Cannot access forum from links

I am using my phone to write this post. Please forgive any "typos."

I formerly used the links browser to access this forum from hardware too old to run modern Javascript. Now i get the following message:

Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page.

Why do I have to complete a CAPTCHA?

Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property.

...

Cloudflare Ray ID: 6f314bd4ab1b3a19 * Your IP: [buttcrack redacted] * Performance & security by Cloudflare

The Captcha requirement is from Cloudflare, which is a CDN (content delivery network) and also gives DDoS mitigation services and not LQ. It allows LQ to scale better and prevent idiots from doing a Denial of Service attack on it.

As far as I can tell looking at the Cloudflare FAQ's javascript is required for being able to access any sites in their system.

Cloudflare again!
Thanks for reporting this.

JavaScript being required on CloudFlare sites is only relevant when the CAPTCHA is shown. When an LQ request is not intercepted, JavaScript is not required.

If CloudFlare is behaving differently with Links compared to other browsers then you need to identify which HTTP header(s) are different.

The obvious one is the User-Agent, and Links can accept -http.fake-firefox 1 to solve that (or -http.fake-user-agent <string> to specify something else).

Quoted from a different thread...

Originally Posted by BenCollver i cannot access the forum from the links browser even when i set the UA to match Firefox.

If User-Agent didn't solve it, it may be cookie related. (It may also be other things.)

There's no mention of cookies on the Links man page, does it even support cookies?

You haven't given any useful information: What specific version of Links are you using, how are you starting it, at what point do you see the message (i.e. when trying to visit the homepage, when trying to login, when trying to post, at some other stage?)

Have you tried using ELinks or Lynx instead?

I was able to open LQ with lynx, after accepting 4 different cookies.
https://0x0.st/oqhm.png

I don't have links installed.

lynx --version
Lynx Version 2.8.9rel.1 (08 Jul 2018)
libwww-FM 2.14, SSL-MM 1.4.1, OpenSSL 1.1.1m, ncurses 6.3.20211021
Built on linux-gnu (Feb  6 2022 12:33:20).

It doesn't update very often.

Edit your first post and remove your IP address.

Originally Posted by BenCollver I didn't realize that CF was only requiring JS for certain users.

I don't think it does.
As I wrote in the other thread about ads:

• I don't use js on LQ
• adding certain combinations of letters & symbols to your post is enough to trigger CF so that I have to enable js, or even complete a captcha. E.g. "script" surrounded by < > or "ls" at the beginning of the line.

Right now I don't feel that you have researched & described your problem well enough to move on to speculations.

That said, I have voiced my criticism of how CF acts on this site many times, so take care not to preach to the choir.

Did i break the forum rules by disclosing my IP address?

I can log into the forum with lynx. That works at least.

I am using the links browser version 2.25 with cookies enabled. It does not seem to make a difference which UA i use. I tried using "Lynx/2.28rel.2 libwww-FM/2.14 SSL-MM/1.4.1 OpenSSL/1.0.2u" as my UA, but i still get a CAPTCHA from CF when i try to log in.

I start links by running: /usr/bin/links -g

Then i type: g

Then i type: https://www.linuxquestions.org/

Then i press Enter.

Then i click in the User Name field and enter my user name.

Then i click in the Password field and enter my password.

Then i click the [Log in] button.

Then i see the CAPTCHA.

What i found is that if i press Ctrl-R several times to reload, the CAPTCHA goes away and i am logged in. Very strange.

I just visited forum in links and had no issues with a capcha, but, after I logged in and went to the "Redirecting" page, nothing happened. The login didn't seem to take. But that was probably my inexperience with links more than anything else . . . .

I also found that i can log in using links in Termux on my phone without receiving a CAPTCHA. I only have a problem with links on my old, slow linux laptop. Same version of links in both places, same cookie settings, same useragent.

I was able to login and navigate the forum with w3m, which is my favorite text browser, but, I must admit, I haven't used it in quite a while.

Did i break the forum rules by disclosing my IP address?

Nope, but it'll give the script kiddies and L33t kali users something to do. And you'll probably see more business at your firewall. Just a friendly suggestion.

ping -c1 63.155.xx.xx
PING 63.155.xx.xx (63.155.xx.xx) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 63.155.xx.xx: icmp_seq=1 ttl=51 time=80.3 ms

whois 63.155.xx.xx
dig @8.8.8.8 63.155.xx.xx
nslookup
nmap

https://www.findip-address.com/

etc.

I figure the ad networks already have my deets and they are friendly with malicious forces. Not to mention the alphabet agency spooks in bed with the big Internet companies. Why worry whether my buttcrack is showing when i have to walk through an x-ray vision security-theater box anyway?

^ I don't think that's a good comparison, but I can't be arsed (pun intended) to come up with a better one. Anyhow, friendly advice was given, the rest is up to you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Originally Posted by BenCollver Then i type: https://www.linuxquestions.org/ Then i press Enter. Then i click in the User Name field and enter my user name. Then i click in the Password field and enter my password. Then i click the [Log in] button. Then i see the CAPTCHA. What i found is that if i press Ctrl-R several times to reload, the CAPTCHA goes away and i am logged in. Very strange.

That is very strange indeed.

I am using the links browser version 2.25 with cookies enabled. It does not seem to make a difference which UA i use.

Are you sure you tried one representing a recent version of Firefox, Chrome, Chromium?
FWIW, my current FF is: "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:91.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/91.0"