Why are these forums so horribly broken?

[revmacian]

1. I get a "Database error" every time I make a post. The only way to see the post after it's made is to refresh the page.

2. I cannot access any page beyond the first page of any thread. I tried to add "/page2" at the end of a url and this makes the url end with "/page2" but I'm still looking at page one.

3. I was responding to the thread entitled "Common Sense", but I'm out of this conversation because I can't access page two of the conversation - everything I try keeps taking me back to page 1 while the url reads "page 2".

I hope someone can answer my question before it changes pages.. otherwise I won't be able to follow from page 2 onward.

I'm using Kubuntu 20.04 with all default software.

[revmacian]

I also just noticed that I can click on "Find latest started threads" in my profile page (4th link under my avatar), and this page that I'm posting in right now is not even listed in my "started threads". Is the forums database corrupt or something?

[Bings]

I also have been having the problem with the common sense thread. It was just going back to page 1 every time i clicked for page 2. Then it was fixed but now it's not going to page 3.

[Bings]

On Firefox, it says there are 2 pages in the index. When I go to the thread, there are 3 pages but I can't go to page 3 and the posts don't go further than #20 (I know there are more posts, I just posted one)

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...on-Sense/page3

On Viper and Falkon browsers, this goes to page 2. Can only see up to #20 but there is no page 3 showing in the page selector.

[Goeroeboeroe]

I have the problem too, but only with the common sense thread, as far as I can see. So I guess maybe it's something in that thread. Some strange combination of emoticons or something like that, being interpreted like some command by the forum software? Just guessing...

[Snowhog]

When I get back to the house later this morning, I?ll take KFN offline and update index?s. Might fix these issues. Might not. The actual cause might be our current version of MySQL and issues it may be having with our version of PHP, which while we remain on vBulletin 4.2.5, can?t be upgraded. When we move over to vBulletin 5x this should all be resolved.

[revmacian]

When I get back to the house later this morning, I?ll take KFN offline and update index?s. Might fix these issues. Might not. The actual cause might be our current version of MySQL and issues it may be having with our version of PHP, which while we remain on vBulletin 4.2.5, can?t be upgraded. When we move over to vBulletin 5x this should all be resolved.

Thank you so much!

Another bug this morning:
I went to log in this morning and was told my password was invalid. I tried the "Forgot my password" function and was told that my normal email address wasn't recognized - yes, I made sure it was spelled correctly. I checked my email to make sure I wasn't banned or something, I wouldn't want to violate the "don't come back" suggestion if it was there. I then set up a completely new forums account with the exact same username and email and it succeeded.

All I can say is.. it shouldn't have been allowed to happen. I shouldn't have been able to create a completely new account (complete with email verification request) under the exact same username and email address. Something is wrong somewhere.

[revmacian]

Can someone please link me back to my account? The OP and I are the same person.

[revmacian]

Ok, it appears that the forums just "forgot" my entire account? My profile needs to be edited and I have to wait for the appropriate number of posts in order to do that.. despite the fact that I've created dozens of posts already - several in the Common Sense thread. Oh, and I'm the creator of this thread too.

[claydoh]

Ok, it appears that the forums just "forgot" my entire account? My profile needs to be edited and I have to wait for the appropriate number of posts in order to do that.. despite the fact that I've created dozens of posts already - several in the Common Sense thread. Oh, and I'm the creator of this thread too.

Ummm.... you DID ask to have your account deleted last evening.
It was.
Those original posts were not removed, however (as is the usual practice), but they now don't have the original account to be associated with. Your new account, is literally that - a new account, that just happens to have the same username field as the deleted one.
I am sure that they could be associated with a different account, but my guess is that it is not worth manually diving into the database to do so. Or safe to do.

[revmacian]

Ummm... you DID ask to have your account deleted last evening.
It was.
Those original posts were not removed, however (as is the usual practice), but they now don't have the original account to be associated with. Your new account, is literally that - a new account, that just happens to have the same username field as the deleted one.
I am sure that they could be associated with a different account, but my guess is that it is not worth manually diving into the database to do so. Or safe to do.

Yes, this was my fault, please accept my apologies. I've corrected the problem so it doesn't happen again. Thank you for helping me improve myself. You folks are awesome!

[revmacian]

And.. the problem is back. I just made a post here and received a "Database error". I clicked on the "2" to go to the next page of this thread and it took me back to the first page - but the URL bar in Firefox still says "page2" at the end of the URL. I want to ask what I'm doing wrong and how I broke the forums again, but I wouldn't be able to see the answer because it's on a page I cannot enter (page 2). If I broke something again, I'm really sorry.

[Snowhog]

And.. the problem is back. I just made a post here and received a "Database error". I clicked on the "2" to go to the next page of this thread and it took me back to the first page - but the URL bar in Firefox still says "page2" at the end of the URL. I want to ask what I'm doing wrong and how I broke the forums again, but I wouldn't be able to see the answer because it's on a page I cannot enter (page 2). If I broke something again, I'm really sorry.

Well of course 'you' didn't break our Forum. We are experiencing some 'issues' that crop up sporadically. These seem to be associated with the version of MySQL we are using (8.0.23), our version of PHP (5.6.40), and the version of vBulletin we are running (4.2.5). Of principle note, vBulletin 4.2.5 is EOL (End of Life), receiving NO updates, security or otherwise. We are aware of this, and plans to install vBulletin 5x are in the works. But until that happens, we are highly likely to continue to encounter issues.

Why? When we upgraded the OS we run on from 18.04 to 20.04.2 LTS, MySQL was also upgraded to Version 8.0, as prior versions aren't available in 20.04. However, PHP could not be upgraded, even though newer versions are available in 20.04, because vBulletin 4.2.5 isn't compatible with PHP versions higher than 5.6.

So these issues in KFN are almost certainly the result of certain conflicts between MySQL and PHP.

[Goeroeboeroe]

For me the problem seems to be solved. I've had this kind of issues too. Forum updated, but the hoster still used an old version of PHP.
And by the way, I think this forum is technically one of the best, maybe even the best, I've ever seen.

[Don B. Cilly]

FWIW, I really like vBulletin.
SMF has nicer smileys and a few handy features (like it warns you if there have been other posts in the thread when you go to post yours ;-) but overall, vB is just about my favourite - except maybe Xenforo, which is really very useable.
I just really wish the KDE forum wouldn't insist on using something as bad as phpBB

[EDIT] Just for general (dis)interest, my favourite Australian car form recently moved from vBulletin to Xenforo. The transition was smooth, I kept all my stuff. I just lost my half-a-gazillion Likes - which I give half a gazillion figs about - but they're not used here, so...