Fixing Broken Things: ASCII Symbols & More

[saltydog]

Fundraiser time! Bake Sale!

Bout' time you started talking that way. Tell you what Greg, I tried contributing on two occasions and PM'ed both you and Chroot that I was unable to successfully carry out the transaction. After about 3 days or so when neither of your replied to my message, I thought what every other guy including you would think: "well fu*k um' if they don't want my money".

 

[Jeff Ford]

The links don't seem to be working. Everytime I click on one of the texts it takes me to a page that says I don't have permission.

 

[honestrosewater]

I can't see thumbnails (in any forums I've tried) nor does anything happen when I click around where they should be.
The 'quick' edit worked fine before, but now when I'm in quick edit, the save button doesn't do anything. I can go to advanced mode, and that works. Using Firefox 1.0.7

Eh, quick edit works fine now.

 

[Moonbear]

The links don't seem to be working. Everytime I click on one of the texts it takes me to a page that says I don't have permission.

Oh, by the way, your mom called and told us to do that.

Seriously now...what links do you mean? In the "links" directory, or links to outside websites posted in someone's reply, or something else? As much detail as possible on these things really helps speed up the trouble-shooting process.

Speaking of the links directory though...Greg, have you noticed that in both the links directory and journals, if you use the ampersand symbol (&) or quote marks, it changes them to what looks like html code or some such thing? For example, in the Astronomy & Cosmology links, it now reads Astronomy & Cosmology. Greg, so you can see what it's doing in journals, I created a private journal entry and gave you permission to view it (I don't want to clutter up my journal with a test page).

 

[Jeff Ford]

I'm talking about the links directory. Whenever I click on any of the online texts I get a permission error.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I'm talking about the links directory. Whenever I click on any of the online texts I get a permission error.

ok check now

 

[Lisa!]

What have you done, Greg? Now everything's ok! Thank you very much. II used to hate upgrading but now I'm not!

 

[honestrosewater]

I can't see thumbnails (in any forums I've tried) nor does anything happen when I click around where they should be.

Ah, I can just copy them from the source, but is no one else having this problem?

 

[Jeff Ford]

ok check now

Still get no love. Here's the message that's coming up

Jeff Ford, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

 

[quantumdude]

Regarding Journals: quotation marks aren't working there.

When I type:

"stuff"

I see:

"stuff"

 

[Moonbear]

Regarding Journals: quotation marks aren't working there.

I brought that up in one of the "things to fix" threads around here. The same thing happened to me, and I see the same thing in the Links directory. It's ampersands as well as quote marks.

Edit: Oh yeah, it's right there, just a few replies before yours.

 

[Hurkyl]

I suspect that the parser is escaping the special HTML symbols too many times. In fact, looking at the source of my original post, I'm convinced of it.

 

[Evo]

Quotation marks work for me in the journal. I have them in my journal entry and just did a test entry and they worked. Are you guys all using the same browser?

 

[Moonbear]

I suspect that the parser is escaping the special HTML symbols too many times. In fact, looking at the source of my original post, I'm convinced of it.

What does that mean in English?

I did a test entry before. At first, nothing happened, then I went into edit to enter the same phrase where it happened before, in case it was related to that phrase in some way, and then all of my quote marks got turned to HTML after the edit, even the ones that were okay the first time.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I suspect that the parser is escaping the special HTML symbols too many times. In fact, looking at the source of my original post, I'm convinced of it.

Confirmed, it happens when you edit a post with quotes. I'll look into this.

 

[Moonbear]

I just discovered that the toolbar item in the advanced reply box that used to let you insert text to display when providing a link no longer prompts for text. I had to go to another thread and click quote to remind myself how to format it without the "cheater" button. That's the one tool I actually use in the toolbar.

 

[Hurkyl]

What does that mean in English?

There are characters your browser gives special meaning. The ampersand is a particular example, as are the less than and greater than signs. There are special command sequences that will display a special character without invoking its special meaning.

"Escaping" a character means to replace it with its command sequence. It's used so that a piece of text written in ordinary English doesn't accidentally invoke one of these sequences and get messed up.

One example of this, a problem I think this site had, is if you wrote a parenthetical ending in the number 8 (like this: the number 8), the "8)" would get drawn as a smiley! Of course, this bit is something the site parser would do, whereas I'm talking about the replacements your browser does.

So what's happening is that the site software is escaping things it's not supposed to. (or at least once more than it's supposed to) When I type "& mu ;", I really do want that command sequence to give me a Greek character, but the parser is dutifully escaping the ampersand so that it will display exactly what I type.

 

[Jeff Ford]

Things are still weird with the links section. I can access them if I'm not logged in, but once I log in I get the permission denied message I posted earlier.

 

[Gokul43201]

Things are still weird with the links section. I can access them if I'm not logged in, but once I log in I get the permission denied message I posted earlier.

Same here.

 

[Moonbear]

Must be a contributor "perk." Is anyone who is not a contributor having this problem? Please speak up! I think the journal access issue was unique to contributors as well, so there may be some permissions that still need to be set for contributors.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Same here.

Hmmm I reset the permissions, try again

 

[Jeff Ford]

Nope, nothing yet

Jeff Ford, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

 

[Danger]

This isn't a problem, but it seems like a good place to ask a question about a potential one. Given the condition of my memory...
If I forget to log out of PF at work, can I still access it from home or will I get something like a 'busy' signal? I don't intend to try it, since it's a long way between locations.

 

[Bystander]

"Spell check" is "Off."

 

[Evo]

This isn't a problem, but it seems like a good place to ask a question about a potential one. Given the condition of my memory...
If I forget to log out of PF at work, can I still access it from home or will I get something like a 'busy' signal? I don't intend to try it, since it's a long way between locations.

It doesn't matter, it will not prevent you from logging in.

 

[Moonbear]

Has anyone else experienced that PMs no longer open in a new window? I don't know if it's a PF upgrade thing or a browser upgrade thing since I upgraded my browser just before the site upgrate...makes it hard to figure out which one is giving me the trouble.

I have my notifications set to give me that pop up when I get a PM, and then it says if I click okay, it will open my PM in a new window, which is what it always did before. But, now when I click okay, it opens in the already active window. Not much of a problem, it just caught me off-guard when I closed the PM window and realized it was the only one open.

 

[Gokul43201]

Hmmm I reset the permissions, try again

Tried again. Same difference !

Gokul43201, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.

 

[Moonbear]

Tried again. Same difference !

Well, as a last resort, I still have them all bookmarked (long story...but Greg rushed to the rescue with a hack that would save the links just in the nick of time...moments after I finished saving all the links to my bookmarks )...it wouldn't be too hard to create a thread for them all if folks are dying to get at them soon (it won't have the descriptors and organization of the links directory, but they'll all be there...at least the ones that still work).

 

[Gokul43201]

I've got most of the links of interest to me bookmarked on my browser, but a "links rescue thread" would be handy for all the rest of the contributorship...until this gets fixed.

 

[Moonbear]

I've got most of the links of interest to me bookmarked on my browser, but a "links rescue thread" would be handy for all the rest of the contributorship...until this gets fixed.

Okay, I'll put it up here in feedback.

Edit: Done...the thread is titled "Rescued Links." It's not pretty, but they're all there.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Moonbear sorry to do this to you, but I've fixed the problem. Contributors can now view the links.

 

[Moonbear]

Moonbear sorry to do this to you, but I've fixed the problem. Contributors can now view the links.

How come you always manage to fix these things about 30 seconds after I'm done?! Murphy's Law seems to be working as usual.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

How come you always manage to fix these things about 30 seconds after I'm done?! Murphy's Law seems to be working as usual.

You ask too many questions, young grasshopper, free your mind, think of nothing.

 

[Gokul43201]

Moonbear sorry to do this to you, but I've fixed the problem. Contributors can now view the links.

The truth, Greg speaks !

Sorry Moonie !

 

[Lisa!]

You ask too many questions, young grasshopper, free your mind, think of nothing.

Grasshoper?!

 

[JamesU]

Grasshoper?!

yes, young dung beetle
I can call you that because you haven't been invited to the sisterhood yet

 

[Jeff Ford]

Working for me too! Many thanks o' wise one.

 

[SpaceTiger]

Is anyone else losing the line breaks in their post when they preview it? I usually have to go back into the text box and insert them by hand if I don't submit the post right away.

I did a quick skim of the thread and saw no mention of this, but my apologies if it's already known.

 

[Gokul43201]

Is anyone else losing the line breaks in their post when they preview it? I usually have to go back into the text box and insert them by hand if I don't submit the post right away.
I did a quick skim of the thread and saw no mention of this, but my apologies if it's already known.

It is.

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=93669

 

[Moonbear]

Is anyone else losing the line breaks in their post when they preview it? I usually have to go back into the text box and insert them by hand if I don't submit the post right away.
I did a quick skim of the thread and saw no mention of this, but my apologies if it's already known.

Yes, it's been listed, and Greg knows about it (several times over).

 

[honestrosewater]

Does it help that I think I know why attachments aren't showing up? The ampersand is being replaced - that escaping thing Hurkyl was talking about. For example, from the source:

attachment.php?attachmentid=5156&d=1129235012

I'd quit mentioning it if I thought anyone had heard me.

 

[pervect]

I've had problems with several longish posts disappearing with a message that "I'm not authorized". I think that the system is accepting my post to enable me to type it in, then thinking that I am not logged in properly when it comes time to eventually type the message. Result - a lot of wasted time.

 

[Evo]

Does it help that I think I know why attachments aren't showing up? The ampersand is being replaced - that escaping thing Hurkyl was talking about. For example, from the source:
attachment.php?attachmentid=5156&d=1129235012
I'd quit mentioning it if I thought anyone had heard me.

Do you mean you can't view attachments?

 

[Evo]

I've had problems with several longish posts disappearing with a message that "I'm not authorized". I think that the system is accepting my post to enable me to type it in, then thinking that I am not logged in properly when it comes time to eventually type the message. Result - a lot of wasted time.

When you log in, click the "remember me" box, it should prevent you from timing out. If you are going to be taking a very long time on a post, most people will type it in word then paste it into the post. That also allows you to spell check your work.

 

[honestrosewater]

Do you mean you can't view attachments?

The "Attached Thumbnails" box shows up, but there are no thumbnails in it. I can find the url in the source, copypaste it, delete the extra characters, and see the images just fine. It's just a bit of a pain.