Askimet not working and comments being rejected

[#1]

Thanks for the clarification.
Can you provide me a recent comment (one I won't have tried before) that should generate the error?

[#2]

Hi Bob,
Here is one (without the ----- lines):
---------------------------------------------------------------
from itertools import combinations, product
# import an implementation of Donald Knuth's Danncing Links algorithm
# by David Goodger and Ali Assaf  (licensed under GPL v2)
from exact_cover_x2 import ExactCover
# solve the puzzle
puzzle = True
# the block dimensions
M, N = (3, 2)
# return a dictionary of the other squares that
# are edge connected to each square
def adjacent(sqs):
  adj = dict()
  for (x, y) in sqs:
    s = set()
    for xx in (x - 1, x + 1):
      if 0 <= xx < M and (xx, y) in sqs:
        s.add((xx, y))
    for yy in (y - 1, y + 1):
      if 0 <= yy < N and (x, yy) in sqs:
        s.add((x, yy))
    adj[(x, y)] = s
  return adj
---------------------------------------------------------------
This is an arbitrary fragment of Python code posted 'as is' with no attempt to format it since I find that this almost always generates the error.
The failure can occur with 'ordinary' text but this is much less frequent so it is much harder to create an example.

[#3]

Thanks, replicated with that one. I'm going to look at installing a vanilla Wordpress install at another host as further evidence that this issue is specific to our Hosting environment.

[#4]

How's this looking now?
I've had word that some server side tweaking has been carried out.

[#5]

I have tried several posts that have failed in the past and they all now post without any problems.  So I am hopeful that the issue has been resolved (although I need to see a few more comments from site users before I am confident in this).
Thank you so much for your perseverance in getting this fixed - I am hoping its not usual for resolution to take as long as this one has taken!  
Thanks again for your efforts on my behalf.
   Brian
mav:quote

[#6]

Excellent, thanks Brian. Keep an eye on it and shout up if you see any further instances.

[#7]

I tried the original failing comment and it was accepted this time.
In the meantime WordPress has been updated from version 4.2.4 to 4.4.1 but I assume this is not relevant.
Trying to post the same comment again failed with the unhelpful Hostopia message; so it seems posting a duplicate comment remains blocked as it should be. Adding an additional paragraph, so no longer a duplicate, allowed it to be posted.
David

[#8]

Quote from: Bob

Excellent, thanks Brian. Keep an eye on it and shout up if you see any further instances.

Sadly the problem still exists. Here is a comment that fails (between the ------------ lines):
----------------------------------
Here's a solution that uses the SubstitutedSum() solver from the <b>enigma.py</b> library [ http://www.magwag.plus.com/jim/enigma.html ] to solve the pandigital sum, and then select solutions that fill a whole number of tables:
[Python]
from enigma import SubstitutedSum, printf
# b0 = old boys without guests
# b1 = old boys with a guest
# consider the pandigital sum: b0 + b1 = b
# it can be: AB + CDEF = GHIJ or ABC + DEF = GHIJ
# solve the pandigital sum
digits = 'ABCDEFGHIJ'
for k in (2, 3):
  (x, y, z) = (digits[0:k], digits[k:6], digits[6:])
  p = SubstitutedSum([x, y], z)
  for s in p.solve():
    # turn the solution into numbers
    (b0, b1, b) = (int(p.substitute(s, w)) for w in (x, y, z))
    # more than half the old boys have a +1
    if not(b1 > b0): continue
    # so the total number of people is...
    t = b + b1
    # and the number of tables is...
    (n, r) = divmod(t, 50)
    if r > 0: continue
 
    printf("b0={b0} b1={b1} boys={b}, people={t} tables={n}")
[/Python]
----------------------------------
      Brian

[#9]

Yes, it fails for me too
[code=Tried at 19:34]
The requested URL was rejected. If you think this is an error, please contact the webmaster.
Your support ID is: 1244867576071441896[/code]
David

[#10]

Thanks guys, replicated.

Quote from: spraxyt

Trying to post the same comment again failed with the unhelpful Hostopia message; so it seems posting a duplicate comment remains blocked as it should be....

I'd still argue it should return the Wordpress duplicate comment warning and not the firewall message though
I've asked Hostopia to re-open the ticket.

[#11]

Hi Bob,  Is there any progress on this issue?  

I don't get a lot of contributions on my site but even my small but dedicated band of contributors has pretty well given up making contributions as a result of this long standing issue.

As you know this issue has been going on for close to NINE months now so I don't think I am being unreasonable in suggesting that solving it should now be getting a much higher priority than it appears to have been given by Hostopia.    

Can you please press them for a resolution?   

[#12]

---

@gladman wrote:

Hi Bob,  Is there any progress on this issue? 

Sorry, I must have let the latest reply from Hostopia go amiss amongst a pile of other emails. Unfortunately the response isn't a promising one (this was in reply to a request for your domain to be whitelisted):

@Hostopia wrote:
Our security group weighted this topic and have advised us that unfortunately they cannot make the modification to a single domain. Due to the scale of our platform single exceptions cannot be established as this would effect the logistics of any updates/patches being rolled out. My apologies for issues that this may cause, however we can still raise individual error codes to have the false positives be modified.

[#13]

Thank you for getting back to me on this one, Bob.  

So, if I understand this correctly, Hostopia cannot properly host all Wordpress sites and my site happens to be one of the ones that they cannot properly host.  

The significance of "... however we can still raise individual error codes to have the false positives be modified" in terms of achieving a solution is beyond me.

So, what do I have to do to host my site - do I have to give up on your hosting and pay for a hosting service elsewhere (or submit my users to advertisements with free hosting)?  

Any advice you can offer would be appreciated. 

[#14]

The errors are caused by a software firewall, and it's this that Hostopia don't want to turn off/whitelist your domain against.

You can report each comment that triggers the problem and I'll happily raise a ticket with Hostopia asking that an exception is made. Needless to say, that's quite an inconvenience, although I don't mind raising repeated tickets on your behalf if it means the decision I posted previously might be revisited.

The alternative sadly, is to shift to an alternative hosting environment.

[#15]

@bobpullen When Hostopia tweaked the system to allow previously failing comments to pass were these changes generic in nature covering a range of comments or specific changes for each one?

I'm wondering if @gladman can generate a further selection of WordPress comments that trigger the problem and these are reported, whether these might result in generic changes allowing an increasing range of such comments to pass.