Author Topic: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh  (Read 25361 times)

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Offline Asyn

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #30 on: July 01, 2014, 05:35:45 PM »
1. Ok, now the mechanism what causes this annoyance is pretty much solved.
2. I urge others to test too. 1 hour (+5 minutes to be sure) without reading this forum can't be that difficult. Go out and jog, or watch a movie. ;)
3. Could somebody from Avast fix this please?
1. Ermm, great.
2. Good luck.
3. Still don't see what has to be fixed here..!? After an hour of inactivity you can expect such a result, imo.
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Offline Skakara

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #31 on: July 01, 2014, 05:45:05 PM »
3. Still don't see what has to be fixed here..!? After an hour of inactivity you can expect such a result, imo.
Jesus christ you people here. I've been on many many, many different forums and this forum is the ONLY ONE that has this stupidity. Most probably because on other forums they don't rely on external authentication systems.

Asyn, I went through your posts to this topic and here's what I found out:

1) You don't want to even test this annoyance.
2) You engage in off-topic discussion.
3) You're borderline flaming/trolling.

It's obvious that your way of using this forum you either A) never see this annoyance  B) you just don't care. That's fine and dandy..

..But others care AND have this annoyance. So please, could you have the decency to respect other users wishes and stop posting irrelevant messages here? Thank you very much.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2014, 05:47:39 PM by Skakara »

Offline Asyn

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #32 on: July 01, 2014, 05:54:59 PM »
So please, could you have the decency to respect other users wishes and stop posting irrelevant messages here? Thank you very much.
No problem at all, I'm out.

Edit: After rereading the thread, I can't see which of my msgs were irrelevant, though. :P
« Last Edit: July 01, 2014, 06:16:23 PM by Asyn »
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Offline DavidR

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #33 on: July 01, 2014, 07:18:31 PM »
OK, I stayed off-line for some time and left some open topics and also left the 'Show unread posts since last visit.'

Refreshing the topics I left open, didn't cause a refresh to the index.php.

Refreshing the 'Show unread posts since last visit.' query results in a refresh to the index.php.

But this isn't the way I use the forum so in general I don't often come across this issue. Not so much for it to be a real hassle.

Quote from: Skakara
I've been on many many, many different forums and this forum is the ONLY ONE that has this stupidity. Most probably because on other forums they don't rely on external authentication systems.

Well you only need cast your mind back a few weeks to the fact the forum got hacked and was off line for a couple of weeks to investigate how to better protect the forum/user information. This external authentication was one of the measures to prevent this information being stolen (not on the forum server).

So for whatever reason if the forums were hacked this kind of information wouldn't be available for harvesting.
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Offline Skakara

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #34 on: July 01, 2014, 07:45:18 PM »
OK, I stayed off-line for some time and left some open topics and also left the 'Show unread posts since last visit.'

Refreshing the topics I left open, didn't cause a refresh to the index.php.

Refreshing the 'Show unread posts since last visit.' query results in a refresh to the index.php.
Ok, "some time", though really unspecific, seemed to be enough since at least once it did happen.

BUT, how did you test those 2 cases? Did it go like this?

1) You left some open topics and also left the 'Show unread posts since last visit.'
2) You waited some time.
3) You refreshed the 'Show unread posts since last visit.' query results in a refresh to the index.php.
4) Immediately after the previous step (within 1h), you refreshed the topics you left open, didn't cause a refresh to the index.php.

Is this how you tested? If yes, you missed this: "NOTE! After you've refreshed one tab, the second (or 3rd, 4th...) tab when refreshed stays on the current page (which is expected)." I guess that's what happened. You can only test 1 page/topic at a time, then, to test another page/topic, you have to wait another 1+ hour (or kill the cookie).


Well you only need cast your mind back a few weeks to the fact the forum got hacked and was off line for a couple of weeks to investigate how to better protect the forum/user information. This external authentication was one of the measures to prevent this information being stolen (not on the forum server).

So for whatever reason if the forums were hacked this kind of information wouldn't be available for harvesting.
And? I fully understand what you're saying, but the ext. auth. security aspect doesn't really relate to this forum annoyance. I've done my share of web developing and I can say for sure (even though I don't know the inner workings of the system) that this annoyance could be coded differently, i.e. redirecting users to the page they were on after the authentication is done.

And besides, for all I care, from personal point of view, let forums get hacked, ok, it's an annoyance, but nothing else to me, I don't condone it no, but I'm not that dumb to e.g. use the same passwords for different sites/services. And for somebody gleaning my email address? Well, if you operate in internet, it's a lost cause anyways, it's going to go to a lot of "lists" even if you are really conservative about where you do put it in. Different emails for every need? No thanks, it's not possible. My 2c.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2014, 07:47:01 PM by Skakara »

Offline !Donovan

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #35 on: July 01, 2014, 07:49:57 PM »
I can confirm,

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Offline Skakara

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #36 on: July 01, 2014, 07:56:12 PM »
Thanks !Donovan.

Minor addition, it's both "forumavastcom" and "PHPSESSID" cookies that affects the 1h limit. If you delete "forumavastcom", pages still refresh normally (within that 1h), but if you delete "PHPSESSID" cookie (no need to delete other cookie), the redirecting happens.. and it's pretty obvious why to the people who know about PHP and sessions. Anyways, this is just minor addition.. useful for those who wants to test this with deleting cookies instead of waiting the 1+ hours. :)

EDIT: This PHP session thing made me realize that it could be the PHP session that is to blame, when a new session is created, it could be that after that happens, a redirect to main page is coded to happen. (this is the annoying part of blackbox testing, there's so many possibilities)
« Last Edit: July 01, 2014, 08:06:05 PM by Skakara »

Offline DavidR

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #37 on: July 01, 2014, 09:33:38 PM »
@ Skakara
My previous test was conducted in line with your setting, I waited well in excess of an hour but I didn't specifically time it.
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Offline Skakara

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #38 on: July 01, 2014, 09:45:17 PM »
My previous test was conducted in line with your setting, I waited well in excess of an hour but I didn't specifically time it.
Yes, that much was established already since the redirecting happened at least once. But that's not what I asked. I wanted to know whether you did the following steps right after another, and in this order:

3) You refreshed the 'Show unread posts since last visit.' query results in a refresh to the index.php.
4) Immediately after the previous step (within 1h), you refreshed the topics you left open, didn't cause a refresh to the index.php.

If you did, then your results are normal. Because the cookie/session gets updated when the first redirection happened in step 3. That's why in step 4 the redirection didn't happen.
« Last Edit: July 01, 2014, 09:47:22 PM by Skakara »

Offline Skakara

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #39 on: July 01, 2014, 09:50:44 PM »
I just white-hat hacked my way around the 1h limit. I changed the expire date of the "forumavastcom" cookie. I added 1 year more so that it expires on July 2015. Most probably doesn't last to that date, the server session probably isn't that long. Well, anyways, I proved that the "forumavastcom" cookie has some part in this. More permanent AND proper solution would be nice from Avast team.

Offline bob3160

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #40 on: July 01, 2014, 11:36:48 PM »
@ Skakara
My previous test was conducted in line with your setting, I waited well in excess of an hour but I didn't specifically time it.
David,
This may not effect you since you don't request reply notifications.
As I've already stated, it does effect me but not on every reply.
I haven't tested the time frame but that may be a clue since it seems to happen when I'm returning to the forum after some time. :)
I also want to continue receiving email notifications to my replies and subscribed forums.
I don't want to change to your method. :)

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Offline Skakara

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #41 on: July 01, 2014, 11:50:09 PM »
This may not effect you since you don't request reply notifications.
I'm sorry but this has nothing to do with this.

I'm pretty sure that DavidR misunderstood a bit how this works & did the tests (and reporting of it) too a bit wrong. I bet that this is what he did:

1) open "Show unread posts" page
2) open some other topic page
3) waited 1+ hours
4) refreshed the "Show unread posts" page
= redirect to main page
5) then right after previous step, refreshed the other topic page
= no redirect (this is perfectly normal because in step 4, the 1st redirecting also updates to a new 1 hour limit -> no redirect in step 5)

(this is the 3rd time I'm trying to explain this same thing, twice I've asked DavidR without reply)

Offline bob3160

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #42 on: July 02, 2014, 12:03:22 AM »
This may not effect you since you don't request reply notifications.
I'm sorry but this has nothing to do with this.

I'm pretty sure that DavidR misunderstood a bit how this works & did the tests (and reporting of it) too a bit wrong. I bet that this is what he did:

1) open "Show unread posts" page
2) open some other topic page
3) waited 1+ hours
4) refreshed the "Show unread posts" page
= redirect to main page
5) then right after previous step, refreshed the other topic page
= no redirect (this is perfectly normal because in step 4, the 1st redirecting also updates to a new 1 hour limit -> no redirect in step 5)

(this is the 3rd time I'm trying to explain this same thing, twice I've asked DavidR without reply)
You seem to forget that we, which includes David and any one else not noted as an Avast Employee, are avast! users.
We don't work for Avast. I suggest that you address your replies accordingly.
All posts are relevant, even if you don't think they are.   :o
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Offline Skakara

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #43 on: July 02, 2014, 12:26:48 AM »
You seem to forget that we, which includes David and any one else not noted as an Avast Employee, are avast! users.
We don't work for Avast. I suggest that you address your replies accordingly.
All posts are relevant, even if you don't think they are.   :o
Wait what? I don't understand? Did I say that your posts are not relevant? No I didn't. And correcting you on your belief that "reply notifications" has something to do with this annoyance, was just that, a correction of false belief. Nothing more. If I'd said that the world is flat, you most probably would correct me, right? :) I've to admit that I'm rather frustrated & disappointed that I can't explain myself clearly enough to DavidR.

Offline Simion

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Re: Avast Forum redirecting to forum main page after page refresh
« Reply #44 on: July 02, 2014, 01:05:35 AM »
This may not effect you since you don't request reply notifications.
I'm sorry but this has nothing to do with this.

I'm pretty sure that DavidR misunderstood a bit how this works & did the tests (and reporting of it) too a bit wrong. I bet that this is what he did:

1) open "Show unread posts" page
2) open some other topic page
3) waited 1+ hours
4) refreshed the "Show unread posts" page
= redirect to main page
5) then right after previous step, refreshed the other topic page
= no redirect (this is perfectly normal because in step 4, the 1st redirecting also updates to a new 1 hour limit -> no redirect in step 5)

(this is the 3rd time I'm trying to explain this same thing, twice I've asked DavidR without reply)
You seem to forget that we, which includes David and any one else not noted as an Avast Employee, are avast! users.
We don't work for Avast. I suggest that you address your replies accordingly.


And you are a two faced liar, bob3160! Whether paid or not, you DO work for Avast so your opinions as an Avast user are subject to scrutiny. https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=78426.0   >:(
« Last Edit: July 02, 2014, 01:07:40 AM by Simion »