Problem with accessing forums

[Kate Mary]

I've been having trouble using the forums with my smartphone for the last couple of days. I can get into the forums but they look most peculiar, I think it isn't loading properly and there doesn't seem to be a post reply button. I tried using my husband's phone and that is the same. It is fine when I tried on the laptop and I can also switch to a desktop version on my phone. Is anyone else having the same problem? Can anyone help?

[shadow]

There is a mobile version of the forums which doesn't have as many features and looks very bare in contrast. This was created as mobile phones a few years ago couldn't cope with the full site. If you are accessing on a mobile or tablet it automatically goes to the mobile version. If you can, change it to a desktop version to gain all the functionality back.

[Boatbuilder]

This forum on my iPad is identical to the desktop version. However, although I rarely use it for accessing this forum, on my iPhone 8 it is much the same as what I believe Kate Mary says. It's not really a mobile version (in my opinion). This is what it looks like when I open the forum from the link at the top right on the Society's main website.

[Kate Mary]

I have been using the mobile version for years with no problem but it doesn't seem to load properly at the moment, I have to change to the desktop version on my phone now every time I access the forums and even if I move from one part of the forums to another, it is really a pain. Thanks for your reply anyway Shadow.

Thank you also for the screenshot Boatbuilder that is how mine looks now, something has gone wrong with it in the last couple of days.

[Boatbuilder]

It may be something to do with the http/https problem referred to in another topic, Kate Mary. There is a 'Reply with Quote' link on each post in the current mobile one (when logged in). I only tried it on my mobile yesterday when I had a long wait at the dentists so don't know what it looked like on the mobile before then. When I saw what it was like, I gave up with it.

[Kate Mary]

I think it needs our IT expert to sort it out.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Sorry you're having trouble, Kate. I've just sent an email to Keith.

[Keith Robinson]

Ugh. Yes, I see the problems. I think I've fixed the main ones, but the "mobile" version of the main site isn't working, so I'll have to work on that tomorrow. It really isn't a proper mobile version; it was a quick fix mobile version years ago. I need to do a fully responsive version of the main site, but the forums are more tricky.

All this is because all sites are now being upgraded to the "https" protocol, which caused some hiccups. Bear with me!

[Wolfgang]

We do, don't worry, Keith .

[Kate Mary]

It's working perfectly now, thank you Keith and Anita.

[Lucky Star]

Yes all back to normal now. Thanks again to Keith and Anita.

[sixret]

Thank you, Keith and Anita.

[Boodi 2]

I recently (about three days ago!) had a problem accessing the forums and was "barred" for 24 hours because I had made three unsuccessful attempts to log in. The problem righted itself after 24 hours, although whether that happened automatically or was due to the fact that I reported it to Anita I cannot say. I had the same problem several months ago and I don't understand what I am doing wrong. The most recent difficulty was triggered by pressing on the "view topic" link (regarding Ern Goon's 'pomes') and the earlier occurrence took place when I left the forums to visit the cave or society shed and then returned to the forums. In both cases I was logged in but when I attempted to post a message I was informed that I was not logged in and when I attempted to do so I was told that my name and password were invalid, eventually leading to me being refused access. Has anyone had a similar experience or any advice on what I am doing wrong? The computer-illerate Boodi would much appreciate some feedback as there were no PCs in the stable where I was born in Iceland !!!

[Boatbuilder]

That's rather strange, Monique.

My own forum uses the same software as this and I have never known it to be a problem for anyone. The only time I get asked for assistance is when somebody has forgotten their password, although there is a link for that on the log-in page which puzzles me why they don't use it.

For my own curiosity, I tried logging in on my own forum using a 'test' username I have set-up to help check for anomalies such as that, using an incorrect password four times and all I got was the following message with no hint of being locked out:

"You have specified an incorrect password. Please check your password and try again. If you continue to have problems please contact the Board Administrator."

I find it difficult to believe that the board would lock you out with an incorrect password, because if you think about it, anybody could try to log in using somebody else's username and an incorrect password if they wanted to deliberately lock them out for 24 hours.

It seems like something else is causing the problem. If it should happen again, try logging in using 'Private Mode' of your browser as there won't be any cookies, etc., that might be causing the problem, and see if that works.

EDIT:

I have just tried to log-in on here using 'Private Mode' and after three or four times using the wrong password, I got the following message:

You exceeded the maximum allowed number of login attempts. In addition to your username and password you now also have to pass the CAPTCHA test.

Which, after completing, allowed me in.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I don't know whether Keith chose the number or whether it was set by default, but on these forums Maximum number of login attempts per username is set to 3.

I've just taken a look at the Security Settings but can't see anything that looks problematic. If any further problems crop up (for Boodi or anyone), please let us know and I'll pass the details on to Keith.