Strange behavior with Forum Home icons

[HM666]

I need help trying to solve a forum home icon problem. The problem is the new icon does not show when there is a new post on the forums. If I clear my browser cache the new icons will show until I click on a forum area to read it, when I go back to the breadcrumbs and click the "Forum" link to view the forum home again all the icons are showing as read even though I did not read those threads or even open the forum area. I can sometimes refresh my browser and it will show unread icons again, but again when I read a thread it makes everything as read even though it is not. This has been going on for months now with no fix. I tried asking over at vBulletin.com but in their infinite wisdom they decided to delete my post! If I post it again over there it WILL NOT be pretty right now lol.

Server/vBulletin Specs:

vBulletin 4.2.2. P1
PHP 5.4.33
MySQL 5.5.40
GD 2.3.11
Apache 2.2.29

Things I Have Already Done:

-Upgraded vBulletin 3 times (From 4.2.1-4.2.2-4.2.2P1)
-Upgraded PHP from PHP 5.2 to PHP 5.4.33
-Moved to a new server set up
-Disabled all hooks/hacks via config.php file (tried this 5 times)
-Cleared my browser cache in all the browsers on my machine (Firefox, IE, Chrome etc) - (Instructed members to do same)
-Cleared DNS Cache in Windows 7 on my Laptop (Instructed members to do the same)

What else can I do to fix this issue? This is quite annoying.

[kh99]

Well, I imagine someone at vbulletin.com would have asked this, but do you have any kind of server-side caching going on? Or do you have anything that would change the headers to allow the html pages to be cached? Can you provide a link to the site?

[HM666]

Well, I imagine someone at vbulletin.com would have asked this, but do you have any kind of server-side caching going on? Or do you have anything that would change the headers to allow the html pages to be cached? Can you provide a link to the site?

Not that I know of. This is a client's site and as for the server/host who knows. His host is the host from hell lol.

Link: http://www.merchant-navy.net

When you look at the forum for the first time you see the icons display properly but once you start navigating it goes downhill lol.

[Dave]

Could it be because of Incapsula, which you are using?

[Zachery]

This has been going on for months now with no fix. I tried asking over at vBulletin.com but in their infinite wisdom they decided to delete my post! If I post it again over there it WILL NOT be pretty right now lol.



Uh, excuse me, no one has deleted any of your posts. It'd be nice if you don't make accusations like that. (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum/vbulletin-4/vbulletin-4-questions-problems-and-troubleshooting/4137557-strange-forum-icon-problem)

What sort of cookie mark read are you using?

[HM666]

Could it be because of Incapsula, which you are using?

It should no longer be on the site. Where are you seeing Incapsula? Please let me know so I can make sure its taken down as the client is no longer using it.

Uh, excuse me, no one has deleted any of your posts. It'd be nice if you don't make accusations like that. (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum/vbulletin-4/vbulletin-4-questions-problems-and-troubleshooting/4137557-strange-forum-icon-problem)

What sort of cookie mark read are you using?

Uh excuse me but the attachment below what I saw when I logged into my account and its clearly marked as the thread was deleted, and when I clicked on the link to view the thread it is, of course, gone. I assume that must be just another vB5 bug perhaps?

Cookie mark read? I'm afraid I do not understand your question as we have not installed anything special for that on the site. No one really has to mark anything read as it seems to automatically do it on its own without provocation.

[Zachery]

There is a cookie read marking system in vBulletin 3/4, and it used to be on by default. Its under the AdminCP > Settings > Options >

There are two topics from you at the same time, one was deleted as a duplicate, which is likely a hiccup, but your topic is still on the forum where I linked it.

[Dave]

<a href="http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/merchant-navy.net" target="_blank">http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/merchant-navy.net</a>
ISP of this IP [?]: Incapsula

The A record still resolves to Incapsula and therefore all traffic goes through Incapsula.

[HM666]

There is a cookie read marking system in vBulletin 3/4, and it used to be on by default. Its under the AdminCP > Settings > Options >


There are two topics from you at the same time, one was deleted as a duplicate, which is likely a hiccup, but your topic is still on the forum where I linked it.

Ah it was marked at "Database (automatic forum marking)" I changed it to "Inactivity/Cookie Based". Is that correct to see those little pesky icons?

Ah ok well as you can see I do not even have that thread showing in my account. :( I did follow the link and saw it. :)

http://www.ip-adress.com/ip_tracer/merchant-navy.net
ISP of this IP [?]: Incapsula

The A record still resolves to Incapsula and therefore all traffic goes through Incapsula.

Hmmmm I took that stupid thing off. Need to go back to the drawing board and turn that crap off. *sigh*

[Zachery]

Automatic is fine, changing it to cookie read marking will make it function differently. Was more curious if you were on the cookie system, as it can cause problems in some cases.

[HM666]

I have managed after much going back and forth with the Incapsula thing get it turned off, but we still have the same issue. Anyone have any ideas?

[HM666]

Anyone have any other ideas? I've also tried to restart the server (Appache) & the DNS Server on the hosting, to no avail.

[Zachery]

How about a link to the site?

[Lynne]

Do you have an .htaccess file? What sort of rules are in there?

[HM666]

How about a link to the site?

A link to the site was posted here: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=2525917&postcount=3

Do you have an .htaccess file? What sort of rules are in there?

htaccess inside the forum:

RewriteEngine On

# If you are having problem with "None Could Be Negotiated" errors in Apache, uncomment this to turn off MultiViews
# Options -MultiViews

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(admincp/|dbseocp/|modcp/|cron|mobiquo|forumrunner|api\.php)
RewriteRule ^((archive/)?(.*\.php(/.*)?))$ dbseo.php [L,QSA]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !/(admincp|dbseocp|modcp|clientscript|cpstyles|image s)/
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ dbseo.php [L,QSA]

<ifmodule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine on
Options +FollowSymlinks

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -s [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -l [OR]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^.*$ - [NC,L]

# vBTube
ReWriteRule ^media/home vbtube.php [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/rss vbtube.php?do=rss [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/category-(\d+)-(.*)$ vbtube.php?do=cat&id=$1&t=$2 [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/photo-categories vbtube.php?do=list&ctype=2 [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/adult-categories vbtube.php?do=list&ctype=4 [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/categories vbtube.php?do=list [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/best-videos vbtube.php?do=topvideos [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/best-photos vbtube.php?do=topphotos [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/most-viewed vbtube.php?do=most_viewed [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/most-voted vbtube.php?do=most_voted [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/upload vbtube_add.php?do=add&amp;pt=0 [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/mymedia-u=(\d+)$ vbtube.php?do=mymedia&u=$1 [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/myfavorites-u=(\d+)$ vbtube.php?do=myfavs&u=$1 [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/youtube youtube_browser.php [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/acp vbtube_admin.php?do=appro2 [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/(\d+)-(.*)$ vbtube_show.php?tubeid=$1&sti=$2 [QSA]
ReWriteRule ^media/(\d+)$ vbtube_show.php?tubeid=$1 [QSA]
</ifmodule>

From what I see the rewrite rules have to do with DBSEO & vBTube.

[Zachery]

Are you using anything that might cache content itself? Frontend balancers? CloudFlare? etc

[HM666]

Are you using anything that might cache content itself? Frontend balancers? CloudFlare? etc

That is a good question, not that I know of but then again this host is the host from hell who knows. lol I can check on that and see. We had Incapsula on there but i have since taken it down.

[HM666]

There apparently was nothing installed that we know of that caches anything. Is there anything else that might cause this issue?

[Dave]

Well I browsed your forums a little bit but I didn't notice anything weird with the icons, it changes when I read threads.

[HM666]

That is not the problem. The problem is when you read a thread and then go back out to the main forum (FORUMHOME) all the icons appear as they are read even if you did not read those threads or even open those forum areas. You were at this site right? http://www.merchant-navy.net

[final kaoss]

Does the behaviour continue if you visit the page and then refresh it?

[HM666]

Does the behaviour continue if you visit the page and then refresh it?

If I refresh it all the icon show as read. Sometimes though they show as unread, its weird.

[final kaoss]

It sounds like a caching issue, you can try the htaccess from my guide or ozzys site to see if either help. Plus your pagespeed & yslow scores (http://gtmetrix.com/reports/www.merchant-navy.net/pGmFyYcR) are looking really poor, applying a custom htaccess like the ones we've made will help a bit for that and hopefully for your image issues too.

Since your using dbseo I'll point you to the one I made specifically for dbseo on vb4.
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=309693