Only some users cannot comment articles

[t0bY!]

Hello all,

I have a problem with the comment function in my blog.

Some users complain that they cannot post comments to articles
in my weblog. After typing in THE RIGHT captcha, there is an error
message which says the captcha is wrong. I cannot reproduce this
error myself (yes, I've logged out) because everything
works fine for me.
For most users comments seem to work fine all the time,
for some never and others can comment sporadically, no matter which
operating system or browser they use.

Perhaps the Spamschutz plugin could be responsible for that.
Its version number in my blog is 1.51.

This problem occured with Serendipity 1.0, 1.0.1 and now occurs
with 1.0.2, too. My web-hoster iss all-inkl.com.

Is there anyone with this problem who has fixed it?

I've read through the forum. There a similar problem was discussed.
According to this discussion the php-setings on the server side could
be the error source.

But this seems trange to me in my case, since commenting works in general.

Perhaps I won't have internet acces for the next few days. But when
I'm back I will post some chunks of the spamblock.log.

Thanks and bye,

t0bY!

http://infar.be

[judebert]

Sessions on the server are often the problem, yes.

The other obvious problem is cookies: if the client doesn't have cookies enabled, commenting and other functionality is limited.

[t0bY!]

I think I can exclude cookies. Because I already checked this with some users. And some people can sometimes comment and sometimes not without modifying their browser settings.
What do I neet to have checked on my provider's side? I think I have no access to the PHP config. So I need to ask them.

Thanks for your help,

t0bY!

[garvinhicking]

Hi!

How exactly did you configure your spamblock settings? Maybe some SURB/IP-Blocks are invalidating your user's comments...

Best regards,
Garvin

[t0bY!]

Hi Garvin,

you can find my settings here, quick n dirty ;)

http://toby.infar.be/media/pix/spamschutz_settings.png

My IP-Block interval is set to 1 Minute. Therefore I cannot explain this one:

[2006-11-09 16:35:15] - [REJECTED: Zu viele Links] - [#49, Name "Irvin"...
[2006-11-09 21:53:42] - [REJECTED: IP-Block] - [#159, Name "Angela"...

The first was a spambot. The second one a friend. Both entries stand next to each other in the logfile.
But why was Angela blocked here?

What about these two:

[2006-11-10 19:20:18] - [REJECTED: Captcha ungültig (Eingegeben: 4KQ, Erwartet: )] - [#159, Name "vreni"...
[2006-11-10 19:34:21] - [REJECTED: Captcha ungültig (Eingegeben: 2HLNV, Erwartet: )] - [#159, Name "Daniel"...

They both didn't appear earlier in this logfile.

Bye,

t0bY!

[garvinhicking]

Hi!

Do you only have the spamblock plugin installed, or also any of the DNSBL, SURBL spamblock plugins? An "IP-Block" can also happen if you have those installed.

Also, check if that user "Andrea" maybe commented successful on an earlier entry? The logfile entry only happens once she posts more than one comment at that time.

What about these two:

Those people's browser did not accept cookies, and captchas only work when people accept cookies

Best regards,
Garvin