[RESOLVED] Strange Behaviuor

[couttsj]

VBForums is behaving strangely for the last 2 days. When I attempt access, it tells me that my browser (Firefox 150.0) is not supported. But when I do Google search it allows access.

Very strange!

J.A. Coutts

[Steve R Jones]

Speaking of Google:

"An "unsupported browser" error usually means your browser is outdated, missing security updates, or has JavaScript disabled. Update your browser immediately (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari) to the latest version, clear your cache/cookies, and enable JavaScript. Using a modern browser like Chrome is recommended for the best compatibility."

[couttsj]

Speaking of Google:

"An "unsupported browser" error usually means your browser is outdated, missing security updates, or has JavaScript disabled. Update your browser immediately (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari) to the latest version, clear your cache/cookies, and enable JavaScript. Using a modern browser like Chrome is recommended for the best compatibility."

Firefox is fully up to date (2 days ago), so I don't think that is the problem. If I search Google for "VBForums VB6 Codebank" then I get access. I presume that is because Google forwards the request.

J.A. Coutts

[couttsj]

I noticed that a few days ago VBForums was getting more than 100,000 guests and very few members, so I presume that Cloudflare made some kind of change. Is it possible that they are using one of my blocked scripts?
(* means script is blocked by default)
*…2mdn.net
*…6sc.co
*…6sense.com
*…aaxads.com
*…adnxs-simple.com
*…adnxs.com
*…adobedtm.com
*…ads-twitter.com
*…akamaihd.net
*…akstat.io
*…amazon-adsystem.com
*…anyclip.com
*…bing.com
*…boldchat.com
*…braze.com
*…carbonads.com
*…doubleclick.net
*…ezodn.com
*…facebook.net
*…googletagmanager.com
*…googletagservices.com
*…icanhazip.com
*…imasdk.googleapis.com
*…jsdelivr.net
*…kampyle.com
*…medallia.ca
*…ml314.com
*…ntv.io
*…office.com
*…pardot.com
*…postrelease.com
*…quantcast.com
*…quantcount.com
*…quantserve.com
*…servedby-buysellads.com
*…sportradarserving.com
*…springserve.com
*…technologyadvice.com
*…virtualearth.net
*…zi-scripts.com
*…zoominfo.com

J.A. Coutts

[couttsj]

There was a troubleshooting link on the Cloudflare message, and it said that it needed access to "turnstile.workers.dev". That script did not exist as either "TRUSTED" or "UNTRUSTED", so I manually added it. However when I ran the "compatibility checking tool", this was the message I got:
-------------------------
Turnstile Failed Despite Passing All Checks

All browser compatibility checks passed, but Turnstile still couldn't complete successfully. This is unusual and may indicate an edge case.
-------------------------

But all was not lost. After a reboot the message I got was:
-------------------------
?Security check passed!
-------------------------

J.A. Coutts

[Steve R Jones]

Anytime an issue appears to ONLY affect one person - most people generally assume the issue is on that one computer.

Did you look into enabling JavaScript?

Have you tried a different browser to see what happens?

[couttsj]

Well it happened again. This time I left the Cloudflare message running on the first page while I troubleshot the message on secondary pages. When I could not get through on the secondary pages, I closed them and returned to the first page, only to find that it had connected properly. Below is the result returned by the "compatibility checking tool" (IP obfuscated).

J.A. Coutts
-------------------------------------
Turnstile Failed Despite Passing All Checks

Session ID:19DEC66C953F7CC251D
Your IP Address: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Timestamp:2026-05-03T05:54:15.381Z
Browser:
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:150.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/150.0
Turnstile Status:failed
All Diagnostic Results
?
Browser Version
Mozilla Firefox v150 (supported)
?
Cookies
Working correctly
?
Automation Check
No automation detected
?
System Clock
Clock synchronized
?
Privacy Tools
No interference detected
?
Browser Storage
Working correctly
?
Canvas
Working correctly
?
WebGL
ANGLE (Intel, Intel(R) HD Graphics 400 Direct3D11
?
Server Connection
Can reach Cloudflare
?
Browser APIs
All required APIs present
---------------------------------

[couttsj]

Same problem again this morning. I attempt to open VBForums and the Cloudflare "Browser Not Supported" message pops up. Open a new window and run the "compatibility checking tool" with the message above. When I exit that window, the first window successfully connects to VBForums.

Very Strange.

J.A. Coutts

[Steve R Jones]

And I'm not sure that to tell you.... Did you ever get around to doing these?

Did you look into enabling JavaScript?

Have you tried a different browser to see what happens?

[couttsj]

And I'm not sure that to tell you.... Did you ever get around to doing these?
Did you look into enabling JavaScript?

Have you tried a different browser to see what happens?

What is the point? JavaScript is always enabled and Firefox is the only browser I use because it has the ability to block undesirable scripts.

J.A. Coutts

[2kaud]

I use Firefox and I have no known issues.

[couttsj]

I use Firefox and I have no known issues.

Yes, but are you using NoScript?

J.A. Coutts

[Arnoutdv]

Have you tried disabling NoScript to see if it's the culprit?

[couttsj]

Have you tried disabling NoScript to see if it's the culprit?

Not sure that will help. Let me explain. My home page is a local file that I created. In it I have a listing of all the sites that I visit regularly. For example, for VBForums the entry looks like this:
<a href="https://www.vbforums.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">-VBForums</a>

I use this methodology because it loads relatively fast and prevents malicious hackers from backtracking. It could well be related to the problem I am having, but I think that I have found a way around the problem.

When Cloudflare says that my browser is not supported, I open a second copy of Firefox and run the "compatibility checking tool":
https://browser-compat.turnstile.workers.dev/
That usually completes properly and then I can close the second window and refresh the request in the first window.

J.A. Coutts

[couttsj]

Further Info: The first attempt to access VBForums brings up the Cloudflare warning of "Browser Not Supported" almost immediately. Accessing from a second window causes Cloudflare Bot Management to analyze the connection for a few moments before connecting successfully. Cloudflare reports this particular problem:
---------------------------------
Update - We are continuing to update the identified issues with our Bot Management features for the rule IDs: 50331648, 50331649. We have disabled the affected feature globally to prevent further impact. An additional 72 hours is needed for stabilization, and review of the detections.
May 09, 2026 - 00:39 UTC
---------------------------------

Unfortunately I have no idea what those 2 rules mean, but these reports started May 5, 2026.

J.A. Coutts

[Steve R Jones]

What happens if and when you bypass your home page/local file?

As in bring up your browser and go straight to -> https://www.vbforums.com/forum.php

[couttsj]

What ever the problem was, it appears to have been resolved this morning.

J.A. Coutts

[couttsj]

The problem is back again, but I am not concerned. What I did notice however in the brief period that I was able to connect first try is that the number of active users was above 50,000. Now that the problem is back, the number of active users is less than 600. I can work around the issue if Cloudflare and VBForums are successful in managing bots.

J.A. Coutts