http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/ Stuff to do with the forum itself, not about early retirement. en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:39:04 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/images/early_r/misc/rss.jpg http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/ http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/were-back-unexpected-forums-outage-47386-new-post.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:28:20 GMT An exploit in our software was taken advantage of by some hackers who linked to a malicious site. It appears there was a little over 4 hours between... An exploit in our software was taken advantage of by some hackers who linked to a malicious site. It appears there was a little over 4 hours between the time it happened and the time we took the servers offline Thursday.

In an effort to minimize damage to the board we opted to shut everything down while we investigated the issue and formulated a game plan. Our team (server admins, programmers, and software vendors) coordinated and developed a plan to remove the malicious files and secure the servers. We believe that forum members should not have any system issues associated with this so long they didn't visit the malicious site AND install anything.

While the service interruption was unfortunate, it was important to us to make sure this issue was fully addressed before returning to business as usual. Protecting our community from this kind of intrusion is paramount and we'll post more info here as it becomes available. It's possible that we may need to continue tweak the forum setup and if so, we may have another service interruption.

We thank you for understanding :flowers: ]]> Forum Admin Janet H http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/were-back-unexpected-forums-outage-47386.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/malware-warning-47385-new-post.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:39:01 GMT :frown: I received a malware warning upon entering the forum today. :frown:
I haven't received these warnings before, but I did find a trojan during a McAfee scan a couple days ago.
Anyone else receiving warnings OR malware from this forum? ???:frown:

I'll be doing another scan tonight... ]]> Forum Admin JustNtime http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/malware-warning-47385.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/vbulletin-posting-limits-47244-new-post.html Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:12:27 GMT I realize that vBulletin "upgrades" have a tendency to overwrite previous admin settings, and even to introduce unanticipated limits. So in that spirit of customer appreciation, I have a couple observations.

I used to read every post on this board and visit several times a day to keep up. Now I rarely read more than 20% of the posts, and if I didn't see the names of the more frequent posters who I care about in the "New Posts" summary then I doubt I'd read even that much.

As some of you are keenly aware, I don't have much to say that I haven't already said in the last 17,000 posts over five years. When I do have something new (in my opinion) to say, then it's likely to be a bit more complex than my earlier writings and it's also likely to be a bit more heavily formatted with quotes, links, and other characters.

So when a new poster like TimWalsh300 raises some of the best issues I've read in months (http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...tml#post873660), and when I spend a couple hours composing a post to address those issues, it's hugely annoying to have vBulletin whine at me that my post has too many characters.

[Really? Gee, Nords. Then if you have that much to say then maybe you should write a book. Hmmmm...]

I'd be more sympathetic if vBulletin's whining was effective-- but it's not. All I had to do was break one post into two consecutive posts. vBulletin's complaint didn't stop spam or optimize server storage or minimize database size or improve response speed or significantly change my behavior. All vBulletin's posting limit really managed to do was to piss me off.

I had the same posting-limit problem with my "Recommended reading list" post a couple months ago, and vBulletin's formatting may have broken some of those links. I had a huge problem in the social group with even more constrictive posting limits.

So I don't know whose idea it was to set posting limits, vBulletin's or some well-intentioned admin's, but it ain't workin' for the customers. And if vBulletin "upgrades" are doing this to your settings, then I'd be a bit annoyed with the open-source programmers who are taking such an inconsiderate design approach. Good programmers are supposed to avoid limits, not impose them.

I think it's reasonable to do away with posting limits. If one or two posters put up 20,000-character posts by copying magazine articles or by over-quoting other posters, then moderators can take care of the isolated issues when they pop up.

The unintended consequence of muzzling a potential H0cu$ is the risk of driving away the posters who can effectively address complex issues.

Besides, I don't think the new posters are coming here just to read the ads. ]]> Forum Admin Nords http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/vbulletin-posting-limits-47244.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/quoting-a-post-turns-it-all-into-italics-why-47205-new-post.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:25:56 GMT When I quote a post, it obliterates the formatting and turns it all into italics. This seems unnecessary, the quote box itself provides the visual... When I quote a post, it obliterates the formatting and turns it all into italics.

This seems unnecessary, the quote box itself provides the visual feedback that the text is quoted. I just quoted someone who used italics in their message, and my quoting of them loses the emphasis that the OP intended.

Example here - compare my quote of the post with the original text of the post:

In the original ("Count me as one who does see something wrong with this."), the "does" was italicized.

http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...0&postcount=56

So, can the quote operation retain the formatting of the OP? I think this would be much better.

Thanks - ERD50 ]]> Forum Admin ERD50 http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/quoting-a-post-turns-it-all-into-italics-why-47205.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/avatar-what-am-i-doing-wrong-to-install-one-47137-new-post.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:32:27 GMT 1. Go to User CP
2. Go to Edit Avatar
3. Paste in no. 2 the link to the avatar that is 80x80 pixels
4. Hit "Save Changes"

...and nothing. What am I doing wrong? ]]> Forum Admin Orchidflower http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/avatar-what-am-i-doing-wrong-to-install-one-47137.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/new-thank-you-noise-47123-new-post.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:24:23 GMT Catchy. I like it. NML seal of approval. In fact it makes me want to go on a thank you binge. Beware Catchy. I like it. NML seal of approval.

In fact it makes me want to go on a thank you binge.

Beware ]]> Forum Admin Notmuchlonger http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/new-thank-you-noise-47123.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/any-limits-on-subscribed-threads-47071-new-post.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:36:15 GMT I just noticed that I am subscribed to 900+ threads (most of which are long dead). Does the forum software have any limits on subscribed threads? ... I just noticed that I am subscribed to 900+ threads (most of which are long dead). Does the forum software have any limits on subscribed threads? If not, is there any performance drawback in having a large number of subscriptions? ]]> Forum Admin donheff http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/any-limits-on-subscribed-threads-47071.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/subscriptions-47031-new-post.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:04:55 GMT I have accumulated too many. I can't find any way to reduce the number other than bringing each up, then 'unsubscribe'.

Suggestions? ]]> Forum Admin Brat http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/subscriptions-47031.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/disappearing-posts-47009-new-post.html Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:27:59 GMT I just posted in a thread where I quoted another recent post, but once my post hit, the one I quoted disappeared. IOW, i am quoting a non-existent... I just posted in a thread where I quoted another recent post, but once my post hit, the one I quoted disappeared. IOW, i am quoting a non-existent post.

This happened to me once before, I figured then I was just having flashbacks or something. :coolsmiley:

I'm not complaining, just checking to make sure it's not early signs of senility or dementia...:) ]]> Forum Admin MichaelB http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/disappearing-posts-47009.html http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/dumb-question-46967-new-post.html Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:24:48 GMT Why are BB image codes not allowed on our signatures? I think this is the only forum I participate on that doesn't allow it. ]]> Forum Admin Dawg52 http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f32/dumb-question-46967.html