Kevin's Watch

This is a general note about the "Not Acceptable" errors that people have been seeing lately. I will explain the issue, and I will show you how to get around it.

Which problem are you talking about?

When you're perfectly good post is rejected by the server, either when you submit it or preview it, and the error message says "Not Acceptable".

This error is conveyed to your browser with HTTP Response Code 406. It's up to your browser how it displays this to you. Different browsers show it to you differently.

• With Chrome, you see a big "Not Acceptable" in the browser, and the browser tab says "406 Not Acceptable".
• Firefox seems to behave the same as Chrome.
• With Internet Explorer, you see a message that says "Internet Explorer cannot read this webpage format", and the browser tab says "HTTP 406 Not Acceptable".

What's really going on?

Your post is being rejected by the server because of the letters (characters) you have used in your post.

Due to security-related changes, KevinsWatch now rejects posts with certain kinds of letters. All the letters you can get from your keyboard are fine. It's usually when you paste in text from fancy websites or fancy documents that you encounter this issue. For non-English, non-American members, you can also get into trouble using letters with diacritical marks, like ü.

In techno-jargon, your form submission is rejected if it contains any characters that are not Standard ASCII. Extended ASCII characters are rejected.

Well, what can I do about it?

Well, you can sometimes fix your issue with old fashioned labor.

• Look for any left-leaning or right-leaning single or double quotation marks, and replace them with the straight-up version you get from your keyboard.
• Similarly, replace any characters that look like a dash with a dash from your keyboard.
• Replace any characters with diacritical marks with vanilla versions of the character. E.g change ü to u.

If you are a person with a tropism for automation, try this website:

• utils.paranoiaworks.org/diacriticsremover/

Just paste in the bad text, press "Remove Diacritics", and then copy out the good text into your post.

If you really, really want those special characters, you can try this web site:

• www.ascii-code.com/

Look up the problematic character in the table, and find the matching value in the "HTML Number" column. This will be a value like ü. Just use that HTML character sequence where you would use the special character - and don't forget that the semi-colon is part of the sequence. For example, enter Würd to get Würd.

But be forewarned: This process doesn't work in reverse. So if you wish to edit your post afterwards, or if someone wants to quote your post, it will have a bad character, and it will be rejected. The bad character would have to be found and then removed, or converted to an HTML character sequence again, before the post can be submitted. In short, doing this makes editing or quoting a pain.

Now that this problem will never bother me again, what should I do?

I am partial to flattery, and gifts are always welcome.

Better yet, if you see anyone having an issue, you can point them to this thread, and then they too will never be bothered again.

Bravo! Thanks - I'll try this next time I am not accepted

Who dares not accept Stevie?

Must be a rather questionable character!

Uh, that sorta describes quite a few of us probably...

--A

+JMJ+

wayfriend wrote:If you really, really want those special characters, you can try this web site:

• www.ascii-code.com/

Look up the problematic character in the table, and find the matching value in the "HTML Number" column. This will be a value like ü. Just use that character sequence where you would use the special character - and don't forget that the semi-colon is part of the sequence. For example, enter Würd to get Würd.

Thanx for this.

But there is a caveat…

When one quotes a post, the Code in the post reverts to Character-form. So, one has to repeat the process either of "purging" the quoted text of Extended ASCII Characters or of "re-Coding" it in order to be able to get one's response accepted.

The same also applies when one edits (but not when one "previews") one's own post.

That's correct, Wosbald, and that information should have been in the base post. I have corrected that.

Which is why I couldn't sticky this. Will do it by re-coding when I have some time.

--A

Avatar wrote:Which is why I couldn't sticky this. Will do it by re-coding when I have some time.

There are three occurrences of "ü" which you have to replace with "ü". I thought about removing them, but the document isn't as informative without them. But just make those three swaps and you're good. I would do it for you if I could.

Haha, you made it easy for me. Sorted, thanks.

[Edit: Oh...and if ever you get the "unacceptable" error and you know there are no funny characters, then hit "back," copy your post, hit "reply" and post it.

I have no idea why, but for some reason it rejected the post above the edit, which has no ascii at all.]

--A

I hope 406 becomes acceptable again soon.

-jay

Why has this started happening all of a sudden - or at least much more frequently - of late? I've lost a few posts I was really happy with as a result of it and unlike you guys I'm not 'savvy' to the point where I can do stuff to sort it out.

+JMJ+

peter wrote:Why has this started happening all of a sudden - or at least much more frequently - of late? I've lost a few posts I was really happy with as a result of it and unlike you guys I'm not 'savvy' to the point where I can do stuff to sort it out.

Maybe, in the mean time, try copying/saving any laborious "in-depth" post before submitting it, so as not to lose it?

Yes. A simple CTRL-A, CTRL-C before you press [Submit] will hang on to your post.

It started happening when the server was upgraded with some sort of security patch (as I understand it). It's probably something that coincided with an oddity of the ancient phpBB2 platform to create a usability issue.

This is old but seems to strike the right issue:
community.mybb.com/thread-7592.html

wayfriend wrote: Now that this problem will never bother me again, what should I do?

I am partial to flattery, and gifts are always welcome.

Better yet, if you see anyone having an issue, you can point them to this thread, and then they too will never be bothered again.

And the more views and posts to this thread, the more WGDs wayfriend will earn for future WWM winners...

Menolly wrote:And the more views and posts to this thread, the more WGDs wayfriend will earn for future WWM winners...

Spoken like a confirmed White Gold Wanter.

It is an accepted truism on the Watch that all WGDs make their way eventually to a very few hoarders chasing the items in the Aumbrie. As someone whose WGD have long been channeled to our Gracious Concierge, I know how deep that truth runs...and I still give freely.

peter wrote:Why has this started happening all of a sudden - or at least much more frequently - of late? I've lost a few posts I was really happy with as a result of it and unlike you guys I'm not 'savvy' to the point where I can do stuff to sort it out.

I was wondering the same thing, (it's been an issue for me a lot more frequently than before) but I realized maybe it's a matter of a shift in posting styles causing me to end up with the forbidden characters in posts I write...
...in my case, usually copying quotations that contain the dreaded left-quote character!

peter- are the posts giving you trouble ones where you are copying and pasting something from the internetz, or quoting someone you're in conversation with on the Watch?

No Linna - there's nothing special about them, just bog standard posts like this.

I've noticed replying to a post with extended characters (or substituted codes) can cause it too.

If that happens, use the "reply" button, instead of the quick reply box.

--A

Thanks for the tip, Wayfriend. I found out that the board doesn't like the degree circle. Live and learn!