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[Mac Kerr]

Add me to the list. I thought that the forum was down.....

My computer is in a normal home network. No vpn stuff going on here.

You last used IP address was 141.101.77.104. This is a widely used spammer address. I suggest clearing your browser cache. Those spam addresses are going to stay banned.

Mac

[MattLeonard]

Hi!

On my iPad and a windows PC I’m apparently banned, but can access from my phone. I get the message “Sorry richard_cooper you are banned from using this forum! This ban is not set to expire.” I can post via my phone so presumably something is wrong.

Any ideas I’ve tried logging out, but apparently I’m even banned from doing that!

Thanks

I have had this happen repeatedly - from using a legitimate VPN. Once the site has banned me (presumably due to the IP address used by the VPN) - even closing the VPN doesn't restore access. I have to go into Chrome Developer mode and clear cache/cookies/application info in order to be able to see the forums again. Haven't had this happen on any other sites.

[richard_cooper]

You last used IP address was 141.101.77.104. This is a widely used spammer address. I suggest clearing your browser cache. Those spam addresses are going to stay banned.

Mac

I dont know for certain Mac, but my instinct is that there is something more going on here. You've seen that people are taking to other forums to complain about this, and I know that both my desktop at work and home have been banned both with IPS in the 88.97.x.x range.  More clarity on how the banning system works would help, are bans against username, or by device?

Clearing browser history is an OK solution very occasionally, but is a real PITA to do with the regularity I've had to recently. on another site you suggested that you've banned the entire 141.101.x.x range which is a sizable chunk. Using PSW is becoming a chore, and I suspect you're going to have to find a more nuanced approach like, presumably other forums do, as I've not experienced anthing like this on other forums.

[David Morison]

OK, this is now getting silly, I just got "banned" and had to clear cache/cookies, between viewing successive photos on a single post - I didn't even navigate away from the site & back again!

[Mac Kerr]

OK, this is now getting silly, I just got "banned" and had to clear cache/cookies, between viewing successive photos on a single post - I didn't even navigate away from the site & back again!

I don't know the path your Internet provider is using, but the IP address you have when you arrive here is 172.70.162.226. The 172.70.162.x range is heavily used by all the "Cialis" bots. It is only recently your IP has changed to that. In most of your posts historically your IP address was 95.149.156-158.x.  This seems to be a trend with the members who are getting repeatedly banned for no reason.This is happening with you, Richard Cooper, Chris Grimshaw, Richard Penrose, and maybe others. Everyone had different IP addresses that were in ranges NOT 172.70.162.x, now suddenly they are coming through the same as ll the spambots.

I am spending several hours a day eliminating spam posts and spambot registrations. I have removed the ban on the 172.70.x.x range, that is about all I can do. The issue seems to lie with whoever assigns the final IP address that hits PSW.

Mac

[Andy King]

Although new here, I have been getting banned on an almost daily basis and then unbanned again by Ernie on an equally daily basis. Clearing cache & cookies didnt make any difference. Following an OK from Ernie, I am using a VPN to gain access and thus far (an hour) it seems to be working.

The comment about everyones IP addresses suddenly changing is an intersting one. Considering we are mainly from Europe and the spam bots Russian & Chinese you would expect significantly different addresses as you alluded to. If they have suddenly become similar then I would guess they are all being funneled through a particular point prior to reaching the host servers. It would be interesting to know if the hosts, or their telecoms provider have made any changes recently.

I know its a difficult one to fix and appreciate the efforts behind the scenes.

[Scott Holtzman]

Although new here, I have been getting banned on an almost daily basis and then unbanned again by Ernie on an equally daily basis. Clearing cache & cookies didnt make any difference. Following an OK from Ernie, I am using a VPN to gain access and thus far (an hour) it seems to be working.

The comment about everyones IP addresses suddenly changing is an intersting one. Considering we are mainly from Europe and the spam bots Russian & Chinese you would expect significantly different addresses as you alluded to. If they have suddenly become similar then I would guess they are all being funneled through a particular point prior to reaching the host servers. It would be interesting to know if the hosts, or their telecoms provider have made any changes recently.

I know its a difficult one to fix and appreciate the efforts behind the scenes.

Not really ridiculous to fix.  You need to capture some of your output and see what the source IP is, use Wireshark to view.  I bet there is some sort of automation that patches in a VPN and uses your computer as a mail relay.  Is anything funky in your IP stack?  What OS and what patch level?

[richard_cooper]

Mac/Admins, whilst I’ve found a route in, is this Tron?

Look at the blue room thread, this looks like a Cloud Flare issue, all the IPs you talked about over there are Cloud Flare.

[Mac Kerr]

Mac/Admins, whilst I’ve found a route in, is this Tron?

Look at the blue room thread, this looks like a Cloud Flare issue, all the IPs you talked about over there are Cloud Flare.

It is Tron...

Yes, almost all the bad IPs are Cloudflare. There are a couple that trace back to Moscow, but the vast bulk of issues involve Cloudflare. I don't know if we use them, I have led the webmasters know. eI would also like to know why "Stop Forum Spam" a service we have used successfully for years suddenly only flags email addresses, they used to flag bad IPs as well.

Mac

[Scott Holtzman]

It is Tron...

Yes, almost all the bad IPs are Cloudflare. There are a couple that trace back to Moscow, but the vast bulk of issues involve Cloudflare. I don't know if we use them, I have led the webmasters know. eI would also like to know why "Stop Forum Spam" a service we have used successfully for years suddenly only flags email addresses, they used to flag bad IPs as well.

Mac

The Cloudflare address should never come from a user.  Cloudflare stops DOS attacks and works with DNS, before the traffic hits your site.

[ProSoundWeb Community]