Overly Chatty Penguins

The Ready Room => Off Topic => Topic started by: That Annoying Kid on January 22, 2004, 11:32:16 AM

Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: That Annoying Kid on January 22, 2004, 11:32:16 AM
:help:


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Dear Natural Selection community,

a number of technical reasons have forced us to shut the forums down for now. The issues should be resolved in short time. For now, please excuse all inconviences and join #naturalselection on Gamesnet for further notices.

-- Florian 'Nemesis Zero' Schwarzer




o_O


why is it down?

I am forced to interact with my classmates and peers instead of being on the forums!

:help:  :help:  :help:  :help:  :help:
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Uranium - 235 on January 22, 2004, 11:36:50 AM
Florian? :lol:
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Niteowl on January 22, 2004, 12:02:37 PM
then read this article, i founnd it incredibly interesting. discuss!

http://www.theatlantic.com/cgi-bin/send.cg...004/01/lind.htm (http://www.theatlantic.com/cgi-bin/send.cgi?page=http%3A//www.theatlantic.com/issues/2004/01/lind.htm)
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Uranium - 235 on January 22, 2004, 12:17:52 PM
I'm tempted to either post a picture of a banana or a picture of a cat.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: crack on January 22, 2004, 12:26:29 PM
or a bunny with a pancake on his head.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Black Mage on January 22, 2004, 12:34:13 PM
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or a bunny with a pancake on his head.
you mean like?

(http://www.fsinet.or.jp/~sokaisha/rabbit/010414/hiratai.JPG)
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: esuna on January 22, 2004, 01:02:25 PM
I don't know the official answer, but at about 1-2pm today the forum was being spammed with racist posts from a user called "nukeafrica2", a member who has been banned several times before under other racist names.

At that point in time, it was between 5-9am in America, so Hoj was the only mod online, and since he can't ban accounts, he was stuck trying to clear them all.

Apparently each post was posted from a different IP, most definitely proxies, so stopping the user isn't possible since all it takes is to find another insecure proxy, which is easy to do, and start posting again.

Then i went offline to watch a movie and stuff, came back about 6pm and the forums were closed.

I don't know the exact reason, but if you put 2 and 2 together, i think they're related.

*EDIT: Checking back through IRC logs.

[16:25] <@NemesisZero> A short notice: Everyone, check the announcments forum *now*.
[16:27] <@NemesisZero> Something's hogging bandwith, we need to identify it.
[16:27] <[On-Air][FFT]Cartman2b> Ah
[16:27] <[On-Air][FFT]Cartman2b> PT files?
[16:28] <@NemesisZero> Unlikely.

I can only presume that the forums were under some sort of DOS attack. Or 3.0 is ready to be released, which i entirely doubt since at present NS:C isn't even working. :D

*EDIT: And just now:
[20:02] <+Comprox> its not coming out
[20:03] <+Comprox> something is chewing up the bandwidth on the forums, probably remote linking
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Dubbilex on January 22, 2004, 01:15:16 PM
:o



 o_O





 :(
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Ulatoh on January 22, 2004, 01:52:34 PM
/me kills thief with para


ironic, huh?
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Grimm on January 22, 2004, 02:29:55 PM
The events that I miss while being at school.

Perhaps I should start ditching more often.  ;)

In all honesty though, I only check the NS forums once or twice a day, and usually specifically for the sig/ava thread, so its not that big a deal for me.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Satanic Monkey on January 22, 2004, 02:48:15 PM
I saw it this mourning, just wented to General Discussion and all topics were the same and I was like WTH.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: @gentOrange on January 22, 2004, 02:54:50 PM
It's back up now.

Someone posted some thread titled gullible about how it was a conspiracy...
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: devicenull on January 22, 2004, 03:33:06 PM
/me envisions the forums coming up without being able to upload stuff

:/ I'll actually have to use the ftp that my isp provides

Now would be a perfect time for them to update the forum software :)
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Malevolent on January 22, 2004, 06:55:40 PM
It doesn't seem to be back up to me...
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Black Mage on January 22, 2004, 08:16:43 PM
i saw necro baleeting the spam, bleh ... details

a few guys, theoretically, could launch a DoS by f5'ing on the combat screenshots thread
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Jefe on January 22, 2004, 08:28:34 PM
Quote
I don't know the official answer, but at about 1-2pm today the forum was being spammed with racist posts from a user called "nukeafrica2", a member who has been banned several times before under other racist names.
I think it would be good to say now that the person in question has a homepage of baleeted.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: esuna on January 22, 2004, 10:15:45 PM
Quote
Quote
I don't know the official answer, but at about 1-2pm today the forum was being spammed with racist posts from a user called "nukeafrica2", a member who has been banned several times before under other racist names.
I think it would be good to say now that the person in question has a homepage of baleeted.
To be honest, who cares. Ragers like them just want attention. Don't give them it.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: lolfighter on January 23, 2004, 06:18:47 AM
Agreed. These are the kind of people that jerk off over every hit their website gets (since nobody ever hits on them. Get it? olo). While I couldn't care less about those people, I pity the hapless sperm. I'll take the liberty of removing that URL.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: crack on January 23, 2004, 07:08:16 AM
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a few guys, theoretically, could launch a DoS by f5'ing on the combat screenshots thread
Thats no DoS lol. Infact, by refresing the page causes no harm at all because it loads your saved .html and if you make your browser not save them, then it causes lag on your side.

You've never seen a real dos have you? and no im not talking about -netstat in your command line or ping.exe
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Sancho on January 23, 2004, 07:21:16 AM
Can't the server owner contact the abuser's ISP and get them shut down?  (Refering to the person making racist posts)
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: ANeM on January 23, 2004, 07:41:14 AM
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Can't the server owner contact the abuser's ISP and get them shut down?  (Refering to the person making racist posts)
No.. supposedly the guy who was posting the racist stuff was using proxies.. which masks his real IP. So, yeah.. not to many chances there.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: esuna on January 23, 2004, 08:43:39 AM
Quote
Quote
Can't the server owner contact the abuser's ISP and get them shut down?  (Refering to the person making racist posts)
No.. supposedly the guy who was posting the racist stuff was using proxies.. which masks his real IP. So, yeah.. not to many chances there.
It is entirely possible to trace a users IP through a proxy. It's a little harder than your standard ways, but it's still possible.

But as to IP banning this person, i'm pretty sure that the forums can't trace an IP through a proxy, so even if they banned the user's IP, he could still gain access via a proxy.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Geminosity on January 23, 2004, 08:44:34 AM
I just wish the forums were back up lol =3
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: esuna on January 23, 2004, 09:14:27 AM
Ok, i have the real reason.

Quote
- We brought most of the forums down yesterday while we figure out where all our bandwidth is going.  We are seeing extremely high usage, upwards of 40 gigs a day.  If anyone thinks they know what might be causing this, please let me know (it's not our downloads).
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: That Annoying Kid on January 23, 2004, 11:52:30 AM
alright,


thank you esuna for shedding some light, I hope that they can get the forums back up soon.

since I'm an inquisitive bugger I'm going to pose a couple of questions I'm wondering

hmm,

What would cause upwards of 40 gigs of bandwith usage per day?

Was the bandwith usage increase releated / caused by the flooding, or has it been an ongoing problem?
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: That Annoying Kid on January 23, 2004, 11:53:53 AM
[edit]

GG double post due to laggy crappy internet at school that should be good but the school district dropped the ball and let it roll away due to messed up gateway / firewall / effing filter

responding to uraniums post before he posted: also with DHCP you get a new IP every time, same with dial up
[/edit]
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Uranium - 235 on January 23, 2004, 11:54:04 AM
Quote
Quote
Quote
Can't the server owner contact the abuser's ISP and get them shut down?  (Refering to the person making racist posts)
No.. supposedly the guy who was posting the racist stuff was using proxies.. which masks his real IP. So, yeah.. not to many chances there.
It is entirely possible to trace a users IP through a proxy. It's a little harder than your standard ways, but it's still possible.

But as to IP banning this person, i'm pretty sure that the forums can't trace an IP through a proxy, so even if they banned the user's IP, he could still gain access via a proxy.
Yeah, and if you're using broadband you can get a new IP in seconds at the least, at the most you'll have a brand new one next week.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: BobTheJanitor on January 23, 2004, 12:17:28 PM
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What would cause upwards of 40 gigs of bandwith usage per day?
That seems to be the question of the moment. I'm betting it's l33t hax0rz that have invaded and are running their underground pr0n warez site off of ns.org's bandwidth. Or someone managed to host a 500 meg animated avatar and then spammed a lot of messages around. Or... something. I've just run out of clever ideas. This is a sign that I should get more coffee and get back to work, perhaps.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Black Mage on January 23, 2004, 01:34:19 PM
Quote
Quote
a few guys, theoretically, could launch a DoS by f5'ing on the combat screenshots thread
Thats no DoS lol. Infact, by refresing the page causes no harm at all because it loads your saved .html and if you make your browser not save them, then it causes lag on your side.

You've never seen a real dos have you? and no im not talking about -netstat in your command line or ping.exe
disable cache-ing and get a lot of people, it has been done
as for a 'true' dos, we have our tools...
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Ulatoh on January 23, 2004, 01:43:39 PM
the uberest tool for a DoS attack = my Unix Box
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: crack on January 23, 2004, 01:52:30 PM
proxies are weak. depending on what level there based on. THEY CAN Be traced.

Now, infecting and using 1000's of other peoples pc to run dos attacks is the way to go.

Im sure it was some CS kiddy trying to find a exploit the ns forums to be the leet h4x0r he really is.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Geminosity on January 23, 2004, 04:06:24 PM
waii... but now that they're back up I saw something that slightly angered me.  Why were the PTs allowed to still browse the boards?  I know they help out with the game and all but what's that got to do with the boards?  I agree with that policy as much as I agree with 'moderating' in IRC (where only the chosen can speak).  It just strikes me as a lil needlessly elitist/favouritist that's all.

And no, I don't mind PTs, I just don't agree with this particular situation ok? :p
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Lightning Blue on January 23, 2004, 04:20:35 PM
Moderating in IRC is very needed when you have 300 people trying to talk (spam) at once and the ops can't handle it all.

And trust me, looking at 24 hours of no new posts was boring as hell :p
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Black Mage on January 23, 2004, 11:07:00 PM
Quote
proxies are weak. depending on what level there based on. THEY CAN Be traced.

Now, infecting and using 1000's of other peoples pc to run dos attacks is the way to go.

Im sure it was some CS kiddy trying to find a exploit the ns forums to be the leet h4x0r he really is.
rotate proxies every few seconds, and try to double up ... triple even
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: That Annoying Kid on January 27, 2004, 11:56:45 AM
Quote
waii... but now that they're back up I saw something that slightly angered me.  Why were the PTs allowed to still browse the boards?  I know they help out with the game and all but what's that got to do with the boards?  I agree with that policy as much as I agree with 'moderating' in IRC (where only the chosen can speak).  It just strikes me as a lil needlessly elitist/favouritist that's all.

And no, I don't mind PTs, I just don't agree with this particular situation ok? :p
being a true PT is a honour bestowed upon a chosen few, they have been around the longest and there memeber group was probably set up when the boards were made, and at that time they had access to browse the offline board, and it probly just hasn't changed...
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: crack on January 27, 2004, 03:00:18 PM
Quote
Quote
proxies are weak. depending on what level there based on. THEY CAN Be traced.

Now, infecting and using 1000's of other peoples pc to run dos attacks is the way to go.

Im sure it was some CS kiddy trying to find a exploit the ns forums to be the leet h4x0r he really is.
rotate proxies every few seconds, and try to double up ... triple even
Thats a "DUH".again. depending on the level they can be traced.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: devicenull on January 27, 2004, 03:32:02 PM
I suggest, that they totally clear both the Bugs and I&S forums (I&S esp, there is still stuff there from 1.0).. The bugs forum needs to be kept on top of

Perfect time to upgrade the forum software (maybe its a bug in the software, because of the large number of posts)

a simply rm of all the posts would probably clear up the problems, and get rid of all the useless stuff too..

The bandwidth is probably coming from the 4000 "Funny Screeny Threads".  that a few people managed to find, and sat there looking at

Did anyone think that maybe ther forums were being indexed by a search engine?
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Venmoch on January 28, 2004, 01:36:10 AM
Quote
Did anyone think that maybe ther forums were being indexed by a search engine?
Dude it happens here.....
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Uranium - 235 on January 28, 2004, 01:43:39 AM
I TOLD YOU ALL THAT STEVE (AKA MY CUTE LIL GOOGLEBOT) WAS HERE BUT NO, YOU ALL LAUGHED, SAID I WAS MAD!!! WELL WHO'S MAD NOW?! HUH?! DO YOU BELIEVE ME NOW!?!
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: lolfighter on January 28, 2004, 02:06:19 AM
Buh... Wha...? Wuh...

Uh... Disagreeing with the PTs having access when it was cut off for everyone else is all good and fine, but doesn't lead to anything. It was cut off for everyone save a select few trusted users in order to save the forums from bandwidth meltdown. As for setting mode +m in IRC: While I abhor collective punishment as well, mode +m is sometimes a necessity in order to shut up troublemakers. And to avoid pandemonium, like when 2.0 was released and #ns had over a thousand users.
Possible solution: Set mode +v for every user who joins the channel and keep it on moderated, then simply devoice those that cause trouble.
Why it doesn't work: They can just rejoin to get voice again, meaning that you'll just have to tempban them instead. And imagine an automatic mode +v on every user during the next join/part attack on #ns.
Title: Www.natural-selection.org/forums
Post by: Venmoch on January 28, 2004, 02:15:56 AM
I remember I had the Onos voice when 2.0 came out :p

-EDIT- My English sucks today. -EDIT-