Can't leave comment in a post or topic See image!

[robdragon 167]

[CorinaMarie 29,875]

Even I get that now and then. So far all I have needed to do is refresh the page and then it resolves itself. Can you give that a try and let me know if it helps?

[Tyberius06 12,251]

Someone asked the same question via PM from me a couple of hours ago, and I could say the same! I managed to solve this issue with the same (refreshing the page) method.

[robdragon 167]

[CorinaMarie 29,875]

Yikes!

Something has to be wonky then. We do have another member using Safari on a Mac suddenly having the same trouble. I'll turn it over to our top technician ( @Cyclone Boom ) and hopefully he'll have some better ideas.

Edit: Btw, brilliant use of images to communicate.

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

Hi everyone,

This is a technically tricky issue to diagnose because the editor is seemingly working fine for some, yet far from everyone. (Which isn't acceptable.)

As a bit of background, the actual framework which provides toolbar functionality is called CKEditor.

This is integrated into the site software and every so often we receive new updates which add new features, fixes, and refinements. The odd thing is we've not had a major software upgrade for quite a while, and so these issues suddenly starting are difficult to pinpoint specifically.

It's possible there is server-side caching from Cloudflare our CDN which is serving old and invalid scripts and styles. Basically this allows local resources to be delivered more efficiently since there are clusters around the world where data centres are located. The idea is to reduce network latency, which is the time it takes to complete a request when loading a page and the contents. If there are irregularities in those users who are noticing the issues with the editor not opening, it may suggest the common factor is geographical location. In which case that's why different browsers may not help.

On occasions yet not consistently, I have also personally experienced the issue of the editor not expanding properly. I've found performing a page refresh usually restores it upon the reload. Sometimes this may need a force refresh which is a more complete approach by reloading all page elements, which then updates the browser's local cache for the applicable data on the page. On Windows this is a Ctrl+F5 (and on a Mac it's Cmd+R). There's a site here with an overview of methods to clear the cache in various browsers. However although it can help in certain circumstances and is worth a try, it seems this may not be the clear-cut solution in this case.

 

Editor Configuration Reset

Earlier you may have noticed the site was offline for a short while. During this time I took measures to rebuild the editor's toolbar configuration, before clearing all local cached data for the board software. The buttons as a result have been restored to their default layout, and the custom spoiler title plugin has been temporarily removed. While I don't believe it would be the culprit, I found 2 of the llama emoticons had gone missing (404 Not Found) and so in the process I've removed those from the list.

If it can be, once opened this is how it'll currently appear:

At this point I have doubts this will resolve the issue, but I figured it's worth trying to rule out problems with the custom layout. Also by performing this rebuild, it should technically lead to the scripts and styles being reloaded at the Cloudflare (CDN) side. That's the theory anyway, and theories aren't always practically practical.

 

Diagnosing

Thanks @robdragon for posting a summary there which has already answered a few key things. With a refresh or reboot not helping, the same issue with multiple browsers, and also recently observed. For anyone experiencing issues with the editor not loading, here's a few questions which would be helpful if each of you could answer as best you can. Understandably without the ability to post text-based replies, if you can type up something and save to an image as robdragon did that'd be super.

As follows:
(For anything specified which you've not yet attempted, please do so as possible and post the outcome.)

1. What operating system are you running, and which versions of browsers does it occur with?  (E.g. Windows 10 on Firefox 63.0)
2. What is your system's screen resolution?
    
3. Approximately when did you first notice it happening?
4. Thinking back, have you ever experienced it before now at all?
5. Does it make a difference if waiting a while before attempting to open the editor, or trying straight away when a page has loaded in full?
6. Is the issue intermittent, or consistently reoccurring each and every time?
    
7. Is there any section of the site (or page) where it works fine?
8. Does it also occur in the status updates feed list?  (It might make a difference since that's a small condensed version of the editor.)
   
   Which looks like this:
   
   (Try clicking this on the forum index right hand sidebar.)
    
9. Have you tried signing out, restarting your browser, performing a force page refresh, then signing back into your account?
10. Have you attempted to resize your browser's window width to make it shrink to mobile view, and back to desktop mode again?
     
11. Is there any improvement upon restarting your computer?
12. Does a reboot of your router help?
13. Are you using a VPN or proxy network to connect to the internet?
     
14. Do you have any browser addons enabled?  If so, does turning them off make a difference?
15. Does anything show up in your browser's Console Mode?  (In terms of any errors, etc.)

 

So I hope this might provide a bit of guidance.

I'll be restoring the site's toolbar button configuration in due course, but will just give it 24-48 hours to see if that changes anything. If anyone can confirm it's still occurring after then, I think we can rule out a "corrupted" configuration. Given the sporadic nature of how certain users have reported this, I'm leaning towards it being an issue with Cloudflare. Although right now it's hard to say since I'd like to narrow down other possibilities first.

As ever with site issues, apologies for the inconvenience this may be causing, and hopefully we can get to the bottom of it shortly.

Thanks all.

[robdragon 167]

[robdragon 167]

COOL!!

What ever you did fixed the prob!

Thanks Buddy!!

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

1 hour ago, robdragon said:

COOL!!

What ever you did fixed the prob!

Thanks Buddy!!

Super, that's great to hear!    Maybe the Halloween hats also helped...

What I've done now is rebuilt the editor how it was in terms of the button layout. Let me know if it still works.

All being well it should look like this:

 

[robdragon 167]

1 hour ago, Cyclone Boom said:

Super, that's great to hear!    Maybe the Halloween hats also helped...

What I've done now is rebuilt the editor how it was in terms of the button layout. Let me know if it still works.

All being well it should look like this:

 

Excellent!!!

Perfect as you show!!

Good Job Buddy!!

Thanks from me anyway, now I can actually leave comments and the such!

I bow to your expertise!

 

[robdragon 167]

P.S.

The Halloween hats may just been the deciding factor!

[gwada971 1,891]

 

[Jasoncw 11,946]

@Cyclone Boom

@philforhockey51is having the same problem.

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

@philforhockey51

Oh no! I'm sorry to hear that.

I'm purely speculating here without any supporting evidence other than a somewhat rational suspicion. However, I wonder if this could be a by-product from what happened during the site downtime on Saturday (of which the causes can also only be pondered about).

As you may know, there was an extended time when the site wasn't online. After this occurred I went through fixing up a few things in the database which had somehow been unknowingly reset. All seems well now on that front. Thinking about this though, it makes me wonder whether there's been another conflict of the editor cached data as was originally reported above. In the process of resolving the underlying issues, I rebuilt the site cache and theme data involving scripts and styles. Perhaps in the absence of the site being online, when it returned then Cloudflare (the site's CDN) ended up refreshing too and there's a clash now going on. Seeing as a CDN is dependent on each user's geographical location (as this status page represents), there's many different entities involved, increasing the likelihood for things to go wrong in one place and not all places.

At this point I've exhausted everything within my powers, and other than a few ideas in my prior post, I'm unsure what else to suggest. It seems the last time this was reported, the issue cleared up on its own after about a week, and so that may well be the case again here. I sure hope it resolves itself, and I can again forward this to Dirk to investigate at the Cloudflare level and see if there's anything else can be done to kick it back into gear.

[Terring 6,476]

And probably @tariely too.

https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=18365.0

[matias93 7,535]

I've found the same issue, but only intermitently. Normally it solves itself when refreshing the cache or switching the browser. Frankly, I don't know if it's the same problem, but the manifestation is the same.

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

It's concerning to hear how potentially widespread the issue is. Based on all reports, it seems consistent how scripts aren't being referenced properly in pages, and hence causing reduced functionality including the editor not opening. It might be worth attempting a force refresh on the page you're on (Ctrl+F5 on Windows), but that previously didn't guarantee the correct scripts to be downloaded. If there's an invalid copy being stored on the Cloudflare (CDN) end, it'll only retrieve this and not solve anything.

So my theory is this needs the source files to be mirrored properly, and then they can be served consistently to all users again, regardless of geolocation.

[AsimPika3172 1,155]

Strange.... I saw comment editing field randomly or just blank (only saw "drag files to attach or Choose Files..." without add or edit the comments)....  

[CorinaMarie 29,875]

1 minute ago, AsimPika3172 said:

Strange.... I saw comment editing field randomly or just blank (only saw "drag files to attach or Choose Files..." without add or edit the comments)....  

We do have that randomly now and then and a regular refresh usually fixes it. What the others are experiencing is a more severe form.

[Silur 3,308]

This is very strange, but I have all until goes well.

 

I really believe that all the people here will be fine!

I'm on Opera on Windows XP SP3. Good Luck To All. 

[Wiimeiser 452]

Working fine for me, I'm on Google Chrome on Windows 10 with a 1920x1080 resolution, if that helps.

 

Sometimes I've gotten the attachments only thing, but for me refreshing always fixes it. Given I often have the download bar up, it might be caused by a difference in the size of the content window on page load. That may be worth experimenting with, as well.

 

For those affected, you can post in this thread on SC4D if needed.

[philforhockey51 4,220]

.....       it's working for me as of today ! woohoo!!!!

@Cyclone Boom  fyi

[philforhockey51 4,220]

actually  as of 1 minute ago, even the notifications window is popping up instead of forcing the window to open. I'll double check the rest but think it'll be fine.    I just commented on SC4D in that thread came back here and poof its working. 

[Cyclone Boom 17,031]

6 minutes ago, philforhockey51 said:

.....       it's working for me as of today ! woohoo!!!!

Excellent. Glad to hear it!

To everyone else who's still experiencing the issue, let us know if it continues to persist or once everything is functional again. This could be done here in image form by uploading an attachment, or reply to the thread at SC4Devotion if you've got a forum account over there.

Here's hoping the news @philforhockey51 has just shared is a positive sign it won't last long.

[Somnolence 81]

The issue happens to me, but only sometimes. I have no idea why.

[gwada971 1,891]

It works for me too as usual. Thanks to all those who worked hard to restore the site.

 

[CorinaMarie 29,875]

Just now, FOSC tule00 said:

The issue happens to me, but only sometimes. I have no idea why.

That sounds like the random glitchy thing the site has done for years and is fixed with a regular refresh. Yes?

[gwada971 1,891]

Just a little something, the notifications don't appear as usual in a window above. You have to click to see what replaces the open page.

edit : sorry I have made cmd+r and it's ok now.

[Somnolence 81]

1 hour ago, CorinaMarie said:

That sounds like the random glitchy thing the site has done for years and is fixed with a regular refresh. Yes?

Yes, when I was writing that very reply, what helped was a refresh.

Still, all glitches are either errors in software or errors in hardware. It's definitely not hardware, so it's something about the site. Nothing urgent, but I think some debugging could solve this (I have no idea about web development though, so I doubt I can help. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

[Mr_Maison 2,426]

Glad to see I can post again. Earlier I had the same problem and couldn't post anywhere. I'm not sure what fixed it on my end but if it happens next time I will try the cntrl-F5 thing.