Multiple users being told they're "not allowed" to register?

I keep getting told this error is coming up when members try to register to my forum, which is brand new as of last night and should have absolutely no restrictions set on registration unless I missed some kind of default setting that needs to be toggled off somewhere. So far the only accounts that have been successfully created were ones I made myself... which is very odd.

Information

You are not allowed to register on this forum.

Where do I find the admin options to control this, turn it off, etc...? Everyone is allowed to register on my forum as of now, since it's brand new and I haven't banned anybody or blacklisted any IPs, etc...

Using phpbb3.

Hello

Please provide your forum url

http://

It is a site for ranking and discussing wrestling roleplay sites and the like.

Ok first check this option

Admin panel…General….Forum….Configuration
…. Forum on holiday : Make sure that option is on No


Is the forum address correct you posted above?

I remember seeing that holiday option set to "no" earlier when setting up. I have gone in right now and confirmed that it still is set to "no" so that is all set correctly.

I register just fine with a test account
You can delete it

Interesting. So, what's the next step we take to solve this for the people reporting the error? What other setting might that be, or where do we look at next?

Tell them to clear the browser cache and retry

If i can register then it is not an issue with your forum

Are you saying they didn't see that error message on my forum? Forumotion forums don't generate that exact message under any circumstances, ever? Or what do you mean?

This message is generated when
1) forum on holiday
2) Allow new registrations set to no

Since i could register then you have no problem

I even got the confirmation link to my email

I suggest to tell your members to clear their cache and retry

If you want check also this
Admin panel.. general .. security
Unauthorize subscriptions made with the most commonly used spam usernames. No


If you members still have issues then please provide
The device they used
The browser they used
Which country they are
Screenshot of the error message

Ok I talked to one of them and he is going to try again as soon as he can and get back to me but in the meantime he brought up a good point that a lot of us in our circle always use tor/onion browser. Can you confirm that would NOT be the issue? If it is, how do I fix it? Considering I myself also use Tor/Onion browser about half the time, and even created the forum with it, and had zero problems, I highly doubt that's the issue but it's worth asking.

He also clarified for me that the error happens as soon as he clicks the registration button, so he never even gets to see what the registration page looks like. He doesn't even get to the point of being able to enter a username or any info.

Oddly enough, he mentioned that he CAN click the "log in" button and see the text fields to fill in, but he obviously never tried logging in since he didn't have an account yet.

Hopefully these bits of info help. As soon as he tries again I'll follow up with whatever details he sends. Thanks for the quick help trying to get this solved.

ok so i have never use this browser

is he using a mobile device?
also desktop version or mobile version ?

when i have your answer i will inspect the forum registration page to see if all the elements are showing ok

While waiting for him I just did some more testing myself with the same browser he's using (tor/onion) and I've been able to duplicate his problem now. Here is exactly what's happening in my testing:

1) Guest posting works fine
2) Browsing anywhere on the forum works fine
3) As soon as I click to register a new account, I immediately get the error instead of being shown the registration page.
4) When I try to log in with an existing account, I CAN view the text fields and submit my name/pw but then after that it tells me I'm "not allowed to log in"... even though it let me try and log in.

Screenshots I just took myself:

https://i.imgur.com/SIqwriK.png

https://i.imgur.com/jyPps6S.png

Also, this was done by me just now on Windows 10 PC. (to answer your mobile question)

wait this message gets when trying to log in ? when register ? or both ?

For me, in my test just now, it happens as soon as I click "register" and it never even lets me enter any registration info. It just goes straight to the error.

Also just now when I tried to log in, it allowed me to see the log in page and enter my info, but then it told me I'm not allowed to log in.

Windows 10 tor/onion browser. This browser/config wasn't giving me any problems yesterday which is why I was hesitant to even suspect it, but now this is happening?

Ok so indeed there is an issue only with this browser
I get the same error


Firefox, opera, chrome , safari, edge
Mobile and desktop version
Ipad, laptop, mobile devices

Tested and checked all working ok

I cant register to my personal forum also using this browser
Also some functions are not even showing

So i dont think we can do anything since its a browser issue
Maybe contact their support team

I will tag @APE to listen his opinion

I see. I'm glad we narrowed it down to it being that browser but I'm definitely curious what the other person you tagged will be able to offer solution wise. A massive portion of our community always uses tor/onion browser for anything related to wrestling roleplays (which my forum is related to) because the wrestling rp scene has gotten quite strange in the last couple years with a couple of sites that were giving our their users personal information and IP addresses so others could attack them. We must find a way to get these people through on my forum, please.

Tor/Onion basically protects people from having their own IP and system info show up, so that means it changes their IP address similar to a proxy. The strangest part about this is that we can browse anywhere just fine on the forum and guest posting DOES work, but for some odd reason we just can't register or log in using tor/onion browser?

I even created the entire forum on tor/onion browser yesterday and had no issues at all. Very confusing but let's see what the other person suggests and how we can fix this problem. I really don't want to have to give up on these forums and try different ones after all the time I put in setting it up. It's perfect, except for this issue stopping my users. Off the top of my head, I estimate around 75% of the people who would come to my forum would be using something like tor/onion because of the paranoia they have about their personal info.

The fact that an error message telling us we're not allowed to do something shows up, makes me think there may be a setting or feature on your end or else I would have just expected a "broken" page or something. For that error to tell us we can't come in, is very different.

Hello @HighFly I will be happy to try and help here.

Thank you for passing this on to me @skouliki

I can conform it is a browser problem and maybe a setting we have on our forums host servers.

As this browser is not a well known browser some files and settings we have may be conflicting.

What I will do is make a ticket to our tech team asking to look in to this and see if they can make a work around for you.

The reason I am going to report this as a bug is that if lots of members on your site will be using this browser it would be a good move for our team to try and fix the problem.

Until we get news back from our team please ask your members to log in and make a new account using some other browser.

Please note that some browsers have a Ad's Blocker installed on them to Block ad's and this can have problems with our forums.

Report made at 07.26.2021 / 13:58:12

Thank you very much for following up on this, Ape. I really appreciate the help trying to get this worked out and I look forward to hearing whatever result you can get from your tech team.

Thank you as well, skouliki. You put a lot of your own time into this with me going back and forth, even testing it yourself to verify the same result/bug. I know you guys are busy and have a lot to work on so the fact that you put in this effort to try and help me means a lot, and so far you guys have offered me the best and fastest support ANY forum has ever offered before in over 20 years. The effort and care shows.

Thanks again and I'll keep an eye on this thread for a future update hopefully when you guys hear back from tech.

Hello @HighFly I have news back from our team.

Sadly that browser system is marked as a browser that hackers and spammers us.
So our system Block's anyone using them bad browsers from making account's on out forums hosted by us.

My Advice:
Make a post on your forum telling members you only use well known browsers then list all the Big browsers.

Sadly this will not change our end as we want to keep you and our host safe from spammers and hackers.

I hope you understand.

Regards.

  Ape and the Forumotion Team

Sorry for the delay. Treating that browser like that isn't the way to handle things, and no, it's not primarily hackers and spammers. People that use it are typically offended by that accusation, also. It's used to PROTECT AGAINST abuse and threats, while maintaining anonymity. Real hackers have tools and methods that would go right past a browser block anyway if they were trying to get into a site to cause trouble.

Can you get back in touch with the team and see about adjusting this, as it doesn't really make sense to block tor browser as a whole like that? It's like saying in today's day and age: "we won't allow a facemask in our store because a robber once used a mask to hide his identity." Could you imagine if things were looked at that way as a whole in our world? Tor is for protection above all else.

Not trying to be difficult but I hope you can see my point especially when I explain the example like that? The vast majority of websites don't block Tor, and they don't experience any problems.

Can I ask "who" marked it as such? You said it's marked that way... by your team? Or who exactly? Someone else they're listening to? (within your chain of command I mean)

I understand the concern 100% but not allowing Tor hurts more legitimate users than it does stop malicious ones.

If there's absolutely no way to get this resolved, how do I just create accounts in my admin panel for users then? I'd really rather not have to do that, but that might be where we have to go because as I said the people using it are using it for very good reason and I know they won't sign up without protection. MAYBE I could convince them to at least login to existing accounts I made for them in the admin panel, if I'm lucky? (again, only if you find that there's absolutely no way to correct the erroneous labeling of Tor as being worth blocking across the board)

Thank you again for helping with this.

Most popular browsers do the same thing as Tor.  Is there a reason why your members do not want to use the popular ones?

like I have said our team will not change this sorry.

If you make an account for the members it would still give problems with you as you can't log in using the browser and your IP address would be imprinted on each account.

My advice is to just tell your friends or members to used some other browser.

Our head office and tech team have said they will not change how this is sorry.

SLGray wrote:Most popular browsers do the same thing as Tor.  Is there a reason why your members do not want to use the popular ones?

Tor protects IP addresses/identity right out of the box. Tor automatically does this better than any other browser without needing to change a single setting and it's a must have in some parts of the "wrestling rp community" (which is what my site is about) after recent events with some bad sites giving out their user base's IP/info/etc. After the scare some of these guys had on other sites, they pretty much consider Tor as the only browser to use for anything rp related and I also use it often.

Think of Tor as a proxy without the dangers of a proxy. A proxy changes IP addresses too, but often times is being used to intercept traffic and passwords unbeknownst to the person using it for protection. It's odd that proxies seem to work fine on this forum (even though they're dangerous) but Tor does not. The tech team has it backwards, I'm afraid, but it sounds like they're not willing to update their standards or understanding of the process?

Where in the admin panel am I able to manually create accounts?

Hi 

Where in the admin panel am I able to manually create accounts?

You can't make account's on the ACP you have to make it one by one the same way as anyone else would make it.
there is no other way  to make accounts.

marked as solved

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