The last couple of days when I try to log in on my phone, I get a warning that the certificate is bad. I’m not getting this on my computer, just my phone.
I’m using a Samsung Note 3, using the default Internet app.
Check the link you use on your phone; are you using “https”?
This is a fairly recent development here; we went for ages with http and it was not secure.Jenny
The current certificate is valid until 1/10/2021.
I hope this solves the problem for you; if not, please get back. I rarely read the board on my phone so I’m not very helpful.
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
I agree (with Tuba) that there is nothing wrong with the cert that straightdope is using right now. Presumably you wouldn’t see the problem at all if you were using http rather than https, but it’s worth checking that you are using boards.straightdope.com and not some other URL. Certificates can be specific to the precise URL (including the ‘boards’ part) and I recall that SDMB used to support multiple other URLs in place of ‘boards’ that all mapped to SDMB.
Anyway, assuming you’re using the right URL, most likely your browser has cached an old certificate. You should go into the browser settings and have it dump its entire cache for *.straightdope.com - do you know how to do that?
I’ve been getting the same thing on my work computer for the past couple of days. Purging the cache didn’t help, nor did switching to Internet Explorer (which had never been used to access the board before). Using https://, yes.
Weird. I told vB to not try to parse that and it does anyway.
There’s no reason to be using http over https, so if the latter solves your problem, go for it. Honestly, the technical staff at SDMB should just redirect HTTP to HTTPS, but … well, you know how it is with changes…
That said, http doesn’t use certificates, but I did a couple of experiments. Loading the site through http does load a script - the much beloved tapatalk notifier script, at that - via https. I wonder if a number of browsers don’t do the cert renegotiation when the site is loaded via http but one or more resources are loaded via https, and a certificate is cached. One test would be - now that you’ve loaded the site successfully over https, does the error still persist if you go back to http?
I’m able successfully load https on my home computer, work computer still only returns the certificate error unless forcing the board into http. Which also forces the loading of that %&#**&% Sultantheme.
I must have read your post backwards. You get the cert error using https but not http? That at least makes some sense. Now the trick is to force your work computer to purge the old, expired cert.
I hope somebody figures out what’s going on with this certificate issue and how to fix it. Having to log in every single time is more annoying than Sultantheme!
Back on my home computer for now and did a DNS check on the IP specified in the certificate error. I don’t know if it means anything but it goes to Google.
duplicate
Wait, what?
What are the advantages of http at this point? Slightly smaller payload and your computer doesn’t have to spend the CPU cycles to decrypt. Maybe that mattered in 2005, but it’s 2020. Why would you use http over https at this point?
That’s the IP that boards.straightdope.com resolves to. They’re using google to host the site. That’s all it means.
Still having the issue on my phone. I am using https: and boards.straightdope.com.
This is not happening on my home computer, which suggests the problem is on my end, but if I’m not the only one getting it, that suggests there’s more to it.
How do I dump the cache for *.straightdope.com? I can dump my whole cache, but how do I limit it?
The mystery deepens: https://www.conceptcarz.com/ also gives me an expired certificate warning.
Okay, bad cache/corrupted cache must be it. Local to your device.
Because I can tell you the certificate IS valid in https. The trick is forcing your device to accept the new certificate.
How to clear your cache on a mobile device
Jenny
your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
There is NO REASON to force HTTPS on a site like this… We are not transferring missile codes to a silo for petes sake!!!
If you feel the need to login with HTTPS here please do so,no harm done…
This is very wrong. In an age of pervasive web monitoring HTTPS protects user privacy and increases security by preventing malicious tampering with web content, plus browsers increasingly restrict insecure content. HTTPS is now the default on the Internet and the SDMB is way behind best practice in not automatically redirecting the SDMB the same way it redirects the SD home page.
Ok, I cleared my cache and that seems to have done the trick. Thank you all for the assist.