Joined: Nov 12, 2011 Posts: 6783 Location: Living in Faulkner's nightmare
Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:08 pm Post subject: Security risk? WTH?
I was trying to change my avatar (it was a bunny pic and too big) but after I clicked submit it waited a minute then it went to a page that made me copy two words and warned me that my actions were logged. WTH? It said I should ask the owner to permenantly whitelist me.
Also, can someone tell me how to make the bunny picture the right size? I always have trouble with this. _________________ Frances
What you probably saw was a Captcha, it's a mechanism used to stop spam-bots and other automated scripts and ensure that there's actually a human behind the screen on the other side of the connection. A lot of forum sites have them appear randomly to ensure their users are legit.
As for the bunny pic, the best option would be to download it and edit it using a photo manip program (or even a drawing program like MS Paint). Change the size to fit the max size parameters, and if it's above 16 KB in file size you can try converting it to a smaller file format such as .png or .gif. Then when you go to change your avatar, click on the button titled "Upload from your machine". A file system dialog should pop up, select the aforementioned edited picture, click submit, and boom! shiny new avatar photo. (Assuming you did everything I just said correctly and there isn't any outstanding issues with the site or servers.)
If you're using Windows, MS paint should be sufficient to change the size, for Mac users there should be some kind of drawing program you can use. If you're using a Linux OS like me then get GIMP, it's basically an open-source photo manip program comparable to Adobe Photoshop. It's free to download and free to use, in fact if you're using an Ubuntu OS then it should show up in the Software Center, just click and wait, you'll have it in a few minutes. _________________ "Yeah, so this one time, I tried playing poker with tarot cards... got a full house, and about four people died." ~ Unknown comedian
Happy New Year from WP's resident fortune-teller! May the cards be ever in your favor.
Joined: Nov 12, 2011 Posts: 6783 Location: Living in Faulkner's nightmare
Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:59 pm Post subject:
Roxas_XIII wrote:
What you probably saw was a Captcha, it's a mechanism used to stop spam-bots and other automated scripts and ensure that there's actually a human behind the screen on the other side of the connection. A lot of forum sites have them appear randomly to ensure their users are legit.
As for the bunny pic, the best option would be to download it and edit it using a photo manip program (or even a drawing program like MS Paint). Change the size to fit the max size parameters, and if it's above 16 KB in file size you can try converting it to a smaller file format such as .png or .gif. Then when you go to change your avatar, click on the button titled "Upload from your machine". A file system dialog should pop up, select the aforementioned edited picture, click submit, and boom! shiny new avatar photo. (Assuming you did everything I just said correctly and there isn't any outstanding issues with the site or servers.)
If you're using Windows, MS paint should be sufficient to change the size, for Mac users there should be some kind of drawing program you can use. If you're using a Linux OS like me then get GIMP, it's basically an open-source photo manip program comparable to Adobe Photoshop. It's free to download and free to use, in fact if you're using an Ubuntu OS then it should show up in the Software Center, just click and wait, you'll have it in a few minutes.
Every bit of that was over my head. I'm basically computer illiterate. I played around once long enough to change the size of one picture but can't even remember what I did to do it. I don't know what the programs you mentioned are or how to use them. _________________ Frances
What you probably saw was a Captcha, it's a mechanism used to stop spam-bots and other automated scripts and ensure that there's actually a human behind the screen on the other side of the connection. A lot of forum sites have them appear randomly to ensure their users are legit.
As for the bunny pic, the best option would be to download it and edit it using a photo manip program (or even a drawing program like MS Paint). Change the size to fit the max size parameters, and if it's above 16 KB in file size you can try converting it to a smaller file format such as .png or .gif. Then when you go to change your avatar, click on the button titled "Upload from your machine". A file system dialog should pop up, select the aforementioned edited picture, click submit, and boom! shiny new avatar photo. (Assuming you did everything I just said correctly and there isn't any outstanding issues with the site or servers.)
If you're using Windows, MS paint should be sufficient to change the size, for Mac users there should be some kind of drawing program you can use. If you're using a Linux OS like me then get GIMP, it's basically an open-source photo manip program comparable to Adobe Photoshop. It's free to download and free to use, in fact if you're using an Ubuntu OS then it should show up in the Software Center, just click and wait, you'll have it in a few minutes.
Every bit of that was over my head. I'm basically computer illiterate. I played around once long enough to change the size of one picture but can't even remember what I did to do it. I don't know what the programs you mentioned are or how to use them.
Haha, gomen nasai. I'm basically a computer geek, hell I'm intending to go into programming as a career. Sorry if I confused you. _________________ "Yeah, so this one time, I tried playing poker with tarot cards... got a full house, and about four people died." ~ Unknown comedian
Happy New Year from WP's resident fortune-teller! May the cards be ever in your favor.
Joined: Oct 31, 2010 Posts: 30544 Location: Hertfordshire, UK
Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2012 8:20 pm Post subject:
Hmm not bad, but I can do better.
It gave 12,017 bytes for a file reduced to WP avatar size - but I got 8,019 bytes. (both jpeg)
The maximum size for WP is 15.77k and a different image may tip it over the edge.
Currently awaiting mail delivery of the image to convert... _________________ Giraffe: a ruminant with a view.
Joined: Jul 18, 2010 Age: 22 Posts: 7411 Location: Patiently waiting for the seventh wave
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 2:23 am Post subject:
Cornflake wrote:
Hmm not bad, but I can do better.
It gave 12,017 bytes for a file reduced to WP avatar size - but I got 8,019 bytes. (both jpeg)
The maximum size for WP is 15.77k and a different image may tip it over the edge.
Currently awaiting mail delivery of the image to convert...
Every time its uploaded in a image hoster the size decreases so you could in theory keep uploading it until it fits wp´s size standards if you were unable to use picture editing programs.
Joined: Oct 31, 2010 Posts: 30544 Location: Hertfordshire, UK
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 7:17 am Post subject:
spongy wrote:
Every time its uploaded in a image hoster the size decreases so you could in theory keep uploading it until it fits wp´s size standards if you were unable to use picture editing programs.
Hmm, not necessarily - it depends on the service and TBH I'd rather not use one that fiddled with my images unless I asked it to.
But if the size does get reduced it would probably be due to a lowish jpeg quality being imposed on the image as it's uploaded, so there would be a trade-off at some point between a file reduced sufficiently in size and the image being so degraded it's unrecognizable!
As it turned out I was able to get sizes of 5.4k and 7.3k for the two avatars, since shipped back to what I hope will be a happy customer... _________________ Giraffe: a ruminant with a view.
Joined: Jun 14, 2004 Age: 26 Posts: 8100 Location: Beverly Hills, CA
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 2:10 pm Post subject:
It's more likely that the image was hosted on an unsafe site and our security software found that suspicious. _________________ Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/alexplank
Joined: Nov 12, 2011 Posts: 6783 Location: Living in Faulkner's nightmare
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 6:32 pm Post subject:
We were taking him over to see my mother the other day. We were in the car and I had him in my lap. He climbed up on me and put his face in my neck. My daughter said "Awwww Mom, he's loving on you! He's cuddeling you!" I said "No he's not, he's going for my carotid artory!"
He's kind of scary to me because he used to bite. _________________ Frances
Joined: Oct 31, 2010 Posts: 30544 Location: Hertfordshire, UK
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 6:34 pm Post subject:
Put a saddle on him and you'd make a fortune selling rides for kiddies. Umm, provided he didn't just eat them. That might cause a few problems... _________________ Giraffe: a ruminant with a view.
Put a saddle on him and you'd make a fortune selling rides for kiddies. Umm, provided he didn't just eat them. That might cause a few problems...
