Circular feedback loop prevents sending private messages

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Leon_Trotsky
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25 Sep 2019, 11:22 pm

There is a very strange feedback loop in the private message section where when "Submit" is clicked, it goes into a security check with the capcha box where I have to click "I am not a robot". When I pass that check, it goes back to the message window. Then if I try to send the message, it goes back again to the security check page.

Is there some code problem here? I cannot seem to send any private messages again on my computer. I have had to type them, e-mail myself the message, log on here with my phone and paste the message. But now my phone is going to the feedback loop as well.



Trogluddite
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25 Sep 2019, 11:52 pm

Unfortunately, such problems are rather common for WP. The general suspicion seems to be that it's more to do with the CloudFlare hosting service than with the site's own code - the protection in place against DDoS attacks seems very prone to false positives, and as you say, the robot-test often returns to the message editing page rather than posting (sometimes losing what has been typed - so it's always worth copying the message to the clipboard before clicking 'post').

Clearing browser cookies seems to help sometimes, but YMMV, and the problems usually return quite soon after. Quotes and other markup in messages seems to make the problem more likely, too, so they're best used in moderation, and removing them from a post can sometimes break the loop.


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Leon_Trotsky
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26 Sep 2019, 12:43 am

It is weird that I tried it on another phone and another computer, and they all have the same feedback loop. Both devices have no cookies from this website.

I am not sure if my account is the one that gets that feedback loop, no matter the device. It seems like I cannot send personal messages due to the feedback loop.



The_Walrus
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29 Sep 2019, 4:47 pm

Some suggestions:

- Avoid using BBCode and HTML wherever possible.
- Avoid embedding links. Post them raw instead.
- Avoid using more than one quote.



EzraS
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30 Sep 2019, 12:13 pm

A suggestion: Alex should drop Cloudflare and go with a better CDN.