Please use this thread for (and only for) alerting admins to moderation issues and for raising complaints arising from particular decisions. We remind participants that TSZ is a benign dictatorship, the property of Dr. Elizabeth Liddle. All decisions regarding policy and implementation are hers alone.
petrushka,
No grandkids. We (nuclear Fox family) are still wary of plane trips, both for us and visitors, would self-isolate or not travel if we had symptoms, and ask visitors to do likewise. I like that respiratory infection can be avoided (including colds and ‘flu) by simple precautions. Though it is much easier to practice in retirement.
Masks are apparently effective in preventing infected people from spreading colds and flu. Diseases spread by droplets, coughs and sneezes. Not as good at stopping aerosols.
Quite so. But instead, let’s compare how effective masks are against exhaling aerosols, with no mask at all. Better yet, let’s compare no mask with surgical masks with N95 masks. I would expect that stopping 90% of aerosols isn’t as good as stopping 95%, but much better than 0%.
You sound like you are implying that masks are useless against aerosols. I hope that isn’t what you were trying to say.
Not useless, but less than 95 percent. What do you think the actual reduction, with surgical masks?
https://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553(05)80143-9/fulltext
Good question. Hard to quantify because there are too many variables. My understanding is that masks of any type are much more effective when worn by the infected person than the healthy person sharing airspace – that is, by largely preventing the virus from getting into the air, rather than trying to keep air already full of virus out. Offensive (schlemiel) vs. defensive (schlemazel) masking.
But there are other factors as well. How closely does the mask fit the face? How does enough airflow to breathe get around/through the mask? I note that there are different grades and purposes of each mask type, and surgical N95 masks aren’t fully interchangeable with particulate N95 (for woodworking, for example).
I’ve put 3 of J-Mac’s comments in moderation awaiting a move to Guano. Need a bigger screen and some time as plugins for this are out of date or no longer available
@ Faded_Glory
I can’t reproduce your problem using my sock account (new author status, same permissions group as your account) on my Windows10 laptop using Chrome as a browser. I am recently disappointed with Duckduckgo and thinking of trying Brave again.
What browser do you use?
I was able to reproduce faded_Glory’s problem. Up-to-date Chrome, Win 11. Mouse over “Quote in reply” and “javascriptvoid(null)” appears in the lower left corner of the window.
Same thing happens when I mouse over “Reply”.
You early adopters! 🙁 If it’s a Windows 11 glitch, not sure what I can do.
Oh, mea culpa. The little window that appears when you hover over a link that shows the link address. The links “reply” and “quote reply” don’t contain them. But there’s no real issue. Just ignore it and carry on.
It isn’t just the mouse over. It’s also that nothing happens when clicking on “Reply” or “Quote in reply”. I hadn’t noticed it before because I don’t use them myself.
It isn’t confined to Win 11. I just reproduced it on an old Win 10 PC.
I use Firefox on Win 11.
Don’t worry about it on my behalf Alan. I manage with manually entering the blockquote tags.
Thanks anyway for looking into it.
That is odd. I see the JavaScript but clicking on either “reply” or “quote reply” posts into the text box. I repeat it isn’t a permissions issue.
Well, I’m a bit OCD anyway, so no problem. The fact keiths and I get different results with Windows 10 is very strange. I use “quote in reply” all the time and it would be good if it worked for everyone else.
What I find frustrating is the uploads file is full and we can no longer upload images. I have an image of the giant omelette and if anyone can suggest how to share it that doesn’t involve Facebook or similar oligarchic enterprises, I’d love your input. 😉
ETA, I already have paid-for Google storage so here goes
Now I understand why you live in France 🙂
Needs some potato, but not bad 🙂
Alan:
That is frustrating. Are you sure it’s a size issue and not a permissions issue? I ask because the error message I get when I try to upload an image is “Unable to create directory uploads/2025/04. Is its parent directory writable by the server?” Also, the fact that we can post OPs and comments shows that we haven’t used up all the disk space provided by the hosting service.
keiths,
I get the same message. Whether the “uploads” file is now too large for the individual file limit set by the host (pretty sure this is the case ) or whether a manual entry to the database would solve it is something I should be able to confirm as Lizzie has let me have log in details to the control panel. Using that information, I was able to fix a couple of major issues in the past. The last time I tried to access the control panel, any log in attempt timed out (I spent several days trying). I’ll see if I can find the log in details and have another attempt.
Also, because the “uploads” file is not being rewritten by the plugin, it does not get saved by the backup system, though this doesn’t matter as there is a copy of the last good save before uploads to the site stopped working.
Lizzie is very much less active on the internet and I hesitate to bother her. The plan when last discussed was to ensure the site remained visible and readable except Vincent Torley was keen to continue posting material. I remain convinced that the best solution is a reset.
And the hypothesis that human sleep patterns involve a break where stuff gets done is confirmed.
I should point out that my internet access is problematic. France is replacing all copper connections with fibre and our village now has the main infrastructure. At some point (July is the latest rumour) the final individual connections will happen. Till then, I access it via the mobile network which has its own issues.
Alan:
Is it cPanel, or something else?
Both. From memory, the last time I tried cPanel first but eventually I edited the database directly using mySQL.
And if I recall correctly, the last outage was due to DNS changes initiated by the host, but it was left to site owners (on non-managed contracts) to add the changes to the site. This could only be done if the site owner logged in from their registered IP.
Lizzie had to sort that, there was no other option.
And I don’t feel comfortable doing anything
regarding server settings without checking with her first.
Are you using SSH to log in, and then using MySQL to edit the database?
Here’s why I’m asking: the disk space limit hasn’t been reached, since we are able to post new OPs and comments, but it’s possible that we’ve used up the inode quota, which would explain why new upload directories and files can’t be created.
If you SSH in, you can run ‘df -i’ to see whether we’ve used up all the inodes.
The fact that there’s an inode limit at all is a “feature” of older filesystems, which statically allocate inodes when the filesystem is formatted. Newer filesystems allocate inodes dynamically.
As far as I can see, the inode limit is set by the hosting service. If we are up against that limit, the solution is to request more inodes. I have no idea whether they’ll do that for free vs charging more.
Anyway, if you’re able to SSH in, run ‘df -i’ to see where we stand inode-wise.
Another possibility is to use cPanel, but that depends on whether the hosting service has configured it to display the inode information in the sidebar.
Exactly.
BTW, I checked and no longer have the email where Lizzie shared her login details.
And yes, web-hosting has evolved to become much more user-friendly.
Just noticed the “quote comments” plugin was disabled. I don’t recall disabling it myself though my memory is not what it was. Have reactivated it for now but anyone post a comment here if reactivating creates an issue.
Just a thought about the uploads file. If we archive the existing file (rename it to uploads-old), any files in the folder can be moved to a new empty uploads folder on request, allowing site users to upload images again, and, more importantly, allowing the site saving plugin to work properly again.
I’ll ask Lizzie if she has time or if she is happy to delegate. Anyone who thinks this a bad idea, speak up.
I think we should fix the problem rather than trying to work around it. If you just rename the uploads directory, you’ll break the references to media contained in existing OPs and comments. Also, if you start a new directory, the problem might still occur. For example, the issue could be that the filesystem is running out of inodes, in which case media uploads to the new, empty directory might fail. Better to just fix the problem once and for all.
If you can get the login information from Lizzie, I’d be happy to help troubleshoot this. Also the contact info for the hosting provider. Depending on what’s broken, we might need them to change something.
Another thing we should fix is the fact that TSZ is using an http:// URL instead of https:// . Not that our OPs and comments are sensitive and need to be encrypted en route — it’s just that some browsers and malware detectors warn that the site isn’t secure because of the http:// . That will scare off some potential readers, plus it can make accessing TSZ a hassle at times. For instance, I get warned when I try to access TSZ for the first time, and I have to click three or four times to bypass all the warnings and open the site.
Https requires a certificate, which is not free, and which requires periodic renewal.
Some hosting services provide this as part of the service. Could be investigated.
Thanks for your input, Keiths.
I think https is unnecessary but it makes money for providers. My own host throws in two certificates with my particular package, shared with my wife, as she uses it in her professional capacity. I pay 15€ a month which is a bit more than Lizzie, I think.
I’ll pass on your offer of help, though I know she is inundated at work, developing a computer program that tracks eye movements that report in real time while volunteers are asked questions, in some interdisciplinary research she’s effectively running.
I checked Host Europe GmbH, which appears to be TSZ’s hosting provider, and they charge €2.99 per month for an SSL certificate. We certainly don’t need encryption, but I do see a scary-looking full page warning that the site is unsafe when I access the site sometimes via Chrome. It takes a couple of clicks to get past the warning pages, and I can imagine new readers being scared off by that. There’s also a “Not secure” red flag next to the address bar.
Regarding the uploads issue, I’ll try to contact tech support at Host Europe during business hours to see if they can tell us what to do to fix it, and whether we’re running out of inodes.