Windows Secrets Forum is having problems

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This is not a rant, I just didn’t know where else to put this topic.  Pretty much everyone is having problems with the Windows Secrets Lounge Forum.  The website host company did some maintenance (supposedly) on the site and now nothing works right.  I can’t even sign in with my name and password, and many others are reporting the same.  So, if you are wondering what’s going on that’s it.  You can go to the site and view what’s there, but anything else is probably going to give you a problem.  Things still had not been fix as of this date.

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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As one of the ‘Windows Secrets Lounge’ moderators, I’m sorry to say that Charlie is absolutely correct. The ‘site maintenance’ of 30th June was totally unexpected and – we think – the result of changing the site from http to https.

Whilst we now appear to have been able to contact a Penton ‘super-admin’, the WSL site is still experiencing significant problems. I’m obviously hoping that the situation will improve but also recognise that a week has gone by and the site is still, for all intents and purposes, mostly broken.

It’s horrible to read posts by ‘loungers’ that, quite understandably, they’re thinking of deserting what – IMO – is/was one of the finest sites available.

Just so people are clear… WSL forum staff had/have no control over the changes and are unable to sort this mess out. A very sad state of affairs…

Post back if you know the contact details for Penton’s CEO.

6 users thanked author for this post.

AJNorth, Elly, HiFlyer, MrJimPhelps, woody, satrow

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Last September, Penton was sold to a British firm called Informa:

http://www.foliomag.com/informa-acquires-penton-1-56-billion/

Informa is a huge conglomerate:

The company operates more than 10,000 conferences annually, and publishes newsletters, academic journals, commercial databases, and academic and business books. Topics covered include arts and humanities through social sciences to physical science and technology; and finance and the law through to telecommunications, maritime trade, energy, biotech, commodities and agriculture. Its online publishing portal Informaworld provided subscribers with more than half a million journal articles and 13,000 e-books from all its imprints.[24] In June 2011 the journals and e-books transferred to a new website, Taylor & Francis Online. Abstracting and indexing databases and bibliographic databases were to move from Informaworld to Taylor & Francis Online at a later date.[25] Besides publishing, the group has several other interests represented by the brands it owns in many countries.

I stopped writing for Windows Secrets when they demanded that I sign a work-for-hire contract, giving them all of the rights to all of the articles I wrote for Windows Secrets Newsletter.

6 users thanked author for this post.

AJNorth, JDeC, Bob99, Elly, HiFlyer, satrow

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Just so everyone knows: Windows Secrets Forums was previously Woody’s Lounge. Woody, even though you are no longer affiliated with Windows Secrets, you left a great legacy by turning over Woody’s Lounge to them while you were there.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 8.1 running in a VM

3 users thanked author for this post.

Elly, Charlie, HiFlyer

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I forgot to mention that most attempts to contact the super-admin (for example, I PM’d him whilst he was logged in to the WSL forum and emailed him on 2 of his gmail accounts) have met with an absolutely zero response.

This is not a rant nor a personal attack… just FACT.

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Charlie, HiFlyer

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woody wrote:

Last September, Penton was sold to a British firm called Informa: http://www.foliomag.com/informa-acquires-penton-1-56-billion/ Informa is a huge conglomerate:

The company operates more than 10,000 conferences annually, and publishes newsletters, academic journals, commercial databases, and academic and business books. Topics covered include arts and humanities through social sciences to physical science and technology; and finance and the law through to telecommunications, maritime trade, energy, biotech, commodities and agriculture. Its online publishing portal Informaworld provided subscribers with more than half a million journal articles and 13,000 e-books from all its imprints.[24] In June 2011 the journals and e-books transferred to a new website, Taylor & Francis Online. Abstracting and indexing databases and bibliographic databases were to move from Informaworld to Taylor & Francis Online at a later date.[25] Besides publishing, the group has several other interests represented by the brands it owns in many countries.

I stopped writing for Windows Secrets when they demanded that I sign a work-for-hire contract, giving them all of the rights to all of the articles I wrote for Windows Secrets Newsletter.

Now, now Woody. 🙂 You of all people know that the ‘Windows Secrets’ newsletter is completely different from the ‘Windows Secrets Lounge’ forum. It’s been my privilege to help out with one of the, IMO, best forums going. It’s just a shame that it has now been brought to its knees by what appears to be a failed implementation of SSL/https.

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Rick,

Quick submit/edit/submit will land you in the sp*m bucket. Be sure to give the system time to update between.

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satrow

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Er, well, I don’t think that’s the case.

After merging Woody’s Windows Watch into Brian’s newsletter, forming Windows Secrets Newsletter, I gave Woody’s Lounge to Brian Livingston, and he incorporated it into the Windows Secrets effort. Then Brian sold Windows Secrets (both Newsletter and Lounge) to iNet, then they sold to Penton, then they sold to Informa.

Did I miss something?

I just got an email this morning from Penton (Informa isn’t mentioned) that says:

We’ve been busy improving the ways we connect you to the content, product innovations, events, best practices and late-breaking news you need to know. If you haven’t checked in with windowssecrets.com lately, why not head on over and give it a fresh look right now?

Then they link to three of the “new, improved” articles – one by Tracey Capen, two by Fred Langa. Neither of them write for Windows Secrets any more – and haven’t been writing for WSN for many months. Unfortunately, since Tracey and Fred signed away their rights with a work-for-hire agreement, they can’t come back at Informa.

End result: Potential subscribers think that’s “new” WSN material. It isn’t. It’s good material written by two people who long ago flew the coop.

My old offer still stands: I’d love to have the Windows Secrets Lounge folks over here. AskWoody can move faster, offer different technical perspectives, and in general do a better job than Penton/Informa. That’s why I built it. 🙂

5 users thanked author for this post.

AJNorth, WildBill, HiFlyer, MrJimPhelps, satrow

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@woody, you wrote back in July that:

woody wrote:

Then they link to three of the “new, improved” articles – one by Tracey Capen, two by Fred Langa. Neither of them write for Windows Secrets any more – and haven’t been writing for WSN for many months. Unfortunately, since Tracey and Fred signed away their rights with a work-for-hire agreement, they can’t come back at Informa.

A quick question: why wouldn’t Tracey and Fred be allowed to write new material for Informa? Does Penton (or whoever)  claim control over anything that Tracey writes, anywhere? I don’t understand the legal issues involved.

 

Keep Running Windows 7 Safely for Years to Come  
Make Windows 10 look and work like Windows 7

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I can log in to WSL, and I can read all posts (and they are marked read once I have read them), but I can’t post anything.

I sincerely hope that the new owners realize the value of what they have in the WS Forums and get these problems fixed.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 8.1 running in a VM

2 users thanked author for this post.

HiFlyer, satrow

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Experiment with right-click/middle-click, Jim. For a ‘normal’ reply function there, I’ve had luck with the bottom Reply button.

I think we have someone working in the background there currently, some issues appear to be ‘fixed’.

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I forgot to mention that the WSL Forum Staff have been doing a lot to try to get things back up and operating right.  They are not at all at fault in this, and should be commended for what they’ve done without any compensation.  I’m hoping the WSL site gets back to normal soon.  It’s a great site!

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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MrJimPhelps, satrow, Elly

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I flew the coop for here, didn’t like the “feel” of the newsletter with the folks that took over after Tracey Capen left. Too many irregular deliveries and column schedules (columns weren’t in the issue they were supposed to normally be in). Also didn’t like the way in which Fred “left”, with an extended sabbatical (my words not theirs; I don’t recall their exact wording). I always thought something was up, Woody has just proven it with what he says Fred and Tracy went through.

I had history with the newsletter, having moved over to it when Fred ended his stand-alone newsletter and folded us into Brian’s effort. That was a great newsletter, too bad too much $$ and mergers got in the way.

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AJNorth

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Bob: The WS forums aren’t the same as the WS newsletter, although both are owned by the same people. I haven’t read the newsletter in a couple of years, but I am very often on the forums.

I too was a subscriber to Fred Langa’s newsletter and came to Windows Secrets when the two merged.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 8.1 running in a VM

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AJNorth

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It looks like most or all of the things wrong with the WSL have been fixed.  Yay!  I’ve had no problems and indications are that things are back to normal.  I sure hope this doesn’t happen again anytime in the near future.  Thanks again to those who helped get it fixed!

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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Well after 6 months and three weeks, it seems WSL is having another problem.  I can’t even get into the site, and get this:

Error 503 Backend fetch failed
Backend fetch failed
Guru Meditation:
XID: 47425419

Varnish cache server

Does anyone know what’s happening?

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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DrRon

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With all the Windows update problems, perhaps all the tech sites are getting hit with an over abundance of requests seeking help – just like we are. That’s why the AskWoody site is slow again.

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BobbyB

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As far as I can tell from the outside, there’s been no external hijack/hack; I’ve been informed by a fellow Admin that the owner’s representative has been contacted and that their techs have been alerted and that they’re working on it – but some of the other sites in the group are also down, so it doesn’t look a straightforward ‘reboot the server’ task.

2 users thanked author for this post.

AJNorth, DrRon

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From Brian Krebs I see that a Vietnamese hacker has hijacked several Newtek web sites over the weekend.

If WS used the Newtek web services that could be the issue.  If so, no telling how long it will take to recover.

Retired Rocket Scientist

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I think WSL is with Pentel (but I can’t check to be certain).  Maybe the January Windows Updates did them in.  Compared to the very large amount of questions and talk on Woody’s site, there wasn’t much on WSL.  Woody’s site is still slow, but tolerable.

I took a performance hit after installing the Jan. Windows Updates.

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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Windows Secrets is now owned by Penton International, and all their websites are undergoing maintenance and have been all week. I’ve no idea what it’s about, but had it been scheduled (which is unlikely for an entire company network at the same time) then I’m sure they would have mentioned it in the last Newsletter which was sent out on 9th February, so my assumption is that either Penton or some critical part of the network serving them suffered some form of catastrophic attack or failure for which recovery is proving difficult.

The main problem with these situations is, of course, that in the absence of any statement from Penton/WS we have absolutely no idea whether any of our confidential information held by them (which for a subscription service is likely to include names, addresses, and credit card details as well as the basic stuff like email addresses and passwords) has been compromised.

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Penton sold out to Informa last year, see #123686 above.

As I mentioned yesterday, the most likely trigger seems to be hardware failure.

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Agreed satrow, but Windows Secrets is still run as Penton, an informa business, and the support link is to customer support at Penton (whose websites are down along with Windows Secrets). I dealt with them last Autumn. Effectively, therefore, Windows Secrets is owned by Penton which is in turn a subsidiary of Informa – at least, that’s what the description on the newsletters indicates.

 

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A post from a sister forum to WindowsSecrets (since at least iNET through Penton and Informa) near the end of 2017.

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cesmart4125, AJNorth

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Indeed satrow, that confirms what we’re both saying, namely that Penton are a subsidiary of Informa which ultimately can of course close any e.g. forum that Penton is running. For the moment at least, Penton are running Windows Secrets according to the newsletters, but as their parent company Informa is in ultimate control.

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So this is the way things are done in the website hosting business ay.  What are we – cattle?  Serfs?  Chopped Liver?    🙁

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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I hope they haven’t decided to shut it down.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 8.1 running in a VM

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Discovering this thread, through a search to try to ascertain whether Windows Secrets had folded, was exceedingly informative. It explained why Woody had left them, what happened to other former staff (in particular Fred Langa & Tracey Capen) and their decline since.

Essentially, the only reason that I’ve even visited WS for the past couple of years is for Susan Bradley’s Patch Watch column. If WS is teetering on the brink, it would be grand if she were to come on board here; it would be a shame for her column to end.

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I believe, among other things, Susan Bradley is heavily involved with http://patchmanagement.org/

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satrow

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Patch Watch was the only remaining reason I subscribed to WSN as the other veteran contributors left. But then two things happened: Vista stopped getting updates, and Windows 7 updates started coming in all-in-one packages so that you could no longer install some while holding off on others. Patch Watch ceased being useful to me, so I let my subscription lapse. I now depend on Woody’s for information on Windows updates.

 

Keep Running Windows 7 Safely for Years to Come  
Make Windows 10 look and work like Windows 7

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Glad I found this thread. I too have been wondering about why I get browser errors trying to access Windows Secrets.  It is nice to know it is not my computer, router, antivirus or cable company. I have kept my subscription because of Susan Bradley and hope this continues. If not hopefully Susan can go out on her own. I sent emails to Penton customer support and to the editor of windows secrets a couple of days ago without response.

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So, from what I’m getting from all the talk about Windows Secrets Newsletter (WSN) is that it is inextricably linked to the Windows Secrets Lounge (WSL) or Forum.  I’ve heard a lot of people voice discontent with the Newsletter, but I’m pretty sure that everyone liked the WSL Lounge/Forum a lot.

Every day, the first two sites I visit are Woody’s site and then Windows Secrets Lounge.  If WSL goes away, I/we will have lost a very good source of software/hardware information as well as a great place to communicate with computer people.

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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There was a Persian king
Who wanted to know
What he could say on
Every occasion
That always would be so

Illusions, circles and changes
Illusions, always changing
Like the wind and the rain

He summoned three wise men
From his eternal throne
One from each border
Gave them his order
To write words always true

The wise men thought so hard
For a night and day
Found these words to say on
Every occasion
These things too shall pass away

All songs © 1969 by Thomas D. Rapp -Pearls Before Swine

🙁

 

 

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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My gloom may be premature!!

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/what-happened-to-windows-secrets/#post-168816

Thanks Rick!

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Another baby step forward… the site configuration issue now appears to be resolved and I no longer to make the site an exception (I use Firefox) to get past the previous ‘insecure’ error. The WSL forums home page is still showing a 404 – Page not found error though.

I note that the Windows Secrets site’s certificate is now from Amazon and appears to be an annual one (13 months, actually) rather than the previous 3-month certificates from Let’s Encrypt… so I’m going to take this as an additional good sign. 🙂

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Charlie, wavy

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I’ve just had another update (after I asked whether there was any news).

It’s been acknowledged there were far more issues than expected getting the site back up and the IT team is still working on the issues I mentioned (i.e. site not secure and appears to be a very old backup).

On the newsletter side, the editor now has access again so new newsletters and content are expected. Subscribers will be getting an email update with offers of extended content and subscriptions.

The text further acknowleged how painful this has been for forum members/newsletter subscribers and ended with regret about the time this has taken.

If I get any further updates then I’ll pass it on.

Hope this helps…

I note that, using Firefox, the site shows as insecure and I cannot access it with a test account I created *after* the site went from HTTP to HTTPS. This leads me to believe that it’s a pre-HTTPS backup that’s been restored. If so, then there may well be issues if you do change your site access password then a post-HTTPS restore is made.

I’m going to hold fire for another day or two and hope that an HTTPS restore appears.

Hope this helps…

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wavy, Charlie, CADesertRat

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The ‘new posts’ function is now working  🙂

 

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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@Wavy, I’m still getting the not secure and it doesn’t recognize my password.

From your post, I assume that you got in?

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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The site has been restored from 9 months ago, so you need to use the password you were using then.

cheers, Paul

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CADesertRat

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CADesertRat wrote:

@wavy, I’m still getting the not secure and it doesn’t recognize my password. From your post, I assume that you got in?

 

Yes and I have had the same password forever …..

🍻

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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CADesertRat

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Thanks for the “Heads-up” on the old password. My bookmarked url for the lounge gives me a 404 not found but I went to WS . com and clicked on lounge ( which is a different url now ) and put in my old password ( luckily I saved it ), and viola, I was into the old insecure site from 2017 which now has a few new post’s. My guess is that not many “loungers” will get back in unless they read woody’s site.

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does 🙂
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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I was able to get on the site with no problem.  There are new messages about what’s going on.  I was able to log in with my password as before.  Things are looking a lot better for WSL.

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognize a mistake as soon as you make it again.

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I just tried to log onto the WS Forum using my username and password from when I first signed up for WS.  The site then tells me to enter my email for “security purposes” and to go to my email where I’ll find instructions on obtaining a password.  When I go to my email, there are no instructions on obtaining my WS password.

Trying several more times results in the same messages.  Consequently, I’m unable to answer another user’s question.  Me thinks WS has seen better days.

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The WSL registration server seems to have issues since the rollback when it comes to sending email out, if you use the Contact Us link at the foot of each page, we’ll try to get you sorted out manually.

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