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Boards running unusually slow + influx of spam bots


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Ya, the boards seem to be running unusually slow these past few days and more alarming there is a sudden influx of spam (assume spam bots). Dunno whether GoDaddy.com is just lagging a bit these past few days or the spam bots are causing all this.

Whatever the case, the spam bots have somehow managed to crack Greg's registration question and have been creating new threads. As two-blocked noted, avoid any suspicious or obvious spam threads until this can be resolved.

Greg updated my account about a year ago as an extra eye to look over stuff like this. While I do have access to the admin panel, I don't have any access to do things such as ban these accounts, change registration question, or even shut down registration until problem is solved.

About the only thing I can do right now is remove the spam threads. If you see any, please don't hesitate to report and will try to remove the spam.

The forums have the option to add moderators to individual forums and it would be beneficial to have a few veteran members have the ability to at the least be able to remove threads, move threads, or delete duplicates, and have access to other basic moderation tools.

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The ping times on your server, NS51.domaincontrol.com at 216.69.185.26 at GoDaddy seem to be OK, average 36ms with 0 packet loss.

The ping times on your domain, toyotamotorhome.org at 72.167.232.199 are 35ms with 0 packet loss.

My guess is the server itself is overloaded with requests. Maybe a DoS attack on GoDaddy?

It's flooded.

The server responds to requests, (i.e. it doesn't timeout) It just can't service them fast enough.

Ya, the boards seem to be running unusually slow these past few days and more alarming there is a sudden influx of spam (assume spam bots). Dunno whether GoDaddy.com is just lagging a bit these past few days or the spam bots are causing all this.

Whatever the case, the spam bots have somehow managed to crack Greg's registration question and have been creating new threads. As two-blocked noted, avoid any suspicious or obvious spam threads until this can be resolved.

Greg updated my account about a year ago as an extra eye to look over stuff like this. While I do have access to the admin panel, I don't have any access to do things such as ban these accounts, change registration question, or even shut down registration until problem is solved.

About the only thing I can do right now is remove the spam threads. If you see any, please don't hesitate to report and will try to remove the spam.

The forums have the option to add moderators to individual forums and it would be beneficial to have a few veteran members have the ability to at the least be able to remove threads, move threads, or delete duplicates, and have access to other basic moderation tools.

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My other thought is, no offence intended, that since you are a low volume traffic site, GoDaddy has relegated you to a backwoods server.

The ping times on your server, NS51.domaincontrol.com at 216.69.185.26 at GoDaddy seem to be OK, average 36ms with 0 packet loss.

The ping times on your domain, toyotamotorhome.org at 72.167.232.199 are 35ms with 0 packet loss.

My guess is the server itself is overloaded with requests. Maybe a DoS attack on GoDaddy?

It's flooded.

The server responds to requests, (i.e. it doesn't timeout) It just can't service them fast enough.

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It doesn't seem to be the page server, but the database server. pages pop up fast, but queries to the DB are dog slow. (although it seems a LOT better right now)

JOhn

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It's time to dump these clowns at GoPaddy.

I'm getting "Internal Server Error" from them now.

You're going to lose faithful posters if you can't keep this site up. Nobody likes to wait 50 seconds for a page.

There are other choices, it's a lot of work, I know.

What is it, a money issue?

It doesn't seem to be the page server, but the database server. pages pop up fast, but queries to the DB are dog slow. (although it seems a LOT better right now)

JOhn

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TwoBlocked, I agree, its very frustrating to wait for 30-0 seconds to get the log on page.

I use JustHost for my site, no problems. Put up a donation page, i.e. paypal, then once a year ask people if they can send $5. I do this with my airplane cursors, pays for the site.

JOhn Mc

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John,

I really like this site.

I like the people running it, I like the content.

Your idea of a paypal site is right on. I donate very little to internet sites, but this one I would donate to.

I don't want to see it go away because of a lame ISP.

twoblocked

TwoBlocked, I agree, its very frustrating to wait for 30-0 seconds to get the log on page.

I use JustHost for my site, no problems. Put up a donation page, i.e. paypal, then once a year ask people if they can send $5. I do this with my airplane cursors, pays for the site.

JOhn Mc

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I run Linux, I'm not too worried about clicking on a virus loaded link.

But if you're on Windows, please be careful.

I got so tired of reformatting my SIL's computer because she would click the type of links that are offered here.

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Well the Server seems to be running a little better tonight, but the bots have infiltrated the site and have done some serious spamming. I have no idea how many bots managed to become members (register) but looking at today's "birthdays" those are all bots! Unfortunately I have limited access to the admin panel and can't do things like add moderators or ban members.

I did manage to find a section of the admin page that allowed me to STOP current registration until Greg can figure out what is happening. I also found a setting that basically removes all posts and bans any member that is FLAGGED as a spammer so this helps get rid of ALL posts/thread of the spammer without having to search them out.

Will try to get in contact with Greg to allow further access + see about getting a few moderators on the forums. This would be a big help.

For now new Registration is OFF. :(

If you look at the members that joined (advanced options in members tab) after 1-10-2012 almost everyone is a bot: Members that have birthdays the same day they registered, are 23 yrs old, and have those odd names are almost always bots.

If this continued for any length of time, there prob would be hundreds registered on the board.

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THANK YOU bajadulce OUR GOOD FR IEND i do not have a lot of computor savvey. but these look to me to be bad moles trying too ruin our camping spot i will keep look for moles flag to you.

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I participate alot on another site that uses this same 'software'. In the last couple of days we have been dealing with A LOT of posts that have nothing to do with our site. We seem to be seeing lots of 'drug' ads and 'porn'.

It would certainly seem a 'fact of life', to maintain quality, you need to be ready to support the cause. I donate there and I have donated here. If changes need to be made, since I benefit I will help pay. Gerry

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Gerry, it's possible that the other forum you are a member of uses a numerical challenge question, such as the one here. My guess is that the bots have been instructed to enter gibberish in the challenge question field until they manage to break through.

I discovered an option in one of the admin pages I am allowed access to, that allows me to change the challenge question. So rather than a numerical response, we'll try an alphabetic response. Ideally a alphanumerical response is the best (numbers + letters), but can't think of anything creative at this point. Captcha + email validation is child's play to bots nowadays and somewhat worthless.

I'll try "What is the last name of the current U.S. President?" and see if that helps any. If you have any other ideas, please don't hesitate to suggest.

This is about all I have access to do other than turn off new registration. Turning off registration obviously helped today, but at the expense of the forum's membership not growing.

Turning registration back on and implementing a new challenge question.

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Linux does get targeted all the time, 90% of the servers run Linux, and are always being attacked.

I don't think either OS is any more secure than the other, I would venture to guess the attacks is proportional to the user base.

Linux is able to respond faster to an attack, but are probably open to more attacks due to the nature of Open Source.

( WARNING - Don't talk about religion, Politics, or Mac vs PC) :-)

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

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I merged "You will get a virus from this site" thread with this one as we might be scaring away some members.

Yes, we had a HUGE problem a few days ago when some bots managed to conquer Greg's arithmetic challenge question. My guess is that a lot of forums use that same type of question. The bots were made aware of this and brute forced numbers in the "challenge" field until one worked. The site had something like 50 new members join those 2 days when the normal is about 1 to 2. If registration wasn't halted, we'd of been quickly overwhelmed. Things appear to be back to normal now with the new alphabetic challenge question (Humans wishing to join the site hopefully are capable of searching out the name of the U.S. President.)

All the members that joined those 2 days were almost all bots, were banned, and their threads removed. So while the site is spambot free for the moment, the enemy is still out there always looking for new ways to infiltrate our security. So avoid clicking links in suspicious threads.

... Onwards with the SEX discussion! Oh, and Macs are for Catholic Democrats too!

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Better not change the question to "What's the President's Birthplace"! :ranting2:

Good one Derek; There used to be a rolling on floor laughing Emoticon, I couldn't find it.

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

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