empirica
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Post by empirica on Jun 10, 2018 20:23:43 GMT
I'm having problems with VPN again.
Symtom is I can log on and browse a few posts /threads but I get the "You have been banned from this forum." screen. I click an icon which changes my internet address and then I'm OK for a while _ don't even need to log back in_ but after a few pages, I get the "You have been banned from this forum." page again.
This has happened several times on Friday afternoon and several more times this evening.
The resident geek jokingly suggested I have a stalker tracking my connectivity and then blocking it.
At the risk of fanning a 'tin foil hattery' debate, can I ask an administrator: "Is this the P2PIF forum's doing or not?"
If it's confirmed that it isn't, I'll take it up with ProBoards as suggested in a very early thread on the subject.
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Post by Admin on Jun 10, 2018 20:54:33 GMT
Also had PM's from a few individuals on this subject, this is typical of the response we've sent. "As a forum we face a number of major challenges with spammers - we have very high daily page views and a wealthy demographic. Spamming is now a semi-commercial enterprise employing sophisticated teams (in the far east mainly) to post (if possible) hundreds of spam posts an hour onto forums such as this.
Our only weapon in this war is to ban ranges of IP addresses owned by far eastern ISP's and (global) VPN type outfits. Unfortunately the 3 mobile network has caused us similar problems in the past, and we have had to ban large parts of their IP addreses as well.
If you receive the "You have been banned" message, and you are using a VPN then simply quit the VPN. In time we expect we will have banned the majority of IP ranges used by such services - inevitably its a game of whack-the-mole, it just springs back up elsewhere. (You may find disconnecting and reconnecting the VPN session assigns you with a new IP address on the VPN in address space we haven't blocked as yet)." For a number of months now there have been close to zero spam posts reaching the forum, but that is due entirely to behind the scenes efforts to prevent spammers from gaining access to the forum, one strand to this is to block entire ranges of IP's so spammers can't attempt to register new accounts in the first place. Unfortunately, the internet's IP address space is not especially well structured, and sometimes there are small blocks of IP addresses owned by UK/EU ISPs in the middle of vast blocks owned by ISPs in other countries, and these do occaisonaly get blocked by accident. If you are using a UK/EU ISP and are not on a VPN and you are being blocked, make a note of the IP address you are using (with something like whatismyip.com ) and let admin know that address next time you're able to access the forum so we can investigate. Not ideal, and a major annoyance to all, but that's the way it is. |
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empirica
Member of DD Central
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Post by empirica on Jul 8, 2018 22:14:58 GMT
For a number of months now there have been close to zero spam posts reaching the forum, but that is due entirely to behind the scenes efforts to prevent spammers from gaining access to the forum, one strand to this is to block entire ranges of IP's so spammers can't attempt to register new accounts in the first place. Unfortunately, the internet's IP address space is not especially well structured, and sometimes there are small blocks of IP addresses owned by UK/EU ISPs in the middle of vast blocks owned by ISPs in other countries, and these do occaisonaly get blocked by accident. If you are using a UK/EU ISP and are not on a VPN and you are being blocked, make a note of the IP address you are using (with something like whatismyip.com ) and let admin know that address next time you're able to access the forum so we can investigate. Not ideal, and a major annoyance to all, but that's the way it is. Do you guys actually wait for spam to arrive and then block just those IPs? Or do you (also) trawl for posters whom you believe are guilty of the heinous sin of using a VPN and block whatever IP they are using? Reason for asking is that the last few weeks, I can use a specific IP address as a guest for hours and then as soon as I log in and post _ sometimes just as soon as I log in _ the IP address is banned. Once or twice I can understand but this has happened a dozen times or more. It looks to me like I'm being targeted. Is that the case? If there is a 'zero VPN tolerance' policy, might it be an idea for that to be written into the Forum Rules so it is clear to one and all?
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empirica
Member of DD Central
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Post by empirica on Aug 2, 2018 10:43:47 GMT
Do you guys actually wait for spam to arrive and then block just those IPs? Or do you (also) trawl for posters whom you believe are guilty of the heinous sin of using a VPN and block whatever IP they are using? Reason for asking is that the last few weeks, I can use a specific IP address as a guest for hours and then as soon as I log in and post _ sometimes just as soon as I log in _ the IP address is banned. Once or twice I can understand but this has happened a dozen times or more. It looks to me like I'm being targeted. Is that the case? If there is a 'zero VPN tolerance' policy, might it be an idea for that to be written into the Forum Rules so it is clear to one and all? No reply to the above when originally asked but at least my VPN usage was tolerated. Until today it seems as the (targeted?) has apparently recommenced. So I ask again. Given I can browse the site via VPN as a guest OK but once I've logged on and posted my IP is banned, are the volunteers here targeting users who they believe are using VPNs regardless of whether spam is originating from those IP addresses or not?
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empirica
Member of DD Central
Posts: 326
Likes: 235
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Post by empirica on Sept 20, 2018 20:17:52 GMT
Do you guys actually wait for spam to arrive and then block just those IPs? Or do you (also) trawl for posters whom you believe are guilty of the heinous sin of using a VPN and block whatever IP they are using? Reason for asking is that the last few weeks, I can use a specific IP address as a guest for hours and then as soon as I log in and post _ sometimes just as soon as I log in _ the IP address is banned. Once or twice I can understand but this has happened a dozen times or more. It looks to me like I'm being targeted. Is that the case? If there is a 'zero VPN tolerance' policy, might it be an idea for that to be written into the Forum Rules so it is clear to one and all? No reply to the above when originally asked but at least my VPN usage was tolerated. Until today it seems as the (targeted?) has apparently recommenced. So I ask again. Given I can browse the site via VPN as a guest OK but once I've logged on and posted my IP is banned, are the volunteers here targeting users who they believe are using VPNs regardless of whether spam is originating from those IP addresses or not? Apologies to anyone trying to who experienced issues trying to access over mobile data using GiffGaff (O2) - I made a post using their service earlier and the Admins / Mods in their zeal to quash VPN usage, mistaken blocked that mobile data service too. (Post was made at 20:30 GMT, for the record, so that admins might release it for the greater good.)
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bigfoot12
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Post by bigfoot12 on Sept 21, 2018 7:16:47 GMT
...I can use a specific IP address as a guest for hours and then as soon as I log in and post _ sometimes just as soon as I log in _ the IP address is banned. This isn't that surprising as they are trying to stop spam posting so no need to block anonymous reading! Out of interest why are you so keen to use VPN to read this site? I often use VPN when using hotel or coffee shop wifi, but don't feel the need at home (and many people think I am a bit  about that sort of thing).
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empirica
Member of DD Central
Posts: 326
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Post by empirica on Sept 21, 2018 10:22:33 GMT
...I can use a specific IP address as a guest for hours and then as soon as I log in and post _ sometimes just as soon as I log in _ the IP address is banned. This isn't that surprising as they are trying to stop spam posting so no need to block anonymous reading! Out of interest why are you so keen to use VPN to read this site? I often use VPN when using hotel or coffee shop wifi, but don't feel the need at home (and many people think I am a bit about that sort of thing). I agree 100% with efforts to stop spam, but only block those IPs proven to be used by spammers. Instead the volunteers here seemingly wait for me to log on and/or post and then just ban whatever IP address (probably widening the scope / range / thingy) I'm using. I'm not aware of having spammed, so don't see the justification in these instances.
If your VPN service were blocked here because they'd been tracking my IP addresses and our VPN IPs (or ranges) overlapped, that would make you unhappy, wouldn't it? Especially on paid for services, which I suspect spammers wouldn't / couldn't use because of potential trace-backs through payments made.
I use VPN because I don't have a 'home' and therefore dependent on whatever wifi is available. (Or mobile data, when in the UK, not often) No need to pass the hat around just yet, I own property, but don't personally live in it at the moment. 
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hantsowl
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Post by hantsowl on Nov 11, 2019 10:02:36 GMT
I started using a VPN a couple of weeks ago. All ok until I got 'banned' from this forum today on one of my devices. Simply disconnected and re-connected the VPN which picked up a different IP and I am no longer banned. |
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gg
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Post by gg on May 5, 2020 16:12:27 GMT
Could the ‘You have been banned from this forum’ message be amended to advise switching off VPN or to say ‘this VPN has been banned from the forum’.
I though I’d upset somebody when I got the message.
gg
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Post by Ton ⓉⓞⓃ on May 18, 2020 8:18:54 GMT
Could the ‘You have been banned from this forum’ message be amended to advise switching off VPN or to say ‘this VPN has been banned from the forum’. I though I’d upset somebody when I got the message. gg
This is one of the things we have no control over - Proboards (PB) host the forum for us and they "do" a great deal of this work.
For several years now PB have been talking about bringing out an updated version of the forum, but we're still waiting. I'll try and suggest it to them when I next get an opportunity. In the past when suggestions like this are made they just reply that they'll "add it to the list of requests". So it's not clear if they'll act on it or not. But thanks for pointing that out.
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about that sort of thing).
