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lau
Really nice person to know. :)
Joined: Jun 18, 2006
Age: 64
Posts: 10537
Location: Somerset UK
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 Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:29 pm Post subject: What is a "TOR user"? |
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What is a "TOR user"?
| ouinon wrote: | Was told this morning that I am TOR user, ( unbeknown to me ), "critical error" etc, and that could not post. Anyone else get this?
It seems to have gone away, but don't know why it did it. Was worried that it was that global worm. |
| WP wrote: | phpBB : Critical Error
Sorry. Tor users must get permission from the site admin before being allowed to post. You can email alex@wrongplanet.net to request an exemption from this rule. |
The Problem
This seems to be cropping up more often. I gave a detailed explanation, somewhere else, but here goes again....
TOR is a system that lets people access the web anonymously and untraceably.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)
People volunteer to be "exit nodes", which means that all the traffic for the anonymous users comes from those IP addresses.
The system is used genuinely by political dissidents, say.
The system is misused heavily by spammers, etc.
The TOR designers understand this, and provide means whereby sites can easily reject TOR users, via blacklisting all IP addresses used as exit nodes.
All this would be OK if the people who set themselves up as TOR exit nodes knew what they were doing, but many of them don't. They have "dynamic" IP addresses. This means that each time they disconnect from the net, their old (now blacklisted) address goes back into a pool, and then passes on to some other user.
The blacklists are not updated terribly frequently (as a TOR exit node might just be temporarily offline). I think I heard it was something like a month, as the time an IP address might remain "tarnished" by having been used as an exit node.
It would be nice if ISPs could make it part of their rules. They could insist that a user with only a dynamic IP address was not allowed to operate as a TOR exit node.
The Solution
When the problem crops up, it will generally be just after you have re-connected to the net. Just disconnect and reconnect - which should give you a new IP address. Just possibly, you might get the same one back. So do it again, but stay offline for a little while.
Of course, this solution is of no use if you do have a static IP address and wish to operate as a TOR exit node. In that case, as the message states, you will have to ask Alex if he will exempt you.
NB Before posting here, please read the start of this thread.
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"Striking up conversations with strangers is an autistic person's version of extreme sports." Kamran Nazeer |
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lau
Really nice person to know. :)
Joined: Jun 18, 2006
Age: 64
Posts: 10537
Location: Somerset UK
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| Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:07 am Post subject: Why can't Wrong Planet do <feature of choice>? |
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Why can't Wrong Planet do <feature of choice>?
Wrong Planet is essentially a phpNuke website, using phpBB2 for its forums. However, the software has been quite heavily tailored, over the years.
Alex did investigate converting to phpBB3, when that was released in 2007, but he felt that many members might find the change too great.
Features that may be found on other websites, will not available on Wrong Planet for various reasons. The main ones being that they would take too much effort to add, or that we feel they would actually be detrimental.
An example of the former might a "Report Button". If would be a major design problem to figure out what such a button would actually do, within the context of WP, as it stands.
For the latter category, asking for any significant "embellishments" to the site will fall on deaf ears. WP is all about the text of posts - not about big avatars or fancy signatures.
NB Before posting here, please read the start of this thread.
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"Striking up conversations with strangers is an autistic person's version of extreme sports." Kamran Nazeer |
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lau
Really nice person to know. :)
Joined: Jun 18, 2006
Age: 64
Posts: 10537
Location: Somerset UK
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| Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 9:15 am Post subject: WP FAQ UPDATE |
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Where are the bunnies?
I will (try to remember to) delete this message and repost a similar one when I make any updates... it just occurred to me that if people had this thread on their watched threads, they might like to know about updates.
The "bunnies"? Well, maybe I'll leave them here and/or hop over them with this.
NB Before posting here, please read the start of this thread.
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"Striking up conversations with strangers is an autistic person's version of extreme sports." Kamran Nazeer |
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tektek
enjoy the silence.
Joined: Nov 25, 2009
Age: 33
Posts: 1814
Location: Brisbane, Australia.
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| Posted: Sat Jan 23, 2010 5:32 pm Post subject: So where do I host my images? |
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So where do I host my images (whatever that means)?
Forum posting an image that is already on your computer:
You can add your own saved images to a post if you click on the insert image button (with the mountains and sun landscape) in the "post a reply" box, enter the image address (where it is hosted) in the provided text box.
imgur.com (click) and photobucket.com (click) are able to be used to host images. With imgur there is the option to have images hosted anonymously or for you to create an account, photobucket requires the creation of an account. Creating an account (with imgur or photobucket) may arguably make it easier to track and control the images that you upload. Hosting images anonymously on imgur is OK and you can still delete hosted images if you have saved the associated deletion link information provided by imgur (provided by imgur at initial upload of the image). Please refer to the imgur FAQ for further detail (click).
If you do create an imgur or photobucket account it is recommended that, for the sake of maintaining anonymity/security, you name your account randomly or creatively. This is because your image file properties (accessible via right click for Windows, ctrl-click for Mac) will reveal your account details via the image hosted address as part of the image information (unavoidable), and you may prefer not to disclose real-life name information (I would recommend against it). Naming images randomly and out of sequence (alphanumeric combinations instead of pic0001, pic0002 etc), and setting appropriate privacy controls where available (in your imgur or photobucket account settings) will also contribute to better security. Using imgur to host images anonymously will generate a random URL that will not identify you via the image information properties.
After the image is uploaded you will be provided with an image address that can be added directly to a forum post, it will include the prefix [img] and suffix [/img]. Alternately, the image address will need to be added via the insert image button. Typically the former is the case, if the latter occurs the image address may resemble the following (minus the quotation marks): "host_name.com/your_account_name/image_name.jpg".
Forum posting an image using the image code or image information:
Image code may be provided by a website where the image is located. As an example, if you trim down the "Image code" below the picture shown at the web address http://www.lolcats.com/view/11559/ :
Image code = | Quote: | | <a href="http://www.lolcats.com"><img src="http://www.lolcats.com/images/u/07/39/lolcatsdotcomoh5o6d9hdjcawys6.jpg" border="0" alt="lolcats funny cat pictures"></a> |
...then trim to this
| Quote: | | http://www.lolcats.com/images/u/07/39/lolcatsdotcomoh5o6d9hdjcawys6.jpg |
and then add that information via the insert image button...
= maximum lol cat happy. 
If you click for image information or properties (right click for Windows, ctrl-click for Mac) of, say, the WrongPlanet.net logo on the front page you will see: | Quote: | | http://cdn.wrongplanet.net/images/titlelogocentered.jpg |
This image can also be forum posted by adding the above information via the insert image button. 
Similarly, if you are quoting a news story you can add the image that may appear in or with the text by acquiring the image information (right click for Windows, ctrl-click for Mac) and adding it via the insert image button in your post.
Broken links and re-hosting an image:
The original site that an image was linked from might restrict linking to other sites to minimise data load on itself. The image may become a blank, a broken link, a red "x", or a place holder.
Some sites will do this depending on their bandwidth limitation/budgeting, it can be a point of frustration - but it is a problem that can be overcome by using imgur to directly re-host the image.
If you go to imgur.com and click the "image URL" button and copy-paste the image address (as per below example) into the provided text box, imgur will re-host the image for you and give you a tidy new address to drop into a forum post.
| Quote: | | http://www.funnypart.com/pictures/FunnyPart-com-protecting_my_car.jpg |
The new address where the image is re-hosted by imgur is as below.
| Quote: | | http://imgur.com/efJoe.jpg |
Adding the prefix [img] and suffix [/img] to the above image address will allow the image to be dropped straight into a post... or the image can be added to a post by copy-pasting the image address minus the prefix [img] and suffix [/img] via the insert image button.
Using the latter method will save a few keystrokes, it will add the prefix [img] and suffix [/img] to the image and drop the image into the post.
Re-hosting is something to remember, sites may restrict cross linking images to keep data demand/bandwidth down for themselves.
Finally, if in doubt, preview your post!
NB Before posting here, please read the start of this thread.
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"see without looking, hear without listening, breathe without asking" - W.H Auden |
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rocklobster
Deinonychus
Joined: Jun 13, 2006
Posts: 356
Location: Planet Claire
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 2:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Why doesn't the chat work anymore? |
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EgaoNoGenki
Deinonychus
Joined: Jan 10, 2007
Posts: 353
Location: Manhattan, KS
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| Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 10:29 pm Post subject: |
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| rocklobster wrote: | | Why doesn't the chat work anymore? |
Still does; I was there tonight! You need to "identify to services" now because spammers overwhelmed that room sometime ago.
Or your client might not work anymore. Please try this browser-based one:
http://webchat.freenode.net and then when you enter the room, it's "#wrongplanet" in case anyone forgot.
(To enter another way, is "/join #wrongplanet")
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1. Blog: http://www.bigyesbomb.com
2. I'm destined to find my soul-mate. If I [i]have[/i] to, I'll go for the Guinness World Records for signing up on the most dating sites. If I find the one to marry, I'll happily abandon that attempt. |
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TallyMan
Rebooting
Joined: Mar 31, 2008
Posts: 36760
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| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 11:03 am Post subject: FAQ. Can I delete my account? |
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Can I delete my account?
In a word, no. The site policy as dictated by Alex (the site owner) is that accounts cannot be deleted. Moderators do not have any tools to delete entire accounts anyway. Only Alex has tools to delete an entire account (i.e. all your posts), however, he has never done so as far as I'm aware.
I understand the primary reasons why entire accounts cannot be deleted is that it messes up the database, and that conversations in threads no longer make sense, or become misleading if one part of the conversation is missing. Even if an entire account was deleted (by Alex) it would not remove any of the members posts that have been quoted in part or in whole by other members.
Members have the facility to delete (or edit out) their own posts for up to one week after posting them. After that posts are locked.
A moderator can only do the following actions:
1. Suspend your account so you can no longer login, but that does not remove any of your posts. Your account can be suspended / banned at your own request. To have your account suspended / banned make a post asking in the moderator attention thread or send a PM to an active moderator.
2. In extreme cases, and at the moderators discretion, one or two posts may be edited to remove personal or sensitive information from members posts. For example if a member has disclosed their real name. However, since we can only do this one post at a time, don't expect us to edit more than a couple of your posts.
Disclosure of personal information on Internet forums.
Members are advised that nothing posted on the internet ever disappears anyway. There are a number of sites (unrelated to Wrong Planet) that archive web pages and either keep them briefly in caches (e.g. Google) or other sites that hold the information permanently. Think about this before you post personal information on the internet! It may be linked back to you in the future.
The important thing when posting on any internet forum is not to use your real name anywhere or disclose anything that can be linked directly back to your real life. It is easy to find posts of members here by doing a Google search. There is no such thing as privacy on the internet. When you post something it is there for ever, lurking around on the sites posted to, or in various search engine databases or archive site databases. The only none-searchable area on WP is the Members forum.
Nowadays it is quite common for potential employers to type the name of prospective new employees into Google and to see what comes up... links to Facebook pages or other online forums etc. Do you really want a potential employer to discover that you have disclosed a drink / drug problem or mental health issues or some other "impediment" that would make them reject your job application?
Think before you post. Once you have disclosed personal information on this or on any other internet forum it is too late go back. |
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Moog
Pussycat
Joined: Feb 26, 2010
Age: 34
Posts: 17643
Location: Untied Kingdom
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| Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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Due to a recent rumour that seems to have been doing the rounds:
Will I be banned purely because I am a member on another site/webforum?
No.
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