we are checking your browser..

Brickwizard

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Over the last couple of days , when i log into Linux.org, I get a flash page [bit quick for me to read all of it] but in big letters it says we are checking your browser..
anyone else seeing it?
 


Just happened to me on my phone for several seconds. Hmm...
 
It started for me this morning. It's coming from Cloudflare who, I think, handles some of the management of the linux.org domain. Firefox and Vivaldi let me in after a brief delay... usually. Closing and restarting Firefox has worked to get back in if I get stuck... so far. I have not got stuck so bad yet as to need the "Captcha" that is shown on the Cloudflare screen.

The URL changes from linux.org and then adds some Cloudflare stuff on the end of the URL once it loads. It is VERY annoying, but it is likely providing some kind of security enhancement to the site.

There seems to be some very subtle changes to the layout of the forum... the menus available below the blue header at the top. Maybe I'm mistaken, maybe these are older changes that I never noticed.
 
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Yep happened to me and I had to do the captcha and identify whatever the hell it asked me to identify twice what a PITA. o_O :p

I figured it had something to do with the new Firefox 89 that everyone seems to hate and is having difficulty with.
 
I wondered about FF 89 too, but I've had it 2 or 3 days without this trouble. I'm still not sure though.

What I've found so far is that if you use HTTPS instead of HTTP, it will only delay a bit and then let you in without the captcha. Give it a try. Maybe bookmark the HTTPS address.
 
Morning all from DownUnder (3rd coffee).:)

David @KGIII and I have flagged the issue to Rob but have yet to make contact. It may take a little time, as Rob has some personal life issues (yes, we all have a life outside of Linux - who said that?).

I'd ask all to be patient, and spare a thought for a Wizard running 70 Linux and in an out of 10 to 15 per day, so multiply your annoyance by 10 to 15 :)

That being said, this site DOES have a very good "uptime" record, don't you think?

Moving this to Forum Assistance.

Cheers

Wiz
 
I wondered about FF 89 too, but I've had it 2 or 3 days without this trouble. I'm still not sure though.

What I've found so far is that if you use HTTPS instead of HTTP, it will only delay a bit and then let you in without the captcha. Give it a try. Maybe bookmark the HTTPS address.
The only problem I had with Firefox 89 was with streaming Youtube videos and that was solved / fixed by disabling hardware acceleration in the Firefox 89 settings.

I've had no other problems with Firefox 89 unlike all of the horror stories I've been reading about due to all of the new changes.

I happen to like the new uncluttered look of the browser as I've never used most of the crap that comes with any browser.

Bookmarks and 2 extensions is all I've ever used and needed.
 
It's a Cloudflare page, often automated - it'll turn itself on when the site is consistently under attack.

It may also have been a manual change made by @Rob and this may be unintended consequences.

(I'm a bit familiar with CF.)
 
I've read CF has caused some other issues with the way stuff may or may not work on some other websites and forums.

It's a PITA however I'll live with it until it gets squared away. ;)
 
@Nelson Muntz - if you care (and caring is overblown) your public IP address is in the image you posted.
 
CF can be a bit of a pain to set up on a dynamic site (not static content, but a forum where the content changes constantly), but it's otherwise pretty tame.

This is almost certainly one of those two things - automated defenses or a change made at the top.

I could give you more information, but I'm not privy to the server logs. I can't check the traffic to see what percentage of it is malicious. (There's always a sizable percentage of traffic that is malicious on any site that's indexed by search engines.)

----------------------

But, the key takeaway is not to worry, not to fret. It's nothing more than a CF (a CDN) interruption. Just authenticate and tolerate it until it goes away. It's nothing to be alarmed about and the admin will know about this when they see their messages.
 
But, the key takeaway is not to worry, not to fret. It's nothing more than a CF (a CDN) interruption. Just authenticate and tolerate it until it goes away. It's nothing to be alarmed about and the admin will know about this when they see their messages.
Right On!

With all of the malicious activity and so forth going on theses days no telling why it's double checking us.
 
LOL

If I had access to the traffic logs, I could make a guess. Alas, I do not.

Estimates are that 90% of the traffic on the 'net is bots (some good, some not so good). Most 'hacks' are initially automated scans and not people sitting behind a keyboard attacking a singular site. It could just be that that type of traffic is up at the moment, so CF kicks into a defensive mode. (You can opt to do that, with various settings of refinement with Cloudflare.)

I have a couple of sites using CF's CDN at the free tier.
 
I've also made the decision to sticky this thread for the time being.

Someone should remind me to undo this once we know what's going on or when things go back to normal. I'm pretty forgetful!
 
Working on workarounds for my FF and Waterfox currently, showing progress, will report back when I can.
 

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