Anybody having problems with Messicks web site?

[Hugo Habicht]

Hello,

it seems Messicks have now included Cloudflare "Protection from malicious bots" into the web site. I basically renders it unusable in my browser. Initially I clicked on "I am human" and after a long wait got the web site.

But when I started typing, for every character I typed an error popup window appeared. So after clearing that 11 times and clicking "search" I am back to an endless cloudflare loop.

Anybody seeing the same? I am using a Huawei tablet with the built in Huawei browser.

Website worked perfectly before that Cloudflare stuff was included.


p.s.: works fine in Firefox, but I don't want to start another browser every time just to place an order. Glad there are still Cloudflare free Kubota parts web sites around.

 

[Tx Jim]

Messicks parts site opened like normal for me on my PC using Chrome. https://www.messicks.com/catalogs/k...-no-315001-or-03-ref-no-040-070-080-new-parts

 

[BAP]

Maybe it has to do with you not being in the USA.

 

[TheOldHokie]

Hello,

it seems Messicks have now included Cloudflare "Protection from malicious bots" into the web site. I basically renders it unusable in my browser. Initially I clicked on "I am human" and after a long wait got the web site.

But when I started typing, for every character I typed an error popup window appeared. So after clearing that 11 times and clicking "search" I am back to an endless cloudflare loop.

Anybody seeing the same? I am using a Huawei tablet with the built in Huawei browser.

Website worked perfectly before that Cloudflare stuff was included.


p.s.: works fine in Firefox, but I don't want to start another browser every time just to place an order. Glad there are still Cloudflare free Kubota parts web sites around.

Cloudflare is a security service used by many major network providers. I doubt Messicks has done anything new. I see this scenario intermittently with traffic moving through the Northern Virgina hubs. Last week it was intermittent connectivity problems with OTT and it resolved in short order.

Dan

 

[edritchey]

It's been working great for me

 

[TheOldHokie]

Maybe it has to do with you not being in the USA.

Maybe Huawei tablet with Huawei browser on a Huawei network. The powers that be have deemed Huawei a national security threat.

Dan

 

[Hugo Habicht]

Cloudflare is a security service used by many major network providers. I doubt Messicks has done anything new. I see this scenario intermittently with traffic moving through the Northern Virgina hubs. Last week it was intermittent connectivity problems with OTT and it resolved in short order.

Dan

Hello Dan,

thank you for this information, I had always thought that Cloudflare was software integrated into the website, I did not know it was on a networking level.

Network here is Vodafone, not sure if that is a security threat.

But it doesn't really matter, if companies want to use those "services" they will simply loose business, possibly without even being aware of the problem, because you cannot report it due to website access being blocked.

I will simply order elsewhere, I will not buy an iphone just because of this. Very happy with my Huawei tablet otherwise.

Kind regards,

 

[TheOldHokie]

Hello Dan,

thank you for this information, I had always thought that Cloudflare was software integrated into the website, I did not know it was on a networking level.

Network here is Vodafone, not sure if that is a security threat.

But it doesn't really matter, if companies want to use those "services" they will simply loose business, possibly without even being aware of the problem, because you cannot report it due to website access being blocked.

I will simply order elsewhere, I will not buy an iphone just because of this. Very happy with my Huawei tablet otherwise.

Kind regards,

Cloudflare is often deployed by large data centers to provide "edge" threat detection and remediation. This is necessitated by some basic shortcomings in the ibternet design.

If your website is hosted by a cloud compute service provider (AWS) using one of those datscenters its out of your control.

Or if the traffic generated by your service provider gets routed through one of those data centers its out of everybodies hands.

Heres a link to Cloudflare's explanation of DDoS attacks and how they can be identified and remediated. They provide these essential services to both end nodes and intermediaries.

https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ddos/what-is-a-ddos-attack/

If you are using the internet you are increasingly likely to randomly transit one of their portals where you may get swept up in a real or imagined DDoS defense. Its just one of the aggravations everyone has to live with.

Dan

 

[Scm]

I visit two sites that use clouflare to block bots. I use cellular in a rural area for my network. So it's fairly terrible. And it can take forever sometimes. I equate cloudflare to red lights & stop signs, but without the ability to just go through it.

 

[Henro]

Hello,

it seems Messicks have now included Cloudflare "Protection from malicious bots" into the web site. I basically renders it unusable in my browser. Initially I clicked on "I am human" and after a long wait got the web site.

But when I started typing, for every character I typed an error popup window appeared. So after clearing that 11 times and clicking "search" I am back to an endless cloudflare loop.

Anybody seeing the same? I am using a Huawei tablet with the built in Huawei browser.

Website worked perfectly before that Cloudflare stuff was included.


p.s.: works fine in Firefox, but I don't want to start another browser every time just to place an order. Glad there are still Cloudflare free Kubota parts web sites around.

Side question: Is it cost-effective to order parts from a US source when one resides in Ireland? I would’ve thought that shipping cost would make that impractical.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Hello,

it seems Messicks have now included Cloudflare "Protection from malicious bots" into the web site. I basically renders it unusable in my browser. Initially I clicked on "I am human" and after a long wait got the web site.

But when I started typing, for every character I typed an error popup window appeared. So after clearing that 11 times and clicking "search" I am back to an endless cloudflare loop.

Anybody seeing the same? I am using a Huawei tablet with the built in Huawei browser.

Website worked perfectly before that Cloudflare stuff was included.


p.s.: works fine in Firefox, but I don't want to start another browser every time just to place an order. Glad there are still Cloudflare free Kubota parts web sites around.

curious ,why not use Firefox 24/7 ? It's the only browser I've used in a decade+

 

[TheOldHokie]

I visit two sites that use clouflare to block bots. I use cellular in a rural area for my network. So it's fairly terrible. And it can take forever sometimes. I equate cloudflare to red lights & stop signs, but without the ability to just go through it.

They are doing more than blocking "bots". Without some sort of defense against denial of service attacks the network would be taken down.

Dan

 

[Hugo Habicht]

Side question: Is it cost-effective to order parts from a US source when one resides in Ireland? I would’ve thought that shipping cost would make that impractical.

Shipping cost is not too bad using a forwarding service.

Some parts are simply not available in Europe anymore while they are plentyful in the US. Last time a guy in Messicks read out the amounts in store; I thought I am hearing things...

Parts distribution seems to be a one way road, it's not possible to do it the other way round.

I also ordered a good few car parts in the US in the past. A positive side effect is that the profit margin in the US is lower. If a part is too expensive mechanics put something else in that kindof works, nobody is bothered too much about the original part. I got Bosch injectors for example for $60 in the US while the going rate in Europe is around $140. The savings alone offset even higher shipping costs.

The weirdest thing I had a few months back: engine dampers, obsolete in Europe (friend had phoned the manufacturer), were available on a US web site. $26 per piece, NOS in Europe 150€ upwards. I ordered 6 of them. They came by UPS 5 days later, from Stabilus, North Carolina. Inside the parcel brand new parts with date stamp, Made by Stabilus in Germany. Go figure ...

 

[Hugo Habicht]

Cloudflare is often deployed by large data centers to provide "edge" threat detection and remediation. This is necessitated by some basic shortcomings in the ibternet design.

If your website is hosted by a cloud compute service provider (AWS) using one of those datscenters its out of your control.

Or if the traffic generated by your service provider gets routed through one of those data centers its out of everybodies hands.

Heres a link to Cloudflare's explanation of DDoS attacks and how they can be identified and remediated. They provide these essential services to both end nodes and intermediaries.

https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ddos/what-is-a-ddos-attack/

If you are using the internet you are increasingly likely to randomly transit one of their portals where you may get swept up in a real or imagined DDoS defense. Its just one of the aggravations everyone has to live with.

Dan

Well, Dan, all nice and fine, but I am no malicious Bot and Cloudflares software is clearly faulty when they block me. It is not working, as simple as this.

Part of the problem seems to be that I use a GSM based system. So all mobile phones logged into the network have only one exit IP address showing as lots of requests coming from one computer. So this would affect a lot of (potential) customers that cannot access web sites.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

curious ,why not use Firefox 24/7 ? It's the only browser I've used in a decade+

So did I. But Firefox got so bloated over the past 20 odd years that it is creeping like a crippled worm. The Huawei browser is way faster.

 

[Hugo Habicht]

I visit two sites that use clouflare to block bots. I use cellular in a rural area for my network. So it's fairly terrible. And it can take forever sometimes. I equate cloudflare to red lights & stop signs, but without the ability to just go through it.

Lucky you.

I always end up in an endless loop. The same "are you human" tick box pops up again and again...

 

[Chanceywd]

Lucky you.

I always end up in an endless loop. The same "are you human" tick box pops up again and again...

I was trying to get into Napaonline this morning to check on a bulb for my truck and hit the same kind of cloudflare blocking. I tried several times and gave up and drove to get it.

I was trying to finish my taxes last week and couldn't get back in to OLT.com. I wonder after today if that was part of it. I finally on sunday started all over on another tax site.
I wasn't waiting until the last minute I was held up waiting for a tax document that finally came.
I notice too on searches on napa, lowes, and tsc they don't seem normal.
They are giving you things that normally wouldn't fall in that search criteria.

Too many eggs in one basket?

Bill

 

[TheOldHokie]

Well, Dan, all nice and fine, but I am no malicious Bot and Cloudflares software is clearly faulty when they block me. It is not working, as simple as this.

Part of the problem seems to be that I use a GSM based system. So all mobile phones logged into the network have only one exit IP address showing as lots of requests coming from one computer. So this would affect a lot of (potential) customers that cannot access web sites.

Unfortunatel it is just that simple. I dont know how much you know about the operation of IP and how it can be attacked. And I dont understand your concern with Cloudflare. They are simply a big player with wide exposure.

Now on to IP. You are not a bot but if a malicous actor launches a large scale denial of service attack absent a defense like Cloudflare the network can/will stop working. So a defense is mandatory snd has been for decades.

Most residential users dont have a public IP address and the ISP maps millions of duplicate private IP addresses to a single public address. A IOT refrigerator, television, stove might be a user on your local private betwork. That makes it impossible for any defense to know who they are actually talking too. If an attack using a public address is detected all of the traffic coming from those backend "users" is going to be seen as a single attacker.

Its one of ths fkaws in Vint Cerf's original IP design. We had a chance 30 years ago to fix this and the debate around how/what to dk was called "The Protocol Wars".

Ditching or fixung IP was considered too radical and the war ended with a decision to keep the flawed model and patch thjngs with some quick and dirty work arounds. Thirty years later we have vastly more entry points to the network and a world wide community of malicous actors that attack those work arounds 24 x 7. Its not going to get better and what you are experiencing is not a failure of Cloudfkare. Its a failure of IP.

Dan

 

[Hugo Habicht]

Its a failure of IP.

Yes, I agree 100%.

But the IP address mapping is widespread, as you said already and there are other companies protecting from denial of service attacks.

Yet, it is ONLY Cloudflare where I am seeing problems, so I have to conclude that the Cloudflare software (or parameter settings) are faulty.

And a lot of businesses, like @MessickFarmEqu are most likely not aware that they are losing potential business due to that. As I said, there is a link to report the problem, but Cloudflare is then preventing you from reporting it. Chicken - egg problem.

 

[Chanceywd]

Yes, I agree 100%.

But the IP address mapping is widespread, as you said already and there are other companies protecting from denial of service attacks.

Yet, it is ONLY Cloudflare where I am seeing problems, so I have to conclude that the Cloudflare software (or parameter settings) are faulty.

And a lot of businesses, like @MessickFarmEqu are most likely not aware that they are losing potential business due to that. As I said, there is a link to report the problem, but Cloudflare is then preventing you from reporting it. Chicken - egg problem.

I just tried to get into NAPA again, same cloudflare message, i am blocked and there is a cloudflare ID number It suggests I use when I contact the NAPA website to resolve.
I guess I can't do that as I can't get to the website.

You are right, chicken -egg!
I may not understand the whole web system but I did nothing wrong. Can't wait until this affects my banking and credit cards, paying bills.

Bill

And yet I just checked and this bad actor can get into Messicks.