Biopowered - vegetable oil and biodiesel forum
General => Chatter => Topic started by: petep900 on March 20, 2013, 09:58:24 PM
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Can I just make it VERY clear I have nothing to do with this and don't agree with it.
>:(
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Not had an Email, what does it say ?
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Not a bloody clue Mark - not had one either
Think Paddy is targeting the non contributors or information leeches as I call them on our Classic Car Forum
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WTF?
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I must admit I haven't directly donated to the VOD for some time.
If Paddy's costs are getting out of hand I would have thought a post asking for donations towards the costs is all that's needed.
As a collective we've not been slow to help out when it's been required.
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WTF?
My reaction exactly - not impressed
If subscription is needed then it comes with added responsibilities
eg. a plan as to what services you gain and improvements to be made
utilising the ringfenced money gained by subscription
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The last time something was let slip was before all the ads appeared and the forum was making a small profit
As I understand it these issues could be solved by changing hosts etc so surely that should be the first move?
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WTF?
My reaction exactly - not impressed
If subscription is needed then it comes with added responsibilities
eg. a plan as to what services you gain and improvements to be made
utilising the ringfenced money gained by subscription
Agree with all you say, Pete. But as Keith points out the last we heard, the VOD generates a modest profit. If that's the case, what are the subscriptions for? Previous questions on forum funding have gone unanswered, let's hope it's not the case this time.
Before it shut down for the night, I think I read a post on the VOD to the effect that until Paddy posts something to confirm he's requesting subscriptions, we don't truly know it's him requesting the payment. I thought this was sage advise.
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I just dont know whats going on anymore on VOD.... Part time, and subscriptions.....Ho-hum......
I had no idea and dont agree with the way its going. It will lead to VOD eventual destruction imho. The bandwidth issues are not the fault of your average user/viewer of the forum.....
I dunno--we see what happens.
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One thinks that one cannot believe all one reads as one cannot be shure
who posted what on where.
All I understand is someone is realy friging around with the VOD forum
and giving Paddy grief .
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I just dont know whats going on anymore on VOD.... Part time, and subscriptions.....Ho-hum......
I had no idea and dont agree with the way its going. It will lead to VOD eventual destruction imho. The bandwidth issues are not the fault of your average user/viewer of the forum.....
I dunno--we see what happens.
Morning HC. Not seen you around for a while.
I agree. Given that many of the regulars are moving away from the site I think it's going to die a slow death.
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I got one
20 Mar 2013 17:27:31 GMT
Dear Mark
patrick whetman would like to be paid through PayPal.
Merchant
patrick whetman
sales@goatindustries.co.uk
Note from merchant
Due to the extremely large amount of traffic going through the forum at the moment we are asking for a very modest subscription of £2.00 to maintain your membership. If you find the forum useful, please use the donate button at the top of every page at your discretion. Thank you - Paddygoat.
Description Amount
Service £2.00 GBP
Total £2.00 GBP
Pay with PayPal
patrick whetman would like you to use PayPal – the safer, easier way to pay and get paid online. Click Pay Now to continue.
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For me, the trouble is...
If my fuel tank had a leak in it, if i didnt have enough cash for a repair, id have to keep chucking in more fuel, but, at the moment i had the cash for a repair, id make that repair.
Most of us donated previously, i suspect more than the running costs for the year that the donations were made in.
I feel that no change has been made. As i understand it, Paddy has only recently swapped hosts (?) and the software is still outdated.
I understand that its probably not top of Paddy's list of things to do in the morning, and that, to some extent, the forum is probably just an unwanted responsibility. However, in that case, possibly the admin of it should be taken on by someone else, rather than just pouring (my) cash into a leaky tank : (
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Although £2 is pretty small change, I think I may use this as the break point as I'm not sure I can be doing with the ongoing year after year problems that Paddy seems to have with the forum.
Regardless of the fact that the VOD runs at a profit anyway, the forum is in fact a tool in Paddy's business as it vastly improves SEO and probably generates sales in itself (eg Bioboost etc).
Admittedly I don't put much in these days but nor do I get much out, and as previously said, we keep bunging the money in and nothing changes, so for that reason if I get the email ..... I'm out.
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Most of us donated previously, i suspect more than the running costs for the year that the donations were made in.
I feel that no change has been made. As i understand it, Paddy has only recently swapped hosts (?) and the software is still outdated.
The forum software did get updated to the latest XMB little while back - though obviously that has little to do with bandwidth consumption.
VOD's IP address is still in the United Hosting netblock, so hosting hasn't changed. United Hosting don't provide much of a bandwidth allowance, and are quite expensive when it comes to exceeding this allowance.
We've suggested Aventurehost in the past based on Chug's recommendation - we can see by comparison they are much better value for money when it comes to bandwidth:
http://www.unitedhosting.co.uk/hosting.php
http://www.aventurehost.com/web-hosting.html
But unfortunately Paddy isn't keen on the idea.
If donations are being spent on hosting I feel that this should be spent in the most efficient way possible - and United Hosting don't represent great value for money in this respect, compared to many other hosts out there.
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Surely the VOD forum turns a profit in itself, my little advert on the bottom right cost £50 per year. The big ones along the top are £200 per year.... :-\
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Think Paddy is targeting the non contributors or information leeches as I call them on our Classic Car Forum
Not 100% sure you have entirely understood the concept of the free, open access internet forum.
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Paddy has posted on this thread on VOD http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/viewthread.php?tid=36600#pid413304
along with a few others, he had put this..
"The subs(ription request is genuine and you dont have to pay it - it's not a bill. BUT, if you dont pay it you may have restricted access to the forum. "
And I added this...
"I said a few years ago that a membership fee could be charged and restricted access available for non members and was shot down in flames.
Like I said back then the Vw T4/5 forum charges a fee and for that you can advertise goods and chattels and have access to how to do guides and the like. Along with the ability to communicate with other members via the forum. I still think it is a good idea, people who come on to sell oil and other Bio/veg related items would benefit and not unreasonable they should pay a little for the pleasure.
I also strongly disagree that it is down to the select few to donate year on year for everyone in the world to benefit the forum staying on the www. "
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Surely the VOD forum turns a profit in itself, my little advert on the bottom right cost £50 per year. The big ones along the top are £200 per year.... :-\
How much???!! Should be easily turning plenty of profit for that! Are you sure?
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I know! This is what paddy quoted me. Although it seems only one external site has a banner at the top, thought oilybits used to be there too...
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I tend to agree that the advertising currently carried on VOD should cover costs.
Interesting those figures you quote uberveg - plenty of coin there for hosting
and lets not forget hosting also cover the Goat Industries main site
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Think Paddy is targeting the non contributors or information leeches as I call them on our Classic Car Forum
Not 100% sure you have entirely understood the concept of the free, open access internet forum.
Ten years ago I would have agreed with open access internet
Unfortunately it seems that most things these days cost hence restricted access
with the basics public access and membership for the 'good stuff'
It's a damn shame but seems the way the WWW is going
along with IP tracking by certain 'agencies' to see what you look at
...but we won't go there as that's a whole new barrel of fish
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But surely in the case of VOD it's a part of Goat Industries & set up to attract business & traffic to his site. It's through that forum that I've found & bought Paddy's products.
I know it's only 2 quid & neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things but as an arm of a commercial enterprise it's operating costs really should be priced into Goat products.
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Totally agree Neisel
Paddy should suck up the forum costs as it is a business add-on
that promotes Goat Industries and brings in (some) business
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couple 1000 £2 quids add upto alotto dosho
:P
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Totally agree Neisel
(Falls off chair... :))
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Paypal is the new google
paypal is your friend
;D
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Ho hum, Patrick wasn't in my best book atm so I aint been on the forum for a month and then when I do I see it's all gone tits up, what the feck is he playing at now?
Always said he should absorb the cost himself as a business tool, if he is charging subscription now it should go on a better hosting deal or it's gonna be the same in a few months.
Gonna get busier on here now Tony, gonna need a donate button mate! ;)
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Gonna get busier on here now Tony, gonna need a donate button mate! ;)
I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a rusty fork!
In all seriousness, in the past the agreement with BE has been that anything less than 100Gb/month is not going to be a problem, so in theory we're good even if we go a way over the level of bandwidth VOD has seen. Before hosting biopowered, this server did a fair bit of grunt work for a free open-source game community, and used to shift ~60Gb/month. At the moment we're seeing about 3Gb/month.
In practise, BE is in the process of being absorbed by Sky, so who knows how the T&Cs will change.
If bandwidth becomes an issue, then we'll have an open discussion about choosing a web host and how to finance it. No reason not to hop between hosts - we've already moved server machines and static IP address which is the same level of hassle, and that went well enough.
But, this place is a slim operation - everything is streamlined and there is a nice SPI firewall between the server and t'internet complete with flood and portscan protection, I think with the same number of users as VOD the bandwidth would be a fraction of VODs anyway. I'll be very surprised if we need to consider a paid-for web host.
The only argument I can see in the favour of going for a "proper" host is responsiveness of the forum, as at the moment the server only has a 1.3mbps uplink.
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this sort of thing happened on the otherpower wind turbine site a couple of years ago. lots of pressure to update the software. so there asked for donations and got around 3 grand in a few days. this paid for someone to come in and migrate everything to a new system. all the archives and most of the photos got transferred. they were also using the site as part of a business.
all was well for a while then people started to complain about the mods, so they all left and a new lot took over. took a while to settle down but its ok now. if yoy start to ask for money people tend to want to have more of a say in what goes on. be careful what you wish for.
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If VOD is still around this time next year I will be very surprised.
It has been dying a slow death since the last BBB with progressively less posts. Sometimes the 'todays posts' tab doesn't even fill a page.
I think the whole thing needs a decent re-vamp if it is going to keep going
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I think its unfortunate that Paddy seems reluctant to communicate the issues he is having with the forum itself.
On the one hand its run like a charity, asking for 'voluntary' donations, but, on the other hand, its run like a secret business venture.
Id like to see the forum survive - I think most of us here have probably made donations in the past, and I, personally, would do again, but only if i actually thought it would make a difference...
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Lot of work in the background over on VOD
After a stern talking to Paddy has given some Mods just about total access.
The situations are being addressed
Paddy also mentioned he is going to use real live cash to get
someone to trawl the membership database etc and clean the thing up.
Before you all ask - it ain't me - I'm working on it for nowt as usual
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Lot of work in the background over on VOD
After a stern talking to Paddy has given some Mods just about total access.
The situations are being addressed
Paddy also mentioned he is going to use real live cash to get
someone to trawl the membership database etc and clean the thing up.
Before you all ask - it ain't me - I'm working on it for nowt as usual
I've done this several times over the course of VODs existance. It takes all of 10 minutes - and 5 of that was googling the SQL code and backing up the database.
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What form of optimisation does he have in mind?
Purging old users with zero posts?
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starting off with any members that have not posted since 2009 and 0 post members,
although this are being manually checked before deletion
therecklessengineer
I am aware of backing up etc and doing it that way but can't see how I can target groups of members that way
The membership database is a mess and membership is wide open to spammers via hotmail, yahoo etc.
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As far as I can recall, you apply a filter to the members table by post count, click select all, then delete!
Likewise for all members who's last post date stamp < date stamp for 31st December 2009.
It can be done from inside the forum software by using SQL commands - but I always preferred to use the myphpadmin page.
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Im slightly confused - how is purging old users going to control bandwidth?
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Im slightly confused - how is purging old users going to control bandwidth?
It's part of a bigger plan
Get rid of the waste of space and then tune the thing up
Tighten down registration, links etc
Paddy is also looking into the Amazon Problem
Purging users on it's own will not decrease bandwidth
Like I said the thing is a mess
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Im slightly confused - how is purging old users going to control bandwidth?
It's part of a bigger plan
Get rid of the waste of space and then tune the thing up
Tighten down registration, links etc
Paddy is also looking into the Amazon Problem
Purging users on it's own will not decrease bandwidth
Like I said the thing is a mess
Pete why is he so hell bent on not moving to a cheaper server with more bandwidth ?
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Im slightly confused - how is purging old users going to control bandwidth?
It's part of a bigger plan
Get rid of the waste of space and then tune the thing up
Tighten down registration, links etc
Paddy is also looking into the Amazon Problem
Purging users on it's own will not decrease bandwidth
Like I said the thing is a mess
Pete why is he so hell bent on not moving to a cheaper server with more bandwidth ?
Not a bloody clue
But I told him he is an idiot for not moving it or even splitting it off onto it's own url
The package he has is terrible
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I have just returned from my regular work trip (in the land of snow) and now I have access I was amazed at the restricted opening times. I hope this improves as the site has been a great learning curve of knowledge and until recently very friendly
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I still don't understand how/why the forum is using so much bandwith ?
I'd be surprised if the whole database is more than a few gigs ?
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I have only this to say VOD is a private forum we tend to forget this Paddys choice of hosting is his.
He is happy with the hosts they reduced the cost significantly about three months ago .
As for the software package its definitely not cutting edge but he is used to it and understands it a little .
He fears using another package that may go tits up on him .
As for these latest attacks I am not in the privelidged position of knowing how they came about .
Weather they could have been avoided or not .
As for a subscription Email I have not received one but it has crossed my mind that it may not be of paddys doing
Unfortunately sites being hacked is not a new phenomenom and the age of the software pakeage is irelavant in this respect .
What one has to ask is it just a random attack by internet nerds who get a kick out of sutch behaviour
Or is it a deliberate attack on the home brewing community and if so who would wish the forum ILL .
Agri or one of their competitors or a dis chufed member or former member .
For my money I wiuld put it on a nerd who thinks its fun to frig with forums because they can .
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Unfortunately sites being hacked is not a new phenomenom and the age of the software pakeage is irelavant in this respect .
Actually, it's very relevant. Keeping up to date ensures known vulnerabilities are closed and thus minimises risk.
I don't know why everyone thinks the VOD software is out of date - it isn't - it was updated quite recently.
What one has to ask is it just a random attack by internet nerds who get a kick out of sutch behaviour
Or is it a deliberate attack on the home brewing community and if so who would wish the forum ILL .
Agri or one of their competitors or a dis chufed member or former member .
For my money I wiuld put it on a nerd who thinks its fun to frig with forums because they can .
In the list of high usage IPs that paddy posted, the top one also browsed here and was using software to download content for offline browsing. It was someone in the UK, no doubt with no ill intentions but an interest in bio.
The quantity of data used was pretty minimal by the standards of most busy sites, but the hosting paddy uses is rather limited so it became a problem.
Can't comment on the other IPs and how they used bandwidth as I don't have access to the logs but if it was a deliberate attack it certainly wouldn't be below the level of the primary consumer!
So it is hard to attribute malicious actions to what has happened.
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I only posted my thoughts and I would be sad to see VOD forum die
as like many others I have found mutch useful info and had a great deal of fun in VOD
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Its true, we wouldn't be where we are now without VOD.
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I agree..the demise of the VOD is a great shame and should be supported by all those who have used it for the wealth of diverse knowledge contained within. I shall continue to use the site and make my continued financial contribution once the whole situation has calmed down.
Paddy has handled the situation very poorly and on reflection I'm sure he'll agree. The subscription email and the threat contained within is wrong and Paddy should have consulted his moderators. However, there maybe should have been a subscription years ago to access the forum.
I'm not sure that the comments about the" bitchiness" of the forum is too much of an issue so long as it does not get too personal. Opinions are just that....so long as they are backed up with passion and a few facts I think it adds colour and vibrancy. Sometimes it takes a strong character to highlight certain things to stop people, ultimately, making a complete ass of themselves.
The only thing I don't get involved with are the conspiracy theorists and political diatribe that gets posted over there.
Objections have also been noted as to the number of folks using certain sections as a guide to their motoring problems. Again, is it too much of an issue so long as it's posted in the right place?
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i thought the site closed down when it reached its bandwidth or it used to so no extra spending, 50% shut down and subscription emails are deliberate actions. i guess if you own your site you can do what you like... then we all have a choice well you do, i made mine.
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Objections have also been noted as to the number of folks using certain sections as a guide to their motoring problems. Again, is it too much of an issue so long as it's posted in the right place?
I agree, the collective knowledge of everyone on vod amounts to a lot more than just veg. The site has become a community of like minded folk willing to help out in more ways than just the latest in bio (Pete's mad dash around the country comes to mind) If all that was on there was just veg/bio we'd have very little to talk about after a while.
Plus with the average age of the cars we run there's more likely to be trouble with them than our actual fuel :P
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I see that "donated to the forum" is appearing in some sigs, i hope it has been put there by the members concerned otherwise to me it is a kind of blackmail, shaming people into donating, the kind of thing guaranteed to stop me doing it
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I think it has been handled badly by Paddy but I think the reaction is a bit out of proportion as well. The donation is tiny compared to the return, I pay more than that to park for 2 hours in town.
In my work if I had to pay for the amount of Knowledge I have gained from that forum in the last few months it would be thousands, Paddy has provided a place we can learn and share and save LOTS and I for one was happy to pay £2 to use it.
I would suggest though that Paddy use some of the money to go on a course to learn how not to pi$$ people off like he has or everyone will vote with their feet. :(
On the bandwidth thing on my main business website last year there was a search engine spider from china that was crawling EVERY PAGE of my site every 10 minutes and using TWENTY times the amount of bandwidth of all of my visitors combined, we had to ban a range of IPs to stop it, if thats happened to VOD I quite understand the problem. >:(
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I see that "donated to the forum" is appearing in some sigs, i hope it has been put there by the members concerned otherwise to me it is a kind of blackmail, shaming people into donating, the kind of thing guaranteed to stop me doing it
Seems to be there by admin's doing, I've donated a few quid during a few of the past bandwidth crisis, even though I haven't put anything in just now I've got one of the 'donated' signs above me now.
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I've donated in the past and I don't have one ... feeling very left out and picked on.
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I've donated in the past and I don't have one ...
Me too, and much more than 2 quid...
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Has the VOD gone down? Just comes up with a screen saying server error.
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I've donated in the past and I don't have one ...
Me too, and much more than 2 quid...
Same here. Maybe because it was too long ago?
Has the VOD gone down? Just comes up with a screen saying server error.
Suspect it's being updated as we speak! At least VOD is getting some TLC now :)
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VOD will be on and off OUTSIDE OF STATED HOURS until end of month.
This needs to be so things can be tried live and 'offline' outside of current stated hours of use.
Paddy and Mods are working behind the databases trying to make it more secure and streamlined.
Membership database was heavily bloated with non posters and non log-ins for over 5 years.
Membership database has been more than cut in half following some work.
It is almost there and should be OK when done.
Sign -up restrictions have been put in place to hopefully minimise 'Spider' and 'Bot' interference and bandwidth leeching.
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UPDATE
Paddy has installed a spider catcher thingy.
ZB Block
It has to do it's thing. It is seeing and catching things
VOD might be down a while while it pokes around and listens to traffic trying to get in.
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UPDATE
Paddy has installed a spider catcher thingy.
ZB Block
It has to do it's thing. It is seeing and catching things
VOD might be down a while while it pokes around and listens to traffic trying to get in.
Good news, thanks for keeping us up to speed, Pete.
Lets hope it improves the situation, but I can't help thinking stable door and horse ... I remember similar things being suggested months if not years ago.
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Saying Nowt Julian......
Just had Paddy on phone and I think he realises this should have been done years back.
Just hope it bloody works....even he can't get in at the minute
without turning the new thingy off and that is a no-no at this point.
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What would help is what error messages you are getting when trying to access VOD
There seems to be several you may get.....
Personally I get just a blank screen - but my access is different to general member
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HTTP 500 internal server error.
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same
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Same
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Hi Pete
I tried to log in and i just get a blank screen.
Cheers Carl
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The website encountered an error while retrieving http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/index.php. It may be down for maintenance or configured incorrectly.
Here are some suggestions:
Reload this web page later.
HTTP Error 500 (Internal Server Error): An unexpected condition was encountered while the server was attempting to fulfil the request.
This is the message I get
Richard
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Cheers all - what was expected.
If anyone gets anything "weird" as a return when trying to view VOD Forum give me a shout please.
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VOD Forum will be down tonight - sorry
Paddy has sent email out to your registered email address explaining.
Pete
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I just get a completely blank, white screen. No text, no message, no nothing.
Nige
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I just get a completely blank, white screen. No text, no message, no nothing.
Nige
Have you switched it on Nige?
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I just get a completely blank, white screen. No text, no message, no nothing.
Nige
I get that as well Nige
...bloody strange but there you go.
Paddy assures me I am not banned.....yet......
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The website encountered an error while retrieving http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/index.php. It may be down for maintenance or configured incorrectly.
Here are some suggestions:
Reload this web page later.
HTTP Error 500 (Internal Server Error): An unexpected condition was encountered while the server was attempting to fulfil the request.
This is the message I get
Richard
I get same on Goggle chrome
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Have you not had an Email from Paddy explaining what's going on, I have.
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Have you not had an Email from Paddy explaining what's going on, I have.
Just checked me email account and I have one of his messages.
That's better Paddy.
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No email for me?.......
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Vod forums not even working now 20:37 pm
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VOD Forum will be down tonight - sorry
Paddy has sent email out to your registered email address explaining.
Pete
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No email for me?.......
Me neither, you know when your not wanted! ;D
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I'm just getting a white screen.
No Email fr me either.
Thanks for keeping us up dated Pete.
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No email for me?.......
Me neither, you know when your not wanted! ;D
Ah, So, if we stop sending you messages on here you'll finally get the message?
PS, I'm billy no-mail too.
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no e-mail to me either
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No email for me?.......
Me neither, you know when your not wanted! ;D
Ah, So, if we stop sending you messages on here you'll finally get the message?
PS, I'm billy no-mail too.
You must be another pumpophile on the pump offenders register like me, we don't get mail from VOD.
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Glad it is not just me then, I was feeling left out.
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The emails will have gone to the email address you used when you registered with VOD
I had to think about which account of mine it went to
Check old gmail, hotmail etc
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No mail for me either, and plain white-screen, no messages on it.....
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Don't see one either, haven't had any emails from Vod since the one warning about the original attack and short forum hours.
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I got my email - just shows how long I have had my hotmail account I guess
This is the error message I get trying to log in (from Chrome)
(http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr79/julesandtash/Google%20Maps%20for%20forum/Forumservererror_zps605af766.png)
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No mail for me either, and plain white-screen, no messages on it.....
I think you get the white screen in Firefox
Chrome seems to insert the 500 message
Nowt further from Paddy apart from a log of the spidery thingies - quite interesting whats trying to access VOD
When the process is finished and there is a reference log then things should be OK
The baddies will get kicked out when they ring the bell or try a window kind of thing
Very technical me................... :P
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No mail for me either, and plain white-screen, no messages on it.....
I think you get the white screen in Firefox
Chrome seems to insert the 500 message
Can confirm that ... I use IE and get the 500 message. I just ran Firefox and the same address gives a blank screen.
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The emails will have gone to the email address you used when you registered with VOD
That'll explain it, I was on AOL back then, haven't got a clue what it is though.
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So, --Pete, What kind of spidery things have been having a go? Any details yet?
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No mail for me and white screen on safari.
Dick
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The emails will have gone to the email address you used when you registered with VOD
That'll explain it, I was on AOL back then, haven't got a clue what it is though.
Nope. I've had the same email address since the Chatterley ban and the Beatles' first L.P.
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I had a text fom Paddy yesterday, thinking he was sending it to Pete(so that reveals his real motive last month, tosser!)
saying he had locked himself out of the forum and needed help, I sent back saying it's Chug, not Pete and Pete's telephone number, looks like he got back in then! wanker, when is he gonna get somebody who knows what they are doing to look after the forum.
Edit: Is he really now adding 'Donated to forum' in members signatures? that is fecking blackmailing, the wanker.
doesn't seem to get the community spirit bit eh?
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upgrading and trying to get the new site to work is kool, but i think donated in ya sig isnt good...
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I had a text fom Paddy yesterday, thinking he was sending it to Pete(so that reveals his real motive last month, tosser!)
I SEVERELY object to that Chug - you should know me better than that.
I am trying to help the guy for zero return for me - that's what I do for people in the shit.
I happen to know some very good IT people - Target Components if you must know
Paddy needed help - I had some time and ideas
No motive here at all
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VOD seems to be up - might be just for Mods though.
The spam / spider catcher is up and running
Paddy has stuck a post up in Forum Issues explaining.
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Ive just got banned -
(http://www.biopowered.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1079.0;attach=37;image)
All i was trying to do was delete some U2Us!
As a side note -
Tony,
Any chance of increasing the attachment limit here? Even the pic above i had to compress so much that the writing has become a bit blurred. (i know i could use another server - even 200k would make this one usable though)
[attachment deleted by admin]
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No idea what happened there Julian - you have message thingy
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Think you've got a bug there Pete.
I just tried to delete some U2Us - and I got the same message as Julianf.
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Think you've got a bug there Pete.
I just tried to delete some U2Us - and I got the same message as Julianf.
Mentioned it to Paddy _ I can't get at that bit.
Can you remember (roughly) how many U2U's you tried to delete at once?
I would try it but scared to....... :-\
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I only tried to shed about 5 or 6
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Same here, I tried two delete about 8 to 10.
On a side note you have a PM Pete.
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Agggh - I am now banned from VOD for deleting ONE U2U!!! Same message as JulianF posted and now when I try to log in I get an error 503
Pete, I have sent you a PM on here, please could you try to un-ban me.
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do not try to delete u2u's on VOD
No idea why it's doing it - can't get in that bit
I am fairly sure it's a 24hour ban as those affected come up as members in everything I can access
Has to be something in the new software they hates people messing.....
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I have the same Jules.
Just when I need t contact panelbeater as the wife's car isn't running.
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Try rebooting your router Mark (switch it off, leave off for a few minutes then back on again).
Hopefully it will be allocated a different IP address and VOD will let you in.
I just connected with my mobile broadband connection (three) and got straight in so it's not a member ban, just an IP ban
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As a side note -
Tony,
Any chance of increasing the attachment limit here? Even the pic above i had to compress so much that the writing has become a bit blurred. (i know i could use another server - even 200k would make this one usable though)
Done, 200k per pic or any number of smaller attachments totalling 200k per post.
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Think you've got a bug there Pete.
I just tried to delete some U2Us - and I got the same message as Julianf.
Mentioned it to Paddy _ I can't get at that bit.
Can you remember (roughly) how many U2U's you tried to delete at once?
I would try it but scared to....... :-\
Errmmm....538.
No, really.
:o
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I suspect that the software works by monitoring the number of connections from any particular IP. Deleting U2Us for some reason opens a few connections - more than the software will allow, hence the ban.
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I cant pretend to understand all it is talking about but this article sheds some light on why deletion of U2Us is being seing as a malicious act - it has been identified as a possible source of SQL injection.....
http://www.gulftech.org/advisories/XMB%20Forum%20Multiple%20Vulnerabilities/92
The bit about U2Us is about two thirds of the way down.
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I had a text fom Paddy yesterday, thinking he was sending it to Pete(so that reveals his real motive last month, tosser!)
I SEVERELY object to that Chug - you should know me better than that.
I am trying to help the guy for zero return for me - that's what I do for people in the shit.
I happen to know some very good IT people - Target Components if you must know
Paddy needed help - I had some time and ideas
No motive here at all
Hey Pete, not you ya tosser, I meant Paddy and the saga I had with him last month, he sent me texts then asking to delete Chug's post that I thought were were weird but I realise now he thought he was sending to you and not to me.
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Ah! I see Chug
Don't mind me - in a foul mood and pissed off with the World.....
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I had a text fom Paddy yesterday, thinking he was sending it to Pete(so that reveals his real motive last month, tosser!)
I SEVERELY object to that Chug - you should know me better than that.
I am trying to help the guy for zero return for me - that's what I do for people in the shit.
I happen to know some very good IT people - Target Components if you must know
Paddy needed help - I had some time and ideas
No motive here at all
Hey Pete, not you ya tosser, I meant Paddy and the saga I had with him last month, he sent me texts then asking to delete Chug's post that I thought were were weird but I realise now he thought he was sending to you and not to me.
Why can't he delete your posts himself? Or contact you and speak to you about them and outline the reasons why the posts are not suitable on the forum and maybe you would have agreed to delete your own posts.
What were they about anyway?
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He texted
"Are you near your PC?
I texted back "yes"
He texted " can you delete this post and provided an url"
I said "why, what is the problem with it"
He said "One of my customers has complained so it has to be deleted"
I looked and it was one of my posts so I texted
"That is one of my posts, what was the complaint?"
He texted "No it's one of Chug's please delete it"
We then had an exchange of words about liability and customer loyalty, I said it was all documented fact and was posted in the unclassified section anyway but Paddy went and moved my post to quarrentine so it couldn't be seen by his customers or joe public even though it had links to info corroborating my post, and so I aint really posted there since!
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When you say customer do you mean a site sponsor? Or some one that buys stuff off his site?
I don't get too involved on there any more either.
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Me finks VOD has just run out of Bandwidth for today.
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Me finks VOD has just run out of Bandwidth for today.
Yep
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500 message and main business site down - so yes is my guess as well
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Its back.
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Must be Paddy fine tuning then
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I'm still banned, due to deleting u2u's.
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likewise
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I just get:
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /forum/index.php on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
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Richard - is that after you tried to delete U2U's or when you are in Germany? Anywhere other than UK & Ireland is off limits at the moment for access.
Anyone that deleted U2Us and is now banned, can they post the exact error they see so I can relay it to Paddy as he needs to know so he can sort it. Also - your public IP address too.
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Error 503 : Service Temporarily Unavailable
IP: 91.125.245.29
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ps. if anyone wants to know their ip, this site (or similar) will look it up for you -
http://www.checkmyports.net/
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Thanks Julian, I've forwarded details on - hopefully get Paddy moving on it.
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I'm getting the same "forbidden" message that Richardp is getting above? Anyone any ideas?
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Richard - is that after you tried to delete U2U's or when you are in Germany? Anywhere other than UK & Ireland is off limits at the moment for access.
In Germany now so that's probably the problem. I'll try it through a UK proxy later.
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Bugger, still can't access it via a proxy.
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Paddys updated some settings on the new software as recommended by the vendor - can those banned by deleting U2U's try again please?
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working for me - thank you
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It seems I remain forbidden.
Although the satellite internet connection that I'm currently using I think puts me in Poland.
Edit: Nope, Hong Kong!
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I think Paddy has put a block on all non UK IP addresses
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It's working for me as well, time for some reading.
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I'm in Sardinia (on free wifi here) and get
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /forum/today.php on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
Is that IP blocking or is it down at the moment?
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It's working for me... I would guess at IP blocking if your in Sardinia !
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Tried a US proxy and no luck there either. So if I was genuinely Italian looking for biodiesel information, VOD is now off the radar?
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There could be a ban on US ips as well. I think its locked down pretty tight at the mo. Very little in the way of bandwidth left to last to the end of the month.
Your just going to have to content yourself with having another Pizza............:P
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Everywhere is now banned--Except the UK and Ireland......
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need to pay someone to sort out his site properly, probably wouldnt cost much...
its a local site for local people
;D
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I'm in Ireland and still cannot access VOD, oh and I donated. Not impressed to be honest.
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I'm in Ireland and still cannot access VOD, oh and I donated. Not impressed to be honest.
Maybe you could ask exactly what the 'donations' are being spent on?
(which is exactly why i have sent no further funds this time - im unsure what they get spent on when very similar issues keep recurring)
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I've been banned on my work PC as my work network goes through France, I was about to pay some money towards it to, but as I can't use it while at work as may as well forget it and join in here :)
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I've just been looking at vod,
I think adding 'I donated to the forum' in sidebar stinks, it's tantamount to blackmail.
reading further,
Paddy says,
"The subscription request is genuine and you dont have to pay it - it's not a bill. BUT, if you dont pay it you may have restricted access to the forum."
But it wasn't long ago that he asked for donations, and got a few quid donated and if every member now pays £2 that is over £3,000 on top of what has already been donated, you could run a supa dupa all bells n whistles forum for that!
so does anyone know,
What does MAY have restricted access mean, what is the criteria?
How long is the subscription for?
What will all that money be spent on?
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I've been banned on my work PC as my work network goes through France, I was about to pay some money towards it to, but as I can't use it while at work as may as well forget it and join in here :)
welcome kingdeacon
;D
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I think this is all wrong.
You can't a forum that is funded by sponsors and by members. It's got to be one or the other, or else you'll find yourself in a situation with regards to free speech. Who wins? A paying member or a sponsor? Both have equal rights over what can/can't be said if they're both funding the medium surely?
My preference is strongly in favour of funding by members as it promotes totally free speech. Tony hasn't asked for funding yet, but I'd be more than happy to donate £2 to keep this online.
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I've just been looking at vod,
What does MAY have restricted access mean, what is the criteria?
How long is the subscription for?
What will all that money be spent on?
Maybe asking Paddy these questions over on VOD would get the answers your looking for Chug, at the end of the day if all those who object to helping out click the "I want to leave the forum in his sig" he may realise how much he has upset people. Let's face it all the time the forum has members it will trundle along.
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My preference is strongly in favour of funding by members as it promotes totally free speech. Tony hasn't asked for funding yet, but I'd be more than happy to donate £2 to keep this online.
This isn't 'my' forum, as such. It runs, for now at least, on my server, and I enjoy putting some time into looking after it. The other admin put far more time in than me on the day to day running and organisation.
And we're all agreed that the efficiency of running this place means that donations are not required, or even desired.
As Paul says, 'by enthusiasts for enthusiasts'. As such asking for donations would be a guilty last resort, and members would be completely aware where such funding would get spent, as well as deciding how it got spent in the first place. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, we're a very long way off that situation.
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Most countries are now able to access VOD - new files uploaded.
China, Bangladesh etc still blocked
If you use a non UK server please try again and say what happens please.
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Still 403 forbidden from here
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No problems from my neck of the woods.
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I've just been looking at vod,
What does MAY have restricted access mean, what is the criteria?
How long is the subscription for?
What will all that money be spent on?
Maybe asking Paddy these questions over on VOD would get the answers your looking for Chug, at the end of the day if all those who object to helping out click the "I want to leave the forum in his sig" he may realise how much he has upset people. Let's face it all the time the forum has members it will trundle along.
I've given up trying to get a straight answer from Paddy and I wouldn't trust his answer anyway!
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403 FORBIDDEN!
Either the address you are accessing this site from has been banned for previous malicious behavior or the action you attempted is considered to be hostile to the proper functioning of this system.
The detected reason(s) you were blocked are: Spammer tolerant host network (HN-0103).
Your IP, and Domain Name (if resolvable) has been logged to a local honeypot, along with the referring page (if any), QUERY, POST, User Agent, time of access, and date. Please either 1. Stop the bad behavior, or 2. Cease accessing this system.