Subtle changes, bugs and feedback

I log in this fine forum via the email -> send verification code option.
Since a few weeks there's hiccups, meaning I enter my email and ask for a code to be sent, but do not receive one.
I try again a couple of times, but usually this doesn't help.
Then, sometimes ten minutes, sometimes hours later, I receive the code(s) - one for every request I made - but then usually none of them work as they have meanwhile 'timed out' I guess.
Then I go and request another one and get one right away.

I looked into this and there is no delay in sending or delivery to your ISP. But somewhere in your ISP there must be done system or mechanism delaying delivery. This could be due to buggy systems, or maybe a way to control spam... Whether way it's not in my control I'm afraid

Hmm, ok.

Thank you for looking into it!

: ]

Anyone know why I consistently get a ‘error 1020’ cloudflare error when using the forum via mobile data (Vodafone)? It started happening about a week ago - same phone/network has been working fine for years...

Seems likely to be my fault somehow but Google suggests only the site owner can fix it?

Well that would be me then :) And I work at Cloudflare... so maybe I can get the help page updated too :)

Could you visit https://www.lfgss.com/cdn-cgi/trace from the mobile phone and network in question, and copy the output of that into here please.

And FYI on a subtle change...

We were under attack last week, so I blocked AWS IP ranges and made Chinese visitors pass a CAPTCHA, and blocked a few bots.

I'm going to suspect that it was the last of those that might be affecting you as I don't think your IP will be an AWS IP address, and I don't think you are in China.

But providing me with the output of the link above will allow me to check everything.

Much appreciated. Here you go..,

fl=63f25
h=http://www.lfgss.com
ip=35.176.235.48
ts=1563717993.416
visit_scheme=https
uag=Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 12_3_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/12.1.1 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1
colo=MAN
http=http/2
loc=GB
tls=TLSv1.3
sni=plaintext
warp=off

That's Vodafone?

It's showing as an AWS VPN endpoint.

And I'm blocking AWS.

I've changed it to issue a CAPTCHA on AWS IPs.

This will still stop all of the bots, but will allow you to pass a CAPTCHA to get through.

Thanks that worked.

Funnily enough I got that captcha thing (for the first time ever) earlier today on wifi (I think) when going to the ‘forums’ page to find the feedback one.

And yeah it’s Voda, but it is a work phone so maybe doing something funky - vpn is off though.

Cheers for sorting..

I'm curious as to what is actually happening here, as Vodafone do have their own IPs and large enough network and Telco SLAs are more extreme than AWS ones... so Vodafone aren't going to route all mobile internet via AWS.

It seems then that the most likely thing is that this isn't actually Vodafone doing this, but that your employer is choosing to run a VPN. This is probably a Trust & Safety or compliance thing (you work for a regulated industry?).

I'm guessing that they proxy via a VPN and run deep packet inspection and some DNS filtering.

If this bugs you, and it's a work laptop too... then Firefox configured for DNS over HTTPS is your answer.

Regulated, yes sort of, and I guess it probably relates to this third party mobile security/data monitoring app we are supposed to keep open (although it still seems to function if it’s not open as I’ve tried both ways).

Ironically visiting sites that would normally be on the average blocked list is part of my job and I’m not aware of anything being actively restricted except streaming apps (after someone racked up a massive bill on holiday!) - but I can imagine it might interfere with blocking that you need to do.

probably relates to this third party mobile security/data monitoring app we are supposed to keep open

Yeah.... that's probably a VPN app.

Quick IOS question. I have saved the site to my favourites and I see a nice lfgss logo. I have also saved it as a separate link on the phone. For this the icon constantly changes. Today it’s a picture of the /today page (this is where the link points) but often is just a white square. Any idea how I can get it to be constant?

2 Attachments

No idea.

iOS quirk... Maybe someone in the iOS thread will know?

Not numbering.

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/14835633/

That's by design, it's markdown formatting

You have to escape your accidental markdown with back slashes

A link in my current projects thread isn't working. It looks to be formatted properly but doesn't bring me to the right link.

The link looks like this in the editor:

[It's a little rusted](imgur.com/a/QjrUpqI) 

but when I click it it brings me to https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/338098/imgur.com/a/QjrUpqI/ for some reason. I just tried to add another link but just formatted as :

[imgur.com/a/QjrUpqI](imgur.com/a/QjrUpqI) 

It brings me to the same wrong link with the lfgss bit added in front.

Also while I think of it, why do links go to the microcosm.app shortener where when you mouse over them you can't see what the true destination is?

Also while I think of it, why do links go to the microcosm.app shortener where when you mouse over them you can't see what the true destination is?

This is really annoying. It's weird that @Velocio is generally so security conscious but the site is designed to hide links so you have no idea what website you'll end up on if you click a link.

why do links go to the [insert evil internet corporation here] shortener where when you mouse over them you can't see what the true destination is?

Because tracking your clicks and attempting to monetise the information that provides about you is how surveillance capitalism works. The alternative would be to pay subscription fees for access to pretty much any website which isn't in itself a shop front.

Er? The reason for the microso.sm links was originally to generate a modest income for Microcosm through affiliation fees. That didn't work, and perhaps they're obsolete now, but if they still have a use, Velocio can probably tell us. Or they're still there because it's hard to remove the mechanism that generates them without some more upheaval. Or do they still generate money, even if very little?

This is really annoying. It's weird that @Velocio is generally so security conscious but the site is designed to hide links so you have no idea what website you'll end up on if you click a link.

ALL LINKS are 'MARK ALL READ' links by default. :)

If it's necessary to keep the microcosm shortener, it would be possible to use JavaScript to gracefully intercept clicks on links, and divert them to the microcosm shortener. Thus allowing mouseover to reveal the true URL, but still keep the benefits of sending links via the shortener.

Alternatively, you could always put the URL in the tool tip.

Try using https://imgur.com. I bet the parser is checking and assuming you've put in a relative link?

It's a little rusted

[It's a little rusted](https://imgur.com/a/QjrUpqI)