Forum seems to be broken

[d_stranz]

The forum seems to be broken for me. Any action (clicking on a message, searching for messages, posting a reply, etc.) takes at least 2 - 3 minutes to get a response. In addition, all of the normal text formatting icons are missing from the message editing panes.

I'm trying to determine whether something in my browser has changed or if it is a forum problem. I normally use Firefox on Windows, but the same slow response happens with Microsoft Edge, and also with Firefox on Ubuntu. So it looks like a forum problem.

Is anyone else experiencing problems?

[Ginsengelf]

Yes, it's the same for me. Everything seems to work but takes forever.
I'm also using Firefox on Windows.

Ginsengelf

[d_stranz]

Maybe I banned the wrong spammer and they have mounted a DDOS attack. I don't know; I do not have that level of admin access, only a moderator role.

[wysota]

It should be a bit better now. Basically the amount of crawler traffic was starving the php runners. Most of these crawlers are AI related, by the way...

[Onclueed]

Yes, I’ve been noticing the same thing! Everything is super sluggish, and the formatting toolbar is gone for me too. I thought it was just my browser at first, but I tested it on Chrome and Firefox (both Windows and Linux) and it’s the same issue.

geometry vibes

[wysota]

It should be fine now. At least for me it is.

[d_stranz]

Yes, all seems back to normal. Responsiveness, editing features, etc. Thanks, Wysota.

[Lucycampbell]

The forum seems to be broken for me. Any action (clicking on a message, searching for messages, posting a reply, etc.) takes at least 2 - 3 minutes to get a response. In addition, all of the normal text formatting icons are missing from the message editing panes.

I'm trying to determine whether something in my browser has changed or if it is a forum problem. I normally use Firefox on Windows, but the same slow response happens with Microsoft Edge, and also with Firefox on Ubuntu. So it looks like a forum problem ball orbit

Is anyone else experiencing problems?

Yes, I’m seeing the same issues here — pages are loading very slowly and the editor toolbar is missing. Looks like it’s a forum-side problem, not your browser

[d_stranz]

I believe the problem is still what Wysota described earlier - the site is being overwhelmed with hits by AI bots. Cloudflare has recently reported that more than 80% of all web traffic is due to AI training crawlers, and that many of them ignore the directives in "robots.txt" files that request that site not be crawled. It's sad. The site is nearly useless.

https://blog.cloudflare.com/ai-crawl...-and-industry/

And you are also right - the editing tools are gone. I wanted to embed that URL, but can't because I don't remember the tags needed to do it manually.

[wysota]

What editing tools? I can see the toolbar just fine.

As for the site responsiveness - yes, it's quite bad. I'm struggling to make it better but with little success.

[d_stranz]

Well, today the editing toolbar and the "Post Quick Reply / Go Advanced / Cancel" buttons are back. When I posted the previous message, there was nothing except the text entry box. Seems to be back to normal now. The site is also much more responsive. Thanks for the work.

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