Anyone having problems posting comments? April 14, 2015 9:18 AM Subscribe
I am really frequently getting "Error—Comment Post Not Found" messages when attempting to post replies on the blue. Anyone else having similar problems? (I recognize the irony of asking this when it will be difficult for people to respond...)
If you can read this, then no.
posted by zombieflanders at 9:34 AM on April 14, 2015
posted by zombieflanders at 9:34 AM on April 14, 2015
We haven't had reports of problems beyond this one, no. The "Comment Post Not Found" error frequently happens when you navigate to the comment posting page using the back button rather than pressing the Post Comment button. Typically there's no reason to go back to that page like that, but it can happen. You shouldn't be seeing that error after pressing the Post Comment button. If you are, here are some things to try:
1.) Try the standard routine for troubleshooting.
2.) Try a different browser for a while. If the problem goes away, it's probably a setting or issue with your primary browser.
3.) Try disabling any browser add-ons or Greasemonkey scripts. If the problem goes away it's probably something modifying the page in a way that breaks things.
4.) No luck yet? You could check the system level. Have you installed any security software lately that could be preventing you from submitting forms for some reason? (Though you submitted the MetaTalk post ok.)
posted by pb (staff) at 9:34 AM on April 14, 2015
1.) Try the standard routine for troubleshooting.
2.) Try a different browser for a while. If the problem goes away, it's probably a setting or issue with your primary browser.
3.) Try disabling any browser add-ons or Greasemonkey scripts. If the problem goes away it's probably something modifying the page in a way that breaks things.
4.) No luck yet? You could check the system level. Have you installed any security software lately that could be preventing you from submitting forms for some reason? (Though you submitted the MetaTalk post ok.)
posted by pb (staff) at 9:34 AM on April 14, 2015
Am I the only one who kind of hoped pb's link to the standard troubleshooting routine was just this jpeg?
posted by Rock Steady at 9:46 AM on April 14, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by Rock Steady at 9:46 AM on April 14, 2015 [10 favorites]
It's persisting across Chrome (AdBlock paused) and Firefox (no extensions besides Firebug) on Linux. I will try posting from Windows later today...
(Also, it seems to be thread-specific; I've tried posting a comment in the corn flakes thread about fifty times...)
posted by sonic meat machine at 9:49 AM on April 14, 2015
(Also, it seems to be thread-specific; I've tried posting a comment in the corn flakes thread about fifty times...)
posted by sonic meat machine at 9:49 AM on April 14, 2015
Spurious datapoint: I've had two instances in the last two days of going to MetaFilter and getting some version of "server not found", once on an iPad and once on my computer. Hasn't happened with any other site. I just moved to a new apartment and assume it has something to do with the new internet connection.
posted by Kattullus at 9:53 AM on April 14, 2015
posted by Kattullus at 9:53 AM on April 14, 2015
It's testing fine for me in Firefox 37.0.1 and Chrome 41.0.2272.118 on Ubuntu 12.04.5. I can't think of any reason offhand why commenting would be different from one thread to another.
Can you describe your commenting process a bit more? Do you use the Post Comment button or do you Preview first?
posted by pb (staff) at 10:12 AM on April 14, 2015
Can you describe your commenting process a bit more? Do you use the Post Comment button or do you Preview first?
posted by pb (staff) at 10:12 AM on April 14, 2015
I generally type the comment and then post it; I seldom use the preview button since the live preview works well.
posted by sonic meat machine at 10:25 AM on April 14, 2015
posted by sonic meat machine at 10:25 AM on April 14, 2015
Thanks. It sure sounds like the form post isn't happening for you but you're advancing to the form-processing page anyway. It sounds like you've ruled out browser add-ons or scripts interfering. Since it's happening in multiple browsers for you it could be something at the system or network level. You might double-check there and see if you've installed any network safety type software.
And you could always try enabling secure browsing in your MetaFilter preferences. Having an HTTPS connection might bypass any network help you might be getting.
posted by pb (staff) at 10:38 AM on April 14, 2015
And you could always try enabling secure browsing in your MetaFilter preferences. Having an HTTPS connection might bypass any network help you might be getting.
posted by pb (staff) at 10:38 AM on April 14, 2015
Do you remember, pb, that I had this problem with a specific comment two months ago? Server preview would fail in this manner. Through experimentation, I discovered that there was something within my comment that was causing the form submission to not reach the MeFi server -- I only discovered this after I was able to preview and post in another thread. Then I systematically pared down the comment I'd been working on to isolate the portion of it that was causing the problem. That almost worked, but it turned out to not be so easily restricted. You suggested that something in the pipeline from my browser to the server was filtering out the form submission and, from my experimentation, it was definitely content-based.
I ended up just posting my comment from my phone (via cell data or my wifi, so I can't recall if my router was ruled out) and I never pinned down what the problem was. For all I know, it could have been a browser extension or the wifi router or the cable modem or anything else along the way. Or there's a malware sniffer on my PC that's misbehaving (that's not the behavior that they'd want) that I'm not aware of, though probably not. But I worried about it for awhile.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:59 PM on April 14, 2015
I ended up just posting my comment from my phone (via cell data or my wifi, so I can't recall if my router was ruled out) and I never pinned down what the problem was. For all I know, it could have been a browser extension or the wifi router or the cable modem or anything else along the way. Or there's a malware sniffer on my PC that's misbehaving (that's not the behavior that they'd want) that I'm not aware of, though probably not. But I worried about it for awhile.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 12:59 PM on April 14, 2015
I've heard if you try posting your Metafilter password the comment will fail to post.
posted by pibeandres at 1:19 PM on April 14, 2015
posted by pibeandres at 1:19 PM on April 14, 2015
Nope, the comment still posts.
posted by Solomon at 1:21 PM on April 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Solomon at 1:21 PM on April 14, 2015 [4 favorites]
correct horse battery staple
posted by zombieflanders at 1:23 PM on April 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by zombieflanders at 1:23 PM on April 14, 2015 [5 favorites]
No, the post will go through but pb made it so everybody except the poster will see only asterisks. Like this: *******
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:42 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:42 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
Do you remember, pb, that I had this problem with a specific comment two months ago?
Yeah, that does ring a bell now that you mention it. If it was a problem with some network filter based on the content of a comment, enabling secure browsing should bypass it. In theory, an HTTPS connection means that the content of your form post is only known to your browser and the MetaFilter server.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:43 PM on April 14, 2015
Yeah, that does ring a bell now that you mention it. If it was a problem with some network filter based on the content of a comment, enabling secure browsing should bypass it. In theory, an HTTPS connection means that the content of your form post is only known to your browser and the MetaFilter server.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:43 PM on April 14, 2015
It was the weirdest thing. It wasn't specifically posting to that thread because I was able to preview completely different text. It wasn't the length, either specific or as a threshold, of my comment -- that was the second thing I tried. Then I started cutting down the comment from the bottom and then the top, and reduced it to a few sentences (beginning with a fragment) that would always result in the error. They were innocuous. IIRC, it was the second half of the fourth paragraph and the first half of the fifth of this comment that I'd narrowed it down to. (I just checked and am able to server preview that comment now.)
I wish I'd tried the secure browsing, but I didn't even know about that option in MeFi preferences.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:46 PM on April 14, 2015
I wish I'd tried the secure browsing, but I didn't even know about that option in MeFi preferences.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:46 PM on April 14, 2015
This does not mean the cabal has been screening your comments for ideological correctness. Just a simple bug.
posted by killdevil at 3:34 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by killdevil at 3:34 PM on April 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
It eventually happened again, on the 'tableflip' thread... it's as if it is triggered by volume...
posted by sonic meat machine at 5:44 PM on April 14, 2015
posted by sonic meat machine at 5:44 PM on April 14, 2015
Well stop typing so loud then
posted by aubilenon at 8:49 PM on April 14, 2015 [13 favorites]
posted by aubilenon at 8:49 PM on April 14, 2015 [13 favorites]
:(
posted by sonic meat machine at 5:24 AM on April 15, 2015
posted by sonic meat machine at 5:24 AM on April 15, 2015
the second half of the fourth paragraph and the first half of the fifth of this comment
Looking at that paragraph, possibly the two consecutive dashes were causing something to block the submission as a potential sql injection attack?
Obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/327/
posted by superna at 10:15 AM on April 15, 2015
Looking at that paragraph, possibly the two consecutive dashes were causing something to block the submission as a potential sql injection attack?
Obligatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/327/
posted by superna at 10:15 AM on April 15, 2015
That's a good guess superna, but no--we don't block potential SQL injection in that way. This feels like a client issue to me, but I'm not sure why the post isn't being sent to the server properly.
posted by pb (staff) at 10:29 AM on April 15, 2015
posted by pb (staff) at 10:29 AM on April 15, 2015
My thing definitely wasn't at the server, because I was able to post the comment via my phone with no trouble even though it wouldn't post from Chrome on my PC. But, also, looking back the email I sent pb, I see that I naturally also tried IE on my PC and it had the same problem. The one thing I didn't do was try it from another PC. So, not MeFi and not Chrome or IE, but possibly something on my PC or my router or ...? Don't know, it was just weird.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:30 PM on April 15, 2015
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:30 PM on April 15, 2015
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posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:29 AM on April 14, 2015