Author Topic: IP Banned?  (Read 4752 times)

Dan

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IP Banned?
« on: May 15, 2013, 09:54:04 AM »
As per this post, I took action to ban some IPs that were hitting the main return.mistymoorings.com site excessively.     It has some to my attention that at least one IP was that of a legitimate member (we're still working out why there were so many hits from them).   Since I am banning by server log IPs, I have no easy way of telling who the IPs belong to on the forum.

If you were banned from the main website, you can still access these forums since they're on a separate domain.  So, if you hear about any of your friends getting banned as part of this effort to block the excessive traffic, please tell them to come to the forums and post here.

I'll look into each case individually.

Thanks.

ualani

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Re: IP Banned?
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2013, 05:55:08 PM »
Well, if logging on 4 o 5 times a day to read your forum discussions is excessive, then I must be guilty of excessive log on's. I guess that's why I can't get into the main page and get this when I try:

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access / on this server.

Additionally, a 403 Forbidden error was encountered while trying to use an Error Document to handle the request.


Sorry, I didn't know you limited member log on's. What is the limit then? Jeesh.
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Dan

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Re: IP Banned?
« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2013, 07:32:14 PM »
No, not at all.  Of course there is no limit, we're a free site and don't limit anything, and I'm not trying to single anyone out.   I only go by what the server logs tell me and there is absolutely no link to your forum account in those logs. The excessive hits on the host are only on the http://return.mistymoorings.com main site, your IP was not hitting the forums excessively at all, and didn't even come up on the top list.

The IP associated with your account hit the site 622 times in one day, which is a bit excessive and was in the top 5 list of IPs generating the most traffic.    I was informed by the host admins that anything over 400 is very unusual and typically is a bot or malicious script hitting the site.

I also see that you have two user accounts on the forum, both going to very similar email addresses. 

Quote
Code: [Select]
user: ualani      email: ualani510@<removed for privacy>
user: ualani510     email: ualani510@<removed for privacy>

I'm not at all saying your abusing the site, but there are some red flags that need to be looked into.    I'd recommend scanning your computer for malware to see if it's attempting to hit your frequented sites list for keylogging or login attempts.

Thanks for your understanding.   Feel free to send me a personal message to work through what might  be causing the excessive hits against RTMM.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2013, 07:36:55 PM by Dan »

jeff3163

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Re: IP Banned?
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2013, 07:35:42 PM »
That can't be what is wrong.  You may log on and off when necessary, and 4 or 5 times a day is ok.  I have been a member here for over two years, and I think I have logged off once, maybe.  But I'm not sure about that.  Why log off?  I have been logged on for two years, and whenever I click on my RTMM Chrome shortcut, it opens up as always.  I don't "log on", ever.  I'm just sayin'.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2013, 08:08:10 PM by jeff3163 »

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Dan

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Re: IP Banned?
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2013, 07:40:24 PM »
For clarification:  The bans were against IPs hitting the main RTMM site (http://return.mistymoorings.com), not the forums.    The excessive hits and bandwidth usage due to large file downloads in the thousands were dragging down the forums as a byproduct.   You can log in and out all day and it won't hurt anything. 

ualani

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Re: IP Banned?
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2013, 09:30:33 PM »
Yes, I think maybe I did register 2 times and re-registered within the past 6 or 8 weeks. I remember not being able to log in with the first account and simply re-registering, which explains the 2 similar account names.

I never log out of the main site, and enter the site just like Jeff does. I usually access the main site, cruise around for new files, news, etc., and then come to the forums maybe a couple times a day, tops.

I've run a spyware/malware scan and it comes up clean, but will run again. Let me know if my IP address starts making an excessive amount of hits again and I'll contact my IP provider. (Anything over 10 times can't be me.)

Thanks

One more thing...I'd be curious to know when all of these hits started to happen and how long they continued to happen.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2013, 09:37:21 PM by ualani »
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Dan

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Re: IP Banned?
« Reply #6 on: May 15, 2013, 09:42:13 PM »
No worries, at all. Thanks for running a scan and I'll keep a lookout for any unusual activity against your IP.    The server logs turn over daily, so I lose the historical.  The particular day that I based the IP bans off of is yesterday, May 14th.   Thanks again.

To add:  I'm really sorry for the hassle.. This whole thing has been a nightmare all around.   I like it when things "just work" but I'm starting to think that a new hosting service is in order.. They're having a lot of problems lately (not just with us, company-wide) so trust me, I'm looking to improve things around here.
« Last Edit: May 15, 2013, 09:44:01 PM by Dan »

Dragnhorn

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Re: IP Banned?
« Reply #7 on: May 16, 2013, 12:41:07 AM »
Thanks Dan, for the hard work and being the guy in the background that keeps things humming. 

Sorry Ualani, for the hassle.  I'm glad Dan could show you it's not something you did on a personal level, or any level for that matter!    :D
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Carl100

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Re: IP Banned?
« Reply #8 on: May 19, 2013, 05:52:40 PM »
Thanks for getting me back up.  I don't think I was on there too much.  I do try to download a lot of the scenery, but not 400 times a day.  I never log in and out maybe that is a problem.

frostlp

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Re: IP Banned?
« Reply #9 on: May 19, 2013, 10:05:34 PM »
Staying logged in isn't a problem is it?
P.S. missed RTMM yesterday, but "worked around" and got the 2 newest sceneries.
Wonderful, as usual.  Always taking me to some awesome place that I would never think to go.
There's only got to be a couple of thousand fjords that were dealing with here.
Thanks for everything.

jeff3163

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Re: IP Banned?
« Reply #10 on: May 19, 2013, 10:18:31 PM »
Nope.  You can stay logged in, or log in and out each time.  ;)  I have been logged in since March of 2011, but occasionally lose my cookies, or something.  ???  Then I have to re-log in.  ;)

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