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Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11674 Posts

Posted - 04/19/2016 :  08:22:37  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Hello all,

I want to thank you for your patience as I was working to get the site back online and recovered. Unfortunately, the new server was still using our old database and there were several serious flaws in the migration to the new database that were immediately exposed once the switch was flipped and brought the entire site down.

Fortunately, it seems that everything is now operational again but please do let me know if you notice anything peculiar or out of the ordinary.

Thanks,
Dean


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."

McDutchie
= Cult of Ray =

United Kingdom
267 Posts

Posted - 04/19/2016 :  09:44:34  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Thanks for persisting, that must have taken some serious detective work. I hope the rest haven't given up in the meantime.
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Discoking
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1103 Posts

Posted - 04/19/2016 :  10:02:37  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
yaaay!!! :D


it's educational
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hammerhands
* Dog in the Sand *

Canada
1592 Posts

Posted - 04/19/2016 :  10:51:14  Show Profile  Visit hammerhands's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Good work!

How scary is Linkedin, Dean? You show up in the email I get every week.

Edited by - hammerhands on 04/19/2016 11:03:03
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Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11674 Posts

Posted - 04/19/2016 :  17:56:21  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
More scary for you than me, I guess, if it's my face that's popping up on yours. :)


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
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The Holiday Son
= Quote Accumulator =

France
1994 Posts

Posted - 04/20/2016 :  02:53:22  Show Profile  Visit The Holiday Son's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Thanks.
Still checking the forum almost daily though I don't post much anymore !
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hammerhands
* Dog in the Sand *

Canada
1592 Posts

Posted - 04/20/2016 :  06:43:00  Show Profile  Visit hammerhands's Homepage  Reply with Quote
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darwin
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

USA
5448 Posts

Posted - 04/20/2016 :  13:00:35  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Thanks Dean
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pixiestu
> Teenager of the Year <

United Kingdom
2564 Posts

Posted - 04/24/2016 :  08:05:13  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Thanks for continuing to put in the effort to keep the site going. Always appreciated!


"The arc of triumph"
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picpic
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1872 Posts

Posted - 05/10/2016 :  07:38:20  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Back from the dead again, huh ? Looks like some hacking is occuring right now. Hope my account & password won't be stolen...

Any moderator out there to clean the whole mess ?

I appreciate the efforts, cheers to the admin(s?). We need this forum ! Again, if we can do aything to help... just ask.

___
"Service Unavailable"
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McDutchie
= Cult of Ray =

United Kingdom
267 Posts

Posted - 05/10/2016 :  09:19:47  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
What picpic said. Dean, there are some people with relevant abilities here. What do you need help with?
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Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11674 Posts

Posted - 05/10/2016 :  11:43:09  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
It's cleaned up. There are plenty of things I could use help with, moderating is certainly one, other segments of the site is many more. Let me know what you're interested in/what sort of capabilities you have and I'll find work!


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
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picpic
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1872 Posts

Posted - 05/10/2016 :  23:07:42  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I can help moderate if you want. I mean cleaning the mess in case of any further hacking/abuse. I check the forum every day.

___
"Service Unavailable"
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McDutchie
= Cult of Ray =

United Kingdom
267 Posts

Posted - 05/11/2016 :  11:26:11  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I can help moderate as well -- I have experience moderating discussion groups all the way back to Fidonet in the early 1990s. Other capabilities I have include UNIX/Linux system administration and programming, but maybe that's not very relevant on a site running on a Windows server.
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picpic
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1872 Posts

Posted - 05/11/2016 :  18:15:42  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Hey ! I was on Fidonet too. Memories ...!

I think the problem here is the outdated forum engine rather than the server conf or security. I guess we can't avoid being hacked unfortunately.

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Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11674 Posts

Posted - 05/12/2016 :  06:05:33  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Thanks guys, let me give it some thought and we'll see. I did find a bunch of flags that were allowing registrations to be unchecked since April so hopefully the problem is somewhat addressed.

There is a new version of Snitz in development that I presume will make a port fairly easy; that's one of the larger stumbling blocks for switching away, that and the Windows server for ASP. Not my first choice, either, but I've gotten used to it over the years.


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
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McDutchie
= Cult of Ray =

United Kingdom
267 Posts

Posted - 05/20/2016 :  08:57:28  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
…and gone again, and back again.
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picpic
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1872 Posts

Posted - 05/20/2016 :  10:51:25  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Should I buy some Viagra ? I read this advice in some post on this forum.

___
"Service Unavailable"
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Arm Arm Arm
* Dog in the Sand *

1034 Posts

Posted - 05/23/2016 :  09:42:19  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Is the forum closed to lurkers unless you register?
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picpic
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1872 Posts

Posted - 05/23/2016 :  10:30:24  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Modern bots can register themselves even on captcha-protected forms. So it's pretty easy here.

The thing that bothers me here is that passwords have been stolen. Spam is posted by legitimate users. Hope it won't happen with my account.

Be sure to use a specific password for this forum...

___
"Service Unavailable"
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hammerhands
* Dog in the Sand *

Canada
1592 Posts

Posted - 05/23/2016 :  11:26:20  Show Profile  Visit hammerhands's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Good advice.

Do you suppose they were easy passwords?

They seem to be doing something else, messing with the operation of the forum. Editing files.

Edited by - hammerhands on 05/23/2016 11:27:57
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picpic
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1872 Posts

Posted - 05/23/2016 :  11:33:17  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Dont think so. But maybe they can guess passwods using dictionnary or brute force attacks if security is weak.

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Arm Arm Arm
* Dog in the Sand *

1034 Posts

Posted - 05/23/2016 :  12:03:39  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
It's rotten that people do this but if having to log in helps keep the forum going, I appreciate the effort.

cheers
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Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11674 Posts

Posted - 05/24/2016 :  04:33:09  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Hmm, the forum shouldn't be closed to lurkers but I tightened up the security settings and maybe I accidentally enforced that rule. If so, I will set it back - I don't think that will help in the long run.

Ultimately, I'm not sure how they are getting certain passwords for existing members. It could be a machine with spyware/internet cafe users/etc. I unfortunately don't have the time I used to to hunt this down and figure out what measures are required, obviously a new forum that is maintained and updated for different types of hacks would help so I'm waiting/hoping that the new Snitz development underway will be released sooner rather than later.

Currently, any user that registers is supposed to email me to get their account manually activated but the bots seem to bypass that process which is worrying also.


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
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picpic
* Dog in the Sand *

Belgium
1872 Posts

Posted - 05/24/2016 :  11:55:49  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
We could set up some free/alternate forum to use in case this one crashes forever.

I can't imagine this forum being unavailable when the new record is out. Well no. In fact I could live without it. But it would be damn annoying.

I assume you're pretty stuck and migration to another platform is not a top priority regarding the very low attendance on this board nowadays.

___
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Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11674 Posts

Posted - 05/24/2016 :  16:02:54  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I'm afraid you're right, I'm keeping this on life support and while it's not being hacked it works great enough but really what I'd want is a mobile-friendly platform/design etc etc if I was going to do something new. There have been a lot of changes since 2002, social media and everything else included.


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -

Ireland
11546 Posts

Posted - 05/24/2016 :  18:55:21  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Welcome back... and hi Dean!
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Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11674 Posts

Posted - 05/25/2016 :  03:05:54  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
Mr. Carl! Haven't seen you around for sometime. How are things??


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
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Arm Arm Arm
* Dog in the Sand *

1034 Posts

Posted - 05/25/2016 :  14:54:23  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Thanks for keepin' this place, going Dean!

cheers
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -

Ireland
11546 Posts

Posted - 05/27/2016 :  15:16:00  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Cult_Of_Frank
Mr. Carl! Haven't seen you around for sometime. How are things??


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."


Hanging in there! Just got back from a week in Spain, ticking along! Hope all well!
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Cult_Of_Frank
= Black Noise Maker =

Canada
11674 Posts

Posted - 05/27/2016 :  15:55:44  Show Profile  Visit Cult_Of_Frank's Homepage  Reply with Quote
No way! I was in Spain last week!


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -

Ireland
11546 Posts

Posted - 06/01/2016 :  15:41:16  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Cult_Of_Frank

No way! I was in Spain last week!


"If we hit this bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate."



Wow! I was just over for a week, on the Costa del Sol.
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