Announcement

**bobbicat** · Oct 26, 2020, 02:03 AM

This is the message I receive on first attempting to enter kubuntu forums:

STOP! READ THIS BEFORE CONTINUING! STOP!
This website runs a protection script to keep spammers, bots, and other unwanted connections away ... and the protection script found a problem with your connection.The reason(s) your connection was interrupted are:
Please upgrade your browser, as yours is severely out of date (EOLB-1/C).
If you can fix the issue yourself (such as using a different browser, connecting through a different Internet provider, etc) please do so. Otherwise, PLEASE ALLOW AT LEAST 24 HOURS so the site administrator has a chance to look into the problem.

The site administrator provides an e-mail link to start a trouble ticket about this block. Please do not change the subject line, nor the first few lines of the body text.
Click HERE to start a trouble ticket.

If the link above does not work, please email us at b l o c k e d @ k u b u n t u f o r u m s . n e t and include Ticket #1770970 within your email.

The following connection details have been logged to help the site administrator resolve this issue:
Record #: 1770970
Time: Mon, 26 Oct 2020 07:39:20 +0000
Host / ISP: 109.178.6.51.dyn.plus.net
Geohost: 51.6.178.109.EU.GB.6871.plusne (51.6.0.0/15)
IP Address: 51.6.178.109
Post:
Query:
Stripped Query:
Referer:
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Falkon/3.1.0 Chrome/77.0.3865.129 Safari/537.36 [ZBB4.1 en EU GB 6871 0]
Reconstructed URL: https:// www.kubuntuforums.net /forum.php

Generated by ZB-Block 0.7.1, based on code originally written by Zaphod

**jglen490** · Oct 26, 2020, 05:21 AM

Is you browser out of date? If so, then KFN does have a legit reason for blocking IT (not you)!

**bobbicat** · Oct 26, 2020, 06:25 AM

Originally posted by jglen490 View Post

Is you browser out of date? If so, then KFN does have a legit reason for blocking IT (not you)!

Hi, jglen490, thanks for your swift reply.
The software on my PC is from the Kubuntu repository. My repository copy is up to date. I regularly run

Code:

[FONT=monospace]sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade[/FONT]

in the terminal.

I don't know if the Kubuntu repository files are up to date,
I never gave it any thought as their handling of versions is not within my control.
I rather assume that the repository would be up to date. I'm no expert I'm afraid.

**oshunluvr** · Oct 26, 2020, 06:39 AM

That chrome engine version is only from 2019-09-10 so not really that old.

However, if you're using a browser that causes this and by your own statement "...there is a rigmarole that is supposed to clear this up..." I'm inclined to think the responsibility is on your end to use a functioning browser or make the necessary adjust to Falkon so you may use it here. Or more simply, change browsers.

I moved this ticket to the appropriate subforum.

**bobbicat** · Oct 26, 2020, 06:41 AM

Falkon 3.10 is the most up to date version at Debian and is the version on my PC as far as I can see.
Checking, it is also the most recent version on its own dedicated website.
As I mentioned above my version [3.1.0 the most recent one] came from the Kubuntu repositories.

I have no reason to suspect that the forum is attempting to block me. I am suggesting though that it does create a negative 'keep out' impression.

**bobbicat** · Oct 26, 2020, 06:52 AM

Originally posted by oshunluvr View Post

That chrome engine version is only from 2019-09-10 so not really that old.

However, if you're using a browser that causes this and by your own statement "...there is a rigmarole that is supposed to clear this up..." I'm inclined to think the responsibility is on your end to use a functioning browser or make the necessary adjust to Falkon so you may use it here. Or more simply, change browsers.

I moved this ticket to the appropriate subforum.

Thanks for moving this thread, oshunluvr. Again, apologies, I realised too late that I'd started in the wrong part of the forum.

Falkon [originally QupZilla] is a KDE software I have been using for some time. I am very pleased with its function, speed and it is my browser of choice. It is very unlikely that I will give up using it.

**Bings** · Oct 26, 2020, 07:08 AM

I also get this message with Falkon. The browser isn't updated very often, once a year if lucky. I don't know how good an idea it is to be using it as your main, as nice as it is.

**bobbicat** · Oct 26, 2020, 07:09 AM

I am tempted to add more, so being me I will...

Generally in the real world it is the responsibility of those providing web content to attempt to ensure that the content is visible on a range of browsers, rather than vis versa.

Falkon is a KDE browser available for most operating systems. This forum also has connections with KDE and Kubuntu so I thought maybe it would be relevant to post here.

This is the only site that has ever shut Falkon out for me.

I apologise if it was a mistake to post. I won't say any more about the matter.

**Bings** · Oct 26, 2020, 08:05 AM

Generally in the real world it is the responsibility of those providing web content to attempt to ensure that the content is visible on a range of browsers, rather than vis versa.

Fair point. This site does have some bad security "features". Can get IP blocked for a few months if it decides and then by magic you're back.

**Snowhog** · Oct 26, 2020, 09:42 AM

Originally posted by bobbicat View Post

I am tempted to add more, so being me I will...

Generally in the real world it is the responsibility of those providing web content to attempt to ensure that the content is visible on a range of browsers, rather than vis versa.

Falkon is a KDE browser available for most operating systems. This forum also has connections with KDE and Kubuntu so I thought maybe it would be relevant to post here.

This is the only site that has ever shut Falkon out for me.

I apologise if it was a mistake to post. I won't say any more about the matter.

Originally posted by Bings View Post

Fair point. This site does have some bad security "features". Can get IP blocked for a few months if it decides and then by magic you're back.

To you both, but in general for any member who experiences an issue connecting to KFN.

We (KFN) us a protection script that protects sites running on PHP, which vBulletin does. It isn't fool-proof, and isn't perfect. No security application can be. But, it is very good and pretty easy to tweak when the need to do so arises. But if a tweak is indicated, I have to be notified by the affected member who is being blocked by the 403 FORBIDDEN page they see. That page has a clickable link that generates the trouble ticket (an email to us) and provides for you, the affected member, to include in your own words, what you were doing (specifics are a BIG help here) when the 403 page was presented. IF the trouble ticket isn't generated by the affected member, I'm not going to know that you are having a problem.

No one in KFN (the Administrators) is trying to make things difficult for our members. But we are doing what we feel is needed/necessary to protect both our members and KFN itself. We (KFN) used to deal with SPAM (and worse) on a daily basis, and the cleanup effort was taking more and more time to perform. When, in 2012, we installed and started using ZB-Block, that became a thing of the past. Do we still get SPAMMED? On occasion, but it is really rare.

So, again, if a member here does experience a problem connecting to us; sees the 403 FORBIDDEN page; please use the link in that displayed page to create the needed trouble ticket. You can be certain that I will receive and review those tickets and work to remedy the issue quickly.

As a final note: IF when attempting to connect to KFN you receive the dreaded 503 screen instead, you are hard blocked and no trouble ticket can be created. On those occasions, note the exact date/time and what you were doing when you get the 503. Send us an email, with that information, to: blockedATkubuntuforumsDOTnet (replace AT and DOT accordingly).

**dequire** · Oct 28, 2020, 04:12 AM

I had this problem as well, running Falkon. It's KDE's default browser. It should work here on these forums. The alternative would be to submit a bug report to Falkon, stating that it should work with KFN. That seems a bit awkward...

I submitted a ticket on this to KFN in the past.

**woodsmoke** · Oct 28, 2020, 10:29 AM

Hi
this is not the problem in the thread but it is, I think, related.
When at the college I am now forced to use Google Chrome as a browser.
I have logged into Kubuntu forums and the login name and password are accepted.
Chrome then, later, autofills my name and when i click the password box the "stars" password is entered and I can then get into the forum.
I have NOT clicked the "remember me" box because the computer is an open computer in the lab but Chrome decided it is smarter than me and saves my password anyway.

HOWEVER,
as soon as I am in I get a popup box that says something to the effect of "you have already logged in and cannot get in because you are already logged in, please reload your browser."
I do that and the same message appears.
I repeat
I can do that many, many times and cannot seem to get into the forum.
HOWEVER...

If i then just 'click the tab" for the forum I am "in" with my forum name displayed, even though there is a popup saying that I cannot get into the forum.

So, this is, apparently, a situation of the absolute latest and greatest Chrome browser running on the latest version of windblows

...but the "forum script" ..."sees a problem" and posts a 'warning" and when the user does what the warning says a recurring loop happens which... does not really "do" anything because ...I can get into the forum even though it says that I cannot.

So, this is just a side comment about "the script" and not a criticism in any way.
woodsmoke

**bobbicat** · Dec 30, 2020, 09:43 AM

It is only by bloody mindedness and stubborn refusal to be excluded by what turns out to be a computer script, so I am told, that I appear here writing a post on a thread in these forums.

What I have to say might be upsetting to some but, really, it needs to be said. I make no apology for the comments I am about to make but I want to make it clear that I want the best for Kubuntu and yes for these forums too.

These forums were, are, will be, I hope, the first port of call for those using Kubuntu and in need of support.
I am concerned that this security script might have made everything within here so comfy and secure that nobody has noticed that there are Kubuntu users out there denied access and the hand of a friend when they need it most.
I suppose those excluded need to be counted as just accidental collateral damage, a necessary sacrifice when a fine though possibly flawed computer program becomes essential to the day to day running of things.
I fear that new users falling foul of the support system that is a part of this 'friendly Kubuntu' might decide it would be better to seek friendship of a better quality elsewhere.

There are quite a number of further comments I could and might one day make but for now I feel I have said enough.

Write me off as a crank who would be better off banned if you like, but think about this, if you can:
I would like the O.S. I use to be the best it can and the support it offers to also be available to all and better than adequate.

I use and have used Kubuntu almost for its entire existence because it does what I want and I am happy to pass that message on to whoever I encounter.

**Bings** · Dec 30, 2020, 10:24 AM

The settings were changed, you can now access the forum with Falkon.

Announcement

This does create the feeling I am not wanted around here

This does create the feeling I am not wanted around here

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