Modifications to eOmahaForums

Post by **nebugeater** » Tue Jul 09, 2024 7:39 pm

Thanks for the effort to update this!

Stan · Post by **Stan** » Thu Aug 15, 2024 1:18 pm

What do I need to do to avoid the "Permanently Banned" prompt when accessing the site? I'm logging in at work so if it's because it's saying my user account is pinging from different cities then that might be it.

Post by **Brad** » Thu Aug 15, 2024 1:42 pm

Stan wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2024 1:18 pm What do I need to do to avoid the "Permanently Banned" prompt when accessing the site? I'm logging in at work so if it's because it's saying my user account is pinging from different cities then that might be it.

If it only does it in some locations, its most likely the IP address has been banned at one point.

Can you PM me your IP address that is causing the problem. If you don't know it, just google "what is my IP address" when on that machine and it will tell you.

Post by **BRoss** » Thu Aug 15, 2024 4:50 pm

Stan wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2024 1:18 pm What do I need to do to avoid the "Permanently Banned" prompt when accessing the site? I'm logging in at work so if it's because it's saying my user account is pinging from different cities then that might be it.

There's no checks for bouncing around like that. As Brad said, it could be an IP that was banned at one time due to spam. That's a bad thing about banning by IP as someone legitimate can get that same IP in the future.

Try to get the IP or the time frame when this happens and we can look into it.

ChadJK · Post by **ChadJK** » Tue Oct 01, 2024 1:14 pm

With NAT most IPs are shared. So, permanently banning one seems like a bad idea. Perhaps, ban that particular IP address for a year or something, but an indefinite ban seems problematic. Just my 2¢.

Post by **Brad** » Tue Oct 01, 2024 2:17 pm

ChadJK wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2024 1:14 pm With NAT most IPs are shared. So, permanently banning one seems like a bad idea. Perhaps, ban that particular IP address for a year or something, but an indefinite ban seems problematic. Just my 2¢.

Not sure about the other moderators, but I haven't banned an IP address in many years. I just delete the spam account and move on. We really haven't had much of a problem since BRoss added the security questions.

Post by **nebugeater** » Tue Oct 01, 2024 2:51 pm

Brad wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2024 2:17 pm
ChadJK wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2024 1:14 pm With NAT most IPs are shared. So, permanently banning one seems like a bad idea. Perhaps, ban that particular IP address for a year or something, but an indefinite ban seems problematic. Just my 2¢.
Not sure about the other moderators, but I haven't banned an IP address in many years. I just delete the spam account and move on. We really haven't had much of a problem since BRoss added the security questions.

I have never banned an IP. I do what Brad does and delete or block the spam account and remove the posts from the general form.

Post by **BRoss** » Tue Oct 01, 2024 2:55 pm

ChadJK wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2024 1:14 pm With NAT most IPs are shared. So, permanently banning one seems like a bad idea. Perhaps, ban that particular IP address for a year or something, but an indefinite ban seems problematic. Just my 2¢.

The only IP bans we do are for problematic foreign countries as there are known chunks that are registered to these countries. And I'll regenerate the list from sites that provide this data and replace the blocks I have at the host level from time to time.

Like Brad said, the security questions work pretty well to keep the bots away until they get cracked, but changing them from time to time fixes that (for now... we'll see how AI impacts that in the future).

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Tue May 06, 2025 9:52 am

I’m getting a mostly blank white page stating Too Many Requests quite often when I click on a forum or thread lately both on my phone and laptop. Curious if anyone else is seeing that or maybe I just need to clear my cookies.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Tue May 06, 2025 9:56 am

Was literally going to post the same thing, sometimes this happens when a site gets slammed by bots. But I noticed this yesterday as well.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Tue May 06, 2025 9:57 am

Yeah, been a big problem for me too the last few days

Post by **nebugeater** » Tue May 06, 2025 10:07 am

It has been going on for a few days. The MODS have been discussing it and monitoring to determine what needs to be blocked.

A similar situation took place a couple of years ago.

Thanks for mentioning it here, though.

Post by **BRoss** » Tue May 06, 2025 11:38 am

We are unfortunately being DDoS'd from Alibaba Cloud IPs. Even after blocking them, they are still slamming us despite getting 403s now. While I'm keeping them from hitting the database, they still hit the server and our host rate limits us on requests received and we are getting thousands every few seconds. I've been on with support to figure out what can be done but haven't found a solution yet.

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Tue May 06, 2025 12:49 pm

As always, BRoss, thanks for all the work you're doing.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Tue May 06, 2025 12:52 pm

Wasn’t meaning it as a complaint at all btw. Just curious if it was just on my end. Appreciate all the work the Mods do to keep the forum running!

Post by **nebugeater** » Tue May 06, 2025 12:55 pm

iamjacobm wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 12:52 pm Wasn’t meaning it as a complaint at all btw. Just curious if it was just on my end. Appreciate all the work the Mods do to keep the forum running!

Not taken as a complaint at all. Never hurts to bring things up to see if it is just one user or system wide

nebport5 · Post by **nebport5** » Tue May 06, 2025 5:36 pm

Any idea why I keep getting this error?:

"The user has sent too many requests in a given amount of time.”

Post by **BRoss** » Tue May 06, 2025 7:10 pm

nebport5 wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 5:36 pm Any idea why I keep getting this error?:

"The user has sent too many requests in a given amount of time.”

Please see my post above.

BRoss wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 11:38 am

nebport5 · Post by **nebport5** » Tue May 06, 2025 8:15 pm

BRoss wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 7:10 pm
nebport5 wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 5:36 pm Any idea why I keep getting this error?:

"The user has sent too many requests in a given amount of time.”
Please see my post above.
BRoss wrote: Tue May 06, 2025 11:38 am

oops, sorry! I think it’s time for new glasses.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Thu May 08, 2025 6:54 pm

It’s gotten quite rough today. First time I’ve managed to get through all day

Post by **BRoss** » Thu May 08, 2025 7:10 pm

Garrett wrote: Thu May 08, 2025 6:54 pm It’s gotten quite rough today. First time I’ve managed to get through all day

Yeah, we had to upgrade the protection plan and that was done about an hour ago. Hopefully it fully stops within the next 24 hours.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Fri May 09, 2025 8:02 am

BRoss wrote: Thu May 08, 2025 7:10 pm
Garrett wrote: Thu May 08, 2025 6:54 pm It’s gotten quite rough today. First time I’ve managed to get through all day
Yeah, we had to upgrade the protection plan and that was done about an hour ago. Hopefully it fully stops within the next 24 hours.

Definitely sailing much smoother today!

Post by **Brad** » Fri May 09, 2025 8:46 am

Way better today. Everything seems to be loading faster too!

Thanks for getting it done BRoss!

EastCB2 · Post by **EastCB2** » Fri May 09, 2025 9:41 am

Thanks for doing a great job!!! I was so frustrated yesterday.

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Fri May 09, 2025 9:49 am

Aside from no more "too many requests" errors, the site itself seems faster now, too. Thanks!

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Fri May 09, 2025 10:32 am

Thank you guys for your hard work...I feel lost without eomaha.

Post by **Brad** » Mon May 19, 2025 11:08 am

In the Two Weeks since BRoss installed the new security measurers, that software has blocked 13.2 Million Threats and 5 Million Bots, saving 2.8GB worth of bandwidth.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Mon May 19, 2025 11:42 am

Brad wrote: Mon May 19, 2025 11:08 am In the Two Weeks since BRoss installed the new security measurers, that software has blocked 13.2 Million Threats and 5 Million Bots, saving 2.8GB worth of bandwidth.

Holy |expletive|. That’s so much.

damonhynes · Post by **damonhynes** » Mon May 19, 2025 11:48 am

Brad wrote: Mon May 19, 2025 11:08 am In the Two Weeks since BRoss installed the new security measurers, that software has blocked 13.2 Million Threats and 5 Million Bots, saving 2.8GB worth of bandwidth.

Thanks, BRoss! I follow other boards that have/had the same issue within the past two weeks.

Post by **BRoss** » Mon May 19, 2025 12:51 pm

damonhynes wrote: Mon May 19, 2025 11:48 am
Brad wrote: Mon May 19, 2025 11:08 am In the Two Weeks since BRoss installed the new security measurers, that software has blocked 13.2 Million Threats and 5 Million Bots, saving 2.8GB worth of bandwidth.
Thanks, BRoss! I follow other boards that have/had the same issue within the past two weeks.

No problem! It's amazing how much is trying to hit us.

remline · Post by **remline** » Tue May 20, 2025 9:55 am

Thank you for keeping this site in tip-top shape! Web forums aren't as common as they used to be, so I appreciate our community here even more.

Post by **nebugeater** » Tue May 20, 2025 10:30 am

remline wrote: Tue May 20, 2025 9:55 am Thank you for keeping this site in tip-top shape! Web forums aren't as common as they used to be, so I appreciate our community here even more.

Could always move it all to Reddit!!! LOL

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Fri Jul 25, 2025 9:33 am

Is the SSL expired?

Post by **BRoss** » Fri Jul 25, 2025 9:40 am

Louie wrote: Fri Jul 25, 2025 9:33 am Is the SSL expired?

It was yesterday and that was corrected. Try to press Ctrl+F5 to force a refresh.

Unfortunately the recent change to help with bots made it so certs aren't being automatically cycled. I'm pretty annoyed with our host right now.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Fri Jul 25, 2025 11:41 am

BRoss wrote: Fri Jul 25, 2025 9:40 am
Louie wrote: Fri Jul 25, 2025 9:33 am Is the SSL expired?

It was yesterday and that was corrected. Try to press Ctrl+F5 to force a refresh.

Unfortunately the recent change to help with bots made it so certs aren't being automatically cycled. I'm pretty annoyed with our host right now.

Oh man that does suck.

Post by **BRoss** » Thu Sep 25, 2025 11:01 pm

A minor patch has been installed. Please let us know if you run into any issues.

It has also come to our attention that emails are no longer working, which includes notifications and password resets. And the "Contact us" has been going somewhere nobody checks.

The email issue is being investigated and I now have the contact form's destination set to forward. Sorry for any who've been locked out and unable to contact us.

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Fri Sep 26, 2025 7:31 am

Thanks for the update and looking into the email issue. Appreciate your work as always, BRoss!!

Post by **BRoss** » Fri Sep 26, 2025 11:13 am

Email issue is now resolved.

If there is anyone who have got locked out of their account, you should be able to recover it now.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Wed Oct 22, 2025 9:18 am

I think the SSL expired again. This must be on a 90 day window?

Post by **BRoss** » Wed Oct 22, 2025 9:19 am

Louie wrote: Wed Oct 22, 2025 9:18 am I think the SSL expired again. This must be on a 90 day window?

They are auto generated on the host side for 90 days but overlap by a month (because you should replace a bit in advance of expiration so cached copies will get refreshed before that), so it's good for another 60 days right now.

But yep, this dang need to upload it to the firewall is annoying. It's fixed though now. May need to shift+F5 though to refresh the cache.