My post was attributed to a different user

January 7, 2002 6:41 PM

Sorry allpaws. I didn't catch it in the "preview" phase, but it appears a post of mine was attributed to user name "allpaws". allpaws and I do not share a computer and I was logged in as G_Ask. clues? Has this happened before?
posted by G_Ask to Bugs at 6:41 PM (43 comments total)

Has this happened before?

Never before. It seems almost impossible. You have no idea who allpaws is? There's no physical chance you guys were on the same computer at the same time?
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:01 PM on January 7, 2002

Hi, Allpaws here. I noticed this myself when I came back to check the thread. Nope, never heard of this G_Ask person. Nice comment, though...I hope those stats on that gal aren't true, either!
posted by allpaws at 7:07 PM on January 7, 2002

*cue creepy "Scooby Doo" music*
posted by ColdChef at 7:16 PM on January 7, 2002

G_Ask meet allpaws. Allpaws meet G_Ask. Finally the Internet produces a happy-ending story of two like minds, continents apart, dramatically brought together by cyber-chance!

(This could easily become a cult thread.)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:17 PM on January 7, 2002

Can't explain it, but I did notice user_id is being passed as a name/value pair on the post page -- meaning I could pretty easily fake a post from another user (unless, of course, its being double checked against user authentication).

That doesn't explain the magic switcheroo tho, unless G_Ask is HIDING SOMETHING! Er, Or... the http post got really coincidentally mangled.

Hmm....
posted by malphigian at 7:24 PM on January 7, 2002

Geez, this is an AOL thing, isn't it? I've never hated AOL, despite all the arguments against it. This may set me down the path to rethink that.
posted by allpaws at 7:25 PM on January 7, 2002

But hey, I'm a new "registered" user (longtime lurker) on metafilter and got my own metatalk thread, practically. And I didn't bait or insult anyone to get it! Cool.
posted by allpaws at 7:28 PM on January 7, 2002

Can't explain it, but I did notice user_id is being passed as a name/value pair on the post page -- meaning I could pretty easily fake a post from another user (unless, of course, its being double checked against user authentication).

I'll change the way things get authenticated, but the user pass combo sent with each post is checked against the db, it should be impossible for one user to see another user's page, unless pages are being hyper-cached on AOL. Both users are on AOL, that's about all I can tell at this point. It's never happened before, so it strikes me as odd.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:28 PM on January 7, 2002

I know we had a huge problem with AOL caching and over compressing our JPEGS. It seems likely that it could be an AOL caching problem. FWIW: This explains how to prevent caching.
posted by willnot at 7:56 PM on January 7, 2002

Different coasts, not continents, Cardoso. No miracle just yet.
Perhaps we are being punished, allpaws, for actually liking aol?
posted by G_Ask at 8:47 PM on January 7, 2002

Malphigian-- hardly hiding anything. Flattered, nonetheless. Technically speaking, I still haven't mastered the art of "italicizing" in posts.
posted by G_Ask at 8:53 PM on January 7, 2002

Lots of ISP's practice caching, though they'd never tell you. I once visited a website for a week, and I thought that the people who ran it had fallen off the face of the earth... then I hit refresh. About 5 times. Finally, I saw a new version of the site. Weird though.
posted by insomnyuk at 8:53 PM on January 7, 2002

Willnot- from your link (thanks) it says "objects with a questions mark (?)... will not be cached" re: preventing caching. I used questions marks (3 actually). Yet???
posted by G_Ask at 9:02 PM on January 7, 2002

(This could easily become a cult thread.)

There are no cult threads...
posted by ColdChef at 9:13 PM on January 7, 2002

They mean objects with a question mark in the URL, G_ask.
posted by kindall at 9:37 PM on January 7, 2002

There is no Bacall.
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:55 PM on January 7, 2002

There is no Ba'al.
posted by dong_resin at 2:16 AM on January 8, 2002

There is no Bacanal.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 2:37 AM on January 8, 2002

There is no Life Long Pal.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:35 AM on January 8, 2002

There is no Banal.
posted by transient at 7:19 AM on January 8, 2002

There is no Bacon.
posted by phooey at 7:41 AM on January 8, 2002

There is no Canal.
posted by ColdChef at 7:41 AM on January 8, 2002

'cue creepy "Scooby Doo" music*' table-window-door. table window-door.

posted by clavdivs at 7:48 AM on January 8, 2002

There is no Dana, only Zuul.
posted by Hankins at 8:22 AM on January 8, 2002

Do, or do not. There is no try.
posted by jpoulos at 8:31 AM on January 8, 2002

There is no RuPaul
posted by Kafkaesque at 8:34 AM on January 8, 2002

Unfortuantely, there is now no Kabul Museum.
posted by iceberg273 at 8:37 AM on January 8, 2002

There is nobility, only Zulu.
posted by liam at 8:38 AM on January 8, 2002

Thereisno thereisnometafilter.
posted by mattpfeff at 9:12 AM on January 8, 2002

There's no no there.
posted by liam at 10:17 AM on January 8, 2002

There's no Noh there.
posted by thebigpoop at 10:40 AM on January 8, 2002

There is, however, a there there.
posted by Kafkaesque at 11:14 AM on January 8, 2002

But there's no "there's no there there" there.
posted by liam at 11:35 AM on January 8, 2002

Here is where there is no there.
posted by thebigpoop at 11:46 AM on January 8, 2002

There is no is.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:30 PM on January 8, 2002

There is no time.
posted by thewittyname at 2:10 PM on January 8, 2002

miguel: painful, and definitive.
posted by goneill at 2:12 PM on January 8, 2002

is you is, or is you aint?
posted by jnthnjng at 2:59 PM on January 8, 2002

which Doobie do you be?
posted by hotdoughnutsnow at 6:19 PM on January 8, 2002

There is no ...
posted by eyeballkid at 10:46 AM on January 9, 2002

I know we had a huge problem with AOL caching and over compressing our JPEGS.

The "over compressing" JPEG thing is actually a user preference in AOL. You can choose to use "compressed" graphics, which apparently only downloads part of the JPEG info. It's somewhere under preferences, I believe.
posted by gleemax at 6:11 PM on January 9, 2002

There is no secret password.
The secret password is not Harry Reasoner .
posted by dong_resin at 1:52 AM on January 10, 2002

hold me
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:22 AM on January 10, 2002