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#1901 2022-01-23 12:00:59

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut ... special request...

Can you change the text that appears when a person clicks on the Register button.

It is NOT (**NOT**) correct that this forum is not accepting registrations.

The text above explains how to request membership, but no one is going to read that text if they read the short text first.

(th)

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#1902 2022-01-23 12:04:35

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re Posts Repair ...

Today's run encountered some blips ... There were extraneous tabs created during the run.

The log file does not report the nature of those faults, because WBA can only report what it knows about.

The failures are occurring at the browser level

Completed Sequence for ID: 16200


Total Command Lines found: 34
Total input Lines in script: 94

  Number of ID's processed: 300

Starting Number: 15901

Last Number of Run: 16200

Summary for Web Automation Report for 01-23-2022 at 13:03:26
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:29

Total time of Processing: 02:26:24

(th)

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#1903 2022-01-23 12:22:36

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Re: Housekeeping

post 15921 had color which I had to remove for post

[img:post_uid0]http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/lfm/backgroun … okhod5.gif[/img:post_uid0]

Marsokhod

Maybe O'Keefe has invited Russia to participate in the 2009 nuclear powered rover project. This thing will be really big and it will travel up to 100 kilometres on the surface. Cool!

All other Mars missions now on the drawing board at NASA (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005, Mars Scout in 2007) are already too far along in their development as to allow for a useful russian contribution to the respective program.

is one that was not fixed. have taken care of it.

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#1904 2022-01-23 12:43:22

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Re: Housekeeping

post 16057 still has errors had to add another close quote due to color command to post it

(I know, clark, that bases on the moon would help assure US Space Command hegemony over LEO and the Chinese and the Russians - - and India! - - all know this also yet military space is not the "space access" most of us dream about. . .)[/quote:post_uid0][/quote:post_uid0]
which indians are you talking about ?

will fix it

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#1905 2022-01-23 12:48:42

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Re: Housekeeping

post 16061 same problem also with 16062 as well

Bill White wrote:

which indians are you talking about ?

These guys. . .

India may decide to send a robot sample return mission to Luna BEFORE the Chinese send a taikonaut. India and China are both great potential superpowers.

will fix both

Also fixed these
post 16110, 16307, 16156

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#1906 2022-01-23 14:05:50

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #1905 and previous ...

The symptom of failure during a repair run is FluxBB rejects the proposed update.

The log file does not show the rejection, since it has no way to find out about it.  The rejection shows up in the browser traffic, if anyone is watching it. which normally they are not.

Thanks for all the numbers to check!

I've started the system to pull the log for study.

Perhaps (there ** must ** be) something was missed during earlier test runs.

***
Thanks for your assistance to RobertDyck!

With the presentation to NSS coming up on March 12th, we might be able to embark upon a joint venture.

Mars Society wouldn't try something as ambitious as a test passenger vessel (miniature) but a joint venture with NSS might be just the ticket.

$1,000,000 for launch is (probably) about half the total cost ... it would require professional engineers to put together a model to fly this important mission.

An American company might foot the entire bill in return for advertising benefits.

For that matter, a publication of sufficient size might fund the enterprise for media exposure, in addition to performing a useful scientific investigation.

(th)

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#1907 2022-01-24 07:10:16

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re Posts Repair process ...

post 15921 had color which I had to remove for post


[i m g:post_uid0][u r l]h t tp://quest.arc.nasa.gov/lfm/background/images/marsokhod5.gif[/u r l][/i m g:post_uid0]

Marsokhod

Maybe O'Keefe has invited Russia to participate in the 2009 nuclear powered rover project. This thing will be really big and it will travel up to 100 kilometres on the surface. Cool!

All other Mars missions now on the drawing board at NASA (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2005, Mars Scout in 2007) are already too far along in their development as to allow for a useful russian contribution to the respective program.

is one that was not fixed. have taken care of it.

Post 15921 is available to me in the log file with the proposed text.  I didn't see anything wrong with it.

I will attempt to post a line from the post to see if it generates an error:
LeftBracket-img-RightBracket-LB-u r l-RB-h t t p:/ quest.arc.nasa.gov/lfm/background/images/marsokhod5.gif-LB/u r l-RB-LB/i m g-RB

Oh Ho!

The following errors need to be corrected before the message can be posted:
[u r l] was opened within [i m g], this is not allowed

That construction must have been present in the original post, since WBA does NOT add anything to the text.  All it does is to REMOVE text.

It would appear that the script needs to be updated to look for these to special cases:

[i m g][u r l] and the corresponding [/u r l][/i m g]

Good Grief!

Here is an attempt to post with the corrected image specification:
marsokhod5.gif

(th)

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#1908 2022-01-24 07:41:51

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re Posts Repair

16061 and 16062 have a different problem ...

According to the log, at intake, the posts each had one more start-of-quote than they have end-of-quote.

As you work with these unusual/unexpected posts, please try to identify errors like this.

When you repair them without telling me what you did, I have no idea what to change to improve the program performance.

In this case, it is ** way ** beyond of scope of the script to try to match the number of start-of-quote statements to the number of end-of-quote statements. That is the function of the FluxBB parser, which was created by a large team of top flight programmers working over several years.

The run to 16,500 appears to have gone smoothly.

Completed Sequence for ID: 16500


Total Command Lines found: 34
Total input Lines in script: 94

  Number of ID's processed: 300

Starting Number: 16201

Last Number of Run: 16500

Summary for Web Automation Report for 01-24-2022 at 11:06:54
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:29

Total time of Processing: 02:28:09

I'm planning to look at the script to see if improvements are possible.

(th)

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#1909 2022-01-24 12:27:18

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re Posts Repair ...

I took a look at the script, in light of the image and out-of-balance quotes problems discovered recently.

As reported earlier, the program currently ONLY performs precision deletes.

However, the problems discovered require greater decision making capability than is available.

In studying the script, I realized there ** is ** an opportunity to improve information collection.

In the next day or so, i'll investigate to see if it is possible to report success if an update request passes muster with FluxBB.

At the moment, the script ends after an update request, and it goes on to the next post without checking to see if the current one succeeded.

Edit: Since success is normal, a report of failure would be more useful.  I'll see if that is possible.

(th)

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#1910 2022-01-24 12:49:00

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

This post is in housekeeping because it doesn't have anything to do directly with the Mars mission, but it ** may ** be of interest to members of the forum who are using networks of various kinds.

AT&T is phasing out 3G service.  The deadline for my area is February of 2022.  They sent me a replacement base station.  It has WiFi capability but I'm not sure how to use it.  The customer service tech seemed a bit unsure of what it is or how it works.

The base station itself uses something called LTE which the customer service rep thinks is something between 4G and 5G. Whatever it is, the signal level at my location is poor.  I'll try moving it around a bit to see if there is a better signal.

(th)

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#1911 2022-01-24 20:03:13

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Re: Housekeeping

All 3G towers are being converted to 5G no matter who owns them for service provider. I also must replace my working cellphone for the same reason as well since they are removing the 3G towers. The higher the G is the l.ess distance it covers for the same power. This also happens for the free air TV broadcasts that are now digital rather than analog. LTE is a none standard that others were trying to make into a set format to make use of

Some of the airport landing systems are in the 5G band so some switch overs are being delay tollow for the airplanes and such to upgrade to better filtering in the band such as to not interfere with the landing.

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#1912 2022-01-24 20:58:19

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #1911

Your larger view of the 3G phaseout is interesting (to me for sure).  It seems to me that customers (like me) who bought their cell phones are likely to be annoyed at having to trade them in if they are limited to 3G. 

I learned a bit more about the WiFi offer that is included with the LTE base station.  It turns out that the customer has to subscribe to a data plan. No surprise there, but I ** did ** find an option that is potentially useful for backup. It turns out that WalMart carries a plan for $55 one time/non-recurring service for 90 days.

I'm interested in this because my primary Internet provider is not bullet proof, and it goes down occasionally.  It would be nice to have a backup capability, but the key to that is whether the plan from WalMart can be activated when it is needed, and not before.

I'll investigate in the next few days.

Your observation about airports and 5G is interesting as well ... apparently the aircraft equipment can be upgraded to not be as vulnerable to nearby frequencies, but it will take time and it's an expense the air carriers do not appreciate.

(th)

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#1913 2022-01-24 21:56:57

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Re: Housekeeping

We will be seeing a similar problem with computers as windows 11 is rolled out as more computers will function not as well coming to a place near you. I know that mine was a windows 7 or 8 machine that got upgraded to windows 10 but its about as far as it can go.

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#1914 2022-01-24 22:09:23

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

for SpaceNut re #1913

I've found Windows 7 to be reliable and trustworthy, and it still works with most modern application packages, although they complain.

I have Windows 10 in a plug-in case, and use it when software requires it, but I find it slow and dodgy on the hardware where Windows 7 runs cleanly.

My workhorse systems run Windows XP reliably and quickly.  I never expose them to the Internet, with the exception of the little Dell laptop that does the NewMars updates.

Most of my work is done with Linux as the OS. 

I'm about to start experimenting with script changes.  I'm leaning toward trying to find a way to log fails without stopping the run.  The reason the runs are reaching 300 each day is that I took out the fail-on-error code.

Now if an update fails the program just goes on to the next post.

I'll see if there might be a way to report fails without stopping.

Update a bit later: I added a couple of lines to report the Address Bar value after the update.

In the case of a successful update, the Address Bar looks like this:
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 502#p16502

It the case of a failure, it will have a different value. I'll have to wait for a failure to know what to look for.

The run tomorrow will be from  16,503 to 16,800.

(th)

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#1915 2022-01-25 07:25:15

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re Posts Repair ...

This post is reserved for reports on today's run to 16,800.

Today's run will include an additional report of the Address Line contents after an update attempt.

If FluxBB rejects a proposed update, there will be something in the Address Bar other than the normal viewtopic report.

Since most runs are successful, we may have to wait a few days to see another failure.

Update at 11;10 local time ... Good News (of a sort) !!! The browser is showing multiple tabs.  This is a signal that errors were found when the output of the edit was presented to FluxBB.  The new print-Address-Line-after-Submit feature ** should ** provide a clue that can help to find posts that need manual attention!

Update at 11:53 local time ... The fault tabs all show: newmars.com/forums/index.php

This should be easy to find in the log, if it made it's way there.

Completed Sequence for ID: 16800


Total Command Lines found: 39
Total input Lines in script: 111

  Number of ID's processed: 298

Starting Number: 16503

Last Number of Run: 16800

Summary for Web Automation Report for 01-25-2022 at 11:51:39
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:31

Total time of Processing: 02:37:09


(th)

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#1916 2022-01-25 11:19:29

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re Post Repair Troubleshooting session ...

The first fail occurred on post 16710.

The address bar contained: Step: 39 http://newmars.com/forums/edit.php?

Excellent! A search for this string gave:

16699
16706
16710
16736
16753
16756
16768

I will change my procedures to search for this string in future run logs.

Since (by definition) these posts were beyond the ability of WBA to handle, please fix them.

The failure will have been caused by something we did not find during the scans.

Instead of just fixing them, please take a moment to document the failures and your solution.

Please do not report the bogies we already know about.

FluxBB is complaining because it found something else and refused to accept the proposed update.

By inspection of the proposed update for Post 16768, I see the already reported [i m g][ u r l ] bogey.

(th)

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#1917 2022-01-25 11:47:52

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re Posts Repair Need for Rerun over 16,800 posts

Now that it is clear the procedure was failing all during the previous sessions, I have concluded there is no alternative to repeating the update attempts using the new script.

I tried searching for the formatting strings, and they are not "visible" to the search algorithm.  That makes sense.  Text would be formatted before it is turned over to the search function.

Fortunately, your choice of 300 posts per day makes a re-run quite feasible.

I'll print a new schedule for just the first 16,800 posts and start a re-run series later today.

***
A re-run over the first 16,800 posts will start now ...

Completed Sequence for ID: 300


Total Command Lines found: 39
Total input Lines in script: 112

  Number of ID's processed: 300

Starting Number: 1

Last Number of Run: 300

Summary for Web Automation Report for 01-25-2022 at 16:59:04
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:33

Total time of Processing: 02:47:34

There were no objections by FluxBB to the posts. 
The re-scan will take until March 21st.


(th)

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#1918 2022-01-26 11:53:05

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re Post Repair Initiative

Today's run encountered a number of rejects by FluxBB.  I'll be able to identify the post to be corrected shortly.

Completed Sequence for ID: 17100


Total Command Lines found: 39
Total input Lines in script: 113

  Number of ID's processed: 300

Starting Number: 16801

Last Number of Run: 17100

Summary for Web Automation Report for 01-26-2022 at 12:47:23
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:32

Total time of Processing: 02:39:21

Here is a list of Posts to be manually repaired:
16805
16806
16877
16907
16982
17020
17022
17029
17065

I looked at the proposed update for 17065 and didn't see anything wrong with it.  This might have been a time-out failure ... FluxBB may have simply discarded the submission because it was busy.

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#1919 2022-01-26 12:02:58

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re Posts Re-Scan - Today's run will cover 301-600.

The run to 600 found some problems:

328 << corrected
438 << corrected
483 << corrected

These posts need personal attention. ... taken care of ....

They were all afflicted with tiny garbage that prevented FluxBB from storing them, apparently.

(th)

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#1920 2022-01-26 13:20:08

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut special.... looks like challenging weather ahead?

NBC News
Nasty nor'easter could slam the Northeast & New England this weekend with as much as 20 inches of snow
Kathryn Prociv
Wed, January 26, 2022, 11:00 AM
New York City could see as little as 2 inches of snow or as much as 20 inches of snow this weekend. That is the range of possibilities with the upcoming nor'easter forecast to slam the Northeast and New England beginning Friday night and lasting through Saturday.

On Wednesday morning, meteorologists were combing through the latest forecast model data in an attempt to get a handle on the track, timing and associated snow totals associated with an impending powerful winter storm.

There was still high uncertainty in the forecast, due to disagreement among the forecast models which were showing two distinct forecast scenarios: a storm that stays just far enough offshore to bring just a few inches of snow to the I-95 corridor or a storm that tracks close enough to produce a crippling snowstorm and potentially the first blizzard in four years.

Nothing like a bit of uncertainty to enliven conversation!

(th)

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#1921 2022-01-26 15:24:00

GW Johnson
Member
From: McGregor, Texas USA
Registered: 2011-12-04
Posts: 5,423
Website

Re: Housekeeping

Well,  it is winter.  You never quite know what Mother Nature is really going to do,  until she does it.

GW


GW Johnson
McGregor,  Texas

"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew,  especially one dead from a bad management decision"

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#1922 2022-01-26 19:24:31

SpaceNut
Administrator
From: New Hampshire
Registered: 2004-07-22
Posts: 28,750

Re: Housekeeping

post 1919 looks good will look at the other list in the one before it.

ya its cold here as well and the vehicle charging system for the escape is on the fritz again....

16805 & 6 were the color command issue

i agree that 16877 is fine possibly a time out.

16907, 16982, 17020, 17022 was color and the old style image display string

17029 has color plus an extra quote command

17065 is ok as well

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#1923 2022-01-26 19:49:58

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re #1922

Thanks for taking a look at the drop outs from today's "new" run.  I'll take care of any defects that show up in the re-run. The new reporting system seems to be working, so as we go forward, I should be to let you know when FluxBB rejects a proposed update.

I've printed a schedule of runs through March (for the re-scans) and through August for the new items.

This is not too different from building brick wall.  A good day is 300 bricks, and the building will be standing tall in August.

Edit: Regarding the timeout ... I added a Smart Wait to prevent that .... Hopefully if the Internet bogs down the script will now wait up to 60 seconds for FluxBB to get around to processing the request for post.

(th)

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#1924 2022-01-27 08:36:23

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

For SpaceNut re Posts Repair initiative...

A run to 17,400 is under way.... The script was modified to look for a response from FluxBB after submit of proposed text for a post.  If FluxBB accepts the proposed text, the first few characters of the address bar contain text that is the same as if FluxBB rejects the proposed text.

A Smart Wait looks for the text.  If anything else occurs, or if 60 seconds elapses, the program will halt.

This change should reduce the number of unexpected events that were observed in the run to 16,800.

Meanwhile, the first 16,800 posts are receiving a verification checkup.

Edit later on: This process is proving more interesting than I expected.

First of all, the new Smart Wait timed out at post 15,157. There was nothing wrong with 15,157. The Internet connection just decided to go somewhere else.  In this case, I found the laptop still logged in.

There were no bogies in the first segment, but two showed up in the finish section: 15371 and 15373.

I'll look at them next. OK! Both are now accepted. One was missing a close quote. The other had an unneeded url specification.

All good now ... the series from 1-600 appears to be clean.

I'll start the re-scan of 601-900 now.


(th)

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#1925 2022-01-27 15:04:47

tahanson43206
Moderator
Registered: 2018-04-27
Posts: 16,755

Re: Housekeeping

for SpaceNut re defective link ...

It appears that Post 698 is ** really ** gone

http://newmars.com/forums/edit.php?id=00698

Bad request. The link you followed is incorrect or outdated.

That caused the WBA to halt (of course).

We may well have discussed this the first time through here.

Fortunately there don't seem to be many instances like this.

Update shortly afterward ... actually, I don't know how many missing links may exist ...

The first pass through was the scan, and it didn't flag them.

The second pass was the update without a stop.

http://newmars.com/forums/edit.php?id=00700
Bad request. The link you followed is incorrect or outdated.

There may well be more ...

702 is a bad link
http://newmars.com/forums/edit.php?id=00715 715 is a bad link (this is getting old fast)
716 is a bad link

I decided to test the links one at a time ...

Bad links:
717
718
720
722
723

I'll start WBA again at 724

727 is missing
744 is missing
745 is missing



(th)

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