Moderators Take Note – POSSIBLY Urgent

[Wandering Author]

I just got an e-mail notification saying I had reached the rank of “Cub Reporter” by introducing myself. Since I didn’t recall doing so, I thought I’d visit – I had been thinking of it anyway – to see if I could figure that out. Data in my profile says I did this 2 days ago. There is no post listed under my profile name for 2 days ago. So I am not sure if there is an odd site bug (which is fine; I’m not complaining) or if anyone was trying to hack the site and this odd result is the (only?) trace they left.

I thought I would use the Contact form to ask one of the moderators to check it out. And I cannot submit anything using that form – it tells me ReCaptcha verification failed, but there is no ReCaptcha form showing up to allow me to verify. So two odd details. It isn’t proof of anything seriously wrong, but alarmed me enough I felt I ought to raise the issue right away.

Has anyone else noticed any odd happenings lately? I know just enough to be sure if there is anything of real concern, every detailed observation might be helpful in nailing down what is going on. If these are just random bugs, then I’m sorry for getting everyone excited. But I do know the cracker (actual term for what most people call hackers) community is very busy at the moment. Thought it was better to say something.

• This topic was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by Wandering Author. Reason: Nothing changed, just forgot to subscribe to replies

[Magic Seeker]

The badges are new, but I haven’t received any emails like yours.

As far as I know, JA Marlow is the only one who can check these problems out. (All I can do is delete spam posts.) She has made some modifications lately to upgrade security, but I’m not clear on exactly what part of the site.

I hope she can figure it out soon!

Happy writing,
Deb Salisbury
The Mantua-Maker, Quality Historical Sewing Patterns and Books
www.mantua-maker.com

The Art of the Hoop: 1860 - 1869, Dress, Sewing, and Clothing Care Advice
https://www.mantua-maker.com/a---1860s-fashion.html

Dead Wizard's Loot: Wizard Whitewing #1
http://www.djsalisburybooks.com/Dead-Wizard-s-Loot.html

[Wandering Author]

If she’s made recent modifications, that could be the problem. Minor bugs, or whatever. Sorry if I raised the alarm for nothing. The trouble is, you never know. I wish the spammers, crackers, and crooks would all shut up, go home, and leave everybody else alone.

[J.A. Marlow]

:waves:

The badges are new, and an aspect of the site I’ve been trying/wanting to do here for a while. The ‘activity’ of earning were triggered by a script I’m trying to get to run properly so that any past activity by members is recognized by the new badge/rank/achievement software. It’s only been half successful so far. Any new earning goes through fine, but I’m having issue with it not wanting to recognize all of any past activity. Still working on a solution there.

The contact form issue I didn’t know about, but could be caused by a new hidden software to protect against so many of the new spam accounts we’ve been plagued with lately. I’ll look to see if I can figure out what happened there. Thanks for letting me know.

J.A. Marlow
The String Weavers, Salmon Run, Redpoint One series.

Writer alter-ego of Dreamers Cove

[MarFisk]

FYI, if you received badges but did not get emailed notifications, there are two possibilities:

1) Your spam filter caught them before you could see them.
2) Your site email is out of date.

For the first, if you whitelist the FM emails, that shouldn’t happen, but there have been a few spammer issues as J.A. mentioned, so you’d get those as well.

For the second, go to your profile and verify the address. There have been a good number of bounces resulting from this, so I know there are some out-of-date emails.

She remakes mechanical devices, and he dreams of becoming a steamship captain in The Steamship Chronicles. Book 1 is free in eBook.
https://margaretmcgaffeyfisk.com/the-steamship-chronicles/

[J.A. Marlow]

I’ve narrowed down the issue with the contact form as a problem with the contact form software itself (it’s not a conflict with other software). As of May 5th it was working, but now it won’t allow a send of anything in the contact form. I’ll see if I can root out the problem.

J.A. Marlow
The String Weavers, Salmon Run, Redpoint One series.

Writer alter-ego of Dreamers Cove

[Magic Seeker]

Hmm. Nothing in the spam folders, and I’m receiving other emails here.

I’m not worried about this one, though. I could have deleted it without realizing what it actually said.

Happy writing,
Deb Salisbury
The Mantua-Maker, Quality Historical Sewing Patterns and Books
www.mantua-maker.com

The Art of the Hoop: 1860 - 1869, Dress, Sewing, and Clothing Care Advice
https://www.mantua-maker.com/a---1860s-fashion.html

Dead Wizard's Loot: Wizard Whitewing #1
http://www.djsalisburybooks.com/Dead-Wizard-s-Loot.html

[MarFisk]

BTW, J.A.,

This is probably intentional, but the notification script is sending messages using your arcticprincess Gmail address. This might cause some issues with the delivery if they are coming from the Tigertech servers.

She remakes mechanical devices, and he dreams of becoming a steamship captain in The Steamship Chronicles. Book 1 is free in eBook.
https://margaretmcgaffeyfisk.com/the-steamship-chronicles/

[Author]

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