Security certificate

[Cody]

Got this from my browser (Waterfox Classic), D1 - I added an exception, so no problem.

The owner of spacesimcentral.com has configured their web site improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Waterfox has not connected to this web site.
spacesimcentral.com uses an invalid security certificate. The certificate is not trusted because it is self-signed. Error code: SEC_ERROR_UNKNOWN_ISSUER

[sscadmin]

I thought that might come up I will disable the self signed certificate, let me do some digging.... thought I could self sign and get away with it but they want me to pay a lot just to have HTTPS. 

[sscadmin]

Okay, should be all set I removed the certificates thanks for the heads up @Cody

[Cody]

Posted by: @sscadmin
but they want me to pay a lot just to have HTTPS. 

Aye, that's the way of it now. You're not alone - there must be thousands of niche/enthusiast/game forums out there in the same boat, Oolite's being one of them. Use of non-mainstream browsers is becoming tricky too - several sites now won't accept Waterfox, my mail server being a good example. They won't let me use my email client of choice anymore either. Time to switch to my Zen email account, methinks.

[sscadmin]

Yeah I know the world is changing..... but I don't sell anything and I really don't have a use for SSL (HTTPS) personally but as you stated more and more browsers are making it harder to enjoy HTTP sites because they cause fear in people that hey this site is unsecure stay away. I am just glad most of the people that visit SSC are usually technically inclined being scifi gamers so they know what sites are a threat to them
Maybe if the prices go down or I can think of something to bring in a little income off the site I might get the cert, we'll see.

[Cody]

Might be worth looking at Let's Encrypt, D1

[sscadmin]

Posted by: @cody
Might be worth looking at Let's Encrypt, D1

Thanks Cody, I will look into this organization and see what this can do. Would be nice to have SSL on the site because it might help with more visitors and interactions Cause GoDaddy wants between $70-100 a year for a SSL cert and since I really don't do financial transactions or store sensitive info I haven't had much a need for it.
But I have been noticing more in more in browsers that they really try to let you know your not on a secure site and its a pain. 

[D.C.Elington]

@sscadmin @cody
Can report that a Let's Encrypt certificate was part of my web hosting package (from OVH) at no additional cost. And then I could switch to SSL very easily with the help of "Simple SSL" (Wordpress plugin). That seemed to help significantly with the SEO rankings too by the way.

[sscadmin]

I will look into getting this done by the end of the year.... because I have noticed a drop-off in visits over the last 1-2yrs even though there is more posting going on... so maybe I have to do this to get SSC noticed more since I do zero advertising. I have been puzzled as to what is going on because when I do a google search SSC is:
Pg1 for a search on 'Space Sim' and 'Spacesim'
I am sure I can do more SEO work on different keywords to help SSC to be further up in the rankings for other keywords like 'Space Games' and 'Space Simulation'
Always a challenge But sometimes I don't mind the small community because its a good group of friends here

[sscadmin]

Okay I looked into this issue this evening.... GoDaddy does support 'Lets Encrypt' certs but it has to be done manually and the certs are only valid for 90 days so I went ahead and converted everything over to use HTTPS so if anyone sees something I missed let me know please.
Basically if your on a page and you don't see that secure icon in your address bar there is something on that page that is unsecure and just report the page and I will find out what it is and fix it, usually its a hard coded link or pic address that I just need to alter the url for.
But I will make a calendar event to update this cert every 87 days so I don't forget, and if I do forget people will know I will hunt around for certs that are cheaper than godaddy's that last a year. There is a lot of hosting providers that give free SSL certs with your hosting package but then its debating if I want to switch providers... now that I have gotten the site stable I kinda don't want to mess with it plus I have paid for host for a few years in advance.... maybe when time has come to renew I can move providers.
Thanks @Cody and @d-c-elington for your assistance on this, little more manual than I planned for but I guess thats what I get for using GoDaddy haha. I will start looking more into the whole SEO thing and improving that if I can. It may be my connection, but I actually think the pages load quicker... strange.

[Cody]

Posted by: @sscadmin
the certs are only valid for 90 days

I think there's a trend towards shorter validity, which kinda makes sense. Ninety days may eventually become the norm.

[Cody]

Looks like that cert has expired, D1 - ninety days is up.

[sscadmin]

Yup, just replaced it this morning when I logged in.... was busy yesterday and forgot.

[sscadmin]

Performed a SSL certificate update on the site, we should be good for another 3mos Let me know if there is any issues, if you have one try to dump your site cache so it downloads the new certs. But in general your browser should see the new cert and update it.

[sscadmin]

Purchased a 2yr SSL cert from godaddy since I cannot get a free one anymore
It was applied last night, I did dump the site cache and I believe people may have issues connecting at times until the old cert has been removed from your browser (this depends on your browser settings). Last night I was getting disconnected but today everything seems okay.

[Cody]

Posted by: @sscadmin
I believe people my have issues connecting at times until the old cert has been removed

Yep! Settling down now though!

[Cody]

I spoke too soon! It's been playing up again today.

[sscadmin]

I have been noticing a little slowness when posting that I didn't think was there before I upgraded to the godaddy ssl cert.... I will try to look at this a little this weekend and see if there is anything I can do to improve the speed? I know I am on shared hosting (because of price) but sometimes taking 1min for a post to post I think is unacceptable. I am like WTF GoDaddy your one of the biggest providers and your QoS sucks.
So I will be looking at add-ins and cache this weekend to see if there could be anything slowly down processing because when I login to the server the utilization isn't above 35% so it should be doing okay. Unless Godaddy is throttling us....

[Cody]

According to isitdownrightnow.com, spacesimcentral.com has been down all day (Wednesday). I've only just been able to get in, after many attempts. Yesterday, as you noted, it was very slow to post, even timing out quite a few times.

[Cody]

Testing, testing - one, two, three! Still a tad sticky, but much better!