Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat

Subject: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Mar 17 - 03:03 PM

Certain browsers have been tightening up their security, and Mudcat doesn't have all the security they'd like us to have. I can't reach Mudcat on my phone at all. If you have problems getting onto Mudcat, try changing the security settings on your browser; or simply try using another browser.

Holler if you need help.

Joe
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 17 Mar 17 - 03:19 PM

accessing mudcat has been slow and intermittent the last couple of days..
and posting hangs, or double posts...

.. the usual problems that had been resolved for a fair while...


Chrome on Win 8.1

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Bill D
Date: 17 Mar 17 - 03:41 PM

Palemoon 24 is fine...so is Vivaldi 1.66...so is SeaMonkey 2.46... so is my 'old' copy of Opera (11... before it was rewritten.)... so is WaterFox, though I don't care much for its GUI...

I wonder what "certain browsers" refers to. I do NOT use Chrome or IE.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Mar 17 - 03:45 PM

It's odd. I use an iPad4, or a mini iPad2 or an iPhone 6s, all updated. When times are good I can connect using any of them. Last few days I can usually connect on just one device...or two...but not all three. Occasionally none at all. I'm glad it's not just me. Don't try to send any post until you select all--copy!

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Mar 17 - 03:45 PM

I've had problems with mudcat.org for a few days. If I specify a server name, and it's one that working well (huddy is now), I can get in.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Mar 17 - 03:46 PM

How do you specify a server name? Didn't know you could do that.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Mar 17 - 03:49 PM

huddy.mudcat.org

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Mar 17 - 06:37 PM

Chrome has been hanging and not getting through on some attempts, though it was okay this afternoon. Win10.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Mar 17 - 08:23 PM

And yet I've been using Chrome on Windows 10 and Mudcat has been unusually fast for me the last coupla weeks.
Or maybe it just is faster because the weather has cleared up and I no longer have rainwater in my DSL/telephone line. I get that problem every winter, but now it's Spring in California and all is well.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 18 Mar 17 - 10:28 AM

I used Opera when Internet Explorer would not find Mudcat. Opera is also good for looking at twitter accounts that have blocked you!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: bobad
Date: 18 Mar 17 - 10:59 AM

I have no problem getting on with Firefox in Windows 10 - running fast and smooth for me.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: DaveRo
Date: 18 Mar 17 - 12:09 PM

Joe Offer wrote: I can't reach Mudcat on my phone at all.

What phone? What happens?

If it's Android you should be able to use Firefox unless the phone is old and feeble.

The only secure (https) stuff on Mudcat is the Google ads. I suppose a very old browser might not have the necessary encryption and be unable to download the adverts; I don't know whether that might stop the whole site loading.

I think some browsers warn if you transmit a password over an insecure connection, as Mudcat does. It shouldn't prevent you doing it though.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Mar 17 - 03:50 PM

Thanks for the advice, Ross. I downloaded Firefox to my Android phone from the Google Play Store, but still couldn't get into Mudcat. Then I went to Google on Firefox and searched for Mudcat Cafe, and then clicked on the link Google gave for Mudcat. That got me in.
I tried the same process on Google Chrome on my phone, and I got in that way, too.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Iains
Date: 18 Mar 17 - 06:08 PM

For some reason I sometimes find google just stalls out waiting for mudcat to respond. If I use dogpile as the search engine I have no problem.
   Perhaps with some of the posts below the line it is regarded as a source of false news and and as a result censored.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Mar 17 - 06:28 PM

As the least techno-savvy old lady on the planet, (I'm on a laptop called a Chromebook, whatever that is) I've found I can access Mudcat by using the 'remove all browsing data' via 'more tools', then starting up my laptop again from scratch, and Mudcat comes up very quickly. If I don't do this, it won't load at all.
Can't believe I'm even offering this advice, as I'm about at the level of an amoeba where computers and the Internet are concerned :)

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: DaveRo
Date: 18 Mar 17 - 06:39 PM

Senoufou: it's good advice. In most browsers it's called 'clearing the cache' and it very often fixes a browser that gets stuck.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Stanron
Date: 18 Mar 17 - 06:49 PM

Over the last few days I have had intermittent failure of access to Mudcat. I use Firefox on Linux Mint. Access to other websites has not been affected. I had assumed that the site was down for maintenance. I'm back on it now but for the last three or four hours I could not get to it.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Mar 17 - 06:52 PM

I see Dave, thank you!
I forgot to add there's a choice on the 'remove browsing data' thing which makes me smile. It says 'the past hour' or 'from the beginning of time'. I always choose 'from the beginning of time' and picture Adam and Eve opening up their laptop to Google 'Snakes' or looking on Amazon for 'leaf loincloths, various sizes'.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: DaveRo
Date: 18 Mar 17 - 06:58 PM

Joe Offer wrote: I downloaded Firefox to my Android phone from the Google Play Store, but still couldn't get into Mudcat.

Looks like whatever link you normally tap to get mudcat - an icon on the home screen? - is pointing to the wrong place. Maybe it points to a particular server that's disappeared, rather than just 'mudcat.org'. Delete it and set it up again.

One advantage of using mobile Firefox is you can use my addon and userstyles: Mudcat_browser_tools

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 21 Mar 17 - 11:16 AM

I'm on a PC in the uk, XP, chrome browser
Clicking through to a thread from
http://mudcat.org it is just hanging
but today it clicks straight through from
& http://brownie.mudcat.org

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Reinhard
Date: 21 Mar 17 - 03:58 PM

If you go to http://mudcat.org/ you'll get an answer randomly from one of four servers, brownie.mudcat.org (96.89.184.227), sonny.mudcat.org (96.89.184.228), huddy.mudcat.org (96.89.184.229) and a fourth one with the IP address 96.89.184.230 whose name I don't know. This fourth server seems to be unreachable, so you have a 25% chance that your call to mudcat.org will hang.

If you choose either brownie, sonny or huddy, you'll get an answer.

By the way, "Huddy Leadbelly" is a song sung by Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry on their album "California Blues". I wonder if this is the source of the server names.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Jeri
Date: 21 Mar 17 - 04:41 PM

Etta appears to be the non-functioning one. Reinhard, they're all singers, mostly blues, although Etta was maybe more soul, but genres aren't all that important.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Thomas Stern
Date: 21 Mar 17 - 08:21 PM

I get into Mudcat using Huddie.
but cannot get to personal page, or execute any of the functions...
Thomas.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: DaveRo
Date: 22 Mar 17 - 02:06 AM

The personal page link, probably others, are to 'mudcat.org' so if that doesn't work neither will the links.

If you choose a particular server - brownie say - be prepared to change it if it stops working. In the recent past there were furry and chuck and these seem to have vanished. Using just 'mudcat.org' is supposed to make server changes transparent, as well as spreading the load.

If a server fails and is removed from the DNS - the system Reinhard described - it may take hours, days even, for this to take effect because the DNS may be cached within your operating system and your ISP.

One fix, if you're technically inclined, is to put a redirect in your hosts file, e.g.

96.89.184.227 mudcat.org

If you do that, don't forget it's there when it stops working!

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Dec 17 - 02:43 PM

Hey, what happened 4 and 5 December -- I mean yesterday?

Sorry to complain,
but it was a shock to be on the computer
and be unable to go the Mudcat website.
I was like,
Come Back, MMMMAAAAAAAAAAAXXXXXXXXX !

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: leeneia
Date: 07 Dec 17 - 11:38 AM

While we are discussing life behind the scenes, now would be a good time to make a monetary donation to the Mudcat to thank the organizers for all they do for us.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 21 Feb 20 - 03:10 PM

I can't log in as a member.
Mudcat the website comes up promptly enough.
When I go to log in,
I get to my membership name, not a problem.
Then comes the separate screen/click
for the password,
and the computer times out.
Guess I won't be posting below the music section
until this improves.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: keberoxu
Date: 21 Feb 20 - 03:20 PM

my apologies:

obviously the next attempt, after the previous post, to log in
was successful. It's all a mystery to me.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 21 Feb 20 - 03:23 PM

The site has been having some problems for a few hours. They seem to be solved.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Feb 20 - 04:32 PM

No they don't.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 21 Feb 20 - 05:09 PM

But then again . . .

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Feb 20 - 07:06 PM

They are now...

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Feb 20 - 07:33 PM

Blame it on the Internet provider this time. Max is aware of it.

Subject: RE: Tech: Problems Getting Onto Mudcat
From: keberoxu
Date: 22 Feb 20 - 05:56 PM

If it isn't one thing ...
the hotel where I am staying has a public computer station for the guests, me voilà.

I can log into Mudcat as a member.
What I cannot do is go to my personal page
and look at my PMs.
I can send a PM as long as I don't do it through my personal page.
The server or whatever goes into an infinite loop security spin
and starts sending messages reading SABOTAGE !!

Sacrilege, maybe ...