Warning: Do not copy and paste content from Word, PDFs etc into your posts

It's a standard issue with pasting from Word into web forms. Word uses Internet Explorer formatting rules, so when you paste it into a web form it also copies the HTML formatting Word puts into it, forums with stricter validation and verification checks will pick these HTML codes up as you trying to insert code into the forum (basically, hacking it) and block your post, your IP address.

Andrea as you and MSE clearly ignore this part of the forum on a regular basis...why do you now expect our help?
I don't think they do really require your help/or are asking for it, they're simply saying if you paste from Word you might get an auto-ban. Don't say you weren't warned.

Isn't this just sheer bad practice by the MSE technical team?
Probably more likely bad practice from every other forum you use.
There are ways around it by coding the forum to strip out the standard WORD formatting before it submits your post but it wouldn't be that easy to do.

Paste as plain Text should fine as that will remove any formatting

How can we recover our up access as when I’m using my iPhone on the forum via my WiFi I have to turn to 4G to use it now as I get the banned message.

Tia

**before reading this post bear in mind this was over 2 years ago for me and i cannot remember, user Penitent below says that when he was blocked he could not even see the forum pages at all...that could also have been the case for me...I can't remember, I suggest below the method of communication with the admin team that I *might* have tried, but if I was truly blocked out I couldn't have done this. unless the "contact Us" appeared also on the Blocked log-in page**


This happened to me, I posted a wall of text from a document and I got banned. I had no recourse, I can't remember what the exact symptoms were but I think when trying to log in I got some screen saying this ISP is blocked with an FAQ but no clear instruction on what I could do if I wanted to contact the admin team....to ask why I had been blocked, and to "appeal the decision" so to speak.

I assumed it was because the forum computer thought my repeated attempts (I think 2 or 3 times) to try to get my wall of text into a post was some sort of malicious activity....it seems now that my assumption was correct.

I vaguely remember there was something I could do..... but it was not an option "If you wish to contact the Admin team to ask why you have been blocked click here". It was something else...possibly the "How to contact us" feature that appears on every page... (I have just clicked it now to remind me what is there) And again, I notice ...how I would feel if I was clicking on that if I was currently blocked, there are links to FAQs....so I went to those FAQs and I searched for ISP blocked and there is no search result...for that so I would still be in the dark. There is then a link at the bottom

Still need help?

If you've tried the contacts above and still need help with the forum you can escalate the problem to the Senior Forum Team

When you click on this you get an internal send message screen with your current username and registered email address. In my case the registered email address is now defunct and so *if* this is what I was faced with as the only way to contact the team, I would have had to ask you to send your reply to my other email address xxxx@xxxxx within my message ....I got no reply to my other email address so I remained blocked.


Anyway, shortly after that, my Virgin ISP router went offline as it was an old type - no longer supported, they gave me a new router after 1 or 2 months of having no internet access what so ever.

So my MSE ban lasted I don't know how long, weeks/months before my router went and then another 2 months waiting for a new router...

When I finally got a new router I had a new ISP No. and I was able to access MSE again.

So the point of my post is....Andrea,

1) Please put into the your OP on this thread how the user who is banned and by default cannot log in to the forum - so cannot make anyone aware they are "experiencing issues" as you put it in your OP. And they cannot PM you..... how they can get it resolved without being able to log in.

2) Please change the default forum page that a blocked ISP user sees when they try to log in to include clear instructions and a direct method of contact to try to resolve the issue. And to make sure this appears on the old style forum skin and the new style forum skin...I use the old style and I remember when I tried to log in and got the blocked message it was still in the old forum skin. So you have to make sure it appears on both styles. You need to do this because the blocked user may not know to come and read this forum and the stickys at the top.

3) You really should have a contact email address for the Admin team in the "Contact Us" section on this forum.


Oh and I just read this bit in there...

We will ONLY respond if you've already tried a route above and included the relevant reference number from the auto-reply (eg #1234567)

I don't know what this means, it could explain why you did not reply, but I fail to see why you would not reply just because someone does not put some random number into the message?
Where do I find the reference number?,
Where do I put it in the message...at the start, at the end, In the subject box..no wait there is no subject box!
I can now see a box for "ticket number" but I have no ticket number....remember I am blocked... I don't know what you mean by "ticket number"?
Where does one get a ticket number from?
Is it something that admin will assign after I send the message?
Is it for those who have sent a message already and are following it up?
Does "ticket number" actually refer to what the previous page called a "relevant reference number"?
If it means "relevant reference number" why does it say "ticket number"?

I repeat ...looking at it now ...looking in the FAQs I can't see any "reference numbers" given on any of the auto-replies.
There is no FAQ for "Why is my ISP blocked?" (it did not appear in search results) so even if there are some "reference numbers" in some obscure location that I have not found yet.... How would I get a relevant reference number for a question that does not appear in your FAQ section?


Put yourself in my shoes....hopefully you agree I am pointing out some serious failings in the way you have written your "contact us" section.

sleepyjones wrote: »

It's a standard issue with pasting from Word into web forms.

But you did not say why it is not a standard warning featured on most forums, the person you replied to was saying they had never seen such a warning on any other forum...and neither have I.

Andrea as you and MSE clearly ignore this part of the forum on a regular basis...why do you now expect our help?
I don't think they do really require your help/or are asking for it, they're simply saying if you paste from Word you might get an auto-ban. Don't say you weren't warned.

The post is clearly Andrea asking users to help out if they can. How can you say "Don't say you weren't warned." ? If this comment is directed only at user "Doc N" fair enough s/he has read the OP, but this comment cannot be applied to the whole MSE membership, because I was not told about this issue, I did not know until I came here today and happened to see the sticky -which also was written long after I was blocked- This serious issue AFAIK has not been communicated to the whole membership except for this random thread.

Isn't this just sheer bad practice by the MSE technical team?
Probably more likely bad practice from every other forum you use.

Really? You think that MSE's approach being different from every other forum Doc N and myself use means that every other forum on the internet uses bad practice?

There are ways around it by coding the forum to strip out the standard WORD formatting before it submits your post but it wouldn't be that easy to do.

Oh my, if only everything in life was easy.

Paste as plain Text should fine as that will remove any formatting

Good to know, for this one single forum on the internet.

I wouldn't normally make a comment like this (because it is stupid to make the connection) but I'm going to say it all the same....:)
Your reply suggests to me that this is your private user account and you actually work for the MSE admin team.