Attachments are not working

[lch]

Since about a week attachments do not work anymore, when you upload a file PHP gives some Stream error messages and if somebody tries to download the attachment he gets a 404 error. Maybe the server's disk is full so that it doesn't accept any new uploads?

[Gandalf Parker]

It is rather amazing that they allow attachments so freely. Screenshots, joke graphics, game saves. Some are HUGE. There are tons of attachments from years ago. Even games that arent carried by Shrapnel anymore.

[Mindi]

Argh! They have worked intermittently actually. We've fixed this problem twice in the last week and a half or so and somehow it keeps getting changed back which breaks it. I'll have Richard fix it again while we are still hunting down the issue.

[lch]

Gandalf Parker said:
It is rather amazing that they allow attachments so freely. Screenshots, joke graphics, game saves. Some are HUGE. There are tons of attachments from years ago. Even games that arent carried by Shrapnel anymore.



The strange thing is just that everybody wonders about these errors and reports them in their threads, but nobody investigates why they happen. I am quite sure that it could be because of something as simple as a full disk. Who is the admin for this server? Why isn't there even a forum about the Shrapnel forums itself? (unless this forum is meant for that)

[Mindi]

Dude, chill. First off, we were aware of the attachments problem and have been working on it. As Gandalf said however, attachments are somewhat of a luxury on any forum. This specific forum is a forum for Shrapnel itself and people can report issues here and we are aware of several issues, although most people report issues directly to me.

However, there are some things that were broken when we did the last upgrade because we did a lot of custom work to get certain features to work that were considered important to the community. Some of them still don't work 100% correctly, but they allowed those with certain formats to continue using those formats. At this point, those things are not a priority as we will not be continuing to use this software package in the future and the at some point the Law of Dimishing Returns kicks in.

[Gandalf Parker]

Actually I think it tends to be that everybody "reports" them in their threads but no one reports them to the staff. Even a PM would help.

But yeah I think that the Shrapnel General forum is probably the best place if you want to start a discussion thread about the Shrapnel forums. Or anything Shrapnel which isnt particular to one of the games.

[capnq]

Mindi said: At this point, those things are not a priority as we will not be continuing to use this software package in the future and the at some point the Law of Dimishing Returns kicks in.

Now you've piqued my curiosity as to why you plan to stop using UBB. These forums have the best publically available BBS interface of any of the boards I visit regularly.

[lch]

Gandalf Parker said:
Actually I think it tends to be that everybody "reports" them in their threads but no one reports them to the staff.



Yeah, that's exactly what I meant with different wording. And as such, nothing happens. Sorry if I may have sounded rude. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

[Gandalf Parker]

capnq said:

Mindi said: At this point, those things are not a priority as we will not be continuing to use this software package in the future and the at some point the Law of Dimishing Returns kicks in.

Now you've piqued my curiosity as to why you plan to stop using UBB. These forums have the best publically available BBS interface of any of the boards I visit regularly.


Have you used other boards with UBB? Board with expensive forum software are rare.

Usually people like it because all of the boards they visit are free-code boards, and one UBB board. In that case yes it usually comes out ahead. But when compared to other pay-for boards its not necessarily on top.

[lch]

Well, about the interface thing, I really don't like how much you'll have to do manually with the bbcode tags in UBB. With phpBB you just select some text in your textarea, click on "bold" or "code" or "url" or whatever, and voila, the text is encased in those tags. For this board, you have to fill out some popup dialogs and then the result is just added to the end of the textarea. The Javascript from phpBB is smarter, and because of that I usually type the bbcode tags by hand here.

P.S.: Oh yeah, I'm german. I have to nag! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/yawn.gif

[capnq]

Gandalf Parker said:

capnq said: Now you've piqued my curiosity as to why you plan to stop using UBB. These forums have the best publically available BBS interface of any of the boards I visit regularly.


Have you used other boards with UBB? Board with expensive forum software are rare.

Usually people like it because all of the boards they visit are free-code boards, and one UBB board. In that case yes it usually comes out ahead. But when compared to other pay-for boards its not necessarily on top.

Besides Shrapnel, I regularly visit forums that use vBulletin, Jive, and Drupal. I don't know if those three are free, but they are IMO the three worst BBS interfaces I've ever used.
I have in the past visited other forums that used some flavor of UBB.

[Gandalf Parker]

I use free code myself. They have great power and grat capbility to personalize it. But it does have its pros and cons. One of the drawbacks is that its "do it yourself". You usually cant pay for installs and migrations. Also there is the security issue. Its sometimes a chioice between security or having someone you can hold responsible for security problems.

[lch]

The server problems are getting worse. Now the forum can't remember which topics have been visited, at least that's what I am experiencing. Anybody else have this problem, too?

[Ballbarian]

Not having that problem now, but have in the past Ich. I have been able to correct it by logging out, then logging right back in, then everything starts working again. I suspect that the cookie that remembers what topics I have viewed becomes corrupted at times. It seems rare, but does happen sometimes.

[lch]

Done that, now everything is marked read. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif
Thanks, though.

[capnq]

capnq said: Besides Shrapnel, I regularly visit forums that use vBulletin, Jive, and Drupal.

Forgot one. Another site I visit regularly uses phpBB. I like that forum almost as much as this one.

[Fyron]

capnq said:
Besides Shrapnel, I regularly visit forums that use vBulletin, Jive, and Drupal. I don't know if those three are free, but they are IMO the three worst BBS interfaces I've ever used.
I have in the past visited other forums that used some flavor of UBB.


vBulletin is not free, and it is not worth the money they charge for it. Drupal's forums remind me of 1997. Jive is what PBW uses, isn't it? It's at least 6 years old, so naturally its a little funky. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

phpBB is great. The current UBB shrapnel uses is decent. The version before this was pretty bad though (go here (http://www.strategyfirst.com/forum/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi) for a reminder). It was a good day when the upgrade rolled out. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[capnq]

Imperator Fyron said: Jive is what PBW uses, isn't it?

Yep, and I've never seen it used anywhere else.

[lch]

Imperator Fyron said:
phpBB is great. The current UBB shrapnel uses is decent. The version before this was pretty bad though (go here (http://www.strategyfirst.com/forum/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi) for a reminder). It was a good day when the upgrade rolled out. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif


Let me add to that: The long awaited major overhaul of phpBB to v3, Codename "Olympus", has now reached RC1 status and is really really awesome for a free board software. We already use the betas since months on some big forums ourself and didn't have any trouble. Tons of new and exciting features.

[Combat Wombat]

I agree with Fyron phpBB is pretty good but unless the forums start completely breaking down I love this version of UBB.

[oragus]

Is there a problem with uploading files again or is it just me?

[Ballbarian]

Not just you. The attachments have been buggered again for some time now. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[oragus]

Ok, thanks.

[Mindi]

We know but Richard and I have basically been away for a week while my dad had spinal surgery. We'll try to get it fixed again as soon as we can.

[Edi]

Oh. Give your dad my best regards then, I hope he recovers quickly.

[Mindi]

Okay, as of last night we believe this to be completely fixed. We were able to trace the occurances of this problem back to when a specific odd file type was uploaded and the software was changing the permissions to (in theory) protect itself. We have since deleted the attachment that was causing the problem and everything should stay fixed now. If anyone notices it's not working again, please PM me.

[Ballbarian]

Thank you Mindi! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif