for those whose pages load with JUST LINKS ...

[constanz22]

Yeah, still having the same issue on work computer. I work for government also, so, likely that is the issue. Oh well, guess my days on the boards during work are over...

[Chocolate Lover]

I'm in the same boat as WWBG and Contanz, I work for the government and no way am I asking anyone in IT to let me on. You have to out of your mind. Will this new domain name they're getting change anything for us? Like the URL?

[Deleted]

Jan 17, 2013 12:54:56 GMT -5 moon/Laura said:

Moon, I'm not trying to be snarky either, just in case I'm starting to sound it. Frustrating on both ends I'm sure. I'll try the full URL now.

I know you're not. I want everything to work for everyone but unfortunately, there's only so much *I* can do or try before it becomes something PB has to fix- if they can..but when it comes to employers, there's not a lot any of us can do if their security is the problem.

Let's be clear, an employer's security is not the problem because they block 4d5.net - which is only plenty of lists as recommended blocked for popup/ad serving platforms.  Proboards is putting their profit motive ahead of the functionality of the forum.

[moon/Laura]

Jan 18, 2013 10:52:08 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

I'm in the same boat as WWBG and Contanz, I work for the government and no way am I asking anyone in IT to let me on. You have to out of your mind. Will this new domain name they're getting change anything for us? Like the URL?

no. it will only change things behind the scenes - where the css is hosted.

Jan 18, 2013 11:22:55 GMT -5 @mmc said:

Jan 17, 2013 12:54:56 GMT -5 moon/Laura said:

I know you're not. I want everything to work for everyone but unfortunately, there's only so much *I* can do or try before it becomes something PB has to fix- if they can..but when it comes to employers, there's not a lot any of us can do if their security is the problem.

Let's be clear, an employer's security is not the problem because they block 4d5.net - which is only plenty of lists as recommended blocked for popup/ad serving platforms.  Proboards is putting their profit motive ahead of the functionality of the forum.

and that's why they're realizing they need to change? do you ever have anything positive to say?

[mmhmm]

No, kidding, moonbeam! I think it's outstanding that Patrick is willing to listen to the problems people are having and to make the effort to alleviate those problems. To me, that really shines!

[Chocolate Lover]

Thanks Moon for the clarification. Any idea when the change will happen. I'm assuming it hasn't since I still see the pages the same as I have been since the upgrade.

[Chocolate Lover]

Please forgive the grammar/spelling errors, I can't edit posts anymore. I didn't use the ? on my question.... lol

[Deleted]

Jan 18, 2013 13:22:10 GMT -5 moon/Laura said:

Jan 18, 2013 10:52:08 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

I'm in the same boat as WWBG and Contanz, I work for the government and no way am I asking anyone in IT to let me on. You have to out of your mind. Will this new domain name they're getting change anything for us? Like the URL?

no. it will only change things behind the scenes - where the css is hosted.

Jan 18, 2013 11:22:55 GMT -5 @mmc said:

Let's be clear, an employer's security is not the problem because they block 4d5.net - which is only plenty of lists as recommended blocked for popup/ad serving platforms.  Proboards is putting their profit motive ahead of the functionality of the forum.

and that's why they're realizing they need to change? do you ever have anything positive to say?

Don't be so grumpy.  This is a thread about feedback and I gave mine because both my employer and my home proxy block 4d5.net as part of a 3rd party provided block list. 

[moon/Laura]

Jan 18, 2013 13:39:00 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

Thanks Moon for the clarification. Any idea when the change will happen. I'm assuming it hasn't since I still see the pages the same as I have been since the upgrade.

no idea when, unfortunately.. and i do hope it alleviates the problems as they anticipate.


mmc, it's interesting you're blocked at home, too.. normally it's only work, since home users have full control over their settings. you can't add the *.4d5.net to your safe sites?

[Virgil Showlion]

Jan 18, 2013 10:52:08 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

I'm in the same boat as WWBG and Contanz, I work for the government and no way am I asking anyone in IT to let me on. You have to out of your mind. Will this new domain name they're getting change anything for us? Like the URL?

I could try hosting the file on our hodginsmedia cloud server. I'll put in a plugin targeting your user account specifically, and you can let me know if it works. Hang on a minute...

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"Proboards is putting their profit motive ahead of the functionality of the forum.":::...

I wouldn't say profit is the driving problem here. From a coding perspective, I can understand the value in having stylesheets in separate files from the actual forum pages. There are efficiencies from keeping code that governs separate functions in separate files. It helps localize problems and/or fixes. It makes the code of the main page page a little more efficient. It probably improves performance too, because your browser will download the css files ONCE, and just apply them to every page. If that code were in the page itself, it adds to the filesize, and therefore the loading time.

As I said before, I am very interested in WHAT aspect of the code triggered our security. This is important because I am pretty sure that simply changing the domain to another will result in the new host also being blocked.

I don't know why they would have a separate host for the styles themselves. I don't understand why the styles can't be hosted on a server that resolves to the .proboards.com domain. I would welcome an explanation from someone more familiar with that aspect of web design than me.

Either way, the bottom line still remains. This new setup will permanently render all proboards services miserable experiences for any user of any network that has sensitive security settings.

I suspect the number of affected users might be great enough to make the designers consider re-integrating the style code into the pages.

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"mmc, it's interesting you're blocked at home, too.. normally it's only work, since home users have full control over their settings. you can't add the *.4d5.net to your safe sites?":::...

He said he has a home proxy. Not sure if that is an extension of his office network, or something he elects to utilize. It will be interesting to see.

...:::"I could try hosting the file on our hodginsmedia cloud server. I'll put in a plugin targeting your user account specifically, and you can let me know if it works. Hang on a minute...":::...

You posted while I was typing Virgil. I too won't be back in the office until Tuesday. So essentially; users like myself and agile and CL's accounts would know to retrieve the css from a different location. That is certainly more convenient than me using this FF plugin to load the css manually every time!

[moon/Laura]

WWBG, you should consider taking your questions to the thread on support so the techies there can answer..

No CSS Thread

[Virgil Showlion]

WWBG, CL, or anyone else experiencing the problem: hit 'refresh' on your browser and you should see the page properly. It will be loaded with the VSilver skin.

Do you see the page with styles?

[Deleted]

Jan 18, 2013 14:47:08 GMT -5 moon/Laura said:

Jan 18, 2013 13:39:00 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

Thanks Moon for the clarification. Any idea when the change will happen. I'm assuming it hasn't since I still see the pages the same as I have been since the upgrade.

no idea when, unfortunately.. and i do hope it alleviates the problems as they anticipate.


mmc, it's interesting you're blocked at home, too.. normally it's only work, since home users have full control over their settings. you can't add the *.4d5.net to your safe sites?

I run Microsoft's Forefront Thread Management Gateway at home and subscribe the web filtering to the same collection of block addresses as we do at work.  I could bypass it at home on the TMG server, but I'm happy to hear it will be solved on proboards end.

[Chocolate Lover]

Jan 18, 2013 15:22:01 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

WWBG, CL, or anyone else experiencing the problem: hit 'refresh' on your browser and you should see the page properly. It will be loaded with the VSilver skin.

Do you see the page with styles?

sorry Virgil, I left work early again today &missed your post. I won't be back to work until Tuesday. I hope someone can test it before then  and thanks for all the help to everyone that's been working to fix it. 

[taz157]

I just tried it and I still got the white screen with links.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jan 18, 2013 22:14:35 GMT -5 taz157 said:

I just tried it and I still got the white screen with links.

Darn it.

I'll try something else.

[Virgil Showlion]

How about now, Taz?

[Deleted]

Looks ok for me now

[taz157]

Jan 19, 2013 0:46:12 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

How about now, Taz?

Didn't work for me.  

[Virgil Showlion]

Taz, I'll try some more things tomorrow. I don't work on Saturdays.

[Tennesseer]

Test.


Ignore test.

[taz157]

Jan 19, 2013 16:52:33 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Taz, I'll try some more things tomorrow. I don't work on Saturdays.

Not a problem and I understand.  Granted, it is my work computer that is having the issue and it's probably for the best anyway. 

I'll still be able to look on my phone during the workday, just can't type long posts. 

[8 Bit WWBG]

I too, will not be back at work until Tuesday. Although I have my work computer and I could try connecting to VPN to see if it is still blocked.

What exactly did you try Virgil? The targeted plugin thing? It is kind of funny that forum admins have to bypass css in order for the new page to work for members. Not a sound strategy.

...:::"I'll still be able to look on my phone during the workday, just can't type long posts.":::...

This is what I'm afraid of. If it simply can't be fixed, then I'll either have to use another device entirely (phone, tablet) or I'll have to keep disconnecting from my work network and tether through my phone.

...:::"No CSS Thread":::...

Heading there now.

[8 Bit WWBG]

Oh good gravy, it won't recognize my global ID (I get the angry bear page) and then I typed a long thoughtful post as a guest and it won't seem to post. I'm caught in an endless "create post" loop where it looks like I'm editing the post, but no error message.

Well, I'm really grateful that they are willing to try an alternate domain. I guess we'll see what happens at work when they switch it over.

[Virgil Showlion]

What exactly did you try Virgil? The targeted plugin thing? It is kind of funny that forum admins have to bypass css in order for the new page to work for members. Not a sound strategy.

No. It runs a script to detect certain objects that should be present if your browser isn't blocking scripts and CSS from 4d5.net. If it finds them missing, it literally rips out the old style sheets and code base, and replaces the links with mirrored copies on "our" server.

It's far from perfect, since by the time it executes, everything that relies on the script files from 4d5.net (including plugins, and some of Proboards' runtime configuration) will have failed as a result of the script file not loading, but it should at least prevent the page from showing up looking like a dog's breakfast.

[constanz22]

Still just white page with links here at work. Nothing different today...I thought they were making some changes?

[moon/Laura]

They are, but it wasn't specified WHEN they were doing so.

[mmhmm]

Jan 21, 2013 9:35:39 GMT -5 constanz22 said:

Still just white page with links here at work. Nothing different today...I thought they were making some changes?

I don't think that's something they can accomplish real quickly, constanz.  We may have to be patient for a bit.