Internal server error when editing the wiki

[Viktory System]

We and other players seemingly have encountered an error on the wiki:



Specifically, within the /Characters category when attempting to preview, save, and save & edit. Thanks for taking a look and for your hard work, 'SA!

EDIT: Looks like it's affecting the /Players category too, but everything seems fine with editing the /Families category so far?

[Hydra Triangle]

I think the issue for me appears as less categorical and more page by page for whatever reason. I'm able to edit the Players page, I'm not able to edit my own page [Players/HydraTriangle] within the Players category.

[Songbird]

I'm having the error show up both on the wiki as well as the forum; specifically, when I try to edit IC character forum profiles. Currently, I cannot edit any of my IC character forum profiles, not even the inactive ones. Kamari Kaiser seems to be the only one I have that I cannot edit her forum or her wiki profile?

In regards to other wiki pages, the only other ones I've run into that error with has been on Salsola's Hereditary Houses wiki page? I'm still able to edit/preview other wiki pages just fine thus far.

(I also cleared cookies and such just in case, and, no change xD)

[Hydra Triangle]

I do have the sneaking suspicion it's related somehow to logging what you have edited previous. I seem to be only able to edit pages I haven't edited in the past, to my knowledge. And every page I have edited heavily leads to an internal server error.

But if it's not cookies, then...

I think it may be tied to your IP? I asked Viktory System to try to edit a page only I've edited heavily, since we have the same IP, and he got the same internal server error. This just a wild guess and may be totally off-base though. There are exceptions where I can edit pages I've edited in the past just fine.

[Kiri]

This feels like it may be tied to DNS and the domain pointer update that occurred after the server update yesterday. There are still some locations that show as not having propagated the update.

To verify, I would test to see if the issue occurs on a device using a different ISP. So if you're getting the error on your home wired ethernet or wifi, try doing stuff from your phone (assuming your mobile plan is with someone who isn't also providing your home internet). If your workplace has a different ISP, you can try from their wifi, etc.

If it seems to work from a different ISP, you can try flushing your DNS from the problematic ISP source.

You can also try changing your DNS server. Those instructions are to change them to Google's, which is generally pretty good, in my experience. There are other options though, if you wanna go down that rabbit hole.

[Hydra Triangle]

I haven't been able to try it from a different ISP, but neither flushing DNS nor changing it worked for me. D:

[Kiri]

Okay, I can reproduce the error on Salsola's House page. Something is triggering server anti-malicious activity protocols. I will try to take a closer look tonight.

In the meantime, if you're unable to edit Wiki pages you want to for Wiki Week, I recommend saving edit drafts locally. Hopefully I'll be able to get this sorted before the event is over.

[Hydra Triangle]

Sounds good, thanks Kiri!

[Hydra Triangle]

This same server error is now popping up on the board when I try to post. D: At least, when I try to post from Willow Martel's account?

EDIT: I was able to post from Willow's account; but it's very finicky and on and off. I can't seem to determine what is giving me the error still.

[Kiri]

Okay, so tl;dr but it looks like the server update came with an update to some security protocols that made things a lot stricter. One of the protocols evaluates post requests (the content of what you are trying to post/edit) and assigns an "anomaly score." Scores exceeding a certain value are blocked. This is what's happening on both the wiki and the forum.

The problem is that the ruleset for this protocol is too obtuse for me decipher or to try and modify it to be less strict, so I'll need to get with Support and try and figure things out, which may not be a fast process. ~_~

I think the Wiki may be especially prone to the problem because its syntax requires lots of programmic symbols ([]*/) which would also be used in Actual Malicious Activity, so my best workaround for now is to try and keep things simple. Since Wiki Week is mostly based on content VS formatting, you may be able to get away with using just the most basic of formatting while focusing on the content. (tbh, this is what we generally prefer for the Wiki anyway -- focus on the content, not the visuals!)

Another sort-of related issue is that some of the errors seem to be because of memory overload on the server. For some reason RAM-use has been high since the update. I've reset the server a few times and it seems to be a bit better now. Unfortunately the error output that ya'll get doesn't differentiate between any of this different reasons, but I can see actual error codes and lots of specifics in the server logs at least. ~_~

[Hydra Triangle]

That definitely makes the finicky-ness of it make a lot of sense v_v
This will make Wiki Week difficult for me personally as a lot of my personal pages are affected, but I'll still be able to at least 'prepare' the edits I want to make locally until it is, hopefully fixed. Then I'll have a backlog of edits that I can submit before the week is over with any luck :0

[Kiri]

Okay! Support actually got back to me pretty fast. This came in several hours ago:

As you have mentioned those blocks on your logs are false positives, I went ahead and made some exemption rules for the said server actions, and allow those to be process. As this may need few hours for apache to properly configure everything. Please continue to monitor if you still encounter the issues after few hours.

I was able to successfully preview an edit for the Salsola House page I replicated the error on before, so maybe things are sorted now. Please let me know if you're still having issues.

[Mel]

Just noting I was having a similar error yesterday but as of right now it appears to be working!

[Songbird]

I did the DNS flush just to be safe, but, I'm still unable to edit any of my character's forum profiles? All of the issues I had with the wiki are resolved, however.

[Kiri]

Yeah, I'm hitting issues updating some skin template components and the error log shows the problem hitting other parts of the forum including posts and PMs.

Am reconnecting with Support. We probably have to write out a lot more exceptions.

[Kiri]

I think these issues have been resolved. Let me know if you're still encountering it. I'll close this topic in a week otherwise.

[Viktory System]

That's great news, thank you for working this out Kiri. Will definitely post here again if we encounter this error anymore. Hope you have a wonderful rest of your night/day!