We had a problem

[rickhem]

I was gone for a few days, but back today.
Hoping that it's been resolved, and thanks to whomever it was that resolved the issue.

[Mags]

May be. But, I was not the only one who can to that conclusion. Others, who family members get paid for a living in cyber security, came to the same conclusion. It seem odd to use resources to deny access to a small town club's site. We were experiencing so many request, that our site was limited (by the provider) to accessing one of about 10 pages. In addition, the hosting service host at least 25 other sites. What would make our site more attracted to the BOTS than the others? One would think that the BOTS would not discriminate among the sites. Yet, requests to our site were limiting response time for the other sites. It could be a coincidence. But now, it has not been an issue. And, that has been about 6 months ago now. Nevertheless, it was just a thought.

The BOTs don't discriminate. Part of what they do is search for a vulnerable site. Then hammer away at it. The BOTs will try a for bit and then give up on sites where there is no success.

There is a phpBB Admin board where these BOT attacks are an active topic. That board has been active since May of this year.

[Mags]

Yes, back in with Dave's help. Good to see Mags here to help. Welcome aboard Mags.

Thanks for the Welcome!

[GFK]

May be. But, I was not the only one who can to that conclusion. Others, who family members get paid for a living in cyber security, came to the same conclusion. It seem odd to use resources to deny access to a small town club's site. We were experiencing so many request, that our site was limited (by the provider) to accessing one of about 10 pages. In addition, the hosting service host at least 25 other sites. What would make our site more attracted to the BOTS than the others? One would think that the BOTS would not discriminate among the sites. Yet, requests to our site were limiting response time for the other sites. It could be a coincidence. But now, it has not been an issue. And, that has been about 6 months ago now. Nevertheless, it was just a thought.

The BOTs don't discriminate. Part of what they do is search for a vulnerable site. Then hammer away at it. The BOTs will try a for bit and then give up on sites where there is no success.

There is a phpBB Admin board where these BOT attacks are an active topic. That board has been active since May of this year.

May be. The same type site is used on a different hosting service. The new hosting service probably has better security controls. Yet, it still leaves a question: why the other sites were not impacted? Since this is a small area, I suspect that they used the same website developer. However, I am not 100% sure. That was before my time. But, I do know that the club paid for professional services. Nevertheless, it is no longer a concern.

[Ernie]

Thanks for the help Mags. Congrats for the Administrator Title.

[Ernie]

What is the BOT doing on this forum? I noticed there being one here about a half hour ago. Is that a good thing?

[CT_Shooter]

Good to have you aboard as an Admin, Mags. Thanks.

[The Wiz]

I am back!!!!

[BigAl52]

With Mags on board now I bet the gremlins will get a boot in there a__. Thanks Mags it will be nice to see some normal coming in the future

[5shot]

Mags....I wouldn't know a BOT if one bit me in the backside but I'm glad you're declaring an open season on them....with no bag limit!!

And...the lights are back! And I managed to get the whole string in one pass for a change.

[Mags]

What is the BOT doing on this forum? I noticed there being one here about a half hour ago. Is that a good thing?

We definitely don't want the spam BOTs that hammer sites into 'denial of service' to it's members.

We have two 'search' BOTs that are allowed access here. Bing and Google. Those give us Forum visibility on the internet. Without at least one of them, might as well be on the 'dark web' as no one would know that the forum exists. With these 2 BOTs, that's how new members find us when they do a Google or Bing search.

[Mags]

Mags....I wouldn't know a BOT if one bit me in the backside but I'm glad you're declaring an open season on them....with no bag limit!!

And...the lights are back! And I managed to get the whole string in one pass for a change.

The deputies and moderators here were already doing a good job of keeping the spam BOTs in check, before I got involved.

Some of you may have noticed a few weeks ago a Russian spam BOT briefly got through. It was using 'reply' to ad spam every topic in the forum even those topics that were long dormant into ancient history. Our deputy/moderators took care of that pretty quickly before it got too far out of hand.

[Ernie]

What is the BOT doing on this forum? I noticed there being one here about a half hour ago. Is that a good thing?

We definitely don't want the spam BOTs that hammer sites into 'denial of service' to it's members.

We have two 'search' BOTs that are allowed access here. Bing and Google. Those give us Forum visibility on the internet. Without at least one of them, might as well be on the 'dark web' as no one would know that the forum exists. With these 2 BOTs, that's how new members find us when they do a Google or Bing search.

Thanks for the information.

[Steve51]

Just wanted to give a big THANKS to Mags!
i do believe you deserve to be an administrator. Congratulations!

[daytime dave]

Just wanted to give a big THANKS to Mags!
i do believe you deserve to be an administrator. Congratulations!

I couldn't agree more.

[Mags]

Just wanted to give a big THANKS to Mags!
...

You are all welcome. I was a bit motivated to see this one fixed.

[GFK]

Congratulations Mags!!

[Mags]

Congratulations Mags!!

Thank you sir. Was happy to help.

[Rifletom]

Yes Mags, welcome aboard and a big thank you!. I do what I can, but, was a bit overwhelmed with all this.

[BigAl52]