Kitz Forum
Chat => Chit Chat => Topic started by: tuftedduck on November 24, 2007, 07:12:20 PM
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I hesitate to use the words contained in the subject line on this august forum, but has anyone else been trying to get onto that "other place" forum today ?
I've been trying all day, through various routes, and it is just not opening. (Don't know whether to be glad or sad about that).
Is it me, or is it like that for all ??
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I just tried and can't get in.
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It's been playing up all day... apparently if you disable javascript for that site it works - but is it really worth the faff?
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Crikey!
If Peter cannot get on, he will have nothing else to do, so by the time it's back on line he may be really blathered on his Ovaltine. ??? ???
Best to stay clear of the danger area for a while. :no:
dave
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I only pop in there these days when I'm completely bored, and have absolutely nothing else better to do.
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I posted something on there yesterday.
I dont know exactly whats happened but it looks like someone has either deleted or moved some pages around on the server. Some of the javascript files that are needed to display the page are missing.
For eg http://tools.vnu.net/resources/javascript/en/v7_en_search.js
Some other files also needed to display the pages such as the CSS are returning a bad gateway error saying theres a problem with the upstream server.
If you turn off javascript it stops the pages from calling these files hence why you can then view the site.
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Morning, and ta for the responses.
Not worth the faffing about to fiddle with javascript, will just have to wait.
Frustrating as my neighbour is having a prob with her PC and bighearted Tuftedduck says "don't worry I can sort it out in a jiffy" knowing full well that he had just read the answer to the same prob on CA.
Now he can't get back to the solution and is looking a right fool in front of her next door. :-[
That'll teach me !!
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For something which should be a flagship site for the magazine it's little more than a pile of pooh these days.
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Vnunet forums have been "slow loading" since around midnight Friday (I was posting on there when it went down).
The content is all set out wrong when the page does load, obvously due to the problems Kitz has pointed out.
It is the users who have been desperatley waiting for replies to their problems who I feel sorry for. :(
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For something which should be a flagship site for the magazine it's little more than a pile of pooh these days.
They should have allowed a couple of the trusted members to become moderators as was suggested months ago,they were not interested and ignored several members private messages requesting this,its their loss.
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Just checked with William Hills and the best odds that I could get were 500/1 that CA offer an apology and explanation when they get it back up and working.
Obviously I did not even risk a £1 on that. :no:
dave
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In my opinion C/A went down hill a long time ago, A lot of good people have left over the years, some do pop back from time to time, problem is C/A won't listen, we have told them time and time again what is needed but it falls on deaf ears. whats the new forum, Accounting Technology, yes really just whats needed, not
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For something which should be a flagship site for the magazine it's little more than a pile of pooh these days.
They should have allowed a couple of the trusted members to become moderators as was suggested months ago,they were not interested and ignored several members private messages requesting this,its their loss.
I was always an advocate for letting the respected members run the forum as moderators, the current system, i.e. having to hunt in packs to hound out the idiots is far from satisfactory, plus the fact that any appointed VNU staff seem to see the job as a low priority.
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I was always an advocate for letting the respected members run the forum as moderators, the current system, i.e. having to hunt in packs to hound out the idiots is far from satisfactory, plus the fact that any appointed VNU staff seem to see the job as a low priority.
I heard they drew straws and the loser got the job of moderator. :lol:
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Frustrating as my neighbour is having a prob with her PC and bighearted Tuftedduck says "don't worry I can sort it out in a jiffy" knowing full well that he had just read the answer to the same prob on CA.
What's the problem tuftedduck? All the experts are here and just desperate to help you. Come on, get posting.
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For a magazine that is supposedly one of the top selling magazines they certainly do not know how to treat or look after their forum subscribers.
I feel comments that were made to either improve or enhance the site were either ignored or fell on deaf ears.
And most of the original facilities still do not work (or at least the last time I entered they did not) because they can't be bothered.
it is a shame really because there are or was a lot of knowledgeable people there that helped a lot of others.
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Does anyone remember thr thread I started about a year ago about what kind of topics and content we'd like to see in CA magazine? There were lots of good suggestions.... and have CA taken on board any of the ideas?
I think we all know the answer to that one.
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Just checked with William Hills and the best odds that I could get were 500/1 that CA offer an apology and explanation when they get it back up and working.
Obviously I did not even risk a £1 on that. :no:
dave
I knew it wasn't worth a £1 bet:
http://forums.vnunet.com/message.jspa?messageID=956665#956665
No sign of the word 'Sorry' nor even an explanation. Too busy getting the next issue ready!
dave
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So all the exiles have joined up here have they?
This is an intellectually superior forum - apart from the viagra.
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So all the exiles have joined up here have they?
Quite a few pop in from time to time.
If only more computer problems were posted on this forum.
This is where CA/VNU have the advantage but can't be bothered to run a decent forum.
exo
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I think this forum will get a steady stream of new members.
I knew the forum was here but only used to pop in for a look from time to time,i rercently googled for something and the top answer was from these forums, i decided to register.
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As with anything it takes time to build up. CA have a ready-made forum clientelle from the magazine readers... but I do agree this forum probably needs more computer questions - so fire away everybody!! ;D
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If Peter cannot get on, he will have nothing else to do, so by the time it's back on line he may be really blathered on his Ovaltine.
Hi Dave
I knew I should visit here more often even if only to see what peeps are saying about me behind my back ;)
When I saw the other place was in trouble from my past experience of it I had an inkling that patience was the order of the day. After a couple of real slow page downloads I had the Forum's Forum in front of me and I posted the Damn Forums Again thread. Soon after mgmcc added the disable Java Scripts advice and after that the forums worked as normal. The only draw back was there was hardly anyone else using it.
I've been a member here since 08/05/06 but just never got into the habit of visiting it so maybe I'll make more of an effort this time especially if Kitz opens up the free bar. :lol:
Peter
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>> As with anything it takes time to build up.
Indeed - although I had a forum around for a while - setting up the forum originally was more me putting software on some cgi space I had and tweaking with what i could do on the platform and playing with skins etc.
I only really "opened" up the forums and put a link to it from the main site front page about 18 months ago.
The aim of the forum really was that I used to get an awful lot of mail a lot of it people asking the same questions eg what do you think of these stats etc.. etc... that I thought it was stupid me day after day practically typing out the same thing in reply so it may as well be "opened up" to save me repeating stuff.
I think the crux hit most about a year or so ago when I wasnt around for days at a time.... and it was probably escalated because dslMax was fairly new back then.
Mr_chris will back me up on this fact - but after one period I had just short of 100 emails waiting to be answered about adsl and further information than was already on the site. There was absolutely no way I could answer them all.
At the time when I wasnt in the best of health and it literally got to the point where I was dreading opening my mailbox because I knew I stood no chance of answering them all.
Instead I took a "snap judgement" decision - I knew I was going to be "AWOL" again and even though I didnt "know" them, roseway and astral were quite literally overnight appointed as mods and "handed the keys" to keep things running for me so that and at least people could be directed somewhere. I cant thank them enough for being landed with something out of the blue and I dont regret that decision for one min :)
The site hasn't ever been advertised anywhere and has slowly built up through word of mouth. It was originally started as an adsl fact depository.. and has now grown. Obviously it will never be as big as the likes of CA because I dont have the pulling power of a big magazine corp.
But for an independent "hobbyist site" I dont think that getting over 100K hits by a few thousand individual visitors each and every day is too bad. :)
I could (should) promote the site more but the spare time I have tends to go on either answering Q's on here or doing more content.
As you know Im also teaching myself php/sql and there's something Im working on in the background which hopefully Im going to be able to ask you guys to be guinea pigs for soon... (once Ive got over the latest stumbling block in my code).
I'm gradually trying to make the content more dynamic - some of the parts of the larger project have already been released ie the adslchecker.. the ISP prices and search the database... the next bit is just taking a bit longer than I originally thought. Unfortunately if I get stuck with something in the code I have to sit there for hours/days trying to work through it, as I dont have a panel of experts to call on or ask for help.
I also at some point want to do a redesign of the content template - and the swf flash banner will probably be going.. (the banner itself was done at a time when I was trying to learn the programming side of flash/swish and now looks a bit dated).
There really is so much more I could do with the site - the major problem is time really and keeping content up to date.
If anyone has any good ideas for relevant content/tutorials/articles that they want to do then just holler.
I have a massive loong list of content stuff that I want to do but just havent had chance to do yet, but its helping that there's some knowledgeable regs about that can quite happily deal and cope with questions on the forums. So thanks everyone - you help make the site what it is :)
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>> I've been a member here since 08/05/06 but just never got into the habit of visiting
Yes hard habit I know - I'd done the same thing since about 2003/2004 and went "cold turkey" a few months back. Actually it did me a favour since rather than responding to some of the trolls it gave me more time and gave me more time to devote to learning something else :D
Pull up a stool peter.... Have some "ovaltine" :drink:
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It is very noticeable on the ca/vnu forum that numbers of participants has gone down, alot of you appear to have migrated here.
As other respondents the main problem is the instability of web site and ca refusal to listen to its users and improve things. I will be still visiting if only to keep numbers up!!
gom
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>> alot of you appear to have migrated here.
I think a fairer thing to say would be - have migrated elsewhere.
What I did find ironic is that for a short while I posted elsewhere after "max twisted my arm" ;)
Yet despite me not being very active - Ive made very few posts on there... But within a couple of months the owners had picked up on some of the things I was saying and were putting links out to the site and featured in a broadband special in their mag.
Yet in all the years Ive posted at CA... nada.. which regretfully does bring me to the conclusion that they dont really follow what happens on the site.
I do think theres a couple of "stooges" of late though with set up names that are probably staff. When I did look at it last week the taxation/accounting section kinda made it blatent. :D
I had partook of the magazine since it started - have heaps of them in my loft - and I only cancelled the subscription after a few months ago when things got bad on the forums... despite me having "outgrown" it years ago and most of them sat in their cello wrappers for months. :/
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And now they have started again with the dreaded "intellitxt" advertising thing that all the users were complaining about a year or so back. >:(
Can't find a way to block it Opera, have put it into the "blocked content " list, but it still appears as wee green lines under keywords and blue backed pop-ups if you hover over the green link. ( Opera pop-up blocker has no effect on them either )
That site is a pain, why do I keep going back there. :no:
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TD,
Mike McC posted about blocking the intellitxt by entering this in the Adblock on Firefox:
http://vnu.uk.intellitxt.com
Don't have Opera so don't know if it will work on there but worth a try. I have done it on Firefox.
He also said that he had another machine with:
uk.intellitxt.com
blocked and nothing got through.
Not sure if you saw his post but it is something you could try.
dave ;)
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You can try adding this line to your hosts file:
127.0.0.1 computeractive.uk.intellitxt.com
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Thanks, dave.m and floydoid, for the pointers......but I'm afraid these wee ruses are not working for me. Must be doing something wrong. :-[
Will wander down for an early St. Andrew's day beer or three, then try again.........after a few noggings I won't see the ******** things anyway. ;D
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Hi, just edit the hosts file in notepad by adding the required line and then save. Inserted spaces are important.
More information here that may be useful. They have actually prepared a hosts file for you, to download and replace your existing copy.
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
Post back if you still get stuck.
exo
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The line to add to the hosts file is:
127.0.0.1 vnu.uk.intellitxt.com (note the tab between the IP address and the url)
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Im sure I did a tutorial on there back in the depths of time how to block it completely using the hosts file when they very first started doing the intellitxt thing.
I use Opera and never see them.
My host file has the entry
127.0.0.1 ad.uk.doubleclick.net
Details how to change your host file
http://www.kitz.co.uk/security/hostsfile.htm
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Good morning, and my thanks to you all for your help and guidance.
Unfortunately, despite following all the data above ( I think ), I still get these annoying pop-ups.
I have inserted a wee screeny of my hosts file as it stands. Perhaps someone could advise if I have got that wrong ? (I get evrything else wrong, so why not this ? ).
[attachment deleted by admin]
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I normally use Opera to view CA.. but Ive just had a look in IE too and still cant see any of them.. Ive also turned off a proxo in IE to make sure it isnt that that was blocking it.
all I have in my host file is [see cap below]
Can you do me a favour TD and point me in the direction of a page with the link on (and a word) and I'll have another look.
Can you also confirm that the host file was edited in notepad and not wordpad
tyvm
[attachment deleted by admin]
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Aha, getting somewhere :)
If I go in via CA and Readers to the Rescue, I do not get the pop-ups, but I do If I go in via http://forums.vnunet.com/index.jspa
By that route, on the Forums/Category page in the "Business Software" category, the words "business applications" are highlighted green and generate the pops, also in the "Windows Vista" section the words "operating systems" do likewise, as does the word "Windows" in you open the page "Anything and everything to do with all versions of Windows". Lots more instances, but these are good examples.
Yes, my hosts file was edited in Notepad
Obviously, the simple answer is to stick with the CA route, but it would be nice to defeat vnu.net on this. >:D
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okies I see that one.... just had a play and didnt seem to be able to get it to go at first
However I now have the following in my host file
127.0.0.1 ad.uk.doubleclick.net
127.0.0.1 www.vibrantmedia.com
127.0.0.1 uk.intellitxt.com
which still didnt work until I used the command nbtstat -R
-R (Reload) Purges and reloads the remote cache name table
Its gone now.
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>> Its gone now.
hmmm on 2nd thoughts maybe not..
Once I opened it again in another window it was back again... have to look into it more :(
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Been looking through the source and java function on the ca server.. noticed that theres references to other locations such as sc.intellitxt.com which I also added to my host file...
Unfortunately the host file (or as far as I know) wont let you use wildcards *
Ok think this works for Opera users - where you can insert wildcards.... seems to be working for me now.
Tools >>
Advanced >>
Blocked Content >>
New Window opens >>
Click "Add"
Insert the following
http://*.*.intellitxt.com/*
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Yippppeeeeeeeee :D
That seems to have done it........thank you.
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yw :)