Unable to post a reply in The catfish distributions sticky

[bekateen]

Hi Jools,

FYI, I’ve been trying for two days to post a reply on The catfish distributions sticky and I keep getting the following error:

Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator at webmaster@planetcatfish.com to inform them of the time this error occurred, and the actions you performed just before this error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

I wondered if it was a site-wide error, but I see this morning that naturalart posted a reply to his own multiple species thread. So if that’s working, I can’t explain why I’m getting this error.

Cheers,
Eric

[bekateen]

Okay, here's an update. I specifically narrowed the problem to the presence of an open parenthesis symbol in front of a URL.

The original abstract has a parenthetical structure around the URL for the ICTIO database.

• If I include the open and closed parentheses, the website gives me the error listed above.
• If I delete both parentheses, open and close, the error message goes away and I can successfully post the abstract.
• If I keep the open parenthesis and delete only the close parenthesis, I still get the error message.
• If I keep the close parenthesis and delete only the open parenthesis (as shown in the following photo; see blue highlight for location of missing open parenthesis), then the post is accepted without an error message.

  

There seems to be some significance to an open parenthesis symbol in front of a URL that throws the website into a blocking mode so that I can't post.

For now, I chose to resolve it by adulterating the abstract: I removed the open parenthesis, but I left the close parenthesis in place. This way, I was able to post the A. hystrix distribution update.

Cheers, Eric

[Jools]

This is in the forum code, so not an easy one to resolve. I'd say the best workaround would be ( https://www.ictio.org/ ) (insert spaces on either side of the URL) or you could also try putting URL tags around the URL and then not need the spaces. e.g.

Code: Select all

[url=https://www.ictio.org/]https://www.ictio.org/[/url]

However, there is something else going on here becuase in this thread, I can write (https://www.ictio.org/) directly.

Can you point me directly at the abstract and I will try the same cut and paste you did and see what is going on?

Cheers,

Jools

[bekateen]

Hi Jools,

Wow, this is super weird. You got it to work both ways (with and without the space between the URL and the parentheses. It's weird because I tried adding the space and it didn't help. In fact, you can see in my second image that the space is still in place before the close parenthesis.

I also tried putting the URL in side URL tags and I put the parentheses outside the tags, and that didn't work for me either. I did get it to work if I put the URL inside the tags but used a generic word "HERE" for the text inside the tag, like this:

Code: Select all

[url=https://www.ictio.org/]HERE[/url]

At some point, I suspected that it was a problem related to the security protocols applied by my school's network, but it also occurred at my home, so I ruled that out.

Here's the direct URL to the abstract: it's a pdf download.
https://doi.org/10.55565/nhac.rqco6867

Cheers, Eric

[bekateen]

However, there is something else going on here becuase in this thread, I can write (https://www.ictio.org/) directly.

[bekateen]

Okay, this is so weird. I just copied your text from above and repasted it here (in the post immediately above this one), and I had no trouble posting it. Then I went back to my other post where I had the problem, and I tried to repost that with the parentheses included, and I got the error again!

Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator at webmaster@planetcatfish.com to inform them of the time this error occurred, and the actions you performed just before this error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.