Testing Changes to Public Campaigns Due to Site Slowness
OP has been getting scanned by a lot of bots lately, which causes the site to be slow, and it's been taking up a lot of the dev time to deal with.
So, we're testing out some changes to the way Public Campaigns work to see if that alleviates these issues.
Previously, all Basic/Free Campaigns were "Public" by default, which meant that anyone on the internet could view the Campaigns ... "anyone" including the bots.
Now, all Basic/Free Campaigns are "Public", but that means "within OP". So, to view a Basic/Free Campaign, a member will have to be logged in. We have "ever logins", so that members are never logged out after they login on a device, unless they explicitly logout or change their password, so this shouldn't be a hindrance for members.
Additionally, Ascendants now have a Campaign Settings > Basic Settings > Privacy option of "Internet", which is what "Public" used to be. If you set your Campaign Privacy to "Internet", then anyone on the internet will be able to visit the Campaign with or without being logged in to OP.
If you are Ascendant, and you want to set your Campaign Privacy to "Internet", please do go ahead and do so.
This change was to limit the number of Campaigns that the bots can scan, and by removing the Basic/Free Campaigns from the possible Campaigns, that should be enough to make a difference.
If you have any concerns about this change, feel free to bring them up here, or to email support if you want to do so privately.
Hopefully this will take care of the issues and we can stop having to waste time on bots.
Obsidian Portal Developer
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Hello, I have been using obsidian portal as a way to inform my community of online players (50+) about my world. This change is affecting me directly as I cant ask them to make account. We mostly play through text. Is there any way for the content of a blog to be accessible again without an ascendant account ?
Thank you for your time.
This change has been in place now for a couple of weeks, and I personally haven't seen any slowness on the site since it went into effect and haven't heard of any members seeing slowness and we haven't had to spend any dev time on bots since then!
If you have seen slowness in the last couple of weeks, please let us know.
But, unless someone says they have seen slowness, or unless we see some other reason to reverse it, I think this change is permanent.
I've reached out privately to get the specifics of Vayday's situation. I'm sure we'll find a good solution.
If anyone else has any concerns or issues, please feel free to bring them up here, or contact support.
We're happy to help.
Obsidian Portal Developer
We've got Vayday fixed up now.
If anyone else has any issues or concerns, get in touch here or via support and we'll figure out a good solution to your situation.
Obsidian Portal Developer
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
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We did get some further concerns from members that run Campaigns with Players who don't want to have to create OP accounts to view the Campaign.
So, we're testing out another change to see if we still get the same benefits of banishing the slowness, while enabling visitors (that are not bots) to view the Basic/Free Campaigns without being logged in.
The "Internet" Privacy has been removed, and replaced with a "Public with human check" (which is the default and the only option available to Basic/Free Campaigns), and also a "Public with no human check" (which is an Ascendant feature).
If a logged in member visits any Campaign, then they will not see the "Verifying you are human" screen.
If a visitor that is not logged in visits a Public Campaign, then if the Campaign is set to "Public with human check", then the visitor will have to go through a "Verifying you are a human" screen. BUT, only the first time they visit OP on that device (as long as they don't clear cookies).
Let us know if you see any slowness or have any concerns about these changes.
Obsidian Portal Developer
No concerns, but I like this idea.
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"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
Previous CotM Aug 2012: Shimring: High Level Multiplanar Campaign
Inner Council Member