Author Topic: Discuss G3 forums here  (Read 29274 times)

Offline berelinde

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #75 on: October 25, 2011, 09:20:43 PM »
It isn't as simple as that. It was a spam issue. Both the nature and the volume of spam were contributing factors. The site owner, theacefes, is working with the host to resolve the issue but it may take a while.

Offline Ishad Nha

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #76 on: October 26, 2011, 03:09:06 AM »
Forum is back online, as are spammers like "aerorkata" and "hotKiz". Why G3 is being hit so hard I don't know.

Offline Kulyok

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #77 on: October 26, 2011, 03:39:59 AM »
We get even more sometimes. I just don't have to delete spam often because of my time zone - usually our gentlemen delete it before I even wake up. But sometimes I'm lucky to get some, too. :)

Offline theacefes

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #78 on: October 26, 2011, 05:02:36 PM »
For every spambot we get we ban their IP and usually that takes care of the problem. Lately, we've gotten quite a few. Normally I'd IP ban them but for some reason (perhaps due to the spam, getting hacked, whatever), I can't get into my admin CP. Obviously, this poses a problem.

Were it lack of payment, I'd just ask all you bitches for $$$ in a very gangsta-like manner. :P Unfortunately, I can't have that kind of fun. However, we did get a very nice donation from a member and that actually took care of the hosting fees for this year so I am eternally grateful. What's annoying is that all of the sites I host have been blocked. After screaming at the host for a bit, I was able to regain access so I can attempt to go in and clear out the offending spam in the database (yeah they told me I had violating spam posts and then block me so I can't clear it out. *That* makes sense.)

So yeah, sorry. It's not so much an "OMGZZZ WE GOTS VIRUS AND IT BROUGHTS DOWN SITE". It's more of "Too many spambots posting and their posts ending up in our database therefore violating the host's terms and conditions because Ace doesn't pay to host porn ads."

Ace

Offline Ishad Nha

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #79 on: October 27, 2011, 02:59:11 AM »
Two of the losers, "aerorkata" and "hotKiz" are back again.

Offline Kulyok

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #80 on: October 27, 2011, 03:48:33 AM »
Best of luck with clearing this stuff out.

(I ban username's posting rights+his e-mail, usually, and mark "spam" in comments. I don't know about IP ban - for example, here in Russia we often get local nets for 100+ users who all use one IP. So, if one of the guys is a bad spammer guy and someone else is using the same websites for good reason, he won't be able to post, ever, which kind of sucks).

Offline Ishad Nha

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #81 on: October 27, 2011, 10:06:56 AM »
The two losers are online once again at G3, that may be something else to look out for. If they are online they will try to spam.

Offline Miloch

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #82 on: October 27, 2011, 10:15:49 PM »
Were it lack of payment, I'd just ask all you bitches for $$$ in a very gangsta-like manner.
Hey, it worked for BWL. Didn't it? Didn't it? *crickets chirping*
Two of the losers, "aerorkata" and "hotKiz" are back again.
Yeah, so it's two not just one. So, um, might want to ban the usernames too? Sure, they could come back under different IDs, but there's also IP-spoofing software out there (onion, tor, etc.) too, so that might not do too much good.

Banning anyone from posting anything in Cyrillic characters might take care of like 70% of the problem. (Any serious use of Russian e.g. translations usually would need to be attached anyway.)

Offline Daulmakan

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #83 on: October 27, 2011, 10:17:58 PM »
Were it lack of payment, I'd just ask all you bitches for $$$ in a very gangsta-like manner.
Hey, it worked for BWL. Didn't it? Didn't it? *crickets chirping*
;D

Offline Kulyok

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #84 on: October 28, 2011, 03:03:58 AM »
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Banning anyone from posting anything in Cyrillic characters might take care of like 70% of the problem. (Any serious use of Russian e.g. translations usually would need to be attached anyway.)

Robot Bender would say "kiss my shiny metal ass", but I think just "RRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!" would do. Don't insult Pushkin's language! Seriously, the most annoying spammer right now uses images and your average Latin letters, so I doubt that'd help.

By the way, why don't you become a moderator? You're active and awake now, so you'd be of invaluable help when dealing with these spamming whelps, don't you think?

Offline Miloch

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #85 on: October 29, 2011, 01:20:09 PM »
Don't insult Pushkin's language! Seriously, the most annoying spammer right now uses images and your average Latin letters, so I doubt that'd help.
Pleh, a good majority of it seems to be in Cyrillic, or at least a sizable minority. We have a French pornspammer now, so it wouldn't help with that (and also shows you how stupid these botters are, spamming in a language used by maybe a handful of active posters not including Canadians which don't count :D). I haven't seen any image spammers but then I don't actually look at the spam. That would be the worst, because image spammers can harvest people's IP addresses who view the images and then target them.
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By the way, why don't you become a moderator? You're active and awake now, so you'd be of invaluable help when dealing with these spamming whelps, don't you think?
I don't really have anything that resembles a schedule or regular online activity. I do delete spam that crops up in the L1NPCs and Aurora forums, but half the time global mods beat me to it. It's surprising how much spam sits around even during peak hours though. I think proactive registration measures would make a great deal of manual deletion unnecessary (not all of it of course, but much of it).

Offline Ishad Nha

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #86 on: October 30, 2011, 01:34:17 AM »
Broadly they are beating the spam at G3 but they can't delete the spam accounts.

Offline Ishad Nha

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #87 on: November 03, 2011, 08:45:48 PM »
There are a lot of things I could say about Dot5Hosting, none of them vaguely printable!
Once again G3 is suspended, presumably the same story as last time.

Offline Ishad Nha

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #88 on: November 05, 2011, 02:46:25 AM »
If you need to view the topics in the G3 forums, you can use the Wayback Machine to view the forum as it existed on
11 March this year, see: http://www.archive.org/ for the Machine generally.
For 11 March in particular see:http://web.archive.org/web/20110311233953/http://forums.gibberlings3.net/
Theacefes has her home page banned because it is connected to the Dot5Hosting deal.

Edit
Fortunately cmorgan is on the job and has Spellhold Studios as an alternative site, with downloads linked up, see:
http://www.shsforums.net/topic/45799-gibberlings3-down/page__st__28
« Last Edit: November 06, 2011, 10:50:00 PM by Ishad Nha »

Offline EiriktheScald

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #89 on: November 17, 2011, 10:49:33 PM »
I haven't visited in quite some time. How long has it been down?

Offline berelinde

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #90 on: November 17, 2011, 11:26:16 PM »
Hey! Good to see you!

There have been issues with spam bots for the last few weeks, with sporadic outages that were much talked of, to no one's edification. The problem was dealt with in a definitive manner, but it required some software upgrades. The forums are currently in "maintenance mode," i.e. down, while these upgrades are being installed. Long story short: it won't be long before the forums are back up and more stable than ever before.

Offline EiriktheScald

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #91 on: November 18, 2011, 10:07:47 PM »
Good. I'll have to pay a visit when its up again. In the meantime I have to reinstall BG1 on my macbook -- is tutu still the best route to take?

Offline berelinde

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #92 on: November 19, 2011, 02:45:41 PM »
EasyTutu is the easiest, yes.

Offline Bookwyrme

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #93 on: November 19, 2011, 04:33:03 PM »
I'm hoping someone will post when it is up again--sometimes my computer grabs the cached version, giving me the "forum down" sign when it isn't.

If someone lets me know, I'll clear the cache!
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Offline Miloch

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #94 on: November 20, 2011, 08:25:00 PM »
If someone lets me know, I'll clear the cache!
You should always clear your cache. Browser rubbish is your enemy.

Almost as much as proper English is a hosting provider's enemy.
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We are working as hard as possible to complete our tasks are restore the forums to normal use.
All your downtime are belong to us!

Offline Bookwyrme

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #95 on: November 20, 2011, 08:39:20 PM »
I like my pre-filled forms and passwords :P
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Offline berelinde

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #96 on: November 20, 2011, 08:53:49 PM »
Almost as much as proper English is a hosting provider's enemy.
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We are working as hard as possible to complete our tasks are restore the forums to normal use.
All your downtime are belong to us!
You know, I read that quoted bit several times and could not spot the error. I guess my brain was on auto-correct.

Offline Miloch

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Re: Discuss G3 forums here
« Reply #97 on: November 20, 2011, 09:01:08 PM »
I like my pre-filled forms and passwords :P
So do hackers unfortunately :o.
I guess my brain was on auto-correct.
It is the brain's natural tendency to render intelligible the otherwise unintelligible. I am too used to making mistakes an automated spellchecking program would not notice, though perhaps a sophisticated enough one could notice that one (not based on a typo but subject-verb agreement or something).