503 errors using links from UCP (User Control Panel)

[tinuva]

When using the UCP (User Control Panel), I always get a 503 error when trying to visit subscribed topics.

For example, the 404 topic, it gives me a URL when I click on it that looks like this:

Code: Select all

https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31808&sid=afc4d477a6a9b322aac4ea06e4cf8c0b

This url results in a 503 error for me, consistently.

Now, if I removed the sid part of it, then the url will work:

Code: Select all

https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31808

The same happens, when I want to go to the first unread post, this will 503 on me:

Code: Select all

https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31808&view=unread&sid=afc4d477a6a9b322aac4ea06e4cf8c0b#unread

Again, if I remove the sid part, it will start to work:

Code: Select all

https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31808&view=unread#unread

So, why is the forum configured to block on the sid? In fact, isn't that an integral part of the forum software for internal tracking?

Also note, I have read the 404 page and noticed the following post: https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... 6#p1276936

It is literally a consequence of the anti-bot measures, yes.

That is not a good enough answer. As a website owner we need to balance user experience with these anti-bot measures. The blocking shouldn't go to the point where users will think, "ah this website is not working, not going to visit it anymore".

I really hope this highly annoying policy can be reconsidered.

[Madhouse]

That is not a good enough answer. As a website owner we need to balance user experience with these anti-bot measures. The blocking shouldn't go to the point where users will think, "ah this website is not working, not going to visit it anymore".

I really hope this highly annoying policy can be reconsidered.

I fully agree with this point of view.

[mstar]

any update on this? the constant 503 errors is getting annoying

[Explodeee]

I'm tired of getting this "503 Service Temporarily Unavailable" error. In order to get rid of it i have to rejoin the site and go straight to f1technical.net, only after that i can join the forums again.

[tinuva]

At this rate, the bots will figure out quicker how to work around the issue, than it will take the web server owners to fix it.

So for my own sanity, I created (Well Claude AI created it) a tampermonkey script to remove the `sid` part from urls. Now I can browse the forums without issues.

// ==UserScript==
// @name         F1Technical SID Remover
// @namespace    http://tampermonkey.net/
// @version      0.1
// @description  Removes 'sid' parameter from f1technical.net URLs
// @author       You
// @match        https://www.f1technical.net/*
// @match        http://www.f1technical.net/*
// @grant        none
// ==/UserScript==

(function() {
    'use strict';

    // Function to clean URLs on the page
    function cleanF1TechnicalUrls() {
        // Get all links on the page
        const links = document.getElementsByTagName('a');

        // Loop through all links
        for (let i = 0; i < links.length; i++) {
            const link = links;

            // Check if the link contains a 'sid' parameter
            if (link.href.includes('sid=')) {
                // Use URL API to easily manipulate the URL
                let url = new URL(link.href);

                // Remove the 'sid' parameter
                url.searchParams.delete('sid');

                // Update the link's href
                link.href = url.toString();
            }
        }
    }

    // Run when the page loads
    cleanF1TechnicalUrls();

    // Also clean URLs when AJAX calls might have loaded new content
    // This is a simple approach - might need adjustment based on how the site loads content
    document.addEventListener('DOMNodeInserted', function() {
        setTimeout(cleanF1TechnicalUrls, 500);
    });

    // Clean the current URL in the address bar if needed
    if (window.location.href.includes('sid=')) {
        const currentUrl = new URL(window.location.href);
        currentUrl.searchParams.delete('sid');

        // Replace the current URL without reloading the page
        window.history.replaceState({}, document.title, currentUrl.toString());
    }
})();

[hollus]

Guys when you rejoin the forum you do this
1. Go to homepage
2. F5 (refresh)

Then everything are working fine.

Actually, for me, refreshing from anywhere in f1technical, be it the main page, the main forum page, the last page I visited, the google link, the recent link... refresing, once, fixes it (for the whole session).
On iphone, click x, click reload. On android, I don't now, I guess the same. On PC, press F5.

One reload, from any page, and it works for the whole session. This includes from the 503 error page. I am not sure about 404, I haven't gotten a 404 in a long time.

[tinuva]

Guys when you rejoin the forum you do this
1. Go to homepage
2. F5 (refresh)

Then everything are working fine.

Actually, for me, refreshing from anywhere in f1technical, be it the main page, the main forum page, the last page I visited, the google link, the recent link... refresing, once, fixes it (for the whole session).
On iphone, click x, click reload. On android, I don't now, I guess the same. On PC, press F5.

One reload, from any page, and it works for the whole session. This includes from the 503 error page. I am not sure about 404, I haven't gotten a 404 in a long time.

Or you just use the tampermonkey script then you don't need to do manual refreshes anymore. Nobody has time to do that every visit.

[Richard C]

One reload, from any page, and it works for the whole session. This includes from the 503 error page. I am not sure about 404, I haven't gotten a 404 in a long time.

The problem is... that is now how websites are supposed to work. You are asking users to effectively swim upstream/do something that is not normal.

Richard

[Madhouse]

Guys when you rejoin the forum you do this
1. Go to homepage
2. F5 (refresh)

Then everything are working fine.

Actually, for me, refreshing from anywhere in f1technical, be it the main page, the main forum page, the last page I visited, the google link, the recent link... refresing, once, fixes it (for the whole session).
On iphone, click x, click reload. On android, I don't now, I guess the same. On PC, press F5.

One reload, from any page, and it works for the whole session. This includes from the 503 error page. I am not sure about 404, I haven't gotten a 404 in a long time.

What other website on the internet right now makes its genuine users do this to circumvent anti bot measures?

Perhaps it's time to upgrade this website to a modern software package?

[tinuva]

Guys when you rejoin the forum you do this
1. Go to homepage
2. F5 (refresh)

Then everything are working fine.

Actually, for me, refreshing from anywhere in f1technical, be it the main page, the main forum page, the last page I visited, the google link, the recent link... refresing, once, fixes it (for the whole session).
On iphone, click x, click reload. On android, I don't now, I guess the same. On PC, press F5.

One reload, from any page, and it works for the whole session. This includes from the 503 error page. I am not sure about 404, I haven't gotten a 404 in a long time.

What other website on the internet right now makes its genuine users do this to circumvent anti bot measures?

Perhaps it's time to upgrade this website to a modern software package?

Why not use something better and easier, like, CloudFlare to block to bots. Would be much easier and simpler to implement.

As for using modern software, I doubt that will fix the bot issue, but it will definitely be a nice facelift to the forums to use something more modern like Xenforo or so. phpBB is in fact horrible.

[bluechris]

We are not here for fancy stuff guys, the forum is fine as it is. Yes this situation is a bit annoying but for now it's a solution for the admins and i personally have no problem with one refresh extra that i need to do.

[clownfish]

We are not here for fancy stuff guys, the forum is fine as it is. Yes this situation is a bit annoying but for now it's a solution for the admins and i personally have no problem with one refresh extra that i need to do.

I have to disagree there, I'm a programmer (i.e. higher level of technical knowledge than average) and going back to the main page and refreshing it to make the topics work was non-obvious. I actually assumed for a long time that the site had been hacked and was down.

In fact I only found the 'refresh' solution by randomly stumbling upon a post that mentioned it in an unrelated google search.

There are many better ways to fix this issue: CloudFlare type systems, fail2ban, even throwing up a reCapcha popup etc. Making the site appear broken for the real users is not a great solution.

(this is not a criticism of the admins - I'm sure they want the site to work - running websites and forums especially now is a complete pain in the exhaust).

[bluechris]

We are not here for fancy stuff guys, the forum is fine as it is. Yes this situation is a bit annoying but for now it's a solution for the admins and i personally have no problem with one refresh extra that i need to do.

I have to disagree there, I'm a programmer (i.e. higher level of technical knowledge than average) and going back to the main page and refreshing it to make the topics work was non-obvious. I actually assumed for a long time that the site had been hacked and was down.

In fact I only found the 'refresh' solution by randomly stumbling upon a post that mentioned it in an unrelated google search.

There are many better ways to fix this issue: CloudFlare type systems, fail2ban, even throwing up a reCapcha popup etc. Making the site appear broken for the real users is not a great solution.

(this is not a criticism of the admins - I'm sure they want the site to work - running websites and forums especially now is a complete pain in the exhaust).

Same here, IT Manager but what you say needs money no matter if the cost is big or small. The point is that the forum is free and there is no thinking from what i understand all this year's for subscription or anything so anything extra comes in the backs of the owners.
I am perfectly happy to contribute if it's needed.

[tinuva]

We are not here for fancy stuff guys, the forum is fine as it is. Yes this situation is a bit annoying but for now it's a solution for the admins and i personally have no problem with one refresh extra that i need to do.

I have to disagree there, I'm a programmer (i.e. higher level of technical knowledge than average) and going back to the main page and refreshing it to make the topics work was non-obvious. I actually assumed for a long time that the site had been hacked and was down.

In fact I only found the 'refresh' solution by randomly stumbling upon a post that mentioned it in an unrelated google search.

There are many better ways to fix this issue: CloudFlare type systems, fail2ban, even throwing up a reCapcha popup etc. Making the site appear broken for the real users is not a great solution.

(this is not a criticism of the admins - I'm sure they want the site to work - running websites and forums especially now is a complete pain in the exhaust).

Same here, IT Manager but what you say needs money no matter if the cost is big or small. The point is that the forum is free and there is no thinking from what i understand all this year's for subscription or anything so anything extra comes in the backs of the owners.
I am perfectly happy to contribute if it's needed.

None of the sample solutions listed cost money. All are free. Cloudflare does have a pay option, but they also have a free option. The rest can be implemented free.

Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk

[organic]

Maybe PM Steven directly with suggestions if you have some good ideas more likely to be seen that way