Frequently asked questions

It's a good topic, maybe that needs it's own thread.

Message boards have come a long way in 10 years, especially with passwords.

Most today encrypt passwords in the database so even database administers can't see the passwords. Lately, most boards have taken it a step further by adding a random seed to the password to make user passwords a little more secure. The seed will make it nearly impossible to find out of 2 people are using the same password, or if 2 passwords match from different databases.

Some board software (which I may implement as soon I do some investigation into it) support SSL sign ins to provide another layer of security. But the real issue with hackers have been attempts to break into servers and download membership databases. Any high profile information in those databases (SSN's, credit card info) should be encrypted and stored in an entirely different database on a different server.

Back in the ubb days (such as AuctionWatch/Auction Diner/Auction Patrol), there wasn't a database to store thing, so the file system was used. Member information was stored in a CGI file in plain text. If the permissions on the member directory were incorrect, or if the server wasn't configured to not correctly process CGI files, anybody with a browser could abscond with member passwords.

I'm not a security expert by any means, but I like to read up on how hackers are able to get this information, and what's being done to stop them.

Yeah, it's a subtle color change, the default blue is a better different in color than the red, yellow, or green. I might look at changing those.

I took a look at them, they were easy enough to change. Forums with new content will have a more noticeable darker color to them than forums with content you've already read. I'm not sure if I like "new content" folders darker than "old content" folders, or vice versa, but I don't wanna go switcheroo on everybody just yet.

Does this site support secure browsing (SSL)?

At the moment, SSL is disabled due to problems with the content delivery network not supporting the feature, and a few board issues.

YES! I've updated the privacy policy to include information about using SSL on SneakyDave.com, as well as caveats of using it. If you have questions about it, please let me know. SSL is supported for both members and visitors. Click here to start using it, and update your bookmarks.

I'm looking into how links in messages that are local to sneakydave.com can be interpreted as either http:// or https:// depending on what the visitor's browsing is looking at. It seems to be the only nagging issue at the moment, other than the caveats listed in the privacy policy. The only way to fix that is to force SSL for everybody.

It's more gadgetry. Some people don't like to browse sites or enter userid's/passwords without a secure connection. The https://sneakydave.com/community (notice https://) link allows that, but there are caveats using it.

The secure site (https://) acts like a completely different site than http://. For instance, you can have a cookie set on the secure site, and change your theme if you're not logged in. If you visit the non-secure site, it doesn't recognize those cookies, so you get the default theme.

There are also other nuances in the scheme of things, but it is available for those that want to use it, and realize the shortcomings.

Go to your "Inbox" at the top, click on it. Click the "Start a new conversation" button toward the top-right.

Type the name in the "Participants" box (in your example, just "wo" will pull up WW's userid), then type your message in the box below that. Is that easier?

You can also just hover over your "Inbox" at the top, and click the "Start a new conversation" link in the drop down box. It'll take you to the same page.

Gadgetry. It's an Ajax process that updates things like your alerts and the "real time" on posts while you're viewing a page. It does it without a page reload. I don't think it's supposed to be that noticeable, or show up that often, so I'll take a look at see what the dealio is with it.

What's the "flashing light" thing doing in the top right of the browser? It's starting to piss me off! Are you spying on me?

I'm a damn fool. It's the ajax call for the chat box (the "heartbeat") running every few seconds to update the list of members online to chat. To turn off the flashing in the top right of the page, click the "slider/switch" the bottom right of the screen on the chat bar. That "turns off" the chat box until you want it open again, and stop the ajax updates at the top of the page.

I've changed some of the chat box settings to keep that ajax call image from appearing, but it will still appear from time to time, if you have the chat bar open at the bottom of the screen.

It shows up on every style, it is just more prominent on the darker style.