As noted in the Random Stupidity thread, I upgraded the forum yesterday to YaBB 2.1.  What does this mean to you?

Absolutely nothing!

It adds some behind-the-scenes features and a bunch of bug fixes and enhancements, but nothing all that impressive in the way of useful features for the forum itself.  The full list of changes is at the bottom of the screen.

However, I have finally figured out a way to get the forum to communicate properly with my mail server.  As such, e-mail functionality is slowly being enabled on the forum.  If you reply to this post, you'll see an option that can be selected "to be notified of replies to this topic."  It looks like this...

http://www.TWNCommunications.Net/Hosted/Notify.jpg

As the name suggests, selecting this option will send you an e-mail when someone has replied to your topic.  This might be useful for some of you guys that only post occasionally that want to keep an eye on a particular thread.  I'm also adding an e-mail component to the forum registration process to cut down on the ridiculous number of fake registrations that are popping up.  I've been deleting 15-20 false registrations a week, which is rather annoying.

-b0b
(...points to the useless forum upgrades below.)





Quote:

Additions/Improvements: - Added rebuild member post history log Admin function - Added rebuild member post history log to Converter - Added notification.png to menu to differentiate from post display's notify.png in translations - Added multibyte character support to category names - Changed profile DST setting to a checkbox - Made message icon on each post link to the individual replies - Restricted signature height if there are more than 15 new lines in it - Added last modified date to .htaccess when written with the Guardian - Moved MD5 Perl module lower and added HMAC_MD5 module - Added rel="nofollow" to all viewprofile links to prevent bot spidering - New SMTP engine to add more options and support more standards, such as EHLO/HELO handshake selection - Added admin activation of account registration - Made the saved CSS file from the WYSIWYG editor a little more "YaBB"-like - Added conversion of members' last login, reply, and PM if a .ll file exists - Converted Help files to HTML from YaBBC - Changed password reminder to show new password in a read-only input field so it's easier to copy - Added hidesticky.gif, hidelock.gif, hidestickylock.gif icons to show more topic status' - Increased length of email input field - Changed forum start date to select boxes - Made Mail Members only overwrite "re-used" mails, not all subject-matching mails - Changed select box for moving topics sort properly and use option groups for better readability Bug Fixes: - Disabled board picture filed if the board is an announcement or recycle bin board - Removed mark unread button for guests - Fixed reply and quote buttons in members' most recent posts - Allowed admin to change the first page of their profile - Allow guests to search hidden topics if "show to all" is checked - Fixed linebreak bug when quoting older posts - Placed proper error message when adding polls - Fixed bug with CSS and template preview in FireFox - Registration date/time and timezone settings fixed - Fixed many time-to-string date issues - Updates/Fixes to instructions in Quick Guide - Fix to prevent nesting conflicts with "Glow" and "Shadow" bold tags - Made converter change all [size=xx] tags in signature to size in pixels to prevent very small text - Fixed additional membergroups conflict with position when saving profile - Fixed multibyte characters in PM notification - Fixed bug causing repeated "topic" text in notification mails - Fixed bug when moving a topic while someone is replying to it - Changed double quote marks to " in category names to prevent broken input fields - Fixed problem with " in category descriptions - Made deleting posts remove entries from members' history logs - Re-added ability to auto-link URLs with national characters - Fixed bug with additional member groups when rebuilding the memberlist - Fixed problems with links with http:// prefix and auto-link at the start of tables - Fixed Subs.pl to allow it to pass Perl -C - Fixed XHTML errors throughout source code - Added check for existence of message file when converting message index to prevent blank screen - Fixed delete link so it disappears in pre-registered entries after time expiration - Fixed character set bug when changing language on the register page - Fixed HTML characters displaying in polls - Fixed extra space added to username link in quotes - Fixed an unclear activation message - Fixed a pixel in grin.gif - Made [table] tag validate XHTML - Made image tag check if an image already has a title attribute before adding another - Fixed invalid ID in forgotten passwords reminder - Fixed Admin Cneter "remove server not available" when yabbforum.com is not available - Removed unused menu_im.png - Fixed wrong text used in forum statistics - Made hidden sticky topics appear in the Important Topics area - Removed useless "moderator" option in board/category permission section - Fixed issue with _ in profile names on edit profile page - Fixed reversed View Members by registration date - Made sure member post history is deleted when member is deleted - Added missing "navbarcontainer" CSS style - Fixed showing guest email address instead of name when a reply is deleted - Fixed JS bug if random passwordemail is enabled or hide email is disabled - Fixed admin edit bug with input of spaces or non-digits - Fixed bug in "moveto" that created a bad browser title - Fixed a problem in forum.contro when boards are moved to another category - Made converter cut signatures off at the length of the longest signature found - Fixed bug in autolink modifying the flash location when flash-parsing is disabled - Made deleting a post not create a "ghost" member in memberinfo.txt - Made editing board notfiications not create a "ghost" notification Security Enhancements: - Fixed bug enabling members/guests to load an empty PM screen from an outside link - Fixed the Guardian re-adding existing text in .htaccess when it modifies its contents - Made sure Gmods cannot edit Administrator or Gmod profiles - Added .gif header test to all images attached to posts for malformed or incorrect content

---

Test reply.  You'll see a lot of these while I tinker with the e-mail thing.

-b0b
(...apologizes profusely.)

Replyyyyy.

-b0b
(...tests more.)

Comcast finally started offering static IP addresses in St. Joseph County, so I ordered one today.  That's an extra $5.00 a month I'm spending on you guys, so Merry Freakin' Christmas!

Even though my dynamic IP address has never changed in the two and a half years I've had Comcast service, the address is blacklisted by some spam filters because it's part of a dynamic range.  This change to a static address should fix that, which is increasingly important now that forum registration relies on e-mail.

The changeover will supposedly take place in 3-5 days.  When the change is done, the forum will go off-line until Comcast calls me with the new static IP address, which I will then update with InterNIC.  This change will propagate to DNS servers around the world within 24-32 hours and will allow the TWNCommunications.Net and GeekCrew.Net domains to start functioning again.

I am also thinking about re-enabling the FTP server with a slimmed-down security gateway (i.e. no lame IP restrictions, just a user name and password).  The problem with running an FTP is that both of my FTP drives are full (a measly 0.5TB these days) and much of my stuff is hosted on my personal system now.  If the FTP is popular, I'll find a place for an "Upload" directory and spend some money buying a new drive array.

I will also make web-based e-mail accounts available to you guys if you want them.  You'll have as much storage space as you want and can have as many e-mail aliases as you want (for instance, I have JRogers@, Meta4@, James@, and others) at both domains (TWNCommunications.Net and GeekCrew.Net).  The nifty part is that you can use one logon and password for both the FTP and your e-mail.  Isn't that cool?

Let me know what you guys think!

-b0b
(...w00t!)

The new improvements sounds good.  I'll be using the email feature even though I check this about every half hour.

Starting up the FTP the way you were talking about sounds hot.  I will have to upload a list of my movies, TV shows, audio books, and the misc stuff I have so that you guys can get in on my sweet sweet action.  In fact if anyone wants any or all those lists I can post them or send them...just let me know.

X

X wrote on Dec 6^th, 2006 at 12:37pm:

I will have to upload a list of my movies, TV shows, audio books, and the misc stuff I have so that you guys can get in on my sweet sweet action.

Pat, I would love to get in on your sweet, sweet action!

If you want a raw listing of everything I have available, you can find it here...

FTP Drive 1 - Music, Movies, TV Shows, Programs, Games, and More
FTP Drive 2 - Anime
Bob's PC - Random crap that won't fit and isn't sorted/renamed.

My collection is rather meager after the great hard drive crash of October 2005, but it's steadily regaining ground.  I really need to save up for a new drive array (4x350GB maybe?) in February/March so I can put everything together on a redundant array again.

-b0b
(...can dream, can't he?)

B0b

Pat wants me to inform you that while upgrading his profile the forum logged him out and will not let him log back in.  He is not sure what the problem is.

I tried logging out and back in and was fine.  So I have no clue here.

Let him know :)

Posting your -email would be nice too.

Thanks Wes and Bob for the help.

I will be soon uploading my lists of my media so stay tuned...same bat-time same bat-channel!

X

I think I figured out what caused Stevie's problem.  One of the forum options requires the board to reset a user's password whenever they change their e-mail address and mail it to their new address.  This prevents spamming by requiring a user to access the new e-mail address they entered before they can access the forum again.

Since Stewie used a major e-mail provider (Yahoo.com), the new password e-mail was rejected because it came from a server with a dynamic address.  This will no longer happen once the static IP is activated later this week (or early next week).

In the meantime, I deactivated the option that required a new password to be mailed to the new e-mail address.

-b0b
(...crosses his fingers.)

The forum was using my e-mail address by default, so I created a new e-mail address for forum e-mails (GeekCrew@GeekCrew.Net).

This is a test response.

-b0b
(...testing 123.)

Reply test.

-b0b
(...#2)

test

Testes.

-b0b
(...last one?)

Test!

I've created a new e-mail address and changed the sender of the e-mail from my personal name to "The Geek Crew" which should make things a little bit friendlier.

-b0b
(...in hiding.)

Test!

Woot!  It looks like everything is working!  Now, I'll just have to wait until the static IP is installed!

-b0b
(...cheers.)

Wow, you guys aren't going to believe how incredibly bad my luck is.  After putting quite a few hours into the forum and my e-mail server, it's getting ready to kick the bucket.  

The server went down today around 4:00pm.  I thought it might be because of the static IP going into effect.  Nope - dying hard drive.

I was able to get the dying drive back up and all of the corrupted data restored.  Everything is running okay (if not a bit slow) but the hard drive has had it.  I have no clue how long it will last before it complete dies.

For what it's worth, the forum is backed up onto my main PC and all of the FTP stuff is on another set of drives, so the only data loss I really need to worry about is my e-mail server, and that's really not a huge deal.  I'm going to order a replacement drive tomorrow (it'll be small, but I'm pretty much broke right now), which most likely won't arrive until Monday of next week at the earliest.  Hopefully the server will continue running until then.  If not...  *shrug*

I just did a full backup of the forum on Monday or Tueday before I started working on the missing posts, and the regular nightly incremental backups are still running as scheduled, so the forum will be fine, even if it goes down for a couple days.

Wow, I can't possibly think of a worse time for this to happen.  The drive is a 120GB Western Digital Caviar IDE, and just last week I had to replace a practically brand new 80GB Western Digital RAID Edition in my main system.  Is Western Digital quality going down the tubes, or what?

-b0b
(...isn't happy.)

Hey Bob,

I have a new WD 120gig hard drive that I'm not using that you can have if you want it.

Interested?

X

Sure, what do you want for it?

I was looking at this drive...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144122

It'd be fine for what I need it for (in fact, a 40GB would be more than sufficient), but I'd have to wait until at least Monday, and I don't know if the forum will last that long.  If I could buy your drive and pick it up tonight or early tomorrow, that would let me work on it tomorrow afternoon when I have no other plans.

-b0b
(...hopes it will last.)

If $50 is too much, I know this time of year we're all pinching pennies then you can just have it.  I'll be home tonight and early tomm.  Do you know where I live?

X

Vaguely.  $50 is fine.  Thanks bud!

-b0b
(..w00t!)

Just get on AIM sometime and I'll give you directions.  Don't want to post them on here.  Although now with the FBI being able to turn on microphones on turned off cell phones...does it really matter?  But hey, playing it safe.

X

I picked up the new hard drive from Stewie today.  I'm going to try to get a DVD based inventory done tonight and I'll copy the data to the new drive and swap them out tomorrow.

-b0b
(...asks for prayers!)

If you're reading this, CHEER!

I cloned the old drive over to the new drive this afternoon, which was a relatively painless procedure once I finally got the server into an operational state for the transfer.

I still need to connect the FTP drives again, but I'll do that later.  I'll post the gory details about the freakin' awesome cloning software I used later, too.

-b0b
(...W00000000000000000000000000000000T!)

I finished attaching the two FTP drives and reassembling the server a few minutes ago.  Everything seems to be running just fine.  Hopefully the static IP will be up early this week, and that should be the end of the hiccups!

-b0b
(...just thought he'd mention that.)

The static IP is up and running!

If you're seeing this message, the DNS changes have propogated to your DNS servers.  I apologize for the downtime, but most DNS servers only update twice in a 24 hour period, and I have no control over your DNS servers.

That should be it for the downtime.  Now I can play with some fun new features!

-b0b
(...w00t!)

I've changed the forum registration process a bit to (hopefully) block all of those stupid spam accounts that keep popping up.  I deleted at least 12 accounts that had popped up since yesterday afternoon, and it's getting worse every day.  The process now works like this...

1)  A new user registers an account.  This account remains "hidden" until step two.
2)  The new user receives an e-mail with a link to an activation page.  
3)  Once they click on the link, their account is activated and they receive another e-mail with a password.
4)  Their account is fully unlocked once they log in for the first time, adding them to the members list and giving them full access.

If a spambot registers with a fake e-mail address, they'll never receive the activation e-mail.  Their account won't show up in the members list or the "newest member" area, and it'll be completely deleted after 48 hours.

-b0b
(...is so glad he won't have to delete any more spambots!)