PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do something about the forums
By
Acemace,
Posted on: 2011-11-07 21:53 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
The last few days I've been logged out over and over again; I've no idea why it's suddenly so much worse but I wish they'd fix whatever just broke.
Quote:
Well, if that's so then why do the CoX boards alone of all the vBulletin boards I've seen have this problem?
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Originally Posted by Solarstar
Zwillinger addressed this in one of the chats sometime around the release of Freedom. IIRC from what he said it's a known bug from the company who makes the forum software. Since they haven't released a fix, Paragon doesn't have one either.
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Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
I've asked the guys in Seattle to please look into/fix whatever is causing many, myself included, to be repeatedly logged out.
I'll update as soon as I have more info.
Andy Belford
Community Manager
Paragon Studios
Quote:
Tell them if they don't fix it, I'll come down there and do it myself.|
Originally Posted by Zwillinger
I've asked the guys in Seattle to please look into/fix whatever is causing many, myself included, to be repeatedly logged out.
I'll update as soon as I have more info. |
Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
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Quote:
I'm not on many boards these days but two of them are vbulletin ones, they don't have the logout problem.|
Originally Posted by Obscure Blade
The last few days I've been logged out over and over again; I've no idea why it's suddenly so much worse but I wish they'd fix whatever just broke.
Well, if that's so then why do the CoX boards alone of all the vBulletin boards I've seen have this problem? |
The difference I can see is at the bottom - both say 'Powered by vbulletin 2000-2011 version 4.something' (one is 4.1.6 and the other is 4.1.7 I think, not sure on the second because I forgot which one it was).
The one here doesn't show the version but says 'powered by vbulletin 2000-2009' - I did a google search on 'vbulletin logout problem' and most results are posts from 2008-2010 so probably it's been fixed in the newer versions like the 4.1.x ones.
Today I had a really awesome experience with our lovely new forum bug wave. I was logging in from a mobile phone. It would give me the hero skin. I would change it to the villain skin. I would be looking at the villain skin... logged out. I would log in. I would get the hero skin. Repeat.
I had to log in four times before it stuck and remembered who I was when I selected the villain skin.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
Tell them if they don't fix it, I'll come down there and do it myself.
Michelle aka Samuraiko/Dark_Respite |
Actually... I don't like talking shop or getting into other peoples' business, but seriously whoever is currently maintaining the forums seems to be doing a pretty darn poor job. And I'm saying as a customer of Paragon Studios, about one of their contractors.
It's really past time to start looking for other options. If someone else thinks they can do this job, let them have the opportunity. Please.
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We don't blame you, Zwil. You're an upright kinda guy and all that, but this problem has been ongoing for YEARS with nothing being done about it, so please excuse some of us if we have little faith in it ever being fixed...
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
I've asked the guys in Seattle to please look into/fix whatever is causing many, myself included, to be repeatedly logged out.
I'll update as soon as I have more info. |
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Quote:
I get the feeling that Michelle is using the word "fix" in the Veterinary sense ... |
Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
Tell them if they don't fix it, I'll come down there and do it myself.
Michelle aka Samuraiko/Dark_Respite |
It's the end. But the moment has been prepared for ...
Quote:
I post on a few forums running vBulletin and none of them have these problems. If it's an issue with a particular version of vBulletin, perhaps someone should look into upgrading versions to one where these problems are resolved. |
Originally Posted by Kioshi
Quote:
I'm not on many boards these days but two of them are vbulletin ones, they don't have the logout problem. The difference I can see is at the bottom - both say 'Powered by vbulletin 2000-2011 version 4.something' (one is 4.1.6 and the other is 4.1.7 I think, not sure on the second because I forgot which one it was). The one here doesn't show the version but says 'powered by vbulletin 2000-2009' - I did a google search on 'vbulletin logout problem' and most results are posts from 2008-2010 so probably it's been fixed in the newer versions like the 4.1.x ones. |
One of the forums I'm on is running 3.7.6, two are on 4.1.6 and one is on 4.1.7 and all have the Copyright date showing as 2000-2011 rather than the 2000-2009 date showing on ours.
It's easy to tell if I'm logged out on two of the forums as you must be logged in to read the forums on those two sites. The other site I post on about once a week and I haven't had to log on there since March when I joined that forum.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
yup, been a member of AO's forum for 6+ years, which currently runs on 3.8.6, and have never ever had the login issue in that time
http://www.scene-and-heard.com/cov/covsig.jpg
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I have no idea if this will help or not, but I got curious and started looking into the cookies that are set.|
Originally Posted by Zwillinger
I've asked the guys in Seattle to please look into/fix whatever is causing many, myself included, to be repeatedly logged out.
I'll update as soon as I have more info. |
I have six cookies assigned to boards.cityofheroes.com, with two different expiration dates among them.
PHPSESSID, bbpassword, and bbuserid are set to expire (this time around) on 11/8/2012.
TS32e4e1, bbsessionhash, and bbthread_lastview are set to expire on 12/31/1969.
I'm wondering if those set to expire in '69 are supposed to be set like that.
In addition to the logout thing, I am also having problems logging in. After I enter my name and pw, I get the "thanks for logging in " message, but frequently the screen goes back to not logged-in. Today, for example, I had to go through the sequence 3 times to get the login to stick. Anyone else having that problem as well?
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Yeah I didn't do a deep search but most of the posts about users and admins complaining about vbulletin logout problem seem to be mostly from 2008/9 so I guess it's some specific version - couldn't find which because most posts were solved by people telling the OP to change directory permissions, that 'site admin' stuff I don't know much anymore.|
Originally Posted by Texas Justice
I post on a few forums running vBulletin and none of them have these problems. If it's an issue with a particular version of vBulletin, perhaps someone should look into upgrading versions to one where these problems are resolved.
One of the forums I'm on is running 3.7.6, two are on 4.1.6 and one is on 4.1.7 and all have the Copyright date showing as 2000-2011 rather than the 2000-2009 date showing on ours. It's easy to tell if I'm logged out on two of the forums as you must be logged in to read the forums on those two sites. The other site I post on about once a week and I haven't had to log on there since March when I joined that forum. |
I haven't been playing and because of that I almost never restart my computer (on a Mac, but I use the Windows client when I play) - and while I don't get booted mid-post like some people, everytime I close the tab and open a new one with this forum, I have to login again. Some months ago I didn't get logged out everytime I closed the window/tab with the forums (but I did get 'booted' while browsing once in a while), now it's all the time.
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Yes. It's happened 3 or 4 times today so far, as well as the being logged out every few flippin' minutes. It's getting quite tedious.
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Originally Posted by SteelMountain
In addition to the logout thing, I am also having problems logging in. After I enter my name and pw, I get the "thanks for logging in " message, but frequently the screen goes back to not logged-in. Today, for example, I had to go through the sequence 3 times to get the login to stick. Anyone else having that problem as well?
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Help Dirk Knightly the freelance detective solve a case in Arc ID:368097
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I don't doubt Zwill is being told its a vBulletin problem. Because Zwill has to take their word for it.|
Originally Posted by Mindscythe
I have no idea if this will help or not, but I got curious and started looking into the cookies that are set.
I have six cookies assigned to boards.cityofheroes.com, with two different expiration dates among them. PHPSESSID, bbpassword, and bbuserid are set to expire (this time around) on 11/8/2012. TS32e4e1, bbsessionhash, and bbthread_lastview are set to expire on 12/31/1969. I'm wondering if those set to expire in '69 are supposed to be set like that. |
Anyway, the problem isn't cookie expiration. The problem is that periodically the board software seems to think something has gone totally haywire with your user session, and actually sends DELETES to ALL your cookie information. Including the cookie data that houses your name and password, which is where its stored if you say "Remember Me." The boards should *never* delete that information unless you log out. So the boards must be thinking periodically that you either logged out, or it should log you out for some reason.
Although vBulletin had an issue related to this in the past, it never had it to the degree we do, and every version of the bug had a trivial fix associated with it. I'm guessing someone performed a custom maneuver I'd get modded for describing somewhere in the authentication or state tracking code, and mucked it up. For some value of M.
The only workaround I've found that actually works is to periodically save the cookie information, and when I see evidence of a cookie delete to simply rewrite the saved information back into the cookie. Then I'm back where I was before. I've been too busy to write a definitive workaround, which would be to create a transparent proxy that filters cookie-deletes from boards.cityofheroes.com so that cookie updates work fine but cookie deletes get thrown away. That would, I think, fix the problem. But only in a really annoying sort of way.
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Who has time to stay logged into CoH forums for hours on end during the workday...
...uh right, 9% unemployment.
I get home from work, post if something interests me then go do something else, it's not really a terrible issue for me...does that make me the 1%?
Quote:
Personally I'm on vacation this week. Also during regular weeks I have no life once I get home from work.|
Originally Posted by Acemace
Who has time to stay logged into CoH forums for hours on end during the workday...
...uh right, 9% unemployment. I get home from work, post if something interests me then go do something else, it's not really a terrible issue for me...does that make me the 1%? |
It also irks me because even when I'm at work all day, when I get home I often find that new posts are not always marked as such because of this bug.
"You don't lose levels. You don't have equipment to wear out, repair, or lose, or that anyone can steal from you. About the only thing lighter than debt they could do is have an NPC walk by, point and laugh before you can go to the hospital or base." -Memphis_Bill
We will honor the past, and fight to the last, it will be a good way to die...
I don't turn my computer off. I leave by browser open for days, sometimes weeks without exiting the program. I have no reason to close it. I leave a few sites I frequently visit open in separate tabs, and simply refresh them when I get back to my PC.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
Quote:
The root cause almost certainly lies in the mod they use for the secure login that checks against our game accounts for permissions.
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Originally Posted by Arcanaville
Anyway, the problem isn't cookie expiration. The problem is that periodically the board software seems to think something has gone totally haywire with your user session, and actually sends DELETES to ALL your cookie information. Including the cookie data that houses your name and password, which is where its stored if you say "Remember Me." The boards should *never* delete that information unless you log out. So the boards must be thinking periodically that you either logged out, or it should log you out for some reason. Although vBulletin had an issue related to this in the past, it never had it to the degree we do, and every version of the bug had a trivial fix associated with it. I'm guessing someone performed a custom maneuver I'd get modded for describing somewhere in the authentication or state tracking code, and mucked it up. For some value of M. |
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Quote:
Crud, you beat me to it. |
Originally Posted by FloatingFatMan
The root cause almost certainly lies in the mod they use for the secure login that checks against our game accounts for permissions.
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That's my surmise as well. 
Dr. Todt's theme.
i make stuff...
If the forum software is out of date, would that leave it open to attacks? Just curious after reading TonyV's posts about the recent stuff that's happened to the Titan Network 
Help Dirk Knightly the freelance detective solve a case in Arc ID:368097
Quote:
I'll echo this. I visit three forums continuously that use vBulletin, in one instance for the better part of a decade. One of them is running vBulletin Version 3.6.0. They have custom tags, plugins, etc. I've NEVER seen any of these problems at these sites. This is something that is unique to CoH's version of vBulletin, at least in my experience.|
Originally Posted by Texas Justice
I post on a few forums running vBulletin and none of them have these problems. If it's an issue with a particular version of vBulletin, perhaps someone should look into upgrading versions to one where these problems are resolved.
One of the forums I'm on is running 3.7.6, two are on 4.1.6 and one is on 4.1.7 and all have the Copyright date showing as 2000-2011 rather than the 2000-2009 date showing on ours. It's easy to tell if I'm logged out on two of the forums as you must be logged in to read the forums on those two sites. The other site I post on about once a week and I haven't had to log on there since March when I joined that forum. |
Also, I have the mod keys for a couple of these and have probably added a couple of dozen forum skins. If you have one that's working, it's not hard to save that style to xml, import it under another name, then tweak it to create a new style - all while the boards remain up. Just make sure your images are all where they should be and you should be fine.
edit: and I'll agree (and have guessed before) that verifying off of game account info seems like a likely culprit.
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A few hours? It's rare that I manage to stay logged in from one post to the next anymore.|
Originally Posted by DarkGob
This is getting out of hand. I can't even stay logged in for a few hours now.
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I had to log back in to make this post.
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Originally Posted by Dechs Kaison See, it's gems like these that make me check Claws' post history every once in a while to make sure I haven't missed anything good lately. |
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Plus people like me that are retired|
Originally Posted by Acemace
Who has time to stay logged into CoH forums for hours on end during the workday...
...uh right, 9% unemployment. I get home from work, post if something interests me then go do something else, it's not really a terrible issue for me...does that make me the 1%? |
Happy to be on Defiant.
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I have to agree it is getting annoying to have to keep logging in. My banks pages don't even do that if you navigate to another tab or something. I used to be able to stay logged in the forums up to like 3 days before it would make me log in again
I miss that feature a lot