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crocs

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I reported it to admin and received the following response:

"Unfortunately, there was a glitch in the system sometime Sunday which has affected some users – however clearing cookies and cache on your internet browser seems to do the trick. We’ll hopefully be moving to a new forum system in the coming weeks (we are currently just trialling it with a different website first), so things like this will hopefully be less frequent."

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This has been happening a far bit recently. There doesn't seem to be any 'pattern' and the problem (for me at least) is only temporary. I reported it to the forum administrator on 27 March and it's being occurring sporadically ever since.

 

(Pity it doesn't apply permanently to the Chatterbox forum, but as my understanding is that an equivalent forum won't be present when the revised O&AL forum structure goes live, I can live with that.)

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Rachel posted on 30th March about this issue https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/Code-of-Conduct-and-User-Guidelines/Forum-User-Guide/Forum-banned-messages/59874/

 

Dinkydot - 2022-03-30 9:20 AM

 

HI all,

 

We've had a glitch with the forums in the last few days which means some users are being shown a 'banned from the forums' message when trying to log in.

 

This can mostly be cured by clearing your cookies and cache from your internet browser and then logging in again.

 

However, we will be migrating to a new forum platform soon. We are currently trialling this but hope to have it up and running in the next few weeks.

 

Thanks

Rachel

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laimeduck - 2022-04-04 10:56 AM

 

Yes I reported it and got the same message. I had all sorts of problems after I cleared cookies and cache. Not really a user friendly solution. I won't be doing that again ... the forum will simply have to go!

 

It may be the case that the problem disappears (perhaps just for a while!!!) as a result of clearing cookies and the cache, but it's to be expected that clearing all cookies will have a knock-on impact.

 

When I've received the 'banned' message when accessing the O&AL forums, I've just waited a while and had another go. I've never needed to clear cookies/cache to cure the fault - it went away on its own.

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Here its near endemic with MS Edge browser, quickly returning after the cookie and cache cleanout, but not as yet with Google's Chrome; just lucky or something relevant?

 

Running Edge Version 100.0.1185.29, Chrome Version 100.0.4896.60

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Like Derek I've not bothered clearing cookies, and a while later have been able to access website with no problems.

I run Edge on win11 which is a version of chrome, and Edge on a windowsphone which is MS's bespoke browser.

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Yes – I’ve experienced the same. I clear all cookies and history on browser exit automatically so it’s not a factor in my ‘banning’. I always assumed that I’d connected to the forum via a banned ip address. As I exclusively use 4G for my internet access I simply disconnect from 4G then reconnect which of course sets me up with a different ip address and from then on it’s fine. I’m a bit concerned about movement to a new forum platform. Does it mean that we’ll lose all the historical posts?
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Derek Uzzell - 2022-04-04 10:53 AM

(Pity it doesn't apply permanently to the Chatterbox forum, but as my understanding is that an equivalent forum won't be present when the revised O&AL forum structure goes live, I can live with that.)

 

It is not the Chatterbox itself that is a bad idea, it is the politically motivated inhabitants that continue to spoil it for everyone else.

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Tracker - 2022-04-04 1:35 PM

 

Derek Uzzell - 2022-04-04 10:53 AM

(Pity it doesn't apply permanently to the Chatterbox forum, but as my understanding is that an equivalent forum won't be present when the revised O&AL forum structure goes live, I can live with that.)

 

It is not the Chatterbox itself that is a bad idea, it is the politically motivated inhabitants that continue to spoil it for everyone else.

 

I Dont believe its compulsory to read political threads Rich.

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laimeduck - 2022-04-04 10:56 AM

 

Yes I reported it and got the same message. I had all sorts of problems after I cleared cookies and cache. Not really a user friendly solution. I won't be doing that again ... the forum will simply have to go!

 

I do wish people would not advise people to clear out cache and cookies in a hope that it might fix something. It can indeed as you say be a complete PIA afterwards and in my experience (which is vast) it rarely fixes the issue.

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Derek Uzzell - 2022-04-04 8:53 AM

 

 

(Pity it doesn't apply permanently to the Chatterbox forum, but as my understanding is that an equivalent forum won't be present when the revised O&AL forum structure goes live, I can live with that.)

 

I do a quick scan of chatterbox about once a week to see if there is anything else but the "political claptrap" then move on leaving it to Dave and his mates to fight to the end. I am sure it is fun for the participants but not for me. We have our share of total "Richard Cranium" politicians here without getting involved in UK politics.

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When I used to write software it was essential to know its purpose, as form should follow function. Warners owns the Out&AboutLive forums, but I've never been sure what the function of these forums is where Warners are concerned.

 

When the O&AL forums were set up in 2005 it was plain that their framework was based on the hardcopy leisure magazines that Warners were publishing at that time.The original framework remains in place, with two further forums being added - Hints & Tips and Chatterbox. For a long time the stated purpose of Hints & Tips was ambiguous and its content is a mess. Chatterbox was introduced as an emergency measure as - within a few weeks of the O&AL forums coming online - the Motorhome Matters forum had become a kindergarten school's playground.

 

Nowadays I don't see the O&AL forums having any genuine potential to increase the circulation of Warners leisure magazines (hard or soft copy) and it would be unrealistic to expect Warners to provide computer resources and management staff for philanthropic reasons. That leaves advertising revenue and that may well be an acceptable justification for continuing to provide the O&AL forums.

 

If one samples the number of threads in the last month's worth of Motorhome Matters and Chatterbox activity, the totals are 99 and 106 respectively.

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/search/query.asp?action=search&searchforumid=3&keywords=&author=&days=31&Submit=Search

 

https://forums.outandaboutlive.co.uk/forums/search/query.asp?action=search&searchforumid=9&keywords=&author=&days=31&Submit=Search

 

So if Warners were to 'value' the O&AL forums on their thread-count for their exposure of users to advertising, Chatterbox might be considered to have more value than Motorhome Matters. Of course, the snag with using advertising as a value index is that forum users generally loath it and run software to block it.

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Geeco - 2022-04-05 3:17 AM

 

Derek Uzzell - 2022-04-04 8:53 AM

 

 

(Pity it doesn't apply permanently to the Chatterbox forum, but as my understanding is that an equivalent forum won't be present when the revised O&AL forum structure goes live, I can live with that.)

 

I do a quick scan of chatterbox about once a week to see if there is anything else but the "political claptrap" then move on leaving it to Dave and his mates to fight to the end. I am sure it is fun for the participants but not for me. We have our share of total "Richard Cranium" politicians here without getting involved in UK politics.

 

People who can't be bothered to take an interest in politics probably get the politicians they deserve.

Wheras some (not enough) of us care about what they are doing to our country >:-) :-(

And (as Brian Kirby said) Chatterbox is strangely addictive.

 

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Derek Uzzell - 2022-04-05 8:16 AM

the snag with using advertising as a value index is that forum users generally loath it and run software to block it.

 

It doesn't block the links at the top of the page.

Or the adverts Warners post in the threads.

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Obviously there's no way of preventing Warners (or any registered forum user) from posting an advert within an O&AL forum thread.

 

I'm unsure what you are referring to by "the links at the top of the page": it's the constantly refreshing colourful 'commercial' adverts across the head of the forum page and on its right-hand side that I (and presumably other users) dislike and - in my case at least - significantly slow forum usage. The screen shots below show the effect that my ad-blocker has on the commercial adverts - 1st image is with the blocker on and the 2nd image with the blocker off.

 

As far as Chatterbox s concerned, if Warners is happy to have a 'politics only' forum (which the original 'general subjects' Chatterbox forum has morphed into) that's fine by me. But it would then be sensible to have two forums - Politics and General. My own view is that, as the O&AL forums' framework was clearly intended to mirror Warners' leisure magazines, forum threads should be equivalent to matters that the magazines' editors would be prepared to include in those magazines.

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It happened to me yesterday, I had read about it in Motorhome Matters.

 

For what it's worth.

 

Laptop

Windows 10

Browser: Firefox..

Bookmark takes me to Search Results, because I don't log out of the O&AL forum, occasionally I'm spit out and do have to log back in to the forum.

Sometimes I reply to the subjects.

I note the Chatterbox subjects but don't open any.

 

So when the Ban page opened instead of the usual search results page I searched the web for an answer and then ignored the answers and Shut down Firefox, Shut down the Laptop, In other words turn off and start again and then when back in the Browser. I clicked on the O&AL bookmark, Bingo all back to normal ie no Ban page.

 

HTH

B-)

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Derek Uzzell - 2022-04-06 7:12 AM

I'm unsure what you are referring to by "the links at the top of the page": .

Home Page 'Motorhomes' 'Caravans' etc

'Motorhomes for sale' 'Motorhome Reviews' 'Motorhome Insurance' etc

And the adverts 'Lucie Cranfield' posts in the threads.

You still get all those even with adblock.

So its still sending traffic to Warners revenue streams.

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Well yes, if I click on "Motorhomes for Sale" I know I'll see adverts for motorhomes that are being offered for sale. And, if Lucie Cranfield posts 'advertising' to the Motorhome Matters, Warners Show News or Caravan Chat forums there's no way I'm aware of to prevent her doing that.

 

But I have a choice whether or not I click on "Motorhomes for Sale" and - as the purpose of Lucie's posts is obvious - I can easily ignore her posts if I so wish. But being continuously bombarded by lateral and vertical commercial advertising banners is quite another matter and it's to suppress them that I use an advert blocker.

 

Perhaps the O&AL forums next incarnation will include an option to specify forum user-names whose postings one does not wish to see. (I've got a little list - they'll none of 'em be missed!)

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As has been said above, the 'banning' issue results from a glitch in Warners computer system. Until the glitch is sorted out at the Warners end, realistically there's nothing that a forum user can do to guarantee that they will not be affected. It's been suggested by Warners that, if a user clears their device's cache and cookies, that will fix the problem, but it will not! The problem at the user end seems to be quite temporary and it may well be the case that, during the time it takes for a user to clear their device's cache and cookies, the problem will have disappeared of its own accord.

 

It's not so bad when the 'You have been banned from the system' message appears before one is about to do something, but it's a bugbear when it happens in the middle of a procedure (eg. when a lengthy forum posting is being created) which was happening to me repeatedly a day or so ago.

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