Topics

1

FA Obsession Collection / Technical question about FA

« on: January 04, 2013, 09:32:39 am »

At the moment, it seems one of the biggest reasons why FA isn't getting outside help for the UI is because of trust issues, because it would involve seeing the code, which I'm assuming is because the UI and backend are intertwined. Would it not be relatively simple to export such code into external files, so that instead of the PHP for the UI having "select blah from blah and do some magic", it would just call something like GetLatestSubmissions(24)/GetUnreadJournals() and whatnot? Then once the UI is separated from the back end, anyone working on the UI only needs to know what these functions are, how they're called, and in what format the data is returned. An FA UI API, if you have an acronym fetish. At the same time, the back end can be fiddled about with endlessly just as long as the functions still accept and return the same data in the same way.

It sounds simple enough - just cutting and pasting and adding some intermediate variables, maybe massaging the data into a more suitable format for passing between functions - but if that were the case I'm sure it would've already been done. Am I gravely underestimating how difficult it would be? Is there something I'm overlooking or misunderstanding? Is the code just that awful? I wouldn't think it would be that bad, since even the user pages say it only uses 25 different queries, with about 10 of those probably being the ones for the top bar that are the same on every page.

Apologies if I abused any terminology. You get the idea though.

2

FA Obsession Collection / A possible second FA note leak

« on: July 02, 2012, 08:17:32 am »

Apparently some e-mails have been sent around (some from Arcturus) enclosing a QR code.



It encodes the following text:

July 4th, 2012: Anonymous splinter group Murrnonymous releases 2nd FA note leak, blames administration for not fixing broken software full of 0-days, also McDonalds price hike on dblchzbrgrs.

Aside from a thread on lulz.net, I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else (Google just brings up the expired thread), with just 2 days left. Has anyone else seen this around, or have any more info on it?

3

FA Obsession Collection / FA tries a caching system; fails horribly

« on: July 06, 2011, 02:38:49 pm »

Administrator notice:
There was an issue where people were being logged in as other users. This was a result of a configuration issue with a server-side caching system we were trying. The issue has been resolved. We've wiped the active sessions as a precaution.

UPDATE: After the server-side caching mechanism was fixed, it left the session system in an inconsistent state. We have fixed the underlying bug and have cleared out the active sessions again. (Sorry about that.)

Basically, random people have been logging in to find themselves on someone else's account. Yes, with full access. Some people have complained of deleted submissions and notices. First brought up in this thread. Yet again, despite saying the issue is "resolved", it still required further action.

Fun quote:

I've asked Yak what possible justification there could be for a frontend cache and got:
"the changes were done without consulting me, measures are being taken so that would not happen again more then once." and "pretty sure 99.98% of all cases was the ISPs cache. deleting sessions is not really required, but i guess it will make people feel better."

Yak wasn't consulted? There's only about 3 people who even have that sort of access, and they didn't think to perhaps inform the rest of the "team"? And the part about it not happening again "more then once" is ... I don't even understand that.

I know FA is a complete clusterfuck, but this level of failure still manages to surprise me. Instead of, say, fixing some existing issues or spending some more time on the new UI, it's decided instead to spend some time adding something new, not telling one of the few people who could actually help and/or fix it, and then fucking it up. For 9 hours. Great job!

But hey, at least no one got into an admin account, right?