bug in board logging in system

[theemathas]

• when I log in I always get the captcha even on the first log in!
• I never got logged in automatically no matter I click that automatic check box or not

[brianfry713]

The same happens to me. The answer to the CAPTCHA is:

Code: Select all

Ttfloewits

[theemathas]

I wish a moderator come and see here...
PS another problem found:

• sometimes 1 window is logged in but another isn't!

[Darko]

I don't think a moderator can do anything about it.

I do have an admin account but I do not have access to the server, so I can only change the settings which, at the moment, seem to be correct.

Persistent login is enabled and spambot countermeasures are set to kick in after 3 login attempts.

That is not what is happening and my guess would be that some configuration file cannot be read in due to file permissions not being set properly or something like that.

I will email Carlos and see if he can look into it but no promises.

Yes, I find it annoying, too (and I have to login twice to get to Admin pages).
To be honest, I don't think persistent login ever worked.

On the other hand - I would rather go through this broken login process than go back to cleaning 1000's of spam messages every day (which is why I got the admin, now that I think about it).

Darko

[brianfry713]

If you don't stay logged in then that's probably because of the way you navigate the forum. After logging in the sid will appear in the address bar. If you follow a link that doesn't have your sid then you won't stay logged in. If you click through the standard links in the same window you should stay logged in.

[Darko]

Seems that this is a common problem with phpBB.

They keep saying that it is just someone trying to guess users' passwords but I am not convinced.

That explanation actually makes sense (someone scrapes the list of users and tries to log in with it) but I tried logging out and in and was getting the same message every time.
I doubt that someone just tried my account during that period of time.

People running the server are aware of the issue but they are also running out of the ideas.

Any suggestions are welcome.

[Darko]

I think I fixed this issue - please post here if it still occurs.

[brianfry713]

I don't have to answer the CAPTCHA now, but there seems to be more spam.

[Darko]

Those users were created months ago, I deleted them and I hope that spambots cannot create new ones. Although there are so many inactive accounts with spam-like names, this may get ugly.

I will keep my eye on it, if it looks like it is getting out of hand, we may revert the change. This would effectively block spammers but again annoy regular users.

I'll see with Carlos if we can change some things in the background.

In the meantime, if it does get out of hand, just post here, I will get a note.

[brianfry713]

There is a lot of spam.

[theemathas]

I think I found the reason for (part of) the bug now! (the part that automatic log in doesn't work)
everything works fine as long as I enter the board from the "electronic board" link in the uva web.
the bug happens when I click the discuss button from any problem (the button is in the uhunt).
P.S.1 thanks for getting rid of that capcha!
P.S.2 if you can fix the bug I mentioned,getting the capcha back looks ok

[brianfry713]

There is a lot of spam.

[Darko]

OK, this seems to be a bad solution but we will go back to forcing people to go through Q&A every time.

We just cannot keep up with spam.

Darko

[brianfry713]

Can you re-enable the login CAPTCHA?