Very odd issue

[SALocalcom]

I have two forums up, one is the real forum and the other is for testing.

Now all of a sudden, I can't post in the main forum at all.  It says "no message in body".

The testing forum works fine.

I do have the same login for both.

They are in separate folders and different databases with different dbase names and passwords...for the dbase.

[SALocalcom]

I deleted the formal and database and continued with the test forum.  I think, because I used the same user and log in...it caused problems with the browser and "smart defense"..  I've done multiple forums before but always with different user names.  Never had a problem that way.

[Kindred]

That does not matter....   I have 4 forums set up on my site, I am using the same username/login on all of them.


No message in body may happen if you are making a post that starts with an image (no text) or UTF8 (like smart quotes) is the first text (and your forum is not utf8)

[SALocalcom]

I only tried to post text.  ... wouldn't post, tried several times.

Do you have "check point, smart defense"?    The Firewall that used to be ZoneAlarm?

Ive used it a long time, but the OS parition i was using is a new install... actually, both the OSs I'm using are new installs.... sometimes I've got to tune the settings to get everything correct.

[Kindred]

No, I don't use that one...   so, yeah, I guess that might be part of the issue, but it seems odd.... 

[SALocalcom]

....might be part of the issue, but it seems odd....

I think so too.  I liked ZA a lot better before Checkpoint took it over.  I might consider putting it back in learning mode, but it lets a few things thru...that I don't want.  I don't trust OS firewalls....and I'm still using XP for some software I've had a long time.  I mostly use win7, both 32 and 64 bit.  Again, because I refuse to buy new image and video software.  I don't care if it's not supported, they never did a good job of securing it anyway.  I DO....never been hacked or infected, and my data remains private.  Both win10 and OSx report everything back.  I have win10 on 2 partitions, for study, don't use it, tho...

[Steve]

....might be part of the issue, but it seems odd....

Both win10 and OSx report everything back.

Which is easily prevented (in Win10, I don't know about OSx) if that's your only reason for not upgrading.

[SALocalcom]

....might be part of the issue, but it seems odd....

Both win10 and OSx report everything back.

Which is easily prevented (in Win10, I don't know about OSx) if that's your only reason for not upgrading.

Yes, at least 50 settings to turn off in win10, if you can find them all.  I did.

As stated above, I have very good software that will not install on win10...and none of it is "phone home".  I also have a good negative scanner that only likes XP.  Their updates don't work well even in win7, so XP for that.  Not a problem.  I built my own tower and laptop, each with 20 partitions and 6-7 OSs.  I had linux too, but didn't like what it did to my hard drive.  Lost an MBR over that.

[shawnb61]

Two thoughts... 

If you have two forums side by side in different folders, you want to make sure you have 'local cookies' checked.  This makes your cookies folder-specific.  Not doing so can give you issues, especially if you're sharing the same ID across the forums.  It also helps to make sure they all have different cookie IDs.

The "no message in body" issue is typically a UTF8 problem, I think... 
- What version of SMF?
- Are you fully UTF8?  I.e., are all column collations utf8_general_ci?  Do you have $db_character_set in settings.php? Do you have global_character_set in the settings table?   
- If all this is true & you're still having issues, you may need to try the patch provided here:  https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=571082.msg4042818#msg4042818

[SALocalcom]

The "no message in body" issue is typically a UTF8 problem, I think... 
- What version of SMF?
- Are you fully UTF8?  I.e., are all column collations utf8_general_ci? 

I think you nailed it here.  Ver. 2.0.17.

I didn't install the forum with utf8, but applied it in the maintenance section where it say "convert to utf8".

Only one of them....and I don't remember which one.  The "run task now" button in the maintenance section is still usable.  Does that mean I didn't use it in that forum....or is there another way to find out if it was enabled in that forum?

Thanks

[shawnb61]

If your UTF8 conversion completed successfully, you are probably good.   If you have any doubts, the list below will help you confirm you are properly on UTF8. 

- Are you fully UTF8?  I.e., are all column collations utf8_general_ci?  Do you have $db_character_set in settings.php? Do you have global_character_set in the settings table?   

If you are properly UTF8, and still experiencing this issue, you might want to manually apply the fix outlined here.

- If all this is true & you're still having issues, you may need to try the patch provided here:  https://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=571082.msg4042818#msg4042818

You really want to be on UTF8.  Just confirm the conversion was successful & if needed apply the tweak above. 

Note that the tweak above will need to be manually reversed before patching to 2.0.18 when it is available.  It might be worth it to save a copy of the file before any manual edits.

Hope this helps,

[SALocalcom]

What's the advantage of utf8?  Why should I convert to it?

Thanks

[shadav]

What's the advantage of utf8?  Why should I convert to it?

Thanks

mostly if you use any other language other than English, then you want utf8 to be able to properly display the characters...

plus it's fairly standard encoding across the web
so if you copy something from another page and paste it into your post if you're not using utf8 it may look all garbled.....

[SALocalcom]

mostly if you use any other language other than English, then you want utf8 to be able to properly display the characters...

plus it's fairly standard encoding across the web
so if you copy something from another page and paste it into your post if you're not using utf8 it may look all garbled.....

No other languages, but certainly could be C&P going on. Lot's of people do.
Thanks

[shawnb61]

Many other characters require a multi-byte charset like utf8 also, e.g., €, £, ¢, ©, ®, °, ½.

As shadav points out, the web has pretty much standardized on utf8.  You will experience strange oddities in unexpected places until you convert.  (Not as fun as it sounds...)

[SALocalcom]

I decided I'd install one with utf8 enabled during the install. 

  Seen any issues doing it that way?

[shawnb61]

I think thats much better overall, actually.

You don't have to go thru a conversion later.