Major update for JowettTalk

[Forumadmin]

In my strive to get to the latest version of platform software I went too far and have gone back a version to 7.1 from 7.2. This is because a warning message popped up this morning and the fix is to revert back. We have to wait until version 3.3 of phpbb to go to php 7.2. Oh well! I did say in the previous post that 7.2 was strict.
As usual let me know if you spot anything like an error message or something does not work. Please provide some idea of how to reproduce the issue.

[Forumadmin]

I have noticed that my program generated forum links to the Gallery Albums that were moved into topics seem to now be broken. I think this is because the topics were subsequently moved to other forums. To resolve I have to use some common sense and searching to find the desired location. So busy working through them. If you find one you particularly want to follow, please contact me.
If I had known this I could ( and should ) have put the 'gid' into the text!
They are identified by TOPIC in capital letters.

[Forumadmin]

Virgin have just increased my connection speed.
The latest speed test results.
Ping 19 ms
Download 386.68 Mb/s
Upload 37.41 Mb/s

This allows me to better support the website.

[PJGD]

Wow; I am envious!
Here in Metro Detroit and using Comcast cable, right now I am getting 8.6 upload and 6 download (it is evening, so everyone on the street is probably streaming a movie or similar). The best I have seen is 72 Upload and 6.6 download and 14 ping.

Philip

[Keith Clements]

Please note that you can upload images into a post by either dragging and dropping an image or set of images onto the post or you can click the attachment tab and add files from an Explorer view of your file system.
Large image files will automatically be reduced in size to 1024x1024 pixels so saving disk space on the server. However, this only happens if JAVASCRIPT is enabled on your browser. Normally it is, but please enable for jowett.net, if it is not.
You can check the file reduction is working by loading a large (>approximately 1MB) image. It will show as loading its original size in the attachment window (when it starts uploading) but when you move the cursor over the image (once you have placed it in line in the post) you will see it has reduced in size to under 1 MB. You will also see the image size in the attachment window will now be reduced from the original.
If you try to upload a large image without Javascript enabled you may find you are sent an error and the image does not upload.

[Keith Clements]

I am in the process of doing a major update to the Jowett Internet Services which have provided members' services since 2012.
I thought I would share with you some of the tools and tricks.
I needed to make space on my PC so used a couple of tools to get rid of duplicate files .
http://www.clonespy.com/
https://www.howtogeek.com/122294/automa ... d-folders/

The first finds duplicate files and optionally deletes them. Use with care and only do it on directories that are not part of the system .e.g. your Pictures or documents directories. My PC has numerous disks with the USB ones acting as back-up holding copies of the files. But intevitably the same files have been stored numerous times and have perhaps been renamed. This utility finds them even so. I manage to save about 200GB of space on a 900GB drive using this tool. Since I use one drive for docs and one for images and each of those is duplicated as a back-up I saved 800GB!
Now in addition another USB drive is used as a History back-up and that too saved about 300 GB.

The second utility is used to clean out empty directories and zero length files. Also use with care.

I have yet to tackle the system back-up drive where the website is backed up. But that has about twenty years of back-ups which could do with culling. Perhaps after this major update.

[Keith Clements]

The forum has just been updated to the latest version.
You may need to login again or close your browser and login again or clear your cookie cache and login again.....but maybe not.
The French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch language packs have been installed. Many others are available if you would find it easier, please let me know and I will install your language. There is even American !

[Keith Clements]

Here is a challenge.
I had a problem today uploading images above 1.5MB from my Samsung Galaxy phone. I apologise to those who have previously raised this issue.
Now I am pretty sure this used to work. So I transferred the errant files to the PC and they uploaded fine into JT, even ones as large as 9MB.
So I gradually reduced the file size using the photo editor on the phone and found the limit was 1.5MB for phone uploads.

My question to you all using mobile devices.
What limit do you have on the image file size uploading to JT? I suspect the problem is in the Android software, but it could be something to do with the interaction between the new uploading software in phpbb that drives JT, and it somehow knows that it is talking to an Android device which is not talking the same language as it! This will help me decide if it is just Android or it also affects Apple. If so why does the Windows system work? Google has not been helpful to me so I suspect it is something new. Note my phone was also updated last week so that could be the cause, but I have not definite memory of when large file upload worked on the phone.

The other question
Did you have the same problem prior to last weekend (that is before the software was updated)? If so then it is not this upgrade but perhaps one done last year.

SOLVED.

Simply switching to the Chrome browser solved the problem.
So I can rest easy. Edge and Samsung Internet also work.
Whether there is a similar problem with Safari or other browsers perhaps we can find out.

[Keith Clements]

A problem was reported last week where a user was unable to login after the recent software upgrade. This led to an investigation that revealed that there may be others who have the same problem. As a result I have scanned the database for those who have failed login attempts that do seem to cause the issue. I have emailed these 70 people and had conversations with some of them. I have reset the login attempts so you should not have a problem, but if you do please contact me. Please read the information on the web pages and emails carefully and use the help pages that are available.

This problem was caused by me having to revert back to the previous php base software version after the upgrade the previous week when a problem was found on Member Services. This meant the new forum software was running on an old php version. This caused the issue with login. I was trying to fix the member services issue as reports of failed login attempts came in. I finally fixed the fault in the Members Services system which was caused by the upgrade done by the hosting company of the website not transferring correctly all the options from the previous version. A simple tick in the relevant box was all that was required but it took a couple of days to find.
The website is now using the very latest fast and secure version of the base software (php) and the forum (phpbb).
You may like to review the user manual to see what the new facilities are. You only need to read Chapter 5.

The software and the upgrade procedure had been tested on a test system as far as was possible. But I could not test the shared server upgrade done by the Internet Service Provider hosting service. However, I knew the reversion would only take seconds so there was no downtime, just a bit of inconvenience for some users.

So please try logging in to https://jowett.net/forum .
If you have forgotten your username then you could try using member services
https://jowett.net/services/account/emailregister.php
on Jowett.net . Please register with the email address with which you are registered on JowettTalk. The members' menu should tell you your username.

If you no longer have access to that email's inbox then please contact the webmaster@jowett.net stating any email addresses you have had in the past and other information that will identify you.

If you have forgotten your password then please use the forgotten password link, but this will only work if you have access to the email's inbox that you are registered with on JowettTalk.

[Keith Clements]

The site has also undergone a security review and as a result various controls have been implemented. One prevents BOTS from trawling the website and another blocks hackers based on their IP address. The latter has meant a bit more admin as two users this week reported they could not get in from Poland and Taiwan. However, it does mean that the website is now not overloaded and is less prone to attack.

Additional security measures (which cannot be placed on the shared host housing jowett.org and jowett.net ) have been put on the jowett.club server housing the search archive service.

If you are experiencing any issues with access then please contact the webmaster.

I may modify this system slightly to provide some access to some of the countries blocked by this action as there is some genuine interest occasionally.
However, the quantity of attacks was hundreds per day which have now stopped. Rest assured that even if a hacker now gains access by using an unblocked IP they are subject to close scrutiny and hopefully do not find a vulnerability. They are also blocked once identified as a hacker. They are also reported to an organisation that confirms they are a hacker and adds them to the list. If we all do this and report spam or phishing then eventually hackers will get the message.

There is a possibility that your floundering around on the website might trigger the detection system or that the IP that you are using was once used by a hacker. So once again report this to the webmaster who can reinstate you. The error message that you get should make it clear what you have to do.

Note also that if you travel and use a network that is blocked you will not have access to the website. Contact me providing your current IP address and you should be given access. Note the 403 error message will contain your current IP so please copy that message and email to me. You can also find your current IP by going to whatismyip.com