Why have I been banned from this forum?

[madjack]

To all members, we have been hit hard by ad/spam bots lately...as many as 150+ at a time...this affects our bandwidth and will eventually get us in trouble with our server provider...to combat this, we have been banning IP addresses connected with these bots...because of this AND the fact that many of these IP addresses are dynamic, it is possible that some of you may get a notice that you have been banned(some already have)...

This is an inadvertent side effect of our fight against these bots...if you get such a message, please let us know thru the "email admin" button in the top index...

NO ONE on this board will EVER get banned without a lot of reason and a lot of counseling with the admins of this board...it will never be done without notification and explanation...

We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and assure you that we are only trying to protect the privacy of the members of this board

...thank you...thank you very much for your understanding and patience..............Jack (a.k.a. madjack )

[The Teardrop Nanny]

Dear MJ,

Thanks so much for this info; and isn't it a sorry state when this starts to happen and messes up so many internet users and viewers. I also say thank you for dealing with this to help protect our privacy and being annoyed by cyber spies and junk mail. The thing I appreciated about this post the most was your explanation as to what lengths you mods/adm. do go through behind the scenes, and in front of us on the public part of the forum, to keep this website a GREAT one. I know from first hand experience how busy this site can keep a mod/adm., and that was before the size of this membership boomed. The amount of posts/replies that come in each day now is simply amazing, and to you, and the other admins and moderators, you are what keep this forum rolling along.

TDN

[bledsoe3]

8) Dear MJ,

Thanks so much for this info; and isn't it a sorry state when this starts to happen and messes up so many internet users and viewers. I also say thank you for dealing with this to help protect our privacy and being annoyed by cyber spies and junk mail. The thing I appreciated about this post the most was your explanation as to what lengths you mods/adm. do go through behind the scenes, and in front of us on the public part of the forum, to keep this website a GREAT one. I know from first hand experience how busy this site can keep a mod/adm., and that was before the size of this membership boomed. The amount of posts/replies that come in each day now is simply amazing, and to you, and the other admins and moderators, you are what keep this forum rolling along.

TDN

Ditto, You admins are way under paid. Thanks for all you do.

[Melvin]

Thanks for the FYI, It would be dis concerning to be pseudo banned.

[Bill Fernandez]

I would like to say as site admin you do a great job sorry If I have caused problems in the past.

[mikeschn]

BTW, we are waiting for your emails, that is, if you get accidently blocked. Just click on the "email Admin" up there in the menu.

Several of the admins get the email, so we'll do our best to get you back on.

Mike...

[madjack]

bumpity bump.........................................................................................

[mikeschn]

You bumped that one right up into the menu!!!

Mike...

[DIY-Stu]

Can't remember if the Registration is email verified or Admin Verified, but I run a small phpbb site and have found that the Q&A isn't always the best form of bot defense. There is a new style that is a Drag and Drop form. You have Two Tables one has all of the answers and the ones that don't fit that question need to be drug over to the other table. So far so good. Out of the 50+ bots per day not one has gotten past it. It also has the ability to keep out the human registered accounts that get turned into spammers later on too since mine requires minimal knowledge on the subject.

http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... &t=1714415

May be worth a look if you still have any bot registrations happening.
It is a super simple install.

[madjack]

...it's not really the membership registration that is the problem...it comes from hundreds of bots with the same IP address signing on as "guests"...it amounts to the same thing as a DoS attack as far as our servers are concerned, generally resulting in the dreaded phpbb database error.............
madjack

[Curtis in Texas]

Man, I was scratching my head last night over this.
Being the Consummate Good Guy, sometimes to a fault, I got the "Banned Message" and was wracking my brain trying to remember the last time I posted up. Couldn't remember anything I might have said inadvertently that would have stepped on someones toes.

Then I thought, Hmmmm Well, being BANNED is a first for me!!!
I figured it had to be something else like spammers because I am retired and always use the same computer from home.

Madjack, thanks fo rhte EMAil explaining it all. I"ll bet you guys are tired of this. Great Job on the Forum. It's one of my favorites

Curtis in Texas


Dang! Still locked out! Will try again later. Think I'll go take a nap!

[traveler]

Reasons I keeping to myself.

[Gage]

Take care Bruce, see you and Ebony down the road.

[S. Heisley]

» Thu Aug 09, 2012 11:11 pm Traveler wrote:

I would love to be banned from this forum. Reasons I keeping to myself. I have met the nicest people as a whole, but there are a few that I can't even stand to be in the same area with, so am dropping out of teardroping with this great organization. Thank for the great times and the many GOOD PEOPLE I have met.
Bruce and Ebony

Sorry to read that, Bruce. Take good care of yourself. I hope you can still show up from time to time to camp with us. Just check the Destinations website.

[TENNJIM]

Bruce, Sorry to read this. Also, hope to still see you at some gatherings. Take care of yourself until we see you again. We go back to my first teardrop gathering-Hanksville in 2007.

Jim and Sheryl / Utah