Alembic Guitars Club
Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: David Houck on May 18, 2018, 11:55:32 AM
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As most of our regular readers may recall, for quite a while we were experiencing frequent instances of spam on our board. Our members were always quick to alert the moderators, and we would ban the offending "user" and delete the spam.
As the spam increased, we asked the server provider that hosts our board if there was a solution that could be employed. He installed software that targets bots and DOS attacks, and the spam instantly ceased to be a problem.
However, the software caused a different problem.
We started receiving reports of members denied access and being banned from the board. At first it was thought that there was a password problem; but increased instances and further inquiry suggested there might be something else going on.
The software that targets bots looks for behaviors that bots exhibit like multiple rapid log-in attempts; and some of what our users were reporting didn't seem to match these behaviors.
Apparently, and admittedly I don't fully understand this, if some other entity that shares the same IP address as a member is the source of bot activity, then when that IP address is banned, any of our users who share that IP address will be blocked.
Whether or not that is an accurate description of the situation, the result is that the software that bans the bots has now been removed. We decided that having our members and visitors banned through no fault of their own was not a tenable situation.
So, for now, be on the lookout once again for spam, and report it when you see it. We'll try to get to it as soon as we can.
And thank you!
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As always, Thanks to all the moderators here for keeping this little place cool and safe. 8)
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Thanks for the illumination Dave. :)
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And slipping into the role of Captain Obvious....
In the lower right hand corner you can click “Report to moderator” on any message that you see that doesn’t seem to belong here - it will then prompt you for a brief explanation as to the reason for the report.
Easy breezy.
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It wouldn't be the IP address being shared but reused or being routed through to disguise the originator's address and get around IP blocking.
The most common method is to use an innocent computer to route the spam through. This typically happens because the intermediate computer is not properly secured. In this case the address the spam detection software sees is the hijacked computer so bans it and not the real offender. A couple of examples are an unsecured email server that allows email relaying or a computer that has been infected with a spam bot virus.
A rarer case is a reused dynamic IP address. Many IP addresses are assigned to a computer dynamically by the ISP's network. These addresses have a limited lifetime and need to be renewed. While frequently the same address will be reassigned there is no guarantee. Think of it much the same as when someone requests a new phone number. Who knows who the previous owner was or how they used the number. If you had previously blocked this number in your phone or with something like Nomorobo and now a friend gets it they will be blocked as well.
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Thanks Keith; that's helpful.
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Thanks!
Richard
How could I get help otherwise... kind of selfish of me but glad things are still up and going.....
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I’d like to report some spam.
Bill, tgo
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_bW4vEo1F4E (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_bW4vEo1F4E)
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... How could I get help otherwise ...
I'm not sure what you're asking, but if you're having an issue with the board, you can contact one of the moderators.
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TOTAL Spam 🤣