Guest/s performing unknown actions

[ElmuhWoo]

Guest (173.213.110.174)   03:13:43 PM   Nothing, or nothing you can see...
Guest (173.213.110.169)   03:12:30 PM   Registering for an account on the forum.

Hi all
Have noticed this a couple of times now. Is it something I should be concerned about?

Cheers

[Mstcool]

Nope

This happens automatically

I dont believe you should be concerned about itt cuz it really does nothing

[ElmuhWoo]

Thank you muchly!

[kat]

Just a little clarification, so you don't think

Certain actions are defined, within the software. But, particularly if you have mods installed (Like a shoutbox, chatroom, or similar), those actions aren't defined. So, it generates that message.

[Arantor]

Actually, that's not quite how it works.

If you have guests performing something expressly listed as 'Unknown Action', it will be a mod that didn't declare itself or clean up after itself (or a mod that you uninstalled but search engines/users are still trying to get there)

But 'Nothing or nothing you can see' is based on one of two things, depending on whether you're a user or an admin.

If you receive it when you're an admin, it's because the guest/user is trying to view something that does not exist. A deleted topic, usually. But it's still in the search engine cache, so it still tries to look it up.

If you receive it when you're a user, it can mean the above, but also if someone is viewing a topic that you can't see, it won't leak the topic's name to you, it'll simply tell you that what the other user is doing is something you can't see. Same deal if the user is in the admin panel, it checks whether you can also see the admin panel, and if not, you get that message instead.

[kat]

I got my "Unknown actions" mixed up with my "Nothing that you can see", there, did I not?

[Arantor]

A little, but they're both symptoms of a larger problem: that the whole thing needs a shake-up.

[kat]

I think "Nothing you can see" should be altered to something else, like "Nothing that's been defined", or something. But, that message appears to all members, I believe, not just the admin.

It's only semantics, I s'pose. Hardly "Mission-critical", really. But, it would be something that'd be good to make more user-friendly.

[Arantor]

That's the thing, though - nothing you can see is literally that: it is nothing you can see. Either because you can't see it (through permissions) or because it doesn't exist any longer, bottom line is that it is quite literally 'nothing, or nothing you can see'.

[kat]

So, an explanation on the ol' wiki seems like a plan...

[Arantor]

An explanation is all well and good, but actually fixing the problem would be even better.

[kat]

But, there is no problem, as such, to fix.

Or, have I missed something? (Posssibly. Just got back from the hospital and that always fries my braincell)

[Arantor]

By definition, anything that you have to stop and explain to users is a problem, is it not?

[kat]

For some, yeah.

Some are quite intelligent. But, I guess we have to aim these things at the ol' smallest integer or polynomial that is exactly divisible by each denominator of a set of fractions, ay?

[MrPhil]

Unknown Action --> "Non-standard or non-core action requested"
Nothing you can see --> "You don't have permission to see action" (non-admin)
                                       "No longer existing item" (admin)

Things like that? I agree that it needs to be fixed because it's so vague as to cause unwarranted concern.

[Arantor]

Unknown Action --> "Non-standard or non-core action requested"

There were a few in the later 2.0 RCs that were core actions but had no language string defined. I can't remember if they were all fixed or not.

Nothing you can see --> "You don't have permission to see action" (non-admin)
                                       "No longer existing item" (admin)

Well, if we're being accurate:
Nothing you can see --> "You don't have permission to see action" OR "No longer existing" (non-admin)
                                       "No longer existing item" (admin)

To clarify, if it's a topic or board that's being requested, it tries to query for it, taking into account the visibility permissions for a board. Essentially we're saying something like SELECT subject WHERE id_topic = 1 AND id_board IN (1, 2, 3, 4) or similar - if topic 1 doesn't exist, or id_board is not within 1, 2, 3 or 4, it just returns nothing, and as such SMF cannot know whether it doesn't exist or isn't permitted, either produces the same result.