very important...please read

[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 )
_________________

[WarPony]

[Ma3tt]

Fight the good fight Admins! We are behind you in the bot wars!

[tonyj]

Is that the cause of the recent surge of users (and guests) online recently?

[madjack]

Is that the cause of the recent surge of users (and guests) online recently?

...YEP...I used to monitor who was in the guest section pretty closely but had gotten away from it...then we started getting hit with these big numbers...upon investigation, I found that a division of Yahoo adds had been signing on with well over a hundred bots at a time as well as some from AOL...one of the problems with banning them is they use dynamic addresses that get reassigned, causing problems for some legitimate users...this problem is increased by the fact that many of them(bots)...regardless of source...sign onto the net thru AOL and Yahoo, so folks with those providers are more likely to get inadvertently banned...sheeesh...what's an admin to do..........
madjack

[asianflava]

Good for you guys. I was browsing at work and got the "Banned" banner. I had to close out the browser and sign back on. This time I clicked the "keep me signed on" button.

[madjack]

Rocky brings up a good point...if you get a "banned" message, sign out of your browser...completely...then sign back on...there is a good chance you won't get the banned message again since most of these IP numbers that get banned are dynamic, which means they constantly get re-assigned.........
madjack

[Denny Unfried]

I went through an attack on my web site. Most of the bots don't understand java script so I enclosed my submit buttons with a few lines of java script. No more problems since there are no buttons for submitting unless the visitor has java enabled. Even works inside .php code.

[steve wolverton]

Nice job madjack.

You should put in for a raise.

[Duane King]

Wow, I don't know what any of this means. But I'm glad to be in a foxhole with you guys. Keep me safe!!!!

[madjack]

Nice job madjack.

You should put in for a raise.

I betcha Mike would gimme a 50% raise...heck I bet he would even double that

Denny, the problem is that the bots sign in as "guests" and can go anywhere guests go, looking for email and other links to harvest...I know absolutely squat about any kind of programing or scripting but if you have something that might help this situation, give Mike a PM...
madjack

[Classic Finn]

Were behind you for sure..

Is there anyway that I can get away from the idea of my IP going via Holland? Should I be concerned about this?


Classic Finn

[HMK]

Thanks for the explanation. I got banned a week or so back.
I was I kept wondering what on earth I had done. Now we know

[Geron]

You da Man, MJ

Got a Banned notice when I signed on from a different computer. Restart fixed it. Excellent, Excellent. This place is like Home Sleep Home. HEY, has any one named their TD that???? Home, Sleep Home. Gee, Think I just named No 2.

g

[Coca Cola Teardrop]

I'm with Duane, don't know what all the talk is but do whatever needs to be done.....

Thanks for keeping the forum safe.

We all would have to go to therapy if we didn't get our forum fix several times a day

I can't afford therapy right now as the "slide out" is taking all of our blow cash.


Linda