SSL Certificate added December 2019
(I have copied this thread here so anyone who is not logged in will be able to see it too)
I received a message about this today and realized I probably should have posted about it.
Depending on the browser you use, you may have seen a "your connection is not secure" warning in the past when visiting the forum. This was because we didn't have a SSL certificate for the forum. I believe most browsers started displaying these warnings in 2018/2019.
The warning messages are scary and we realize this would deter new members from joining and, potentially, existing members from logging in. So we got an SSL certificate last month. We technically are not required to have one for the forum since we do not process payment information here. But we did it so everyone would feel comfortable using the site and because it is good practice. We have had one on the main site for much longer already because (even though we process all our payments through Paypal and not our site) we wanted people to feel safe when they come to our stie and make purchases.
For anyone unfamiliar, an "insecure" site has HTTP in the url, a secure site has HTTPS. An SSL certificate makes the connection between a web server and the website secure. You will see a padlock symbol next to the url in the address bar when a site has a SSL certificate.
Sometimes you may see an "i" (info) symbol and when you click on it will say your connection is not fully secure. This means there is "mixed" content on a page. Since we cannot control everything people post on the site, any images or links that have HTTP in their url on the page you are viewing will cause this to happen. We would have to moderate all posts and signatures to make sure links have an SSL certificate to make sure every page you visit on the forum has a padlock symbol and this is not feasible or necessary.
You can help by updating your signature if it contains an "unsecure" HTTP link. If you have a daisypath signature, just add an S to make the links HTTPS - they have an SSL and the links/images will still work.
If you have the forum bookmarked, you will want to edit your bookmark so you go to the HTTPS url and not the HTTP one (if you use the http link it will give you a warning message that the site is not secure).
I hope this clears up any confusion for anyone that had been seeing the "not secure" browser messages before December.
I received a message about this today and realized I probably should have posted about it.
Depending on the browser you use, you may have seen a "your connection is not secure" warning in the past when visiting the forum. This was because we didn't have a SSL certificate for the forum. I believe most browsers started displaying these warnings in 2018/2019.
The warning messages are scary and we realize this would deter new members from joining and, potentially, existing members from logging in. So we got an SSL certificate last month. We technically are not required to have one for the forum since we do not process payment information here. But we did it so everyone would feel comfortable using the site and because it is good practice. We have had one on the main site for much longer already because (even though we process all our payments through Paypal and not our site) we wanted people to feel safe when they come to our stie and make purchases.
For anyone unfamiliar, an "insecure" site has HTTP in the url, a secure site has HTTPS. An SSL certificate makes the connection between a web server and the website secure. You will see a padlock symbol next to the url in the address bar when a site has a SSL certificate.
Sometimes you may see an "i" (info) symbol and when you click on it will say your connection is not fully secure. This means there is "mixed" content on a page. Since we cannot control everything people post on the site, any images or links that have HTTP in their url on the page you are viewing will cause this to happen. We would have to moderate all posts and signatures to make sure links have an SSL certificate to make sure every page you visit on the forum has a padlock symbol and this is not feasible or necessary.
You can help by updating your signature if it contains an "unsecure" HTTP link. If you have a daisypath signature, just add an S to make the links HTTPS - they have an SSL and the links/images will still work.
If you have the forum bookmarked, you will want to edit your bookmark so you go to the HTTPS url and not the HTTP one (if you use the http link it will give you a warning message that the site is not secure).
I hope this clears up any confusion for anyone that had been seeing the "not secure" browser messages before December.
