Could not login at all

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1

I logged into the forum this morning.

Later in the day, when I found I was logged out, I tried to login again.
I got to the login screen, entered the login information, pressed the “Login” button. Nothing happened.

I tried that several times over a period of several hourse, with the same result. I deleted all novell.com and opensuse.org cookies, and tried again. Nothing helped.

Finally, I logged into the bugzilla. And while logged into the bugzilla, I can get to the forums to post this.

Either fix the forums, or just shut them down. The present status is ridiculous.

2

On Wed, 16 May 2012 03:06:02 +0000, nrickert wrote:

> I logged into the forum this morning.
>
> Later in the day, when I found I was logged out, I tried to login again.
> I got to the login screen, entered the login information, pressed the
> “Login” button. Nothing happened.
>
> I tried that several times over a period of several hourse, with the
> same result. I deleted all novell.com and opensuse.org cookies, and
> tried again. Nothing helped.
>
> Finally, I logged into the bugzilla. And while logged into the
> bugzilla, I can get to the forums to post this.
>
> Either fix the forums, or just shut them down. The present status is
> ridiculous.

We’re (they’re) working on fixing it, Nick. As I’ve said before, we’re
all frustrated by how long it’s taken to get us to where we are (and
while things are still not 100%, they’re improving - but not nearly as
fast as any of us would like to see).

Thanks for reporting this issue - I’ll make sure it’s passed along if it
hasn’t already been passed along.

Jim

Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

3

On Wed, 16 May 2012 04:35:13 +0000, Jim Henderson wrote:

> Thanks for reporting this issue - I’ll make sure it’s passed along if it
> hasn’t already been passed along.

And I’ve just confirmed that it has been passed up the chain.

Thanks again - and please understand that we all understand how
frustrating it is, and we’re pretty frustrated too. There’s nothing that
I hate more, in fact, than having to continually apologize for a
situation that should have been resolved long ago but hasn’t yet - and
that I currently have little direct influence over improving.

It’s a difficult position to be in for all the staff.

Jim

Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

4

any idea on a timeframe for this to get fixed - seems like an urgent (if not the most urgent ) bug.

I have been seeing this regularly over the past few days.

The behaviour I see is . . .

I go to the forum pages and click the login/register button.

I have the login / password saved so it should populate automatically - but it does not. Even if I click the username box it should suggest my login but it does not.
Fill in all the details manually and hit login and it just sits there doing nothing saying “connecting”

Clear all browsing history and restart firefox.
Go to forum pages and hit login/register - taken to novell login page and put my cursor in the username box - suggests my username so I select that and my password is then populated.
Hit login and it logs me in almost immediately.

Come back to Opensuse forums a couple of hours later - repeat above first steps and cannot login again. Have to clear browsing history again before I can log in.

5

On Sat, 26 May 2012 05:36:02 +0000, farcusnz wrote:

> any idea on a timeframe for this to get fixed - seems like an urgent (if
> not the most urgent ) bug.

It’s still being worked on.

> I have been seeing this regularly over the past few days.
>
> The behaviour I see is . . .
>
> I go to the forum pages and click the login/register button.
>
> I have the login / password saved so it should populate automatically -
> but it does not.
> Even if I click the username box it should suggest my
> login but it does not.
> Fill in all the details manually and hit login and it just sits there
> doing nothing saying “connecting”

With the updated login servers, they have form-fill disabled at present.
Getting the other issues fixed is a higher priority at the moment.

> Clear all browsing history and restart firefox.
> Go to forum pages and hit login/register - taken to novell login page
> and put my cursor in the username box - suggests my username so I select
> that and my password is then populated.
> Hit login and it logs me in almost immediately.
>
> Come back to Opensuse forums a couple of hours later - repeat above
> first steps and cannot login again. Have to clear browsing history again
> before I can log in.

Clear your cookies as well - cache and cookies should take care of this
for the most part.

I was logged in earlier today for a bit and didn’t see this type of issue

  • I am using Chrome, but FF should behave similarly.

When you get the spinning “connecting”, it would be useful to know if
there is any network traffic - in Firefox, the plugin “httpfox” can help
identify if it’s hanging up on the server or if there is perhaps some
javascript weirdness going on.

Jim

–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

6

The number of forum posts is way down from what it was, even one week ago.

The reason should be obvious. The forum software is badly broken, to the extent that people are unable to login.

I’ll describe what I see.

I login to the forum in the morning (and even that might not work for many people).

A few hours later, when I revisit the forum, I get a firefox message:


Corrupted Content Error

The page you were trying to view cannot be shown because an error in the data
transmission was detected.

Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.

So I delete all “forums.opensuse.org” cookies from firefox, and try again. This time I get a login page, and I am able to login and use the forum.

After a few hours the same problems will repeat.

This has been going on for around 3 days.

Users who have this problem won’t even be able to read to forum, so won’t see this post on deleting cookies. To read, they need to either delete cookies, or go to “Private Browsing” mode, or try a different browser that does not have saved cookies. If they first login to the bugzilla, that might work to allow them access.

People have been pointing out problems with the forum software for more than 6 months. It is time to end the series of excuses, and actually fix the problem.

7

On Fri, 08 Jun 2012 23:06:02 +0000, nrickert wrote:

> This has been going on for around 3 days.
>
> Users who have this problem won’t even be able to read to forum, so
> won’t see this post on deleting cookies. To read, they need to either
> delete cookies, or go to “Private Browsing” mode, or try a different
> browser that does not have saved cookies. If they first login to the
> bugzilla, that might work to allow them access.
>
> People have been pointing out problems with the forum software for more
> than 6 months. It is time to end the series of excuses, and actually
> fix the problem.

This is the first report here in several days, and in general the staff’s
experience has improved.

But it’s not a “series of excuses” - there’s been a /lot/ of activity
going on on the infrastructure, and significant progress has been made on
fixing the problems.

One of the significant pieces of infrastructure hardware that appears to
be at the root of the problems is in the process of being prepared to be
replaced (a replacement appliance is being evaluated over the next few
weeks, and if it bears out what those working on the problems have been
discovering, it’ll help tremendously with the problems).

I did a little statistical work on the forum posts as well - there are
high periods and low periods that operate on cycles that correspond to
release cycles. Right now we are at a point between releases that is
consistent with a lower rate of posting.

Low posting rates in support areas (which is what I evaluated - I didn’t
include the chit-chat and soapbox areas) happen for a few reasons, not
the least of which is that people are having fewer problems.

There has been a general downward trend both here and on the user mailing
list (which I also looked at), but the trend doesn’t jump in any way at
the time that the problems started. It’s been a steady trend in both
venues.

I’ve said before, and I’ll say again - it’s easy to say “just fix the
darned thing” without knowing what the infrastructure looks like. The
problems are not simple, nor are some of them trivial. Fixing them has
taken far longer than anyone has wanted, but we ARE making progress.

The reports that come in here /do/ help. I would ask that those reports
keep coming in. Preferably without the “it’s time to stop screwing
around and just fix things” - because nobody’s just ‘screwing around’ and
not trying to fix things. The approach being taken is very methodical,
involving changing something after analysis and seeing what the effect is.

So thank you yet again for your patience, and know that we understand and
feel your pain every day.

Jim

Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

8

I’ve also experienced that last day or two, but I found by chance that when googling for openSUSE thread, and selecting a relevant URL in the results, I could then access the forums, so the problem seemed to be related to the login page (or similar).

9

On 06/09/2012 01:57 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> This is the first report here in several days,

folks who can’t log in (and have never heard of nntp) can’t report problems!

> and in general the staff’s experience has improved.

i have seen before here evidence that staff permissions on the system
gives a smoother ride than user level log-in…

someone should some looking around not logged in, using a browser not
full of cookies…and, then set up a test user account and see how it
is when logged in without staff perms…there might be some differences…

–
dd

10

On Sun, 10 Jun 2012 18:52:05 +0000, dd wrote:

> On 06/09/2012 01:57 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> This is the first report here in several days,
>
> folks who can’t log in (and have never heard of nntp) can’t report
> problems!

The problems are intermittent and we’ve recevied sufficient reports to
help us diagnose the problems.

>> and in general the staff’s experience has improved.
>
> i have seen before here evidence that staff permissions on the system
> gives a smoother ride than user level log-in…

That’s simply not the case nor is it even remotely true. If you doubt
that for one second, ask any of the members of staff who access regularly
from the web just how “smooth” their access has been.

Most don’t tend to talk about it out here in public, since we have a
separate area to discuss the issues.

> someone should some looking around not logged in, using a browser not
> full of cookies…and, then set up a test user account and see how it
> is when logged in without staff perms…there might be some
> differences…

There aren’t. We’ve done all that, and progress has been and continues
to be made on resolving the issues. Continuing to criticize the staff
(who don’t have access to the servers in any way other than the way the
rest of the user base does) is counterproductive and not particularly
useful.

Where there /are/ differences is from behind the firewall (which no
member of staff other than Kim is). So that’s helped narrow the problem
down some, but not enough.

Providing us with data that shows the issues - that is useful.

I took time out of my schedule a couple weeks ago to go down and talk
with those working on the problems. I sat in one guy’s office and worked
directly with him on identifying the problems and had a look at the
infrastructure (not “eyes on hardware” as they’re in the data center, but
from behind the firewall).

I’ve been reporting on some of the things that have been done - but I
don’t have insight into every change that’s made to try to improve the
problems (though far better now after my meeting than before - I wish I’d
had a chance to do that).

That you’re not seeing things change doesn’t mean nobody’s working on the
problem. The approach being taken is very meticulous and deliberate,
with one change being implemented at a time so cause and effect can be
evaluated.

Jim

Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

11

Use a “Contact” link and mail ?

i have seen before here evidence that staff permissions on the system
gives a smoother ride than user level log-in…

I’d like to see that evidence. No “have seens”, no “heard say”, -please. With your experience here, IMHO you should know that.

someone should some looking around not logged in, using a browser not
full of cookies…and, then set up a test user account and see how it
is when logged in without staff perms…there might be some differences…

what makes you think this has not already been done.

12

> Use a “Contact” link and mail ?

try to use http://forums.opensuse.org/sendmessage.php when the forums
are inaccessible…and, there is no mail contact listed for the forums
on http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Services_help…

–
dd

13

we’re talking about the login issues, these only exist if the forums themselves are up and accessible. The sendmessage script is accessible, if one cannot login, one has to enter a captcha.

The forums are not an openSUSE Service.

14

On 2012-06-10 23:26, Knurpht wrote:

> we’re talking about the login issues, these only exist if the forums
> themselves are up and accessible. The sendmessage script is accessible,
> if one cannot login, one has to enter a captcha.
>
> The forums are not an openSUSE Service.

Nevertheless, a plain mail contact should exist. Some people have had to
report problems to login at the forums via opensuse mail lists instead.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

15

They can use the “contact us” link and report it to Kim, the Tech Admin. The link allows to report on this and all other issues, without logging in.

i have seen before here evidence that staff permissions on the system
gives a smoother ride than user level log-in…

Nonsense.

someone should some looking around not logged in, using a browser not
full of cookies…and, then set up a test user account and see how it
is when logged in without staff perms…there might be some differences…

–
dd

Done that of course, early on. It was helpful.

We do appreciate thoughtful, supportive Community advice. It makes our task lighter.

16

Look on the any forum page, see the facility provided there, called “contact us”.

17

On 2012-06-11 01:16, swerdna wrote:
>
> robin_listas;2468564 Wrote:
>> On 2012-06-10 23:26, Knurpht wrote:
>>
>>> we’re talking about the login issues, these only exist if the forums
>>> themselves are up and accessible. The sendmessage script is
>> accessible,
>>> if one cannot login, one has to enter a captcha.
>>>
>>> The forums are not an openSUSE Service.
>>
>> Nevertheless, a plain mail contact should exist. Some people have had to
>> report problems to login at the forums via opensuse mail lists instead.

> Look on the any forum page, see the facility provided there, called
> “contact us”.

As I said, a plain mail contact should exist. Some people have had to
report problems to login at the forums via opensuse mail lists instead.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

18

On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 00:43:06 +0000, Carlos E. R. wrote:

> As I said, a plain mail contact should exist. Some people have had to
> report problems to login at the forums via opensuse mail lists instead.

Well, login problems can be reported via the form - you don’t have to be
logged in to submit the form. The only time the form wouldn’t be
available is if the forums were completely unreachable.

While I haven’t seen a time when that’s happened when the staff isn’t
aware of the outage, that’s a fair request.

I’ve asked if we can get an alias set up @opensuse.org for such contact.

Jim

Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C

19

On 2012-06-11 03:16, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Mon, 11 Jun 2012 00:43:06 +0000, Carlos E. R. wrote:
>
>> As I said, a plain mail contact should exist. Some people have had to
>> report problems to login at the forums via opensuse mail lists instead.
>
> Well, login problems can be reported via the form - you don’t have to be
> logged in to submit the form.

The capcha is almost unreadable to me, but that’s another issue.

> The only time the form wouldn’t be
> available is if the forums were completely unreachable.
>
> While I haven’t seen a time when that’s happened when the staff isn’t
> aware of the outage, that’s a fair request.

Right now, there is a new post (1:27 UTC) at the openSUSE mail list of one
person complaining that the forum is unreachable. Can you have a look at
it? Or I forward it to here…

> I’ve asked if we can get an alias set up @opensuse.org for such contact.

That would be appropriate, yes. It can be a private mail list for the
admins and staff.

–
Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)

20

When firefox gives me a “Corrupted Content Error” page, there is no “contact us” link visible.