Please close my account.

[Infrasonic]

...I'm sorry it hasn't been going well for a few weeks. But I am here now, midnight on a Thursday with a normal days work to go to tomorrow at 7am.
I will back online at 7pm after work, carrying on with repairs and improvements once I've got my kids to bed. I will also be giving up a lot of my bank holiday to resolving any issues reported...

Much appreciated Stooz.

Polite suggestion...there are a few IT techies here on the site who I am sure would be more than willing to donate some of their time to free advice or planning of future upgrades or tweaks. Obviously they would need to be au fait with the specifics of the setup which has privacy and potential security issues from your perspective - so I understand if you are reticent there.

Part of the issue historically has been reactive responses rather than having a plan of attack going in.

Obviously hindsight is a wonderful thing but when you announced the improvements around the website security my first thoughts were 'uh oh this could get messy', as it was clearly going to be a learn as you go along exercise into something that is never straightforward (networking...).

It could be as simple as having a compilation tick box list of potential 'gotchas' for things like firewall rules et al so that the basic start point is 95% there and any subsequent tweaks would be icing on the cake rather than fundamental make or break.

FWIW this is how networking consultants would ideally proceed, plan it out based on previous experiences, physically test it out first before going 'live' into a production environment.

Even the biggest players get it wrong sometimes, Microsoft managed to mess up their SPF file recently, deleting an entire SMTP include IP range without adding it back in to a later part of the file - cue loads of businesses getting non delivery or spam foldered sent email...

[XFool]

We run as a ltd co purely to protect my house from the multiple law suits we get every year.

Please tell us more, if you can. In your own time.

It could help us understand several things better and might(?) even help us to help you.

[Boots]

I am the part owner and pay the software bills and reap the incomes of ads along with clariman.

The income generated is spent on improvements.
Our time is not paid either.
Nor are the mods.
We run as a ltd co purely to protect my house from the multiple law suits we get every year.

My evenings and weekends go to providing a home to, originally what was, support to the fool closing its doors.

As with the majority of sites on the internet, an income is required to fund it. So we use ads. That means the site can be free to use. No money changes hands.

If the ads don't cover the costs, quite simply this site will be closed. I have no overwhelming desire to pay these costs from my own pocket when it could be spent on my children.
As noted I have just spent considerable time doing annual returns and yet another late night.

I'm sorry it hasn't been going well for a few weeks. But I am here now, midnight on a Thursday with a normal days work to go to tomorrow at 7am.
I will back online at 7pm after work, carrying on with repairs and improvements once I've got my kids to bed. I will also be giving up a lot of my bank holiday to resolving any issues reported.

If you do not wish to accept our apologies and that current issues should be short lived and wish to leave I will close any account.
Simply send me a pm.

Please note we have no obligation to remove any historical posts.

Regards
Stooz and clariman

I really appreciate all the hard work. Please keep it up, and I hope matters calm down for you both soon.

[didds]

I have closed your [ Darka] account.

Such a shame...

didds

[Pendrainllwyn]

TLF is one of the very few social media platforms I use. It's been very clear to me that TLF has been run by a few individuals "on the side". The site doesn't get much investment but it's the content I come here for and I find enough of that to be worthwhile to read regularly even if I don't write that often. I live overseas and have been "banned" from the site twice recently. A minor inconvenience and nothing that a bit of patience didn't take care of. Thank you stooz and clariman for keeping TLF going. BTW, it's a free service for me. I ignore the ads - but don't tell those who pay to place them

Pendrainllwyn

[moorfield]

So, could one of the admins delete my account - I can't be bothered with it anymore.

Cheesus, a couple days outage... this is how the world will end ! Just switch off t'internet for a couple days sit back and watch society crumble.

[Lootman]

Also banned since first thing this morning, the site is now unusable and badly broken.

That is not my experience at all. Other than the site being unavailable for 24 hours a few days ago, it has been working fine for me. I certainly have not been "banned". The consent form appears occasionally but isn't a bother.

So whatever is going on for some individuals, it seems to me that those who are being banned or blocked must have a particular (non-standard?) device configuration. Maybe using a VPN, an ad-blocker or accessing from another country?

Stooz has my full support, sympathy and gratitude.

[mc2fool]

Also banned since first thing this morning, the site is now unusable and badly broken.

That is not my experience at all. Other than the site being unavailable for 24 hours a few days ago, it has been working fine for me. I certainly have not been "banned". The consent form appears occasionally but isn't a bother.

So whatever is going on for some individuals, it seems to me that those who are being banned or blocked must have a particular (non-standard?) device configuration. Maybe using a VPN, an ad-blocker or accessing from another country?

It's clear from the posts there have been on the matter that none of the above apply. It's also clear from the almost complete lack of posts during the period in question, on anything other than the few folks reporting that they were banned but could get in using a VPN etc, that it's very likely that the vast majority of users couldn't access the site.

If you could it seems you were lucky (although I see there weren't any posts from you during the period, not even saying it was working ok for you). As I said in one post during the period, it was capricious.

[Lootman]

That is not my experience at all. Other than the site being unavailable for 24 hours a few days ago, it has been working fine for me. I certainly have not been "banned". The consent form appears occasionally but isn't a bother.

So whatever is going on for some individuals, it seems to me that those who are being banned or blocked must have a particular (non-standard?) device configuration. Maybe using a VPN, an ad-blocker or accessing from another country?

It's clear from the posts there have been on the matter that none of the above apply. It's also clear from the almost complete lack of posts during the period in question, on anything other than the few folks reporting that they were banned but could get in using a VPN etc, that it's very likely that the vast majority of users couldn't access the site.

If you could it seems you were lucky (although I see there weren't any posts from you during the period, not even saying it was working ok for you). As I said in one post during the period, it was capricious.

I was definitely posting since after the first people started complaining about being banned. And my sense from reading the various threads on this is that it affected some folks but not others, which is presumably what you meant by "capricious".

I have only accessed TLF from my home internet in Devon. No VPN. But yes, I did not access TLF yesterday after some point in the morning and so may have missed the worst of it.

Perhaps, given my low level of knowledge about IT matters, my very basic and simple configuration protected me from bugs that hit those with more sophisticated setups?

[Infrasonic]

It's more than likely that the IP address issues were related to being on blocklists/grey lists which will be referred to by email and web hosting services (and the major CDN's like Cloudflare) to try and weed out 'nefarious' actors (spammers/hackers etc.) who will hide behind spoofed IP's, VPN's, CGNAT IPv4, TOR nodes et al.

Unfortunately there's a big throwing the baby out with the bathwater effect if a load of innocents like us lot are using listed WAN IP addresses (there's literally hundreds of millions of them on ze lists...) as we'll all get tarred with the same brush and potentially banned if the settings are high enough on the hosting end. Cue Stooz turning the wick down as he's already reported.

These things tend to be dynamic - if you pay attention to the IT security press you'll notice there is a correlation between large scale DDoS/malware attacks and those annoying bot challenge alerts from the like of Cloudflare who are the Firewall/CDN front end for a huge % of commercial websites...

[CliffEdge]

It's clear from the posts there have been on the matter that none of the above apply. It's also clear from the almost complete lack of posts during the period in question, on anything other than the few folks reporting that they were banned but could get in using a VPN etc, that it's very likely that the vast majority of users couldn't access the site.

If you could it seems you were lucky (although I see there weren't any posts from you during the period, not even saying it was working ok for you). As I said in one post during the period, it was capricious.

I was definitely posting since after the first people started complaining about being banned. And my sense from reading the various threads on this is that it affected some folks but not others, which is presumably what you meant by "capricious".

I have only accessed TLF from my home internet in Devon. No VPN. But yes, I did not access TLF yesterday after some point in the morning and so may have missed the worst of it.

Perhaps, given my low level of knowledge about IT matters, my very basic and simple configuration protected me from bugs that hit those with more sophisticated setups?

Same here, simple set up I should probably improve when I can be bothered.
I'm sure the outages were unavoidable and not worth moaning about. Seems a general lack of good humour from some users. Lighten up boys and girls.

[mc2fool]

I was definitely posting since after the first people started complaining about being banned. And my sense from reading the various threads on this is that it affected some folks but not others, which is presumably what you meant by "capricious".

I have only accessed TLF from my home internet in Devon. No VPN. But yes, I did not access TLF yesterday after some point in the morning and so may have missed the worst of it.

Perhaps, given my low level of knowledge about IT matters, my very basic and simple configuration protected me from bugs that hit those with more sophisticated setups?

Yeah, and I was OK too to start with. What I meant by capricious was not that it affected some folks but not others, but that it seemingly randomly affected or didn't affect the same folks at different times, and then in different ways.

E.g. at 8:18am yesterday, while I was having no problems getting through myself (Firefox, unVPN'd), to check up on other people's reports and theories I fired up Opera using their built in VPN and found I was banned when choosing "Asia" or "Americas" as the location (but choosing "Europe" or turning their VPN off let me through).

But by 2:32pm I was banned using Firefox, unVPN'd, but could then get through with Opera VPNing through "Americas", but still not through "Asia" and now not through "Europe" or by turning off their VPN. No other changes in setup but a total flip around as to which ways would let me through or not.

And then at 3:12 pm I replied to ReformedCharacter, who said he wasn't having any problems with NordVPN through France, Germany, Australia, South Africa or Albania, saying that I indeed could connect via Atlanta, Vancouver, Istanbul and Bucharest, but couldn't do so via two London VPNs, and predicted that he too would be banned sooner or later.

And lo and behold, at 4:51 pm he replied to say, yep, he too! If you follow the link above you'll find not only that saga but that of others experiencing similar capriciousness. Maybe if you'd tried later in the day you would have too.....

[GoSeigen]

experiencing similar capriciousness

<PEDANT>
capriciousness r. caprice

I saw a similar example in the Graun today but have already forgotten what is was -- getting old, me.
</PEDANT>

EDIT: Seem to recall it was maliciousness used where malice was appropriate?

[mc2fool]

experiencing similar capriciousness

<PEDANT>
capriciousness r. caprice

I saw a similar example in the Graun today but have already forgotten what is was -- getting old, me.
</PEDANT>

Hmmm ... https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/capriciousness
or maybe https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/capricious
or https://wikidiff.com/capriciousness/caprice

"As nouns the difference between caprice and capriciousness is that caprice is an impulsive, seemingly unmotivated notion or action while capriciousness is the quality of being capricious."

Beyond my paygrade, really ....

[Dod101]

I was definitely posting since after the first people started complaining about being banned. And my sense from reading the various threads on this is that it affected some folks but not others, which is presumably what you meant by "capricious".

I have only accessed TLF from my home internet in Devon. No VPN. But yes, I did not access TLF yesterday after some point in the morning and so may have missed the worst of it.

Perhaps, given my low level of knowledge about IT matters, my very basic and simple configuration protected me from bugs that hit those with more sophisticated setups?

Yeah, and I was OK too to start with. What I meant by capricious was not that it affected some folks but not others, but that it seemingly randomly affected or didn't affect the same folks at different times, and then in different ways.

E.g. at 8:18am yesterday, while I was having no problems getting through myself (Firefox, unVPN'd), to check up on other people's reports and theories I fired up Opera using their built in VPN and found I was banned when choosing "Asia" or "Americas" as the location (but choosing "Europe" or turning their VPN off let me through).

But by 2:32pm I was banned using Firefox, unVPN'd, but could then get through with Opera VPNing through "Americas", but still not through "Asia" and now not through "Europe" or by turning off their VPN. No other changes in setup but a total flip around as to which ways would let me through or not.

And then at 3:12 pm I replied to ReformedCharacter, who said he wasn't having any problems with NordVPN through France, Germany, Australia, South Africa or Albania, saying that I indeed could connect via Atlanta, Vancouver, Istanbul and Bucharest, but couldn't do so via two London VPNs, and predicted that he too would be banned sooner or later.

And lo and behold, at 4:51 pm he replied to say, yep, he too! If you follow the link above you'll find not only that saga but that of others experiencing similar capriciousness. Maybe if you'd tried later in the day you would have too.....

I have no idea what is meant by going through all these various countries. I have a modem thing that sits on my desk which says BT on the front. I plug into it and usually can use the internet and email with no problem. That is all I ask of it. But yesterday my IP address was banned until the now famous 9.52 pm. I know no why.

Dod

[Tedx]

Ditto to what all of Dod says.

Isnt a VPN when a lady can see her pants through her dress?

[servodude]

Ditto to what all of Dod says.

Isnt a VPN when a lady can see her pants through her dress?

I'm not sure... can you describe the pose?

[mc2fool]

I have no idea what is meant by going through all these various countries. I have a modem thing that sits on my desk which says BT on the front. I plug into it and usually can use the internet and email with no problem. That is all I ask of it. But yesterday my IP address was banned until the now famous 9.52 pm. I know no why.

'Twas folks trying to work out the "why" and how to get round it (which we did, but as we were few there was little other posting except about the issue itself), and ultimately deciding it was, umm, capricious!

It is, however, worth being at least aware of VPNs and their capability to "put" you somewhere else, in case you come across any of those (usually US media) sites that say, sorry, you're in Europe and so we ain't gonna show you anything ('cos they can't be bothered with GDPR).

I have the Opera browser installed for just that purpose, as it has a built in (free) VPN that allows you to "put" yourself in the Americas or Asia (as well as Europe), and so read such otherwise blocked (to us) sites. Maybe it's not an issue you've come across or think you're likely to (I only do so a few times a year), but if you ever do then now at least you'll have an inkling that there's a way round it...

[GrahamPlatt]

Someone I follow on another site, a “major geek”, posted this a few hours ago: “ Is something going on with various domain registrars & DNS providers? A lot of outages within the last few days at various different ones.”

And on the issue of being frustrated (and grousing) about TLF being unavailable - it is in fact an expression of how much we appreciate it - upset when I can’t get my fix!

May the force be with you Stooz.

[Dod101]

I have no idea what is meant by going through all these various countries. I have a modem thing that sits on my desk which says BT on the front. I plug into it and usually can use the internet and email with no problem. That is all I ask of it. But yesterday my IP address was banned until the now famous 9.52 pm. I know no why.

'Twas folks trying to work out the "why" and how to get round it (which we did, but as we were few there was little other posting except about the issue itself), and ultimately deciding it was, umm, capricious!

It is, however, worth being at least aware of VPNs and their capability to "put" you somewhere else, in case you come across any of those (usually US media) sites that say, sorry, you're in Europe and so we ain't gonna show you anything ('cos they can't be bothered with GDPR).

I have the Opera browser installed for just that purpose, as it has a built in (free) VPN that allows you to "put" yourself in the Americas or Asia (as well as Europe), and so read such otherwise blocked (to us) sites. Maybe it's not an issue you've come across or think you're likely to (I only do so a few times a year), but if you ever do then now at least you'll have an inkling that there's a way round it...

But, what is a VPN? Do I need to know?

Dod