Forum problem

[Ryan McGinnis]

I thought this seemed to solve the problem awhile back Skip Post #2, but it kind of sounds like there is some sort of sporadic problem as most who have chimed in here seem to know how to login in and it definitely doesn't sound like user error to me.

"Remember me" does not work if you visit http://stormtrack.org/forum instead of http://www.stormtrack.org/forum . It's not sporadic, it's reproducible 100% of the time across multiple platforms on multiple networks. You can experience it yourself by going here. As Darren pointed out before his posts vanished, this is a server side configuration file issue. It appears that it can be fixed rather quickly and painlessly (i.e., in under two minutes) once the administrative holiday is over. However, I'm not a vBulletin wonk by any means, so I may be mistaken.

 

[Mark Blue]

I believe you Ryan and I hope you didn't think I was coming in here to say there isn't an issue. I'm actually afraid to try your link as I don't want to goof up my login and be in the group who cannot get it to stick. My use of the term "sporadic" was based on the fact that I haven't had any issues since the upgrade when I used the "Remember Me" option and my cookie was set, but apparently there are some who are still experiencing problems. I just purchased a new 4G Smartphone and was able to get it to stick there, so apparently it has something to do with the web address (url) one uses to access the login page. I believe it warrants admin attention in case that didn't come across in my first post. The last thing I want to do is irritate someone from my home state that I will probably meet on the road some day when out chasing. Please accept my apology if it wasn't received the way it was intended as I'm actually on your side - in that it needs to be fixed!

 

[Skip Talbot]

Can anyone else confirm that there are sporadic issues receiving pop-up notifications for incoming private messages? It appears to work for most people, so please only chime in if you're one of the affected. I have received a few reports, and possibly witnessed the issue myself.

 

[Jason Boggs]

I had a problem with that about a week ago Skip. Sometimes the PM pops up in a window, and sometimes it doesn't. But, I had that problem a few times before the upgrade.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

I believe you Ryan and I hope you didn't think I was coming in here to say there isn't an issue. I'm actually afraid to try your link as I don't want to goof up my login and be in the group who cannot get it to stick. My use of the term "sporadic" was based on the fact that I haven't had any issues since the upgrade when I used the "Remember Me" option and my cookie was set, but apparently there are some who are still experiencing problems. I just purchased a new 4G Smartphone and was able to get it to stick there, so apparently it has something to do with the web address (url) one uses to access the login page. I believe it warrants admin attention in case that didn't come across in my first post. The last thing I want to do is irritate someone from my home state that I will probably meet on the road some day when out chasing. Please accept my apology if it wasn't received the way it was intended as I'm actually on your side - in that it needs to be fixed!

No offense taken, Mark! There wasn't anything offensive about your post at all.

 

[Lanny Dean]

Not sure where Darrens post went but, I am still having major problems with logging in! And yes Skip, I have the problem when I have receive a PM. It will give me the pop up but when I click to read it, it won't let me. I have had this issue for a year or better but I deal with it. The biggest problem is logging in. Has anyone heard from Tim at all? I cannot seem to get an answer on that. I asked the same question on 3-7-11 and received no answers.

What the hell is going on around here??? Seems to me that if you cannot participate in full form on a forum that you own, them maybe its time to delegate some of these types of responsibilites to someone else. Taking two or three days to be able to log in is unacceptable IMO.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Has anyone heard from Tim at all? I cannot seem to get an answer on that. I asked the same question on 3-7-11 and received no answers.

I think Tim fell off the face of the earth...at least that's what it seems. Simply put, Tim needs to turn the "keys" over to someone else that might give a crap about the forum, because he obviously doesn't anymore. There are things that needs to be done here that only he can do, and it's pathetic that it's not getting done.

 

[Jesse Risley]

Has anyone heard from Tim at all? I cannot seem to get an answer on that. I asked the same question on 3-7-11 and received no answers.

No. I've posted in several threads that I sent Tim an email back when this thread started (last weekend). Unfortunately, I have not received a personal response to that email. We've also started an extensive list of forum "bugs" like this in the administrative forum, specifically so that Tim has a detailed list of issues whenever he returns and logs in to ST. That's all that I know at this juncture, though I wish I had a better answer.

 

[Darren Addy]

I think Tim fell off the face of the earth...at least that's what it seems. Simply put, Tim needs to turn the "keys" over to someone else that might give a crap about the forum, because he obviously doesn't anymore. There are things that needs to be done here that only he can do, and it's pathetic that it's not getting done.

As someone who learned about a year ago that life can change in an instant (wife in a serious car accident) I certainly hope that Tim V. hasn't had anything earth-shaking happen to (rightfully) take his attention away from ST. I hope he's just momentarily (OK, month-entarily) distracted. In any event, any time you have a single point of failure (whether that be hardware or an individual) you have a potential problem. Everybody and everything needs a backup,whenever possible. Does anybody know if he's recently cashed the checks for the banner ads, books and software that you've purchase from him? Maybe he witnessed Chuckie Doswell doing something illegal and has had to go into the Witness Protection Program. There are possibilities, people!

I've found evidence that Tim V. is alive and doing something regarding ST:

On second thought that date may simply be a timestamp of my query and not the date that the host/IP address changed.

 

[Darren Addy]

I don't know if the Server Admin is also Tim, but this is probably fixable from the server side. Stormtrack runs on Apache, so can use .htaccess files. With the proper commands in a .htaccess file, any request for stormtrack.org can be automatically rerouted (by the server) to www.stormtrack.org (which may also be enough to fix the problem people are experiencing).

I'm guessing that nobody other than Tim has the keys to open a Support Ticket with whoever is hosting stormtrack, as well. If so, we really aren't any further along in getting this thing solved. I would recommend doing the .htaccess thing and ALSO changing the cookie domain preference in the vBulletin admin side.

For the record, this should work in the .htaccess file that goes in the web root:

RewriteEngine On
Options +FollowSymlinks
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^stormtrack\.org
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.stormtrack.org/$1 [R=permanent,L]

I've got the feeling that there are people on this board that can verify if my solution will work (rdale, drummond, etc.)

 

[Mark Blue]

One thing about the Private Message window bombing out that I've noticed is if you have the Google toolbar installed it has a pop up blocker that will kill the PM window from opening. One way to add ST to your Google toolbar exceptions is to hold the CTRL key down when you click the option to open the PM in a new window and it will then be allowed in the future. I could be all wet and not understand the crux of the issue, but if a person has any pop up blockers running that should be ruled out as the first line of defense. Even Firefox has a pop up blocker that can interfere with a new window opening. You would have to go to the Tools menu, select Options, select the Content tab and add www.stormtrack.org to your exceptions. For those using other browsers I assume it's a similar setting that would need to be adjusted. I hope this helps anyone who is experiencing this issue.

 

[Dave Rennie]

For what it's worth for those trying to access "stormtrack.org/forum" instead of "www.stormtrack.org/forum", that may have to do with how the DNS records for stormtrack.org are set up. In the Internet world, "stormtrack.org" is the domain name, the "www" preceding the domain name is the server that serves web pages for that domain. Typically, "mail.stormtrack.org" would be the email server for the domain.

Sometimes you can get by leaving off the "www." at the beginning of the URL, but it is often the source of problems, depending as I said, on how the DNS records are set up for a particular domain. When in doubt, I always use the "www." unless, of course, some other server name is specified, such as "weather.cod.edu/forecast/".

Hope this helps someone.

 

[Lanny Dean]

No. I've posted in several threads that I sent Tim an email back when this thread started (last weekend). Unfortunately, I have not received a personal response to that email. We've also started an extensive list of forum "bugs" like this in the administrative forum, specifically so that Tim has a detailed list of issues whenever he returns and logs in to ST. That's all that I know at this juncture, though I wish I had a better answer.

Well....I have to give you kudos for the attempt anyways, thank you and the other mods for trying. Just for the record, I am just now able to log back in from yesterday which is certainly frustrating....maybe this issue will get fixed before we really get into severe season.

 

[Joshua Nall]

All the talk is like this is a major deal, but I had no clue there were problems until I read this thread. Just a heads up that it is not effecting everyone, as I log in everyday and have had no issues.

 

[Lanny Dean]

All the talk is like this is a major deal, but I had no clue there were problems until I read this thread. Just a heads up that it is not effecting everyone, as I log in everyday and have had no issues.

Good deal, but for those of us who it is effecting on a daily basis it sucks! MOD'S....I am still having major issues logging in. I couldn't reply to the thread about SL versus GR3 all day until just now. And no matter how I tried wheather using www. or not, cleaning cookies, following all the recomendations posted it still would not let me. This is simply getting stupid now. I know you all have/are trying to reslove it and I appreciate that, that's probably why I have been patient but this is turning into something that it should not be. I understand that Tim is the only one that can take care of the issue....has anyone heard from him regarding this yet?

I sent him an e-mail to his personal address Sunday night but it got bounced back to me saying "undeliverable" I guess he may have changed that email address???
Can you mods please tell me what the heck is going on?