Forum Problems (Nov 2024)

In the last days the forum seems to be have some problems, so perhaps we could try to collect some data from people experiencing them, and also to post some available workarounds.

So far, I know about the following problems, and have experienced all of them too. The suggested workarounds sometimes work, but it is not a rule, so you may need testing more alternatives:

  1. Access to the forum blocked, with an error message from CloudFlare
    1. Deleting cookies for garmin.com and cloudflare.com
    2. Using a different browser (i.e. Firefox)
    3. Using Incognito Mode

  2. Impossible to submit a reply to a post. Usually it happens when the reply contains one or more of the following items:
    1. Embedded image or file
      Workaround:
      1. Hover over the pasted image in the message body, and in the menu that appears, select "Convert to Link"
      2. Post a link to an external storage instead (may not work either - see the next item "Hyperlink")
      3. Post without the image, then edit, and try adding the image then
      4. Try replying to a different comment - i.e. the OP instead of the last post, or vice versa
      5. Remove the image from the post

    2. Hyperlink
      Workaround:
      1. Click the link, press Ctrl-K, and remove the "Text to Display"/ Simple link without the alternative text usually passes all right
      2. Remove the hyperlink
      3. Post the link as plain text (remove the leading https:// and paste it in plain-text mode with Ctrl+***+V)
      4. Try adding the link later after editing your original post

    3. Quote
      Workaround
      1. Remove the quote and just copy and paste it instead of using the built-in quoting feature (you can use Format » Formats » Blocks » Blockquote for making it look alike)
      2. Use Tools Source Code and remove the hyperlink from the code
      3. Try adding the quote later after editing your original post

    4. Special characters - in some cases some simple characters like the parenthesis, double or simple quotes, or even a question mark may prevent you from submitting the reply
      Workaround:
      1. Unfortunately you will have to experiment which of the characters causes the trouble, and remove it.
      2. Sometimes copying the entire text and pasting it back as simple text (Ctrl+Shift+V) helps
      3. Often, you can use another similar character instead. There are many Unicode characters that look similarly, and can replace the original. For example ⁇,  Grey questionQuestion, ¿ for the question mark, ´ for the apostrophe, [ ] instead of parenthesis, «» for double quotes, but there are many other alternatives as well.
  • FlowState said:
    I'll note that after you manually copy and paste a quote, you can use Format > Formats > Blocks > Blockquote on desktop to make the quote look nice

    Yes, I use it too. I edited the OP and added it there (as well as some other tips). Another option (that I applied here in this post for quoting you, too) is using the function Tools » Source Code and removing the attribute 'URL' from the quote tag.

  • too many workaround and regression for me to maintain this type of post/comment

    i42.servimg.com/.../2024-110.png

  • Another one bug - answer as a plain text to an post in fr255 forum was not possible in firefox. Delete cookies, incognito mode was unsuccessful.  Switched to chrome and it was a remedy. 

    NB Overall performance in the forum is an ass pain - v e r y slowly, reconnect all 2 minutes, must login every 2 days from scratch. For an admin with something above a jaws it will be fixed in max 2 workdays. Really annoying, sorry.

  • For an admin with something above a jaws it will be fixed in max 2 workdays.

    I do not thinks that this is something that the admin can fix. It is more likely a problem of the forum software self, and the forum admins have probably very little chance to change it. On my mind, it must be done by the developers of the forum, with good knowledge of the software.

    I suspect that the problems might have been introduced by an attempt to limit the posting of spammers, injecting malicious HTML code, and hiding links. I know they were working on introducing some anti-spam measures, since I report spam daily, wrote the spam detection Chromium extension, the Garmin Forum Helper. and got some feedback about their plans for limiting the spam. Unfortunately this attempt seems to have failed, since I continue seeing many new spam posts every day. It only limited ordinary users.

  • text formatting could be easy and quickly fix

  • text formatting could be easy and quickly fix

    Most likely not for the admin, though. On my mind the problem is in the source code that the forum developer, or the developer of the anti-spam plugin will have to fix. And those are 3rd parties, AFAIK. And possibly not aware yet, that there are such problems. I am not expecting any quick fix. I count with weeks to months before it gets fixed (or forgotten and accepted).

  • ... ah, strange, by mistake I used the standard quote without removing the link, in my previous post, and it was accepted Rofl

  • I am able to post but I have been unable to reply to posts for some days now.

    I always get the message "An error occurred. Please try again or contact your administrator."

    Any ideas how I can fix this?

  • Test.

    Try again or contact your administrator ;)

  • It's been 4 days, and Garmin still can't figure out the problem with the lack of access to its forum. Still trying to enter the forum from one IP address ends with the message “sorry, you have been blocked”, and from the other I enter normally.

    P.S. it is no business of mine whether it is your fault, or the fault of the service provider you are using (cloudflare).