bbP 2.0 b1 – Intermittently can't post replies
-
Please see this video for a live example of the problem:
http://screencast.com/t/VSNAeZdKdi
Short version – can’t post a reply. When I (or a user) do, it just doesn’t get posted. No error, no nothing, just no post.
Thanks,
Jonathan
-
Yeah probably true, I’m just impatient.
The host have whitelisted URLs beginning with /edit/ which has fixed existing posts that are being edited, but does not fix creation of new posts or replies. For the moment, I’m having them whitelist /forum/ and /topic/ as well. If JJJ can suggest a better solution or fix to this, then I’ll just have them remove the whitelist rules. I’d certainly rather not have to override any security, but my members are getting annoyed and right now are “very unimpressed” with my choice of forum software.
Jonathan
If your host is controlling what parts of your site what words are allowed where, to the point where it’s censoring genuine conversation, that’s a conversation to have with them.
There are a few things you can do to confirm, but it depends if they’ve white listed those locations or not.
1. Can you post a blog comment with that same content?
2. Can you create a reply within /wp-admin/ with the same content?
Your members are “unimpressed” because they’re frustrated, and because your site is unfinished because bbPress has only had a handful of testers in recent months. You’re opting to be a tester, which is *great* of course… but making the decision to let other people use an unfinished site never goes well.
Your feedback is invaluable, and their unhappiness is going towards a good cause. If you communicate that to them clearly, in my experience that usually calms them down.
Well it’s not so much a matter of censoring, it’s a question of security. Until I had them whitelist a rule in ModSecurity, I couldn’t post a lot of stuff in WordPress either, whether from admin or not. ModSec is treating certain words as SQL language and assuming they are an injection attack attempt. I’ve seen this problem before many times in the past but never realized what it was until this issue and subsequent conversation.
They’ve now whitelisted /topic/, /forum/, and /edit/ and that seems to have fixed this issue. I’m guessing this isn’t really something that can/should be fixed from within bbP itself, but if I’m wrong feel free to do so.
And though I personally believe that bbP is the way to go for my community, my users are used to PHPbb and VBulletin sites and so this already seems “weird” to them. Adding technical issues and using beta software isn’t really helping instill confidence but hey that’s my choice to do. They’re spoiled by forum solutions with all the bells & whistles that I’ve had to add with plugins for things like Private Messaging, showing unread topics, protecting content for members only, signatures, etc. This is of course by design, and though I’m essentially putting back in a lot of the stuff that bbP has intended to leave out, I believe I wouldn’t be happy with the lack of integration of any other forum solution within WP so… bbP it is!
They’ll get used to it, I just hope I don’t lose any because they can’t make the leap. Time will tell, and bbP keeps getting better with time. I hope my posts never suggest a lack of appreciation for this plugin and all the work you’re putting into it!
Jonathan
The thing with mod_security is getting it dialed in. Since WordPress traditionally has a limited set of data entry points, I imagine we’ll see more of these issues arise. What surprises me is this hasn’t been an issue for BuddyPress yet, and everything within a BuddyPress site happens from within the theme. Glad you’ve got it sorted out though.
I’ve gone through my fair share of forum transitions and they always manage to upset everyone. Forum software is not unlike any other *thing* in that the person interacting with it gets attached to the way it works at a behavioral level. When you move any 1 thing around, it upsets their workflow, and makes things difficult again. When you move everything around, it’s a nightmare, and rarely do forum users rejoice at the change.
No worries, I try not to take anything personally.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
