am

test

[img] https://i.ibb.co/Cm6xt4W/Tax-has-been-a ... y-josh.jpg [/img

It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image. Please verify that the URL you entered is correct.
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

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Brigit
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Re: Recent forum and main site outages...

Unread post by Brigit » Tue Jul 28, 2020 12:19 am

Dave Smith says,
Started looking into this the other day too, then promptly forgot ... thanks for the reminder! To minimize our server being clogged up with full res images, there are a number of parameters which must be met.

But firstly, we do not allow "hotlinked" images (images from other sites displaying in our posts). There are a number of reasons for this, including...bandwidth issues
I have just been out camping quite a while, and I can better appreciate the spotty internet connectivity in different areas and countries.

It is a great idea to use thumbnail images. Since we can no longer post images directly using img/img, I think using thumbnails are the very next best thing. nick c, has Dave Smith been able to "nut around" with this feature yet?

Now I wish I could go back out camping again for the next 100 days. It's Silly Season in the US. :shock:
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

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