Forum software

[MeatyFool]

Are forum mods aware that the Smf forum software they are running is no longer going to be updated?

Meatyfool..

[RIT]

Are forum mods aware that the Smf forum software they are running is no longer going to be updated?

Meatyfool..

I get the feeling that the rule is - "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" as 1.1.20 was released back at the end of 2014.

[Antman]

Thanks MF.
Although updates are an Admin job rather than the responsibility of Mods, it caused Martin so much aggro with bits not working properly post update that I suspect the 'if it ain't broke' philosophy is best 
Antman

[biff]

  I do recall certain attempts to alter certain settings,
                                     It was with some difficulty that we got back to default. or almost.
                                        Biff

[marshman]

If it is no longer going to be updated will they still issue security updates?  This was an issue on another forum that used vbulliten forum software. They were effectively forced to upgrade to help prevent "security" attacks and potential loss of data (user names, emails, passwords etc.)  Any course of (in)action probably needs to be carefully considered - especially with the forth coming introduction of the GDPR in May.

Roger

[RIT]

If it is no longer going to be updated will they still issue security updates?  This was an issue on another forum that used vbulliten forum software. They were effectively forced to upgrade to help prevent "security" attacks and potential loss of data (user names, emails, passwords etc.)  Any course of (in)action probably needs to be carefully considered - especially with the forth coming introduction of the GDPR in May.

Roger

The software writers a few days ago made their position regarding on-going support for 1.x version of the product clear - no more support. But saying that, there has been no updates to 1.1.20 since Oct 2014 and the last 1.1.x release was back in April 2015 with the 1.1.21 release.

The current release chain is based off version 2.x releases and any update may involve a lot of work depending on what mods have been added to the site.

In terms of GDPR just upgrading to the latest version does zero in terms of making a site/system compliant under the improved rules and individual rights. Unless Navitron has added additional mods to the forum software they will not be collecting much information and what there is should be actively managed under the current data protection act. The one good thing is that the forum software has for many years used a sha1 hash of the username and password to store passwords. While not the 'latest' solution it is better than many systems as it stops what are known as dictionary attacks if the database was accessed.

The key thing to remember is that these forums are provided very much 'as is' so people should not be using the same login details (username and password) as they use on any important site that they access. While you can expect your bank or stockbroker to have a full-time security group running regular pen tests and updating every bit of software after large amounts of internal testing (all in an ideal world), you can not expect the same from Navitron and neither thankfully will the ICO.

[modded because I can't spell]

[djs63]

It works for me! I have been a member for some years and learnt a lot and it has only twice refused me access because of some fiddling by someone, otherwise it is fine for me.

Nothing to do with the software but a while ago I had to ask Martin, the original, what various abbreviations stood for and I have lost the address. Please could you put it up at the top of the home page?
Thank you for me, David

[Antman]

Hi David
Do you mean this page https://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/index.php/topic,2294.msg17846.html#msg17846
Antman 

[djs63]

Thanks Antman, I had forgotten the word “acronyms”. Yes exactly the right page.

[DonL]

Reviving an old thread but it may be relevant.
The page structure when using my normal browser - Firefox, has changed - see attached file.
So I tried Chrome and everything works fine.
Other sites seem to work as usual in Firefox.

[Bodidly]

Must be something in the air 

I had the same yesterday but with Chrome being the problem. Most pages opened like I was in some time warp. Reset to original settings on Chrome and all returned to normal. Spent the rest of my evening resetting lost passwords 

[azps]

Reviving an old thread but it may be relevant.
The page structure when using my normal browser - Firefox, has changed - see attached file.

Don't worry anbout that - it's just a transient blip: the browser failed to load the css file that provides the page styling. If you view this forum in Firefox again, and press ctrl-F5 to force a full refresh, it should then behave properly.

[DonL]

Reviving an old thread but it may be relevant.
The page structure when using my normal browser - Firefox, has changed - see attached file.

Don't worry anbout that - it's just a transient blip: the browser failed to load the css file that provides the page styling. If you view this forum in Firefox again, and press ctrl-F5 to force a full refresh, it should then behave properly.

Thanks for the advice. I was going to try it but the file is now loading correctly 

[kristen]

I was going to try it but the file is now loading correctly 

Your browser has now managed to load the CSS file.  It will fail to find the CSS file periodically (usually a timeout or something "bizarre").  Because the CSS file is cached most of the pages you view (from that site) don't require the file to actually be reloaded ... but when they do probably all sorts of other things on the page are similarly "stale" and also need to be (re)loaded, and that can precipitate a timeout error or some other "failure".

Just refreshing the page gives the browser the chance to do-better-next-time ... or, as in your case, the next page you view manages to get the missing file "anyway", and then it is cached so all good ... until the cache becomes stale again and risk of load-failure on some page-component(s).