Housekeeping

SpaceNut · 2022-06-22 19:13:09

I have seen these issues with how a browser displays and how copy paste from browsers can yield results that are not what you are copying.
The current versus of the php forum software is one that did not have as many buttons and whistles as compared to others in the past but that is part of why it was updated as those kept crashing topics back then.

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-23 05:38:02

For SpaceNut re Post Repair initiative ...

Today's Trailbreaker will try for 61500.

There will be no ReScan.

A test document was prepared to find out how many Extended ASCII characters FluxBB supports.

As you have noted, the display is strictly under the control of the browser.

If current plans hold, the test document will be fed through the Interprocess Communications Pipe used by WBA.

It will be interesting to see if any Extended ASCII characters make the trip.

The default expectation is no .... I expect NONE to make the trip.

Update at 12:41 local time ... Trailbreaker reached 61500 with a Green screen.

It reported SpaceNut posts and 17 items to check.

There two potholes in today's run. All other items are reviewed and posted.

Inspector will now check the work.

Update at 15:37

Completed Sequence for ID: 61500

Total Command Lines found: 31
Total input Lines in script: 160
Number of ID's processed: 300
Starting Number: 61201
Last Number of Run: 61500
Summary for Web Automation Report for 06-23-2022 at 15:35:21
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:22
2 Skip Exceptions were recorded.
Total time of Processing: 01:48:57
Potholes: Two
Edits: Zero
Good run!

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-23 06:08:19

For SpaceNut re Post Repair Initiative....

This post is intended to show how FluxBB (and the individual browser used by a NewMars reader) handles Extended ASCII

SearchTerm:ASCII Extended characters Decimail 32-255 Hexadecimal 20-FF
The initial test file was created using a spreadsheet on an early version of Linux

The character in Column 1 was translated to this Variable Length field: ef bf bd

The original character did not survive the translation. I assume the translation occurred when the data was written out as a CSV file.
It might have occurred earlier, when the spreadsheet attempted to render the character for display.
In any case, the test file in the quote below is useless for the purpose of evaluating performance of various browsers given Extended ASCII input.

Test ASCII
Character Decimal Hexadecimal
32 20
! 33 21
" 34 22
# 35 23
$ 36 24
% 37 25
& 38 26
' 39 27
( 40 28
) 41 29
* 42 2A
+ 43 2B
, 44 2C
- 45 2D
. 46 2E
/ 47 2F
0 48 30
1 49 31
2 50 32
3 51 33
4 52 34
5 53 35
6 54 36
7 55 37
8 56 38
9 57 39
: 58 3A
; 59 3B
< 60 3C
= 61 3D
> 62 3E
? 63 3F
@ 64 40
A 65 41
B 66 42
C 67 43
D 68 44
E 69 45
F 70 46
G 71 47
H 72 48
I 73 49
J 74 4A
K 75 4B
L 76 4C
M 77 4D
N 78 4E
O 79 4F
P 80 50
Q 81 51
R 82 52
S 83 53
T 84 54
U 85 55
V 86 56
W 87 57
X 88 58
Y 89 59
Z 90 5A
[ 91 5B
\ 92 5C
] 93 5D
^ 94 5E
_ 95 5F
` 96 60
a 97 61
b 98 62
c 99 63
d 100 64
e 101 65
f 102 66
g 103 67
h 104 68
i 105 69
j 106 6A
k 107 6B
l 108 6C
m 109 6D
n 110 6E
o 111 6F
p 112 70
q 113 71
r 114 72
s 115 73
t 116 74
u 117 75
v 118 76
w 119 77
x 120 78
y 121 79
z 122 7A
{ 123 7B
| 124 7C
} 125 7D
~ 126 7E
127 7F
128 80
129 81
130 82
131 83
132 84
133 85
134 86
135 87
136 88
137 89
138 8A
139 8B
140 8C
141 8D
142 8E
143 8F
144 90
145 91
146 92
147 93
148 94
149 95
150 96
151 97
152 98
153 99
154 9A
155 9B
156 9C
157 9D
158 9E
159 9F
160 A0
161 A1
162 A2
163 A3
164 A4
165 A5
166 A6
167 A7
168 A8
169 A9
170 AA
171 AB
172 AC
173 AD
174 AE
175 AF
176 B0
177 B1
178 B2
179 B3
180 B4
181 B5
182 B6
183 B7
184 B8
185 B9
186 BA
187 BB
188 BC
189 BD
190 BE
191 BF
192 C0
193 C1
194 C2
195 C3
196 C4
197 C5
198 C6
199 C7
200 C8
201 C9
202 CA
203 CB
204 CC
205 CD
206 CE
207 CF
208 D0
209 D1
210 D2
211 D3
212 D4
213 D5
214 D6
215 D7
216 D8
217 D9
218 DA
219 DB
220 DC
221 DD
222 DE
223 DF
224 E0
225 E1
226 E2
227 E3
228 E4
229 E5
230 E6
231 E7
232 E8
233 E9
234 EA
235 EB
236 EC
237 ED
238 EE
239 EF
240 F0
241 F1
242 F2
243 F3
244 F4
245 F5
246 F6
247 F7
248 F8
249 F9
250 FA
251 FB
252 FC
253 FD
254 FE
255 FF

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-23 19:48:02

For SpaceNut re Post Repair Initiative, and specifically Extended ASCII

Here is a list of ASCII characters generated by a program NOT a spreadsheet ....

In this case the lead byte in each line appears to have survived transfer from one computer to another.
What I do NOT know is what will happen when the data is uploaded to FluxBB and then brought back down to a browser.
I am guessing the resulting display will vary depending upon the operating system and the browser.

Extract Report for 06-23-2022 at 20:56:05
Generic Extract Lines Utility
Version 2022.6.22.1

Input File is Open as C:\Temp\PARAMETERS.txt

Search String One is: 32
Search String Two is: 255
Search String Three is:
Search String Four is:

ASCII Number Hexadecimal
32 20
! 33 21
" 34 22
# 35 23
$ 36 24
% 37 25
& 38 26
' 39 27
( 40 28
) 41 29
* 42 2A
+ 43 2B
, 44 2C
- 45 2D
. 46 2E
/ 47 2F
0 48 30
1 49 31
2 50 32
3 51 33
4 52 34
5 53 35
6 54 36
7 55 37
8 56 38
9 57 39
: 58 3A
; 59 3B
< 60 3C
= 61 3D
> 62 3E
? 63 3F
@ 64 40
A 65 41
B 66 42
C 67 43
D 68 44
E 69 45
F 70 46
G 71 47
H 72 48
I 73 49
J 74 4A
K 75 4B
L 76 4C
M 77 4D
N 78 4E
O 79 4F
P 80 50
Q 81 51
R 82 52
S 83 53
T 84 54
U 85 55
V 86 56
W 87 57
X 88 58
Y 89 59
Z 90 5A
[ 91 5B
\ 92 5C
] 93 5D
^ 94 5E
_ 95 5F
` 96 60
a 97 61
b 98 62
c 99 63
d 100 64
e 101 65
f 102 66
g 103 67
h 104 68
i 105 69
j 106 6A
k 107 6B
l 108 6C
m 109 6D
n 110 6E
o 111 6F
p 112 70
q 113 71
r 114 72
s 115 73
t 116 74
u 117 75
v 118 76
w 119 77
x 120 78
y 121 79
z 122 7A
{ 123 7B
| 124 7C
} 125 7D
~ 126 7E
127 7F
128 80
129 81
130 82
131 83
132 84
133 85
134 86
135 87
136 88
137 89
138 8A
139 8B
140 8C
141 8D
142 8E
143 8F
144 90
145 91
146 92
147 93
148 94
149 95
150 96
151 97
152 98
153 99
154 9A
155 9B
156 9C
157 9D
158 9E
159 9F
160 A0
¡ 161 A1
¢ 162 A2
£ 163 A3
€ 164 A4
¥ 165 A5
Š 166 A6
§ 167 A7
š 168 A8
© 169 A9
ª 170 AA
« 171 AB
¬ 172 AC
173 AD
® 174 AE
¯ 175 AF
° 176 B0
± 177 B1
² 178 B2
³ 179 B3
Ž 180 B4
µ 181 B5
¶ 182 B6
· 183 B7
ž 184 B8
¹ 185 B9
º 186 BA
» 187 BB
Œ 188 BC
œ 189 BD
Ÿ 190 BE
¿ 191 BF
À 192 C0
Á 193 C1
Â 194 C2
Ã 195 C3
Ä 196 C4
Å 197 C5
Æ 198 C6
Ç 199 C7
È 200 C8
É 201 C9
Ê 202 CA
Ë 203 CB
Ì 204 CC
Í 205 CD
Î 206 CE
Ï 207 CF
Ð 208 D0
Ñ 209 D1
Ò 210 D2
Ó 211 D3
Ô 212 D4
Õ 213 D5
Ö 214 D6
× 215 D7
Ø 216 D8
Ù 217 D9
Ú 218 DA
Û 219 DB
Ü 220 DC
Ý 221 DD
Þ 222 DE
ß 223 DF
à 224 E0
á 225 E1
â 226 E2
ã 227 E3
ä 228 E4
å 229 E5
æ 230 E6
ç 231 E7
è 232 E8
é 233 E9
ê 234 EA
ë 235 EB
ì 236 EC
í 237 ED
î 238 EE
ï 239 EF
ð 240 F0
ñ 241 F1
ò 242 F2
ó 243 F3
ô 244 F4
õ 245 F5
ö 246 F6
÷ 247 F7
ø 248 F8
ù 249 F9
ú 250 FA
û 251 FB
ü 252 FC
ý 253 FD
þ 254 FE
ÿ 255 FF

Total Input Lines 1
Total Output Lines 243

SpaceNut · 2022-06-23 20:12:34

I was doing this same type of work to read the text logs from the crash that are a collection of ascii and html code mixed. Most of the characters are filler between fields and known delimiters.
I have seen that the browser do different things within the html realm even when the same file is executed for display.

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-23 20:38:54

For SpaceNut re #2280

Thanks for noting the Extended ASCII test file experiments!

Your observations ab0ut the crash logs are interesting.

Hopefully you're getting some time to study the email failure logs.

I'd like to know what is preventing the password change feature from working.

***
The Extended ASCII display in post #2279 changes depending upon what operating system and browser I am using, as you noted.

Just for fun I'm going to copy this French character:

é 233 E9

How about that! The copy seems to have worked.

My plan for this investigation is to pump the test file through the serial pipe on the laptop, to see what happens to the Extended ASCII characters.

(th)

NewMarsMember · 2022-06-24 07:09:49

For SpaceNut ...

It is good to be able to report that Scott Beach would like to be unbanned.

Scott has two accounts ... the one he would like to use is "Scott Beach".

You can leave "Scott G. Beach" as it is.

Here is a copy of correspondence over recent days:

Message sent
Meet
New meeting
Join a meeting
Hangouts
1 of 1
Duplicate ID's ....
Inbox
tahanson43206
Jun 21, 2022, 10:05 AM (3 days ago)
Hi Scott, I found your email in the ID of "Scott Beach" That means the Scott G. Beach account cannot be set to that email. Which account would you like to react
email address
Jun 23, 2022, 11:33 AM (21 hours ago)
to me
tahanson43206:
I found the password for “Scott Beach” and I logged-in. However, the log-in page shows that I am “banned from this forum”.
So it appears that I am not eligible to post messages on the New Mars Forum.
Scott

tahanson43206
9:04 AM (0 minutes ago)
to scottbeach
In my reply I explained about the spammers, and said that SpaceNut would be able to unban the account.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2022-06-24 07:44:49

Nice outreach to Scott Beach and that account has been unbanned. We will have lots of emails that will no longer gather a reply or via the service may get spammed out. Those that do will communicate in the same manner as they will remember that they did have an account for a space forum.

I think we can leave banned accounts in a locked state until we get reply contact confirmed for the users we still have listed as valid.

I started to do the unban on the next 50 following TestID11301 to continue reducing the back log of these to be performed.

edit
email sent....

sorry a bit down today as I planned to be home just in case that I had to take care of our families elderly pitball and he passed shortly this afternoon. He loved mother dearly and passed after moving to her feet after a few hours where she sets. Loyal to the end unconditionally with love. He will be missed the big bone head....

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-24 11:53:50

For SpaceNut re 2283

Thanks for unbanning Scott Beach

If you have a moment, please drop him an email to let him know the account is back in service.

I'm guessing Scott doesn't read every post, and ** surely ** he would not read Housekeeping.

And! Thanks for returning to the polishing of our recovered ID's to go back into the Display Case for future service.

We have enough going on in this forum to give "employment" to many folks living on Earth today, if they are interested in advancing the goals of the Mars Society.

A friend just passed, after a long decline which he put up with patiently. I am about to write his wife of 50+ years with an offer to set up a Memorial plot in My Hacienda, if any of his many grand children are interested in developing the concept.

I'll let you know if anything comes of the offer.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-24 11:57:10

For SpaceNut re Post Repair Initiative ...

Trailbreaker reached 61800 with a Green screen ...

However, in ** this ** batch, it found 20 potholes!

61800 61784 61777 61775 61753 61748 61745 61743 61740 61734 61719 61717 61711 61680 61674 61615 61614 61609 61567 61549 61507 61523

We've never had that many potholes before.

Something dramatic must have happened in early 2005.

Perhaps as i review the problem posts, I'll discover what the situation might have been.

Update at 14:54 local time ... special for SpaceNut .... a while back I implemented a new safety check.

The program will skip a post if it contains more than 10000 characters. We had the first instance of that today.
http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 607#p61607 is 16995 (or so) characters.

The program reported to the log and skipped to the next post.

The post itself went through without a hitch when performed manually.

*** Update at 15:22 ... edits are complete ... Inspector will check the work.

Inspect should find the same 20 potholes

Inspector finished with a Green screen... Inspector reported Zero potholes.
I'll rerun the job. It should have found 20 potholes.

Update at 23:08 ... Inspector worked normally this time...

Completed Sequence for ID: 61800

Total Command Lines found: 31
Total input Lines in script: 160
Number of ID's processed: 300
Starting Number: 61501
Last Number of Run: 61800
Summary for Web Automation Report for 06-24-2022 at 23:00:27
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:22
22 Skip Exceptions were recorded.
Potholes: Same as Trailbreaker 22
Edits: Zero
Good run

Inspector can fail if the browser was accidentally reset with F11 .... That can happen during posting of edits.

The correct procedure is to restart the browser after an F11 event.

Tomorrow's Trailbreaker ** should ** cross over 62000.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-25 06:31:36

For SpaceNut re Post Repair initiative ...

Today's Trailbreaker will try for 62100

*** The Extended ASCII test file is positioned on the laptop, ready for a pipe throughput test ...
The source file has the entire set of Extended ASCII characters. The data will pass through the pipe and end up mangled.
The first question I have is: Do ** any ** of the Extended characters survive, or are all trimmed of the high order bit?
A related question, if ** some ** high order bits survive, is whether the survivors match parity bits?
The pipe was ** supposed ** to be configured at 8 bits no parity at each stage, but (obviously) the ideal was not achieved.

Update at 13:27 local time: Trailbreaker finished with a Green screen, but it found 19 potholes.

I have yet to see a post that comments upon whatever was going on in 2005 that led to the deletions.

In the meantime,

Potholes:18 >> 61985 found later for total of 19 skips
62091 62062 62050 62048 61968 61965 61955 61949 61942 61928
61912 61888 61874 61868 61862 61861 61825 61815
Skip Analysis for 61 skips: >> 37 edits less 18 potholes: 15
Lines containing String One 115 <== 61 less 24 >> 37
Lines containing String Two 48 <<== 24 SpaceNut posts

Update at 14:55 local time lime ... Inspect will check the work

Update at 19:34 ... Inspector finished with a Green screen...

Completed Sequence for ID: 62100

Total Command Lines found: 31
Total input Lines in script: 160
Number of ID's processed: 300
Starting Number: 61801
Last Number of Run: 62100
Summary for Web Automation Report for 06-25-2022 at 19:28:02
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:22
19 Skip Exceptions were recorded.
Total time of Processing: 01:48:57
Potholes: 19 as expected
Edit: Zero
Good run

A ReScan this evening will cover 61001-62000

Update next day: ReScan finished with a Green screen. The Internet was glassy smooth overnight.

Completed Sequence for ID: 62000

Total Command Lines found: 31
Total input Lines in script: 160
Number of ID's processed: 1000
Starting Number: 61001
Last Number of Run: 62000
Summary for Web Automation Report for 06-26-2022 at 06:27:28
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:25
38 Skip Exceptions were recorded.
Total time of Processing: 06:58:09
Potholes (38 predicted): 38 found
Edits: Zero
Good run

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-25 09:46:38

For SpaceNut re Post Repair initiative...

Investigation of the mangled Extended ASCII produced a result that is both reassuring and perplexing.

The source code was positioned on the intake side of the serial pipe, as shown in a post earlier in this topic.

A program called Hyperterminal is available on this ancient laptop. Hyperterminal has a feature that allows transmission of a file.

I set up Hyperterminal to send the file of Extended ASCII through the pipe.

At the output of the pipe, I set up Notepad to receive the transmission.

The experiment showed that 8 bits no parity is in place. The input data arrived intact at the output.

The perplexing aspect of this experiment is the question of where the failure is occurring.

The third party software (obviously) is NOT the source of the problem.

At the recent Linux user group meeting, one of the members suggested I might have used the wrong (or there may be a better) system command to put data into the clipboard. Clearly the command to copy data from the clipboard is working because when the data is saved to the log file, the Extended ASCII characters are intact.

Here is the output of the test:

ASCII Number Hexadecimal Terminal Font in Notepad
32 20
! 33 21
" 34 22
# 35 23
$ 36 24
% 37 25
& 38 26
' 39 27
( 40 28
) 41 29
* 42 2A
+ 43 2B
, 44 2C
- 45 2D
. 46 2E
/ 47 2F
0 48 30
1 49 31
2 50 32
3 51 33
4 52 34
5 53 35
6 54 36
7 55 37
8 56 38
9 57 39
: 58 3A
; 59 3B
< 60 3C
= 61 3D
> 62 3E
? 63 3F
@ 64 40
A 65 41
B 66 42
C 67 43
D 68 44
E 69 45
F 70 46
G 71 47
H 72 48
I 73 49
J 74 4A
K 75 4B
L 76 4C
M 77 4D
N 78 4E
O 79 4F
P 80 50
Q 81 51
R 82 52
S 83 53
T 84 54
U 85 55
V 86 56
W 87 57
X 88 58
Y 89 59
Z 90 5A
[ 91 5B
\ 92 5C
] 93 5D
^ 94 5E
_ 95 5F
` 96 60
a 97 61
b 98 62
c 99 63
d 100 64
e 101 65
f 102 66
g 103 67
h 104 68
i 105 69
j 106 6A
k 107 6B
l 108 6C
m 109 6D
n 110 6E
o 111 6F
p 112 70
q 113 71
r 114 72
s 115 73
t 116 74
u 117 75
v 118 76
w 119 77
x 120 78
y 121 79
z 122 7A
{ 123 7B
| 124 7C
} 125 7D
~ 126 7E
127 7F
128 80
129 81
130 82
131 83
132 84
133 85
134 86
135 87
136 88
137 89
138 8A
139 8B
140 8C
141 8D
142 8E
143 8F
144 90
145 91
146 92
147 93
148 94
149 95
150 96
151 97
152 98
153 99
154 9A
155 9B
156 9C
157 9D
158 9E
159 9F
160 A0
¡ 161 A1
¢ 162 A2
£ 163 A3
€ 164 A4
¥ 165 A5
Š 166 A6
§ 167 A7
š 168 A8
© 169 A9
ª 170 AA
« 171 AB
¬ 172 AC
173 AD
® 174 AE
¯ 175 AF
° 176 B0
± 177 B1
² 178 B2
³ 179 B3
Ž 180 B4
µ 181 B5
¶ 182 B6
· 183 B7
ž 184 B8
¹ 185 B9
º 186 BA
» 187 BB
Œ 188 BC
œ 189 BD
Ÿ 190 BE
¿ 191 BF
À 192 C0
Á 193 C1
Â 194 C2
Ã 195 C3
Ä 196 C4
Å 197 C5
Æ 198 C6
Ç 199 C7
È 200 C8
É 201 C9
Ê 202 CA
Ë 203 CB
Ì 204 CC
Í 205 CD
Î 206 CE
Ï 207 CF
Ð 208 D0
Ñ 209 D1
Ò 210 D2
Ó 211 D3
Ô 212 D4
Õ 213 D5
Ö 214 D6
× 215 D7
Ø 216 D8
Ù 217 D9
Ú 218 DA
Û 219 DB
Ü 220 DC
Ý 221 DD
Þ 222 DE
ß 223 DF
à 224 E0
á 225 E1
â 226 E2
ã 227 E3
ä 228 E4
å 229 E5
æ 230 E6
ç 231 E7
è 232 E8
é 233 E9
ê 234 EA
ë 235 EB
ì 236 EC
í 237 ED
î 238 EE
ï 239 EF
240 F0
ñ 241 F1
ò 242 F2
ó 243 F3
ô 244 F4
õ 245 F5
ö 246 F6
÷ 247 F7
ø 248 F8
ù 249 F9
ú 250 FA
û 251 FB
ü 252 FC
ý 253 FD
þ 254 FE
ÿ 255 FF

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-26 04:41:10

For SpaceNut re Post Repair initiative ...

Today's Trailbreaker will try for 62400.

There will be no ReScan.

Investigation of the damage to Extended ASCII characters continues.

Yesterday, it was reported that the pipe between the WBA program and the browser was found clean.

Data pushed through the pipe from Hyperterminal to Notepad arrived intact. No data was lost at all.

The fact remains, Extended ASCII characters are being lost in the transfer of data from WBA (a process), through the pipe, to a browser (another process).

The local Linux User Group suggested looking at the system command that is "supposed" to deliver data from a variable into the system clipboard. My tentative plan is to add a comparison step to WBA, to compare the data delivered to the system clipboard to the data that was sent. The two should (of course) be the same.

However, we now know that the same data is NOT the same after it is delivered to the browser edit window.

When that same data is copied and pasted manually, it arrives safely.

Update at 10:18 local time ... investigation of WBA programming revealed that I was indeed directing data through the serial pathway to the browser.

Somehow, I had formed a misconception about how the program worked. It has been many months since that part of the code was developed, and in the intervening period, I had thought that I was loaded the data into the system clipboard, and pasting it into the browser window. Thanks to the good folks at the local Linux User Group, I was directed to look at the function I ** thought ** I was using to load data into the system clipboard. To my astonishment, I wasn't loading data into the system clipboard at all.

My (mildly educated) guess is that instant I change that piece of code, the Extended ASCII failures will stop happening.

At the same time, the long-post problem will go away.

Fortunately, no one beside you will ever see this admission.

I just wish I had discovered this problem many months ago. I now have 30,000 posts to correct, due to the unreliability of the serial path I used.

Trailbreaker is hard at work.

Update at 14:08 local time

There were 26 potholes in this 300 post series ...
There were a couple of interesting FluxBB rejects to sort out.
Most of the posts needed manual pasting to clear the high order bit problem.

***
As reported earlier, I found (to my surprise) that WBA is NOT using the system clipboard as an inter-process communications device for output, as I had thought. The program IS using the clipboard to pull data from the browser for editing.

It turned out that the documentation I have on hand does not show HOW to deliver data to the clipboard, so I asked MSDN for guidance. The result is six pages of text to study, so I expect to have a version running some time tomorrow.

A wrinkle is that the paste-from-clipboard command leaves the system in an uncertain state.

Depending upon the number of characters pasted, the focus may still be inside the edit window.

It is impossible (of course) for WBA to "see" where the focus is in the browser.

I'm studying how to deal with ** that ** problem.

Inspector will now check the edits.

Completed Sequence for ID: 62400

Total Command Lines found: 31
Total input Lines in script: 160
Number of ID's processed: 300
Starting Number: 62101
Last Number of Run: 62400
Summary for Web Automation Report for 06-26-2022 at 17:20:51
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:22
26 Skip Exceptions were recorded.
26 potholes were expexted.
Edit: Zero
Good run!

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-26 10:17:37

For SpaceNut ...

Thanks (again) for clearing Scott Beach for full membership back into the forum.

He tested the account and it let him in.

I invited Scott to suggest names of other former active members we might invite to return.

You've been thinking about an email we might send for months.

This post is offered to encourage you to put the thought process back on at least a middle burner.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-27 12:12:03

For SpaceNut re Post Repair initiative....

Trailbreaker is finished with today's run, and it is waiting (patiently) for me to get around to looking at the log.

WBA is making a bit of progress.... I added a new script command: LoadSystemClipboardFromRow:n

The first offline test went well ... I'll run a more challenging offline test later today, if plans hold....

The offline test I have in mind is the Extended ASCII test file reported to this topic recently.

If ** that ** survives the trip to the system clipboard, then I would expect it to paste into the browser edit window.

We'll see.... the system command to load the data into the system clipboard had five options, including html and rtf ...

I decided to start with one just called "text"

Update at 16:31 .... re WBA update ... In the course of struggling with SetData to load the clipboard, the prompt showed "SetText" ... I tried it and it worked instantly. The program passed offline testing, so now I'll work up some changes to the Trailbreaker to try it out. Success ** could ** mean the end of most of the post-Trailbreaker cleanup, and it ** might ** even mean that the Auditor will be able to repair the clobbered Estended ASCII characters without manual intervention. Since there were 30,000 posts in the at-risk category, and automated solution would certainly be handy.

Trailbreaker finished with NO potholes, and 16 posts to visit.

I'll schedule that for this evening.

*** re housekeeping .... a piece of machinery I depend upon failed on Sunday. The repairman was out, and he found a defective capacitor. I'd been worried a motor or other expensive subsystem might have been worn out, so it was a nice surprise to have such a minor part as the cause.

Update at 22:03 ... 17 edits were expected but only 16 were found.

hopefully, if there was something missed, Inspector will find it.

Inspector will start now.

Next day: Inspector finished it's run with a Green screen.

Potholes: Zero Edits: Zero
Good run.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-28 06:37:40

For SpaceNut re Posts Repair initiative...

Every ten days we reach an even thousand marker ... Today, if all goes well, Trailbreaker will reach 63000.

Instead of Inspector for 300, we will schedule a ReScan to cover 62001-63000.

***
A new version of WBA is ready to be installed for service on the laptop.

The new (long needed) feature to load the system clipboard has passed offline testing.

Changes in the Trailbreaker script are needed, so that will be scheduled after today's regular Trailbreaker.

If successful, the new feature will deliver John Creighton's European punctuation to the browser, as well as long posts. There will still be the occasional FluxBB reject to handle.

The new feature might even help with the Auditor cleanup, but the Auditor itself is not yet working.

The challenge right now is to align the pointer that is "reading" the downloaded string for reference, with the one that is moving along the recovered string from old logs. At the moment, synchronization is lost at the point where formatting characters are restored.

*** Update at 12:03 local time

Trailbreaker finished with a Green Screen .... 63000 is in the bag.

However, there were 51 skips ... there were Zero potholes

There were 33 SpaceNut posts, so there are 18 posts to visit.

Update at 14:03 ... one of the FluxBB rejects was interesting ... an author had inserted an unneeded "s" into a keyword. All the others were Extended ASCII issues.

I've chose a couple of posts with Extended ASCII to perform live testing.

The originals are safely stored in the Trailbreaker for 63000.

There will be no Inspector run today. Instead, the full ReScan will cover the last 1000 posts.

It's back to the offline test machine, apparently. The live test did not complete. It did not do any harm, which is good, but it did not do what it was supposed to do. I've restored the working script.

Update at 21:42 ... ReScan just finished with a Green screen ....

It will report finding some potholes ...we had a number of them recently

30 potholes were reported... There were no Edits. I call this a successful run.

Tomorrow's Trailbreaker will try for 63300.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-28 13:11:37

We just received word that a former member was unable to log in because his ID had been banned during the Great Spammer lockout.

Every day, for an extended period of time, I have been posting in the Recruiting topic, to show all former members how to let us know you'd be welcome to ask for reinstatement.

I have asked for the text that FluxBB shows to folks be changed. SpaceNut does not have the power to change the text that people see when they attempt to log in and discover they've been banned.

I've asked to have that text changed.

It is good to know that former members are once again interested in participating.

It is disappointing to learn that all the outreach efforts we've made are not successful.

Hopefully new text will be provided.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-29 07:58:19

For SpaceNut re new member application and Budweiser brewery on Mars...

Our new member applicant reported that Budweiser declared an interest in becoming the first brewery on Mars.

According to the applicant that occurred in 2017.

Budweiser is large enough to fund Dr. Johnson's lander probes, and the costs can be deferred to the US public through the tax system, if Mars Society agrees to serve as the official scientific investigator to find water on Mars.

We have little time to launch Dr. Johnson's probe to Mars this September.

We wasted a lot of time by writing to Elon Musk and to Jeff Bezos.

neither acknowledged the correspondence, and I can certainly understand they have other priorities.

I just checked My Hacienda Registry, and we do NOT have the word "brewery" included in the list of specializations.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-29 08:02:32

For SpaceNut re Post Repair initiative ...

Today's Trailbreaker will try for 63300.

There will be no ReScan.

WBA's new LoadClipboard feature worked in offline testing but failed in a live test.

I found a hint about what to do, so will add that to the program later today.

The issue is that the system function reported it had loaded the clipboard with data, but when the clipboard was posted to the output, it was empty.

I ** did ** find a wealth of information about how to work with the clipboard in C++, and I ** can ** work with C++ if I absolutely ** have ** to, but the simplicity of a high level language is preferable.

Update at 13:51 local time ... Trailbreaker finished with a Green screen ...

Completed Sequence for ID: 63300

Total Command Lines found: 52
Total input Lines in script: 177
Number of ID's processed: 300
Starting Number: 63001
Last Number of Run: 63300
Summary for Web Automation Report for 06-29-2022 at 13:28:47
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:36
47 Skip Exceptions were recorded.
Potholes: 63232 63221 63196 63175 63171 (5)
Skip analysis for 47 skips:
Lines containing String One 94 <<== 47 less 25 >> 22
Lines containing String Two 50 <<== 25 SpaceNut posts
Of the 22 edits, 5 are potholes for a net >> 17

Update at 19:52

Inspector finished with a Green screen...

Completed Sequence for ID: 63300
Total Command Lines found: 31
Total input Lines in script: 160
Number of ID's processed: 300
Starting Number: 63001
Last Number of Run: 63300
Summary for Web Automation Report for 06-29-2022 at 19:50:03
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:22
5 Skip Exceptions were recorded.
Total time of Processing: 01:49:28
Five potholes were expected and reported.
Edit: Zero
Good run!

Update at 20:08 local time...

Tests were run live with both new features of WBA...

The Auditor log will be studied tomorrow.

More importantly, a test of the new Load to System Clipboard feature worked.

I only tested through the upload to clipboard step, but will now schedule a more thorough test tomorrow.

On this occasion, following the online documentation suggestion, I cleared the System Clipboard before attempting an upload of data, and this time the data showed up.

The manual paste to Notepad worked. Tomorrow's test will be to see if the procedure works with the Ctrl/V transmitted via the serial pipe from WBA to the browser.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-29 10:58:54

For SpaceNut re count of ID's

Today I found this: Total number of registered users: 19,630

On March 3 of 2021, we had 19,633 ID's in the database.

Are you aware of any ID's being deleted?

Can anyone other than an administrator delete an ID?

Can a member delete their own ID?

I can't see any reason to delete an ID?

Am I missing something?

FYI... 19633 had numerical symmetry in multiple dimensions. 19630 is a poor substitute.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2022-06-29 18:37:46

Yes I did remove a couple, I think moderators can but its been a while.
I did clear TwinBeam's account and sent an email plus a PM
sent emails to james as well as a follow up to you as well.

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-29 18:59:19

For SpaceNut re #2296

Thanks for confirming those *** 3 *** ID's were culled at your hand.

It's not as though we'll miss them. It's just that I had memorized our achievement in recovering all those ID's, and the "magic" number was 19633.

***
Thanks for taking care of TwinBeam's account, and for the follow ups!

Hopefully he'll arrive on the scene soon.

If you find any more ID's you want to delete, just convert them to TestID's.

Or have me do it (I'm out of practice).

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-30 05:30:29

For SpaceNut re Post Repair initiative ...

Today's Trailbreaker will try for 63600. We'll be using the tried and true version for this run.

The tried-and-true version sends data through the serial pipe, so Extended ASCII bits get lost. I have to spend up to an hour each day cleaning up the mistakes.

The new version is ** almost ** ready to go into service. A successful test yesterday showed that it ** is ** possible to load the system clipboard using a high level language. After today's "normal" run I'll set up some tests of the new feature, to see if it will work in a live test. This has been a long time coming.

I'm also planning to spend some debug step time on the Auditor ... a live test yesterday show progress, but there is still a bit of tweaking needed. The goal is to replace existing FluxBB posts that are damaged, with reconstructed posts from the update logs. A lot has to go ** just right ** for that to happen.

Trailbreaker finished with a Green screen... This was the current running version, so Extended ASCII was clobbered.

Completed Sequence for ID: 63600

Total Command Lines found: 52
Total input Lines in script: 177
Number of ID's processed: 300
Starting Number: 63301
Last Number of Run: 63600
Summary for Web Automation Report for 06-30-2022 at 12:41:37
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:37
40 Skip Exceptions were recorded.
Total time of Processing: 03:05:42
Potholes: Just one: 63382
Skip analysis for 40 skips:
Lines containing String One 80 == 40 less 22 >> 18 less 1: 17
Lines containing String Two 44 == 22 SpaceNut posts

I took at look at WBA and realized the Auditor had failed because I returned the wrong value from a subroutine.

A new version, with the correct return is loaded onto the laptop, ready for testing.

Update at 17:09 local time

Completed Sequence for ID: 63600

Total Command Lines found: 31
Total input Lines in script: 160
Number of ID's processed: 300
Starting Number: 63301
Last Number of Run: 63600
Summary for Web Automation Report for 06-30-2022 at 17:07:21
Average time of Loop from Main form: 00:00:22
1 Skip Exceptions were recorded.
Total time of Processing: 01:48:58
Potholes: One expected One found
Edits: Zero
Good run.

Update at 20:57 local time

The Auditor script came within one byte of computing the replacement string correctly. it's back to the offline test for that one.

The new Trailbreaker ** seems ** to have worked. I'll study the log carefully tomorrow to be sure.

If the test seems to have worked, I'll try a short run with tomorrow's scheduled series.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2022-06-30 09:14:06

For SpaceNut re membership issues ...

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: <name removed for privacy>
Date: Mon, Jun 27, 2022 at 5:05 PM
Subject: [webmaster: 26699] Banned?
To: webmaster@marssociety.org <webmaster@marssociety.org>

Please note that the spelling of the name of the gent who contacted Mr. Burk is different from the one you found.

The difference is: "cra" vs "car" in the last name.

I appreciate your doing the research to discover the difference.

Regarding text seen by visitors to NewMars.com/forums ... you're right ... the Webmaster would have to change that text.

Hopefully Mr. Burk will find time, or delegate responsibility for our web site to someone else.

We need to get that language changed.

Update at 11:19 local time ... SpaceNut ... we do not have a member in the User list with a last name that matches the gent who sent the email.

The gent may have been using another ID, but he neglected to send that information to Mr. Burk.

The correct solution is for the gent to write to the NewMarsMember email account, as described in the Recruiting topic.

Update at 11:23 local time.... SpaceNut, the email address of the gent who wrote to Mr. Burk is NOT in the database.

Assuming the email writer had a membership at one time, we have no way of knowing what ID was used, or what email was used.

There is even the possibility the person never had a membership in ** this ** forum!

There ** is ** another possibility, but it is almost ** too ** far out .... perhaps this ** is ** the person you found, but the name got translated ** twice ** between the message to the webmaster, and the email you received.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2022-06-30 19:03:06

It will be interesting to see what will happen with login name "BeerMan" as the issue was the log in and not the password reset...

The username "Twin Beam" was at the end of the email and while it seems legit it's going to always be a question mark until that account logs in and posts when the user has updated the email that they use now but it's not the same as the old one on file.

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