Keep getting banned?

[verdelaw]

Hello,

I registered a couple weeks ago, but lately I've been having problems.  I'll show up on the main page and it'll reload and tell me I'm banned.  Says something about colocation?  Anyway, I'll clear my browsing history and cookies, come back, relogin, and it's good again.  For a day or two at least.  What's up with this?  It's happened probably 6 or 7 times now.

I don't think I did anything to deserve banning... not sure I've even publicly posted yet.  I PM'd someone.. or tried to (can't tell as I haven't gotten a response and there's no sent mail folder).

Thanks for any help.

-Andrew

[nvrbdn]

troy is the guru with all the answers. i am sure he will see this and hopefully jump in there. welcome to the group and hope all those problems go away for you.

[nvrbdn]

send me a pm and i will let you know if it works.

[Troy]

When you get the banned message are you in a different location (ie work, Starbucks, etc.)? Where did you post this message from?

Found it. Did you happen to use a Proxy? At least 2 places that you have tried to log in from are known Spam/attack proxy hosts.

Troy

[verdelaw]

I travel for work sometimes, so I have been accessing from different locations.  I also use a VPN service every now and then.  However I haven't had trouble with any other sites like this.  FBBO for instance, no issues.

[Troy]

I have no idea how everyone else manages their security but I have almost all anonymous (and some not anonymous) proxy servers blocked. I also have several countries blocked. Yes, the entire country! I got tired of spending 2 hours a day chasing off spammers and fighting hacking attempts. This site is a lot bigger and gets more traffic than others so maybe they just haven't hit "critical mass" yet. Or maybe they have more people managing it? Some software is also better at filtering than ours.

Troy

[verdelaw]

Okay, so the answer then is to access only from home and don't use the VPN?

[Mopar Nut]

Welcome aboard!

[Troy]

I don't know what "VPN" you're using. It looks like a proxy server on this end. Basically, a server shouldn't be trying to browse web sites (search engines being an exception). Proxies are typically used to hide the origin of the connection. However, some companies use an outside vendor for their internet connectivity so if you're using a work VPN it's possible that it's being routed through "the cloud". If so, then you should have exactly the same problem when you are at work - not just on a VPN. For the record, all the blocked IP addresses belong to "Softlayer" which is a hosting company. Since I see a large amount of bogus login attempts and forum "bots" from them I pretty much have their entire network blocked. They obviously either aren't particular about who they do business with OR don't care much about security and their servers are running malware. Google "Softlayer forum spam" for more info.

Troy

[alenglish]

Troy      your smarter then I am      Thanks    BigAl

[fy469rtse]

Whole country's banned,
Is that why when i was in Nigeria over seeing my workers doing there amazing offers to the public, just give me your credit card numbers so I can accept your deposit for a fortune , any way couldn't post who would have thought

[verdelaw]

Hi Troy,

I'm banned again  I'm really not sure why this keeps happening.  I'm on my wife's computer right now.  On my computer it says the colocation/hosting thing.  Tried deleting all cookies and history and whatnot, nogo.  Tried turning off the modem for 24 hours to reset the (automatically chosen) IP, nogo.  And I wasn't even using the VPN this time.  This is the only site I have this problem with.

I'd rather not use my wife's computer to read about my charger (and she'd rather I not too).  Can you unban me again please?  I promise I'm not a bot

My comp's IP: 96.40.224.3

Thanks in advance

[Troy]

That's your current IP address. Since you're logged in that's obviously not the one with a problem. Just like before, I can't pinpoint where you were blocked in the server's logs so I can't tell which location is affected.

You won't have problems on other sites because:
A. They don't know how to block server farms and proxies
B. They don't care to block server farms and proxies
C. They don't catch all the Spammers
D. They like to spend a lot of time cleaning up
E. They have a much better "built in" system to identify and reject bogus accounts. Usually this is part of "paid" software. Whatever we have is ridiculously easy to get around.

I have noticed that more and more people are using some sort of proxy. Some security software tools are even adding it as an option to allow you to browse anonymously. Unfortunately, the bad guys have been anonymous for far longer than everyone else so I have to assume that if you want your identity hidden that you plan to do something bad. This means that in the near future I'll have to either do a lot more work, be a lot more selective, or change software. Let me look at the options...

Troy

[verdelaw]

Yeah it cleared up a few days after I posted that.. I just assumed you had fixed it.  Guess not... but now I'm not sure what changed.  Whatevs, I gots access now so that's good