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SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) has now been installed on the forum. This will enhance site security.
What does this mean to you? Well, the website will be more secure. We don't really ask for much personal info, but this is still a good idea as sites are now being penalized in search rankings for not having it.
What do you have to do differently? Almost nothing. You'll need to log in again, that's it. You should now see a padlock in your browser's URL bar rather than any warning icons or "not secure" messages.
Well, after the first site, things went MUCH faster than I expected. I'd allocated 4 hours per website to install it and get it up and running. It ended up being less than an hour each after the first one.
Since I'd already done three, and the procedure was fresh in my memory, I decided to go ahead and roll out SSL on this site too. You likely had to log in again when you visited, that will only happen the first time you visit the SSL version. Then it will be back to normal.
So, if it was that easy, why didn't you do it a long time ago? Simple, it costs money and there was no reason to do it. (Also, while it took about an hour to switch it over, but there were two weeks of prep work, getting the certificates installed etc)
SSL is used to protect "sensitive" information, things like your credit card and home address etc. None of that info is ever entered on this site. Typically, everything you type here is visible, except your password when you log in. So if a hacker was to steal your info between your keyboard and here, the only thing he could do is log in and pretend to be you. Unless you send a PM, everything else is public. I'm frantically trying to get people to read it, not stop them!
However, SSL has become the new standard, kind of like DCC on model railroads. People expect to see it, browsers give warnings, search engines lower your ranking. So now we've implemented. The new server had tools that made it less complicated to do, and the new version of the forum software also implemented some critical features, like "image proxy" which mean I didn't have to go back and fix links to every. single. image. posted... So it finally became reasonable to do.
No, they shouldn't be there, but I have seen that on occasion too. It has to do with the forum code and how the ads are placed by Google. Both are pretty complex, and they don't always play well together. It seems to be related to a "quote" tag and refreshing the page will make them go away.
I'm trying to troubleshoot it, but so far I've not had much luck. Hoping maybe a future software upgrade will help?
Hay Bob!
Hope that y'all are well.
SSL Certs have come down over the years as you probably know. When ya have 1 or 3 sites to do, not bad cost wise. I just did a few @$12.99; THEN I found out about Lets Encrypt. They are trying to encrypt the *whole* internet for free.
todh
Hay Bob!
Hope that y'all are well.
SSL Certs have come down over the years as you probably know. When ya have 1 or 3 sites to do, not bad cost wise. I just did a few @$12.99; THEN I found out about Lets Encrypt. They are trying to encrypt the *whole* internet for free.
todh
Well, I had over a dozen I needed to switch, so it adds up. But, as you said, there are more affordable options now.
Yep, the new server (Bluehost) worked with me and we got all of my websites set up with SSL.
I took a rather server hit on search traffic though. "https" and "http" are not the same thing from Google's point of view, so the entire old website vanished and they're slowly crawling the new one. Also, there's a period of time where they say "You've got duplicate content". No, I moved that page to https..
But I'm glad we did the migration, and I think it will be beneficial in the long run.
