The Stovebolt Site Forums The Back Office IT Short Bus Strange stuff? Did you notice?

Strange things happened last week. Possibly some things you didn't realize. Or some of you did.

In a nutshell, some odd characters (as in keystrokes ... not blokes) starting appearing in posts (old ones and new), then titles, signature lines, forum descriptions and spam emails.

What we need from you? If you see any of these "weird characters" (see a partial list), please let us know (post in this thread) so we (Mods and Admin) can fix them. We are fixing them as we come across them. It'll help with extra eyes.

Here's a bit of a list of them:

“ = left quote = “
” = right quote = ”
‘ = left single quote = ‘
’ = right single quote = ’
– = en dash = –
— = em dash = —
• = hyphen = -
… = ellipsis = …
    = an html coded space
🤤 = various emoji's that are not part of the UBB smilie face group

Please report here with the link to where you found the oddity.

Thanks.

I did see those symbols in both private messages and Southern bolters out and about.

Ok, thanks. On the SoBo, can you post a link here. Alvin and Craig will need to fix them. Will be easier if they can click from here. Thanks.

Peggy
Guitplayer's signature has some wonky stuff in it. You or Paul will need to do the fixup there.

Got it. Thanks Kevin.

Strange stuff like this?

🤷🏼

This was in the thread "1946 1/2 ton ring and pinion swap"

Thanks TJ. I removed them.

If folks would post the link to the post/reply they see them in here, the Stovebolt Staff can fix 'em up.

Here is another I just noticed

1946 Chevy 1/2 ton “patina” pickup with a 1953 235 engine, otherwise all stock and unmolested!

That is in the same thread as before. It is in the OP's signature line
As I see them, I will post them. Having fun yet?

TJ, I saw you responded to his post. Thanks for the heads up on his signature line. I just fixed it. "Having fun yet?" Sure. Why not? Call me Mrs. Clean.

I'm trying to assemble the horn button

Post #90295 Thread is "HORN BUTTON ASSEMBLY" from 15/09/04. It would appear that all entries from Lucas in this thread have the strange items.

Let me know when enough is enough.

TJ, I found Lucas's HORN BUTTON ASSEMBLY thread and was able to fix the weird characters in all his posts. Thanks for posting and keep 'em coming!

This one is in my Gallery thread for my "59 truck. Posted by Fox.

Very nice. 🤤

Rich, I gotcha fixed up It was an emoji "🤤"

That strange 🤤 (and symbols like that) that represents emoji's that are not in the UBB smilie face gallery. They usually come from a cell phone. Not a problem really but some (not all) are causing the weird character display.

Paul has worked up a deal for the Mods to be able to cover one weirdo at a time, and we are making good progress. Thanks to those who have SAID SOMETHING!! Keep 'em coming.

This all started just before June 15 when Phak1 noticed something strange popping up in the forum posts. Then it was just some apostrophes. Just a few days ago, with some serious catch and release by baldeagle (Paul), Paul seems to have gotten rid of many of them (over 5,000) with a master-blaster. I said "catch and release" because Paul would get thru several thousand with a little magic "remove and replace" program ... only to have them appear down the road. He included some of his query results for us moderators. I, for one, looked in awe. Like "awe? What is all that and what are we IT-challenged to DO??"

Paul lamented, "I can fix them programmatically, but it doesn't matter. They come back."

It seemed hopeless but Paul didn't give up. It was a huge undertaking but he kept at it. As of yesterday (Monday), he was down to 150 emoji's that were "complicated." We can deal with complicated ... at 150!!

From here out, if any one happens to come across what should be an emoji (or anything else) but appears as a weird character, please let us know ... preferably with a link to the spot. It'll make it easier for a quick search and destroy. If you can't do a link, any description of the Title or reply will help.

Thanks to the Stovebolt Collective, in all the branches of Stovebolt Land.

I was reviewing my private messages last night when I came across them in most of my messages. They were never in my posts, always in the posts of others.

"They" ... emoji's?

Not sure if it was an emoji or something else? I suppose an emoji could be the item but the position of the characters would not clearly shout "EMOJI" to me.

I think some of the emoji's look like this: 🤤 = various emoji's that are not part of the UBB smilie face group. Paul said some he doesn't know. If you have ever seen the number of emoji's in a cell phone, that weirdo could look like anything. If it's in the PM and it doesn't bother you, I'd pay it no mind. Admittedly, I put non-authorized emoji's (not from the UJBB smilie pallet) in some PMs. Not doing it as much since trying to clear up the place.

Ok. Thank you for all you do.

This may be the end of it. The Stovebolt Geek (baldeagle / Paul) ran a few scripts, with queries, and hopefully he got the last of them; the bulk for sure. His last simple queiry found 181 in the bodies and 31 in titles. He took care of those individually.

If some do show up, he asks "Please send me links to anything that you find so I can analyze it to figure out why my queries are not finding them." You can submit the link here.

Thanks everyone, especially Paul!