Access problems

[essexbob]

Recently whenever I try to access douglasmotorcycles.net I am asked to complete a CAPTCHA to allow access.  Even when I supply the CAPTCHA correctly I am often still denied access and have to complete further tests before I can get in.  What is going on?  I have run repeated scans with 3 different anti-malware applications and confirm that I am NOT infected with any nasties.  The CAPTCHA page appears to belong to an outfit called CloudFlare which is a legitimate security company according to Google.  It's driving me up the wall!

Bob

[Chris]

I am having the same problems. I have also carried out a full scan and have no mal/spy ware or virus present.
Chris.

[Doug]

That is interesting. The only time I have seen the CAPTCHA is during initial registration, not login. It is mainly to prove that you are not a 'bot', and not really anything to do with whether your computer is infected or not. I think this is one that Dave is going to have to look into.

-Doug, Site Moderator

[Chris]

Hi Doug
I am still having problems in access. Sometimes the CAPTCHA page appears distorted with no boxes for entry of the number and more it can appear part way through an access session leaving no alternative but to leave the site and start again. A few days ago I prepared a length reply to a posting, clicked for
"Preview" and edited it. When I pressed for "Post" it vanished completely when the CAPTCHA Page appeared.

[Doug]

Chris,

The CAPTCHA page reappearing may be a separate issue with the session timing out, prematurely or otherwise. I had something similar when I elected to log in for only an hour, and let the session sit too long while I was away doing something else during writing of a post. I probably went out to the shed to research an answer for a reply. In my case, it sent me back to the login screen when I hit 'post', and not the strange situation you are having with the CAPTCHA. But the behavior is similar. As I said, in your case, there could also be a problem where the session is timing out prematurely. The more time I invest in typing the more frequently I paste the contents to the Windows clipboard. Just in case...

Not that it is guarantied to work (it is in the same category of turning your computer off and on), but clear out your browser history and cache so the next time you log in it has to reload all of the website pages from the server. This will generally rule out any corrupt information related to the site stored locally on your computer.

-Doug

[Dave]

All,

Apologies for my late reply.

Cloudflare is a worldwide network that provides a backup in case the website is not available for some reason. Many websites use their service and I too have encountered these CAPTCHA's when accessing other websites, but not douglasmotorcycles.net so far.

I hate these CAPTCHA's too and I assume Cloudflare do it when they encounter some sort of perceived trouble (bots and so forth) from an IP address.

The problem is, most of us access the Web via shared IP addresses these days. So if someone else using your ISP and a particular IP address, causes trouble, you may then encounter anti-bot measures when you use the same IP address.

I will have to investigate what can be done about it. If there is no solution, we can dump the Cloudflare service, as this CAPTCHA blocking is just too annoying.

Dave

[Dave]

Some background info on what Cloudflare does.

CloudFlare protects and accelerates any website online. Once your website is a part of the CloudFlare community, its web traffic is routed through our intelligent global network. We automatically optimize the delivery of your web pages so your visitors get the fastest page load times and best performance. We also block threats and limit abusive bots and crawlers from wasting your bandwidth and server resources. The result: CloudFlare-powered websites see a significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks.

This sentence "We also block threats and limit abusive bots and crawlers from wasting your bandwidth and server resources." is what they are doing when they present you with a CAPTCHA challenge page.

Cloudflare has a database of IP addresses which have caused problems in the past. If you happen to be connected to the Internet via an IP address previously used by an offender, it throws up the CAPTCHA challenge.

From today, the Cloudflare settings have been changed to (hopefully) significantly reduce the number of these CAPTCHA messages for visitors to douglasmotocycles.net.

However, in some circumstances, it is possible you may still receive a CAPTCHA challenge page. These circumstances are as follows.

If a customer of your ISP using a shared IP address, has caused a significant problem in the online world, that shared IP address is recorded in a database of offenders. If you then happen to connect to a Cloudflare protected website (eg douglasmotorcycles.net) using that same shared IP address, the CAPTCHA challenge page will appear as it can't tell the difference between you and the original offender.

There is another step that can be taken to further reduce the chance of you receiving a CAPTCHA challenge page. It needs to be applied individually to your particular situation.

If you still receive CAPTCHA  messages after the change made today, please post back here or contact me via PM and I'll be happy to try and stop CAPTCHA messages for you completely.

Dave

Please note: The changes made today only apply to douglasmotorcycles.net. I can't control or help with Cloudflare CAPTCHA messages generated when visiting other websites. If you regularly receive these messages when visiting a range of websites, I recommend you contact your ISP about obtaining a dedicated IP address so that you are the only user of that IP address and your identity can't be confused with anyone else.

[essexbob]

Hi Dave,

I'm still having problems.  I don't see the CAPTCHA page any more, but instead I'm sent straight to Access Denied, and have to complete the maths questions before I can proceed.  This is definitely something unique to the Douglas forum for me, I don't have issues with any of the other (numerous) websites that I visit.

Regards,

Bob

[Dave]

Hi Bob,

Have sent you a PM with suggestions for the next step.

Dave

[Dave]

Please see Access issues experienced by BT (British Telecom) customers in the UK for more information about this problem.