Askimet not working and comments being rejected

[#1]

For some reason Askimet, which has been working flawlessly for months, is no longer stopping SPAM on my Wordpress site.  It is now reporting:
"We can’t connect to your site.  Your firewall may be blocking us. Please contact your host and refer to our guide about firewalls.
It has been reporting this for several days now and, other than some new content, nothing has changed on my site (http://ccgi.gladman.plus.com/wp/)
Also, some users who have had no difficulty in commenting in the past are now having their comments rejected with the message:
-----------------------
The requested URL was rejected. If you think this is an error, please contact the webmaster.
Your support ID is: 70357972795870336
-----------------------
I see this myself when I post without logging in for some test comments although, strangely, some short length comments succeed.
So it seems to me that there has been a server configuration change of some sort that is causing problems (I have disabled all my plugins but this makes no difference).
Should I report this as a problem or is there something I should try to identify what is now going wrong?

[#2]

How short is a "short comment"? I've just added a two-line comment to a WP blog of mine without problems. This is WP 4.2.4 with Akismet 3.1.3.
David

[#3]

Quote from: gladman

For some reason Askimet, which has been working flawlessly for months, is no longer stopping SPAM on my Wordpress site.  It is now reporting: "We can’t connect to your site.  Your firewall may be blocking us. Please contact your host and refer to our guide about firewalls.

Where does it say that? I've just accessed the Askimet settings page on a Wordpress blog I have installed and I see this:

Are you running the latest versions of Wordpress/Askimet?

Quote from: gladman

Also, some users who have had no difficulty in commenting in the past are now having their comments rejected with the message: ----------------------- The requested URL was rejected. If you think this is an error, please contact the webmaster. Your support ID is: 70357972795870336 -----------------------

Whilst that does sound similar to some other problems I've seen reported recently, I am struggling to replicate it on my own account.

[#4]

It gives this output on the Askimet settings page (after a long delay).
Here is content that I cannot post as a comment (without the ---- lines):
--------------
def solve_pos(sq_pos, shapes)
for s in solve_square(sq_pos, pieces, shapes, m, n)
sol.update([])
return frozenset(sol)
corners, middles, edges = (0, 0), (0, 3), (3, 0), (3, 3)
--------------
But if I take out a line, I can then post it (it is a code fragment but I am posting it as text as above).
THIRD EDIT:
The text I can't post as a comment is now (without the ---- lines):
-----
slupdate
set
=(
-----
But if I take the 'e' off the end of first line, I can then post it.
Yes, I'm running the latest versions of Askimet and Wordpress.

[#5]

Posting a comment using the first 5 lines of text there:

def solve_pos(sq_pos, shapes)
for s in solve_square(sq_pos, pieces, shapes, m, n)
sol.update([])
return frozenset(sol)
corners, middles, edges = (0, 0), (0, 3), (3, 0), (3, 3)

... has given me the same error you mentioned

Quote

The requested URL was rejected. If you think this is an error, please contact the webmaster. Your support ID is: 70357972795824879

It looks like something is being interpreted as a URL. It's not immediately obvious what this is.
David
Edit to add
I've looked in the database and when publishing the comment fails no entry is made in the commentmeta table (where Akismet posts its findings). I suspect publishing is blocked on the server before Akismet is asked (Hostopia spam checking?).
Publishing is allowed if I remove characters on the last line back to the = sign.

[#6]

I've asked Hostopia for some guidance (ref: 3658225). Suspect David's right and the comment is falling foul of a spam filter somewhere.

[#7]

Thanks Bob,
I hope we can identify what is going on.

[#8]

Quote from: Bob

I've asked Hostopia for some guidance (ref: 3658225). Suspect David's right and the comment is falling foul of a spam filter somewhere.

Are we making any progress on what is going wrong here?
I got a WordPress update today but it made no difference to this comment posting problem, which is proving to be a real nuisance.
Should I raise a support ticket for this?

[#9]

I have a ticket open with Hostopia, but it's proving a bit of an uphill battle if I'm honest.
Does Askimet connect to your site properly now?
The issue concerning the comments was passed back to Hostopia's Security guys a couple of days ago and we're awaiting a response.

[#10]

Hi Bob,
Thank you for your quick response, which I appreciate.  Soon after I first posted on these issues, Askimet started working again and it has been working fine since then. I have no idea what caused the problem.
So it is only the comment posting problem that remains.  I will assume from what you say that a ticket is not needed as you have the issue in hand with Hostopia anyway.  Thank you for helping with this.

[#11]

Quote from: gladman

Soon after I first posted on these issues, Askimet started working again and it has been working fine since then. I have no idea what caused the problem.

Hostopia's security bods made some changes/exceptions.

Quote from: gladman

I will assume from what you say that a ticket is not needed as you have the issue in hand with Hostopia anyway.

That's right, no ticket required

[#12]

Is there any progress on this issue?

[#13]

Sadly not, it's still being reviewed. Bizarrely enough, posting the same snippet of code at Hostopia's side doesn't exhibit the same error

[#14]

Quote from: gladman

Is there any progress on this issue?

Hostopia have come back to us to report that some changes have been made that should resolve this issue. My testing doesn't suggest that to be the case so can you try things your end and let me know how you get on?

[#15]

Attempting to post that five line comment

def solve_pos(sq_pos, shapes)
for s in solve_square(sq_pos, pieces, shapes, m, n)
sol.update([])
return frozenset(sol)
corners, middles, edges = (0, 0), (0, 3), (3, 0), (3, 3)

... still fails for me. However if I remove (just) the '=' sign from the last line it works.
David