... ?

[BoBo]

Thinking about creating a subforum were moderators can move the increasing (?) number of threads that are created without an existing subject line.
We could name it "Supporter's Lottery" or "Wheel of Bad Fortune" or "Hall of Emptiness"

[SKAN]

[gregster]

Sure , it could be like sending a letter to Santa... if you behave, your request gets answered... at the end of the year.

[Helgef]

Maybe just disallow it.

[BoBo]

The thing here ... sending PMs without creating a subject line isn't possible, and creating a thread without a subject line isn't possible as well (minimum for me)



So, are we talking about a bug, a feature, or a security issue here??

[Helgef]

Maybe they add one space?

[swagfag]

it has to be a bug. its too widespread an issue, mostly affecting legit noob threads, for someone to be doing on purpose

[gregster]

Perhaps new users (< 20 posts) are only allowed to do it?
Or users that registered after the update? (I think it actually started after the forum software update to phpBB 3.2.)

[swagfag]

i think it might have to do something with the thread timing out.
u log in, give it a title, type out ur post, afk for a bit/look stuff up, meanwhile the forum logs u out, u press submit, u get the login prompt, but ur thread is now gone, forward/back spam a bit, u got ur thread back but the title is gone, u dont notice, press submit, it somehow gets posted anyway, despite not having a title

ps pure conjecture

[joedf]

Interesting...
Well I just increased the minimum characters to post and to use mentions. Hope it helps.
Otherwise, is there a reliable way to reproduce this...?

[Helgef]

I tried both empty and space only topic,

You must specify a subject when posting a new topic.

[gregster]

We will have to wait for the new users to see if it helped.

At least I couldn't post a topic without subject already before joedf's changes (same like BoBo). But somehow some people were doing it anyway.

[gregster]

We will have to wait for the new users to see if it helped.

The general problem seems to persist.

Today I found again a topic without subject (and content) in the approval requests (it was completely empty).

It was again a new user (registered yesterday) who created it - althought perhaps not a legitimate (or human) one.
When I opened the post for edting and tried to save without changes, I was told by the forum software that I would need to specify a subject first (like it used to be).

But it was the first topic without a subject in a few days, at least that I have seen...

[joedf]

Ok i tried adding replies with no title then deleting the first post, but somehow the title is preserved.

However, I did manage to create a topic without a title: https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=76529
I did this by creating a guest post with no title and then approving it.

[gregster]

Ok i tried adding replies with no title then deleting the first post, but somehow the title is preserved.

However, I did manage to create a topic without a title: https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=76529
I did this by creating a guest post with no title and then approving it.

Yeah, it seems that in most cases people were just forgetting to put in a subject, or had problems thinking of a good one, and just weren't stopped.
The one from today might have been one of the execeptions.

But interesting that it is possible for guests, so my theory that new users are also allowed to do it by the forum software, still stands. I might test it tonight, if no one beats me to it...

[joedf]

I'll wait till you test it, but I believe I could put in some code in the template to prevent this.

[gregster]

Okay, just tested it. As a new user, you can indeed create topics without a subject line (it doesn't matter if there is any text in the actual post).

I created one completely empty topic (already deleted) and one with text, but no subject: https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=76536&p=331813#p331813
(It both worked, but I had to approve these two topics by greg_test.)

Two additional observations:
When I tried to edit the original post, I couldn't save it anymore without a subject and I saw now the well-known You must specify a subject when posting a new topic.
Even, when I didn't change anything.

Interestingly, I generally got some kind of warning/information, immediately after clicking "New Topic".
It opened the editor, but before I could do anything (not even tried to submit), there was already this warning: The submitted form was invalid. Try submitting again.
But after that message, I could immediately save/create a completely empty topic,without any warning...

empty post.png (43.57 KiB) Viewed 3013 times

[joedf]

Ok, alright I will take a look at this tonight and implement a js solution for this: put a simple check for whitespace-trimed 2-char minimum string for the title.

[joedf]

I thought of better when I saw the phpbb code.
Simply added a required attribute to the subject <input> tag in boards/styles/simplicity/template/posting_editor.html.

PS. I deleted the test topics.

[Masonjar13]

Check the approval queue
When I'm logged in, it's fine, but as a guest, still appears broken for some reason.

Edit: using 0-width space char, the body can be effectively empty, even with the minimum. But using it in the subject doesn't work (when logged in).