Major board outage, 12/5/2025 info.

[weeksy]

So then, while i was away in Scotland, it appears so were you on the forum.

This seems to have been caused by https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2662519

I have just updated your HTACCESS to the same one that I am using and the site is back and has a decent speed, for now at least. (my updated version has more blocks within it to counter the aggressive bots that have been attacking my sites)

@HiFi Kabin

has implemented this fix for it above, but wasn't aware we had the issue until i contacted him this morning to ask for help blocking an IP etc...

Massive massive thanks to him for the help.

I'll throw him some money for beer as a thank you.

I know it was somewhat inconvenient, but sometimes there's not a lot i can do

[weeksy]

Obviously the last fix was only partial.. hopefully this latest one is a bit more ....

It's not really my field so we're in the hands of the PHP gods...

[the_priest]

Seems to be working now. I could not see this post earlier and now lo and behold I can reply to it as well.

[weeksy]

@HiFi Kabin may be implementing a bit of a stronger trial fix which is blocking anyone / anything outside of Europe. It's a bit drastic i'll admit, but i can't actually think of anyone these days apart @ZRX61 who posts from outside of Europe and if needed we can get his IP or range specifically allowed.

Thoughts ?

[Yorick]

@HiFi Kabin may be implementing a bit of a stronger trial fix which is blocking anyone / anything outside of Europe. It's a bit drastic i'll admit, but i can't actually think of anyone these days apart @ZRX61 who posts from outside of Europe and if needed we can get his IP or range specifically allowed.

Thoughts ?

Will that affect ne? I'm technically outside mainland Europe.

[weeksy]

So this is where you can see the issue

Most users ever online was 60536 on Mon May 12, 2025 5:29 am

This is the form of 'attack' or issue depending on how you look at it... Each one of these is issuing a form of request from the server and simply overloads it. How or why they do this i have no bloody clue, i don't know what it could possibly give them in any way. So what the above fix is doing should block a huge number of these....

We're down to a sensible amount now again currently.

[Count Steer]

So this is where you can see the issue

Most users ever online was 60536 on Mon May 12, 2025 5:29 am

This is the form of 'attack' or issue depending on how you look at it... Each one of these is issuing a form of request from the server and simply overloads it. How or why they do this i have no bloody clue, i don't know what it could possibly give them in any way. So what the above fix is doing should block a huge number of these....

We're down to a sensible amount now again currently.

Ooh...a DoS attack? I wonder who we could possibly have upset?

[weeksy]

@HiFi Kabin may be implementing a bit of a stronger trial fix which is blocking anyone / anything outside of Europe. It's a bit drastic i'll admit, but i can't actually think of anyone these days apart @ZRX61 who posts from outside of Europe and if needed we can get his IP or range specifically allowed.

Thoughts ?

Will that affect ne? I'm technically outside mainland Europe.

It's a good Qn... i can specifically request your IP/range as well... but i'd think it'll be considered part of Europe in this context. I did think of you before we discussed it.
If there's any issues, just ping either an Email or throw something up on the FB group and we can look into it.

As i say, this is a bit of a harsh fix in a way, but it's arguably one that makes a lot of sense.

[weeksy]

So this is where you can see the issue

Most users ever online was 60536 on Mon May 12, 2025 5:29 am

This is the form of 'attack' or issue depending on how you look at it... Each one of these is issuing a form of request from the server and simply overloads it. How or why they do this i have no bloody clue, i don't know what it could possibly give them in any way. So what the above fix is doing should block a huge number of these....

We're down to a sensible amount now again currently.

Ooh...a DoS attack? I wonder who we could possibly have upset?

unless the same person has been upset by the whole of PHP community, it's deffo not a specific person doing this, this is a world-wide issue.

[Count Steer]

So this is where you can see the issue

Most users ever online was 60536 on Mon May 12, 2025 5:29 am

This is the form of 'attack' or issue depending on how you look at it... Each one of these is issuing a form of request from the server and simply overloads it. How or why they do this i have no bloody clue, i don't know what it could possibly give them in any way. So what the above fix is doing should block a huge number of these....

We're down to a sensible amount now again currently.

Ooh...a DoS attack? I wonder who we could possibly have upset?

unless the same person has been upset by the whole of PHP community, it's deffo not a specific person doing this, this is a world-wide issue.

Ah, gotcha. The earlier post makes sense to me now. Hadn't realised it was the PHP person 'speaking'.

[weeksy]

LOL that was amusing.. as soon as he implemented the fix

I got a 'Forbidden' message, i guess due to my corporate VPN settings... but hopefully that's OK now

[Count Steer]

Might have excommunicated Moofo - in Japan.

[HiFi Kabin]

All countries (including Russia) other than those in Europe and North America have been blocked (will I hope they have) which should cut down on the number of 'guests' (ie BOTs) who can access the site.

The Guests on line has dropped from the 95000 I saw earlier to a more manageable 3600, now 1900 and hopefully it will continue to improve.

[weeksy]

Brilliant work mate. Will send a donation over later

[MrLongbeard]

OK, OK, subscription renewed, there are easier ways to persuade me

[wheelnut]

@HiFi Kabin may be implementing a bit of a stronger trial fix which is blocking anyone / anything outside of Europe. It's a bit drastic i'll admit, but i can't actually think of anyone these days apart @ZRX61 who posts from outside of Europe and if needed we can get his IP or range specifically allowed.

Thoughts ?

Yambo does - from Turkey. As do I some of the time.

[weeksy]

all checked and fine @wheelnut


I've sent our techie a donation from forum funds.

[ZRX61]

@HiFi Kabin may be implementing a bit of a stronger trial fix which is blocking anyone / anything outside of Europe. It's a bit drastic i'll admit, but i can't actually think of anyone these days apart @ZRX61 who posts from outside of Europe and if needed we can get his IP or range specifically allowed.

Thoughts ?

I got back on this morning (5.30am PDT)

[MrLongbeard]

Well shit

[Felix]

Here was me thinking Weeksy took a strop and pulled the plug

Cant you just block guests as that 7500 potential spammers are marked as guests.