Forum Problems -- Please Read

[bobthehobbyguy]

Whatever the issue is it seems to be interfering with how the buttons are funstion--react, page advance. So issues with the save topic are also in that realm.

[ncbuckeye67]

I hope this is the place for my question. Why can't I open a jpeg photo? Is it my browser? When I post a picture, I drag it over from my email, and it works great. But any time I try to look at someone's post with a jpeg photo, it does not open for me.

[bobthehobbyguy]

Good questions.

In Dave's comments it sounded like there are other issues besides the react and page button issues.

It would be helpful to get further clarification on those issues.

Dave had also stated that he felt that there were some things he might be able to do to help the situation.

At this point a little information would be helpful. Has it been concluded that only an update is going to fix this. Granted this is going to take time but a little more information will go a long way to reduce the on going frustration with the board functionality issues. 

[Dave Ambrose]

Quick update --

We now have some idea of why the problems are occurring, but haven't gotten to the root cause. There is some embedded programming in the forum pages, and Chrome is refusing to execute this even if it's enabled in the Chrome settings. This is some Google thing that they haven't owned up to yet.

However, I have a work-around!!! Download and use Firefox. The forum seems to be working perfectly on that browser. When you do the initial startup, it will copy over your saved passwords, bookmarks, etc. from Chrome. It was a seamless experience for me, and to my surprise, it responds better than Chrome.

My other work around is to right-click on the button I want to "press" and select Copy link address. Then, go up to the address bar, right click again, and select Paste and go to. . . .   This will take you to wherever the button was going to send you.

[bobthehobbyguy]

Thanks Dave. Sounds like this one is a real head scratcher. Hopefully Google will be addressing the issue.

A dictionary  Additional thought. Given the last update was security related it may be Google wants to investigate before they say too much. There may be a security issue that needs to be address and they don't want to say too much about it till they find a fix.

Edited October 28, 2023 by bobthehobbyguy
Added thought / fixed spell check help with word choice

[Dave Ambrose]

4 hours ago, bobthehobbyguy said:

Thanks Dave. Sounds like this one is a real head scratcher. Hopefully Google will be addressing the issue.

A dictionary thought. Given the last update was security related it may be Google wants to investigate before they say too much. There may be a security issue that needs to be address and they don't want to say too much about it till they find a fix.

Whatever it is, it's in the core browser code. Microsoft Edge has the same problem, and it uses the same rendering engine as Chrome does.

[bobthehobbyguy]

Thanks Dave. Interesting information.

[ColonelKrypton]

I did some more poking around with this issue.

I tried Firefox as suggested but the problem is even worse. I used Firefox 119.0 64 bit and Windows 11. \

Firefox wants to automatically upgrade the site connection to https:// and in doing so all of the noted issues ( can't "like" or change pages, etc ) are still there. I can turn off https:// for the site but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Back to Chrome. If you click on the "Not Secure" or padlock ( left side of the URL display) you will get display some details on the connection to the web site you are viewing. 

If you click on "Site Settings", a new tab will open with a URL like: chrome://settings/content/siteDetails?site=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.modelcarsmag.com 

You will now find many other details for the settings of your connection.

Under "Privacy and Security" => "insecure content" you have three options: "Block (default)", Block, and "don't block". 

If I connect to modelcarsmag.com as https:// I see the usual padlock on the left side of the URL and the noted issues all come into play ( can;t leave "likes" etc)

However, if I change the "Privacy and Security" => "insecure content" setting to "don't block" the URL changes to show an orange "Not Secure" on the URL. After each change I refresh the web page.

In this state I presume I am still connect using https:// BUT have allowed insecure content and the orange "Not secure" is indicating this.  In this state all the noted issues ( can't leave a "like" etc ) are still an issue.

Only when I connect to modelcarssmag.com explicitly using http:// can I then leave "likes" etc. 

I have since set "Privacy and Security" => "insecure content" setting back to "block (default)"

Now, go back to viewing details of my connection to modelcarsmag.com by clicking on the "not secure" on the left end of the URL then select "Site Setting" and from there select "Privacy and security" which brings me to this page: chrome://settings/privacy

Now select "Site settings"  ( middle of screen bottom )  and we get here: chrome://settings/content  and I see this:

 

To my eye, two things stick out, Recent activity indicates some connection to www.cargokz.lt  which is a Russian web page Cargo KZ is a cargo/freight company in Kazakhstan and ani-mecha.com which is a Gundam/Gunpla hobby store in Singapore.

If you click on each of those entries you will find further details.  

I am not sure whether these are just artefacts of my browser and some other web sites I have recently used or whether these references are coming directly from www.modelcarsmag.com  As web browsers have become ever more sophisticated and complex my limited understanding has me scratching my head. Whether other users would see these same web sites or something else altogether I just don't know.

I recall in the past year or so seeing or reading something about Google and other browser makers moving towards enforcing more secure connections. Some of the changes in this direction may be what we are seeing here on www.modelcarsmag.com

For what it's worth to add some more observations on this ongoing issue.

cheers, Graham

 

 

[ColonelKrypton]

16 hours ago, Dave Ambrose said:

However, I have a work-around!!! Download and use Firefox.

Tried that but it doesn't seem to work, at least not in all cases. See my previous post above.

Keep digging. Seems to some weird configuration/secure connection issue of some sort.

As a thought, Britmodeller uses this same forum software. They have a very large user base and only occasionally have issues although I don't ever recall seeing something like the issues seen here on that forum.  Perhaps contacting their admins might be helpful.

cheers, Graham

[ColonelKrypton]

27 minutes ago, ColonelKrypton said:

To my eye, two things stick out, Recent activity indicates some connection to www.cargokz.lt  which is a Russian web page Cargo KZ is a cargo/freight company in Kazakhstan and ani-mecha.com which is a Gundam/Gunpla hobby store in Singapore.

If you click on each of those entries you will find further details.  

I am not sure whether these are just artefacts of my browser and some other web sites I have recently used or whether these references are coming directly from www.modelcarsmag.com  As web browsers have become ever more sophisticated and complex my limited understanding has me scratching my head. Whether other users would see these same web sites or something else altogether I just don't know.

Seems to be a red herring. After some more poking around, these just appear to artefacts to entries in my browsers "cookies". 

Just goes to show how difficult it is to debug such odd issues. The further you dig down into the bunny hole the easier it is to be lead astray by those red herrings

cheers, Graham

 

[bobthehobbyguy]

True about the red herrings however each one needs to be investigated because there may be more relevant information to be found.

It all boils down to the more complexity means the problems are more complex. Also more complexity means their are more ways things can be broken.

[ColonelKrypton]

Did some more poking around.  It's a quiet Autumn Saturday and I have had my fill of raking leaves and cutting brush

I have been connecting to www.modelcarsmag.com a http://  and everything is working as I would normally expect. Whenever I try different things related to http: vs https: I often see things like "Not secure" and options to allow non secure items when loading web pages. 

To try and better understand what I am seeing when I am viewing a web page, I changed to https:// and opened this page on www.modelcarsmag.com. As expected the page loaded but those issues we have been experiencing are present ( i.e. can't "like" a post or change pages etc ). On the left side of the URL it is noted that the web page was loaded but is "Not secure" and that is as expected. This is indicating that the connection to the web page is by secure https:// but there is something about the web page which is not secure. In other words, Chrome is using https:// to load the web page but is allowing non-secure web page contents to also load. 

Chrome allows the user to "view page contents" ( right click around the border of the web page and from the pop up menu select "view page source"  CTRL U will also open the pop up menu

 

click on "view page source", a new tab will open with the web page being viewed source contents. 

A quick search shows that there are 943 references to http:// ( non-secure ) resources. This is not surprising given that Chrome is indicating that the web page as loaded is "Not secure". I was surprised to that many references to http:// resources whereas there are 266 references to https:// resources.

A quick scan through the page source and I noted some or the links related to changing pages:

which are all http:// where I would have expected to see https://

So, the behaviour I see when connected using https:// where things like adding a "like" or changing pages in multi page postings is starting to make sense. Chrome ( and other browsers ) are allowing non secure web page items to be loaded but are stopping them from being executed likely as a security measure.  That's my WAG ( Wild a$$ Guess ).

It is likely that the admins have already gotten to this point as well and are hunting around for the source and resolution.

For what it's worth to add some more observations on this ongoing issue.

cheers, Graham

 

 

[bobthehobbyguy]

Great observations.

And there has been a push that all pages need to be secure. Sounds like Google didn't get all the security changes made. 

[bobthehobbyguy]

If you google "google chrome issues 2023" there is a lot of info regarding what google has been trying to fix. It's been going on for a while.

[dusty_shelf]

Related to the above described issues?

I generally view the forum using my iPhone.  Lately, I have been making searches to see examples of builds of kits I am contemplating getting.  When I get the results of the search I find, upon viewing any given post, I am not able to return to the list of results.  There is no back/previous page arrow or similar.  I have to exit out and make the search again.  What am I doing wrong or not seeing?  Thanks.

[ColonelKrypton]

1 hour ago, dusty_shelf said:

What am I doing wrong or not seeing?  

Nothing.

I suspect the issue is that the web browser on you iPhone is connecting to the web site using https://  ( i.e. http secure mode ) and not http:// ( i.e. http insecure mode ).

it is connecting to the web site using https:// that you encounter the issues that have been discussed - back button, able to leave "likes", etc ... - don't work as they should.

I don't use an iPhone to browse web sites so I couldn't say one way or the other if you are able to change your connection to this web site from https to http.

I am wondering starting to wonder what recent headway the admins have made on this issue as there has not been much if any discussion of late.

cheers, Graham

 

[peteski]

On 11/11/2023 at 12:15 PM, ColonelKrypton said:

I am wondering starting to wonder what recent headway the admins have made on this issue as there has not been much if any discussion of late.

cheers, Graham

Back on October 27th was a statement from the admins:

Quote

We now have some idea of why the problems are occurring, but haven't gotten to the root cause. There is some embedded programming in the forum pages, and Chrome is refusing to execute this even if it's enabled in the Chrome settings. This is some Google thing that they haven't owned up to yet.

If this is a problem with the browser, not with this website, there will likely not be many updates from the admins here.

 

 

UPDATE:  While I don't use Chrome, on another forum someone was unhappy with the new Chrome's line spacing in the history tab.  He found the following procedure which appears to have backed up the update.  If you like the new user interface, try to just disable the first item.  Maybe that will take care of the problem with this forum.

Open chrome://flags
Search for “refresh”
Disable the 2 results : (“Chrome Refresh 2023” and “Chrome WebUI Refresh 2023”)
Chrome will ask you to reload the browser and that’s it! Done
Source: https://bugartisan.medium.com/disable-the-new-chrome-ui-round-in-2023-db168271f71e

Edited November 12, 2023 by peteski

[ColonelKrypton]

17 minutes ago, peteski said:

If this is a problem with the browser, not with this website, there will likely not be many updates from the admins here.

 

It is not just the Chrome browser.  I can replicate the issue using  a variety of different browsers including the recommended Firefox and also Brave, Microsoft Edge, and Opera - disclaimer: this was true several weeks ago when I tried each one. 

The basis of the issue appears to be related to http:// ( insecure web connections ) and https:// ( secure web connections).

On any different web page there will ( in all likelyhood ) many links to various other web resources ( i.e. images, advertisments, etc ). 

In order to connect to  web page using https:// all of those linked to web source must also be https:// in order for the connection to be secure.

When I connect to this web site with a browser using https:  I get  a warning about the connection being insecure and when I look at the page source I find many references to http: resources

When I connect using http: I get  a warning that the connection is not secure but the web site works as it should. 

cheers, Graham

[stitchdup]

24 minutes ago, ColonelKrypton said:

 

It is not just the Chrome browser.  I can replicate the issue using  a variety of different browsers including the recommended Firefox and also Brave, Microsoft Edge, and Opera - disclaimer: this was true several weeks ago when I tried each one. 

The basis of the issue appears to be related to http:// ( insecure web connections ) and https:// ( secure web connections).

On any different web page there will ( in all likelyhood ) many links to various other web resources ( i.e. images, advertisments, etc ). 

In order to connect to  web page using https:// all of those linked to web source must also be https:// in order for the connection to be secure.

When I connect to this web site with a browser using https:  I get  a warning about the connection being insecure and when I look at the page source I find many references to http: resources

When I connect using http: I get  a warning that the connection is not secure but the web site works as it should. 

cheers, Graham

do you use ad block plus? if you do try changing it to another. It could be worth trying facebook container as well as social media links in the ads could be causing problems, particularly with ad block plus which blocks the ads but leaves the links. I changed to ublock and its been fine since

[bobthehobbyguy]

I've seen several posts that some members are having login issues. Is this related to the board issues.

[ColonelKrypton]

1 hour ago, stitchdup said:

do you use ad block plus? i

 

No, I don't use any ad blockers

[ColonelKrypton]

18 minutes ago, bobthehobbyguy said:

I've seen several posts that some members are having login issues. Is this related to the board issues.

It might be. I recall when I was trying different browsers and http:// vs https:// that when I tried to log into https://www.modelcarsmag.com/... I encountered issues but not when I tried to log into http://www.modelcarsmag.com/....  

 

 

[peteski]

6 hours ago, ColonelKrypton said:

It is not just the Chrome browser.  I can replicate the issue using  a variety of different browsers including the recommended Firefox and also Brave, Microsoft Edge, and Opera - disclaimer: this was true several weeks ago when I tried each one. 

Sure, I'm well aware of this - I've been participating in this thread after all.

Chrome used to work and now it is broken (along with other browsers using the same browser core).  The procedure seems like it backs out the update, so it might back out the broken code, restoring previous functionality.

[Dave Ambrose]

Brief Update --

Our most promising remedy is to bring the forum software up to the current version. We couldn't do that earlier because of some incompatibilities elsewhere on the server. I fixed those last night. I'll upgrade the forum software as soon as possible. We may go offline at short notice. But, I'll try to provide a heads-up.

[TonyK]

Thank you for your ongoing efforts to fix this.