[Forum] Serious problem with latin extened characters in greek forums

[dimitrios]

Hello,
this is a plea for help and at the same time a complain.

It's been nine months now that I'm experiencing a rather serious problem with my forum and the support won't help me out. I have opened a ticket, the support was able to solve some other problems I had, but as to this one, they say they won't help me as it is not a vb issue. But you see, it is! And I am deeply disappointed that I am left alone.

The problem is that in my forum, special latin characters with accents etc. won't show properly and, for example, instead of é, à, ü, ñ, ç etc. appears the html code (&#233 &#224 etc.)

Why? It seems that the database should be in UTF-8 but it is not. I've read a couple of texts about converting the database but they are not at all easy to follow. It seems to be a rather difficult task altogether that needs very clear step by step instructions.

But first I should explain why this is a vbulletin problem. My database was set by vb itself (v.3.something) three years back. I never interfered the least. Then, with some upgrade (I don't remember which one exactly) the problem appeared. Meaning that the vbulletin upgrade changed something and caused the problem. Mind you: the db was set by vb and everything looked great, then vb changed something and generated this problem.

The support suggested that I should test upgrades rather than going straight into upgrading a live site. Like this was going to solve anything. It only means that I wouldn't be able to upgrade at all. But I have paid (and actually bought vbulletin twice! once v.3 and then v.4) exactly because I want to be able to upgrade: I want the latest and more secure version of vb.

Btw, most greek forums that were created with 3.x and continue to upgrade afterwards to all latest 4.x versions experience the same problem. The thing is, for them the latin extended is not that important as their posts are in greek but of course, even to them it is a rather annoying thing. To me it is a major problem because my forum's topics are books, literature and linguistics and we often quote the original source that can be in all kinds of languages that use extended latin: spanish, german etc.

I was just looking at a thread with some translations of songs. Check it yourself. Things have been that ugly for nine months now as nobody cares to give me a true working solution. I have spend endless ammounts of time and energy to make my forum look nice and, thanks to this, posts look just terrible.

Recapitulating:

• vbulletin set my database and everything
• then a vbulletin upgrade messed the way my forum looks
• then the vb support said this is not a vbulletin problem

I implore vbulletin to look into this problem again and help me solve it with clear step by step instructions.

thanks for your time and patience,
Dimitris

[we_are_borg]

This is a vBulletin issue its even in Jira some characters can't be shown correct in vBulletin the latest version seems to have made things better but when you go higher in the versions you get a new editor that you need to test drive first. You can view the issues here http://tracker.vbulletin.com/secure/...equestId=10755

The only thing you can do is to run fully in UTF-8 vBulletin and the database but it lots of work and you need the know how to do so, there is an guide that explains everything but you need SSH access to execute commands. The list you need to go trough is very extensive and for the duration of the conversion your forum needs to be closed. But it is a bit better when you have a UTF-8 database and vBulletin running in UTF-8.

[shockspoon]

Same problem here. I did tried to change the encoding but run on many troubles after that so i switched back to where i started.
If there is a way to solve this problem without corrupting the database i don't have problem to shutdown the forum for a day.

Thank you

[dimitrios]

I checked the link you supplied, we_are_borg.

It is interesting to see (like in here, for example) that the problem is that widespread. I was sure it was, too.

The support assured me that:

the problem doesn't happen with vBulletin under normal conditions and the default languages. If it did, we would have many tickets and forum posts with this problem however I know of only yours.

I'm not sure how to take this. Is this lying in order to avoid a pin-in-the-ass issue or is the support just poorly informed about the things going on?

The support told me:

As stated previously, we can't support issues that arise from custom language packs, database changes or any other modification. You could try posting in the forums for further support with this.

But it has nothing to do with the language pack (the problem appears in posts, too), it has nothing to do with database changes (I never changed anything there; never messed the least with it, matter of fact) and never ever did "any other modification" that has anything to do with it. The problem was caused by vbulletin itself! Pure and simple!

The support's task is to help out clients with problems caused by vbulletin. Why is the vbulletin team not taking up their responsibility?

vbulletin messed my forum and left me alone to live with it.

[we_are_borg]

The problem is in some character not all of them its been happening from the release of vBulletin 4 till now its been worse below version 4.1.0. The only thing you can do is to convert the database and internally vBulletin set vBulletin to use UTF-8 but its lots of work but its save to try. The only drawback is that the forum for the real conversing needs to be closed because you work with a backup to alter stuff inside the database.

[Zachery]

Do you have the same issue here with those characters?

[dimitrios]

I'd be happy to convert my database if that was to solve my problem but I need clear step by step instructions for this and support i can count on. Personally, I can bear with closing down the forum for a day.

Not sure to whom goes your question, Zachery, and what you mean by that. Here's a picture of what goes wrong.

[Zachery]

If your post the same characters on forums, does it happen here?

[dimitrios]

Would you mind rephrasing your question, Zachery?

Does "here" refer to the vbulletin forum? Like you see in my first post, extended latin characters appear correctly here: é, à, ü, ñ, ç

If I write España in this post here, it appears ok. If I post this at my forum there will appear: España

[Zachery]

What is in your blank character stripper in the AdminCP > Settings > Options

[we_are_borg]

I'd be happy to convert my database if that was to solve my problem but I need clear step by step instructions for this and support i can count on. Personally, I can bear with closing down the forum for a day.

Not sure to whom goes your question, Zachery, and what you mean by that. Here's a picture of what goes wrong.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]54668[/ATTACH]

Well you need to test first, while testing you do not need to close the forum down because you make a backup of the database you can use the backup to test everything. When it all works in the test database you alter what will become the main one at that point the forum needs to be closed for 2 to 3 hours depending on the size of the database.

Stupid thing is that i do not remember where here on the forum the manual is it was extensive.

[woodscooter]

...Stupid thing is that i do not remember where here on the forum the manual is it was extensive.

Do you mean this thread? Hope that helps.

[dimitrios]

What is in your blank character stripper in the AdminCP > Settings > Options

Blank Character Stripper? You mean in the Censorship Options? It's empty!

Do you mean this thread? Hope that helps.

btw. i've already had a look there.. the procedure described there is not clear to me.

[Steve Machol]

He meant this:

Admin CP -> Settings -> Options -> Censorship Options -> Blank Character Stripper

[dimitrios]

ok.. like i said: it's empty.. no value in the field, there..