20 Hour Notice

Report anomolous behavior on the forum here.

Moderator: TMAX

Post Reply
Sharkey
Original Founder
Posts: 1364
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2004 4:00 am
Contact:

20 Hour Notice

Post by Sharkey »

Just a bit of warning ahead of time...

Tomorrow night (Saturday, Feb 19th), I'm planning on updating the spam software that protects this forum. The version that's running now is nine versions out-of-date, and it's time to get caught up with the current version.

Since I have made significant modifications to the core of the software (undocumented, of course), I can't be absolutely sure that I have found all of the differences between the old and new versions that allow it to run normally on the forum. As a result, there may be some interruptions in service.

If everything goes as planned, the users will not notice anything, except in the event that a page is requested while the transfer between versions is happening. I expect that this is a random chance and will only affect one or two page views.

If the update goes badly, I will fall back to the current version of software so that disruption to the forum will be minimized.

IF FOR SOME REASON, you are unable to view or post to the forum for an extended period (more than a half-hour or so), send me an email message with a report of your experiences and ~please be sure~ to include the text of any error message you receive. Several users have been added to the "whitelist" so that the spam software will recognize them. These users will continue to be whitelisted. It is possible (although unlikely) that the newer version of the software might determine that one or more of you are spammers and shut you out of the system. The only way I have to remedying this is if you let me know it is happening and include the error messages.

I'll be thoroughly checking the forum for proper operation, but it never hurts to have multiple sets of eyes to proof the pages for errors.
Jones'n4chrome
Posts: 778
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2007 3:10 pm

Post by Jones'n4chrome »

Good luck Sharkey.

Everyone will be at the bus gathering at Paul's place in Phelan, Ca...so we might not notice the update.
Sharkey
Original Founder
Posts: 1364
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2004 4:00 am
Contact:

Post by Sharkey »

If everything goes according to plan, nobody will notice, not even the spammers. The update to the software is not so much to keep spammers out as to ensure that viewers and search bots can get in. The scripts exclude requests by looking at the headers of each page request. If the request has anomalies, it gets rejected. As mobile devices evolve and search engines are added (Bing, for example), the software has to change along with them to ensure that their requests are allowed. There are also some security updates that protect the software itself from hacking.

The guy who writes the software ~really~ hates spammers and loves giving them a difficult time. I'm considering sending him a contribution for all the spam we haven't had to put up with because of his efforts, about 30,000 trash messages so far on the forum alone!
Sharkey
Original Founder
Posts: 1364
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2004 4:00 am
Contact:

Post by Sharkey »

OK, so I fooled everyone. I had some time this morning and decided to give the update a test run. The script worked fine on the user end, but I wasn't getting the necessary logging at my end. Took a few tweaks to the settings file to bring them back.

So... if no further problems reported, I'll let it run.

Also, I sent $50 via Paypal to the developer, I feel this is a valuable addition to the forum and my site in general, so what comes around goes around.
User avatar
Dennis The Bus Dweller
Seasoned Nomadicista
Posts: 1874
Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2004 9:33 am
Location: Southold N.Y.
Contact:

Post by Dennis The Bus Dweller »

One good scratch deserves another 8)
Peace along the way
Dennis the bus dweller N.Y.
TMAX
Officer Hormel
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:35 pm
Location: Bellflower, California
Contact:

Post by TMAX »

Dennis The Bus Dweller wrote:One good scratch deserves another 8)
You're quite right Dennis. Sharkey does an admirable job at keeping those pesky Russian scratch 'n itch spam pest at bay. This is one itch that I'm happy to scratch.

Here's to you Sharkey... THANK YOU
Last edited by TMAX on Mon Feb 21, 2011 2:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Sharkey
Original Founder
Posts: 1364
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2004 4:00 am
Contact:

Post by Sharkey »

Thanks for the donation, Tom. I tend to run "freeware" whenever possible, but the spam software is so useful that I felt compelled to send the developer some support $$.

Seven hours without any new posts??? I know that Chuck is hanging out at the "Bus Gathering", but it worries me after making a change to the site when there are no new posts for so long...
TMAX
Officer Hormel
Posts: 134
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:35 pm
Location: Bellflower, California
Contact:

Post by TMAX »

I think things are "ok" for now... heck, its damn cold where most folks are posting from and it is the weekend.

On the other hand, I might be full "o" crap and the forum is in dodo (dudu?) trouble... yikes!
Sharkey
Original Founder
Posts: 1364
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2004 4:00 am
Contact:

Post by Sharkey »

I've applied the software version update to the rest of the site, so if anyone notices weirdness that's not connected with the forum (other than the usual weirdness, that is), LMK.

The site pages and the forum use the same spam software, but it's installed twice, so there could be problems with one but not the other.

So far, so good. In testing, I set my user agent string to "Black Hole" and it keeps me out, so I suppose that its working. ("Black Hole" is one of several hundred malicious user agents that the software blocks from viewing pages.)
Jones'n4chrome
Posts: 778
Joined: Mon Dec 31, 2007 3:10 pm

Post by Jones'n4chrome »

I'm back. I just read all the new posts. The site seems to be working perfect.

Chuck
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests