Author Topic: Banned from forum  (Read 10860 times)

glc100o

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Banned from forum
« on: April 28, 2019, 12:45:58 am »
A few days ago I was on the GSX forum from FS Dreamteam. I was just  browsing, not posting, when I clicked to another subforum and got the message "Sorry "myusername" you are banned from using this forum". I tried another browser, same message. I tried from my ipad and got the message: "Sorry Guest you are banned from using this forum" I am banned even on my ipad, which is different from my computer? Why was I banned at all? In all my years of flight simming I have never experienced this situation.

 Since I could not post on this forum, I emailed support at FS Dreamteam website, and three days later got no response. Finally I posted on AVSIM under Prepar3d, and forum member was able to help me. I had to clear my browser cache, delete all cookies, [deleting just the FS Dreamteam cookie was not enough], and reboot.

However, although I can access the website with my PC. I still get the same message when trying to access from my iPAD using its browser, and rebooting the iPAD did not solve it. I have no idea why. No idea how to resolve it.

This being banned is an unfortunate bug in the forum website? And also unfortunate terminology in my opinion given its negative connotations. I hope it will  be fixed.  Any help with iPAD issue would be appreciated because I use the iPAD frequently to access this  forum.

Greg

virtuali

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2019, 01:24:46 am »
"Sorry Guest you are banned from using this forum" I am banned even on my ipad, which is different from my computer? Why was I banned at all? In all my years of flight simming I have never experienced this situation.

Since the forum is calling you "Guest", this should tell you we clearly haven't banned YOU, since a Guest is someone that hasn't logged in yet, while a ban against you, would have called you by your user name.

Yes, the problem was an issues with cookies on YOUR PC so no, it's not a forum bug, is something happening locally on your system, which you confirmed by saying that, after removing cookies, it worked.

I think it's probably caused by either you not logging for a while, so the cookie on your browser lapsed, or some issue with a software update or a security update or an antivirus, which decided your cookie from fsdreamteam wasn't correct anymore. Maybe it's some kind of security "feature" that is prompting you to recreate passwords for site you haven't visited in a while, and removing cookies has the effect of clearing the login data stored locally on your browser cache.

Quote
Since I could not post on this forum, I emailed support at FS Dreamteam website, and three days later got no response. Finally I posted on AVSIM under Prepar3d, and forum member was able to help me. I had to clear my browser cache, delete all cookies, [deleting just the FS Dreamteam cookie was not enough], and reboot.

I surely have replied to you the same day you posted ( April 25th ), maybe you haven't received, or the reply ended up in the spam folder, or was removed. In any case, I sent another copy of my reply again now.
 

Quote
However, although I can access the website with my PC. I still get the same message when trying to access from my iPAD using its browser, and rebooting the iPAD did not solve it. I have no idea why. No idea how to resolve it.

It should work the same way as the PC: by removing all cookies from fsdreamteam.com

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265

glc100o

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2019, 02:12:20 am »
Thanks Umberto, I just received your email and was able to get iPAD functional with the link you gave. Perhaps this type of issue and resolution could be elevated to a FAQ for when it happens to others. I do wish the banned from forum message could be changed to something more appropriate and  troubleshooting tips added to the error message. On my PC it did list my specific username, and on iPAD only was I listed as guest.

Greg

Michael1

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #3 on: April 28, 2019, 10:14:25 pm »
This "banned" phenomenon is something new, so I'm guessing a windows 10 update fixed something that wasn't broken .

glc100o

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2019, 10:51:53 pm »
Unfortunately this problem is now occurring on a daily basis when I use Safari on my iPad. I clear the FSDT cookie and get access. Change to another child board and I get the guest you are banned from the forum. Clear the cookie access restored. Go to another child board I am banned.

Also when I sign in  I get a message sometimes of incorrect password a couple of times despite re entering it then while displaying the incorrect password message for awhile it logs in, despite saying the password is incorrect.

Strange behavior. This does not relate to any recent update of iOS 12.

Greg

Selkan

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #5 on: May 03, 2019, 08:57:36 pm »
This has happened twice to me recently.  The fix I used was to clear all browsing history on my Windows 7 PC and I was then able to gain access as normal.

Rustydog

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2019, 09:35:30 pm »
This has happened twice to me recently.  The fix I used was to clear all browsing history on my Windows 7 PC and I was then able to gain access as normal.
Likewise.
On three different computers and my phone. Makes no difference whether guest or logged in by name. Getting tedious now, constantly clearing the cache.
Intel Core i5 4690 (OC 4500Mhz), GeForce GTX1060 6gb GDDR5, P3Dv4.4, PMDG 737u,

sw34669

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2019, 09:41:33 pm »
ive just started getting this also whilst browsing (logged in) with Mozilla under windows 7

Even though i am logged in it looks like im a guest ... this is the error
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News:    
 
         Home         Help    Login    Register    
An Error Has Occurred!
Sorry sw34669, you are banned from using this forum!

virtuali

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #8 on: May 07, 2019, 03:46:13 am »
I can only repeat and confirm the problem is fixed by clearing all cookies from fsdreamteam.com. Please re-read the previous answers, including some issues with some browser that don't really remove cookies, even if you think they did.

sw34669

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #9 on: May 08, 2019, 11:23:44 am »
strange this just started happening a couple of days ago and nothing has changed on my windows 7 system or my ipad
i have cleared all cookies via the browser and manually and this seems to work for a while but then the issue comes back
using the same version of browsers i had prior to this
ive no issues with any other forums or sites
using chrome everything is ok

glc100o

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #10 on: May 08, 2019, 09:29:23 pm »
I can only repeat and confirm the problem is fixed by clearing all cookies from fsdreamteam.com. Please re-read the previous answers, including some issues with some browser that don't really remove cookies, even if you think they did.

I understand how to fix it, but currently with Safari, every time I change to a different child board, I get the error message and have to go in and delete the cookie. This is very tedious and discourages me from using the forum. I visit lots of forums and with no others do I have this issue. Given multiple user  reports it would appear that something is suddenly going on with the mechanics of this forum that impacts multiple browsers and multiple users to create this problem. I have also visited this forum for many years and never encountered this.

Greg

kano

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #11 on: May 08, 2019, 09:55:26 pm »
I can only repeat and confirm the problem is fixed by clearing all cookies from fsdreamteam.com. Please re-read the previous answers, including some issues with some browser that don't really remove cookies, even if you think they did.

Umberto, thank you for trying to help. I oticed that you wrote above the following:

Yes, the problem was an issues with cookies on YOUR PC so no, it's not a forum bug, is something happening locally on your system, which you confirmed by saying that, after removing cookies, it worked.

Expiriencing the problem described above myself (sent you guys an e-mail asking for help, but now I fix it) and knowing a bit about IT, have you not considered that your statament is in fact pointing the problem to yourselves and not to "OUR PCs"? The cookie is a file produced by a website (I mean a programer/website master... whatever) not by my computer, hence, it is very very likely that the cookie produced by the forum is faulty. You should consider checking with your site administrator (don't mistake it with Forum administrator) Surely something has been done with the cookie that is causing problems to so many users, and ONLY with this forum, specially when it didn't cause before.

Please just be a bit scientific and accept the posibility that is the cookie and not OUR PCs the root of the issue.

Looking forward to a solution for all, both ourselves and yourselves that surely don't want us moaning all the time about this

best

Kano

virtuali

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2019, 12:05:40 pm »
Expiriencing the problem described above myself (sent you guys an e-mail asking for help, but now I fix it) and knowing a bit about IT, have you not considered that your statament is in fact pointing the problem to yourselves and not to "OUR PCs"?

The cookie was made by the website, and you can be sure it is correct. But after it arrives on YOUR PC, it can be made invalid by anything in your system. I checked with an user that cannot login, and the name of the cookie on HIS PC for fsdreamteam.com is NOT what is being sent by our website, as if something in HIS system changed it's name.

Obviously, once he cleared the cookie, the problem went away, which is a clear proof that:

- The forum sends the correct cookie

- The changed happened locally.

Quote
You should consider checking with your site administrator (don't mistake it with Forum administrator) Surely something has been done with the cookie that is causing problems to so many users, and ONLY with this forum, specially when it didn't cause before.

And don't you think this was the first thing I tried, when the first users reported it ? Of course I did that, and of course the site host said nothing has changed, nothing is wrong with the forum.

Quote
Please just be a bit scientific and accept the posibility that is the cookie and not OUR PCs the root of the issue.

Yes, it is. We have 23000 users, and less than 20-30 have reported this issues. So yes, it is a problem of YOUR PC, most likely a changed security settings, in the browser.

Again: how do you explain that clearing the cookies fixes the problem ? If the forum really sent "wrong" cookies, after clearing them you would still get a new, wrong one.

sw34669

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #13 on: May 09, 2019, 02:42:56 pm »
is this anything to do with the recent certificate issue mozilla had my issues (only with this forum) started at the same time
https://www.techspot.com/news/79937-expired-certificate-broke-all-firefox-add-ons.html
I clear our cookies manually and restart the browser all is ok for a few clicks then i get the same again

if there are 20-30 people hitting the same issue then its fair to conclude that they wouldnt all have accidentally changed something in their browser . It's a lower number than the total users, but its still a trend if it's > 5 . How many unique users on average log in daily , is it 23000 or 2000 ?

I havnt updated anything on my system or ipad so whatever the issue is it's across 2 different platforms at the same time and external to my house.



sw34669

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Re: Banned from forum
« Reply #14 on: May 09, 2019, 02:54:44 pm »

other site that use the simple machines forum distribution having the same issues

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=317765.0

looks like

https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=564762.msg4004521#msg4004521

121.221.154.42   Guest   Sorry Sara B, you are banned from using this forum!
This ban is not set to expire.