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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13678
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The IP space occupied by our server has been blocklisted by Spamhaus. You may wish to look up 'Snowshoe spam" to see that someone has been compromised. The usual reaction by Spamhaus is pretty much the same as the reaction by the now allegedly defunct SPEWS 'organisation', which is to widen the spam block until the service provider takes notice and kicks off the offending site.
We only operate white hat mailing lists and opt in services to this and our other sites, so we are certain we cannot be to blame, though we have been the genuine victim of Snowshoe attacks. That is what the fake spammy registrations are in this forum and on the Mediawiki powered sites we run. We've shut the MW sites down for any changes during this blocklisting, and we have made the decision to shut right off our iom email list for the duration. Even though it is confirmed opt in and 100% compliant we don't want to get into the state of having to explain what we do over and over again to the block operators.
It really aggravates me that genuine people suffer because of the need to block the black hat operators. It affects 253 IP addresses. When we inspected who is on the IP range we see that many are not the most wonderful of sites!
[Updated on: Fri, 15 November 2013 09:40]
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Kitzyma
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Likes it here |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 215
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Quote:timmy wrote on Fri, 15 November 2013 09:37
we have made the decision to shut right off our iom email list for the duration.
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As I'm technically illiterate regarding these things, I hope I won't seem too stupid when I ask this - does this mean that there will be no email notifications of updates etc for a while?
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13678
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Correct. We are keeping our heads down until this incident is solved. AT present it seems onoy to affect mail to Yahoo accounts, but it can spread. It depends who takes the blocklist service from Spamhaus.
It affects all email from this IP range, not just the mailing list.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Kitzyma
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Likes it here |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 215
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So, for example, if I submit a story and you reply from your iomfats email address to my yahoo address then is it possible or even likely that I won't receive your reply?
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Stephen
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Getting started |
Location: USA
Registered: April 2012
Messages: 10
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Timmy, I don't understand the technical aspects of what is happening to the mailing list, but I'm sorry you are having this problem. I hate spammers. They are trash.
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It's unfortunately happening everywhere right at the moment; and far worse than normal. Several other Forums which I occasionally frequent, and usually immune to this sort of crap, have also been affected.
Warren C. E. Austin
The Gay Deceiver
Toronto, Canada
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13678
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Quote:Kitzyma wrote on Fri, 15 November 2013 12:23So, for example, if I submit a story and you reply from your iomfats email address to my yahoo address then is it possible or even likely that I won't receive your reply?
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There is, at present, almost a 100% guarantee that you will not receive a reply or any email from any iomfats.org address to Yahoo. At present Yahoo is the major email provider that is affected. This included casual conversation and mailing list emails.
I say "almost" because one never knows, but the blocked range goes across an enormous range of IP addresses. Ours is trapped in the middle.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13678
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"Stephen wrote on Sat, 16 November 2013 05:45"Timmy, I don't understand the technical aspects of what is happening to the mailing list, but I'm sorry you are having this problem. I hate spammers. They are trash.
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It isn't just to the mailing list. It affected every single email form a vast range of IP addresses. The technical aspects are these: Spamhaus has detected what is termed "Snowshoe spam" that is coming initially from a compromised server within the IP range. It creates a list of IP addresses that it blocks, but it does not, itself, perform the block. People subscribe to its block list and pay Spamhaus a subscription to do so. They then use its list to implement their own blocks. Yahoo is one such service provider who subscribes.
Spamhaus doesn't respond to webmasters, only to hosting corporations. Their general requirement is that the offending site is kicked off their servers.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Kitzyma
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Likes it here |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 215
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Quote:timmy wrote on Sat, 16 November 2013 09:02
Spamhaus has detected what is termed "Snowshoe spam" that is coming initially from a compromised server within the IP range. It creates a list of IP addresses that it blocks, but it does not, itself, perform the block.
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So it blocks a whole range of IP addresses just because one or two addresses are the source of spam?
The words 'sledgehammer' and 'nut' spring to mind.
Why don't they just block the offending address(es)?
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13678
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They do this to surround the offending IP address with loads of other people who are hostile to it. This forces the hosting provider to act because it hurts its business. Previously, when no-one cared what their neighbour was doing, no-one acted. Over time the IP blocked range spreads wider and wider to enrage more and more people.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Ahhh, bollocks. Another good reason not to use Yahoo anyway. At least its a way to shut down these spammers. Jerks.
raysstories.com
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Kitzyma
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Likes it here |
Registered: March 2012
Messages: 215
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"Quote:"timmy wrote on Sat, 16 November 2013 10:57They do this to surround the offending IP address with loads of other people who are hostile to it. This forces the hosting provider to act because it hurts its business.
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Punishing whole groups of innocent people in order to get something done about a guilty person is immoral. It makes me think of occupying troops killing random villagers in order to get them to betray resistance fighters who come from the same village.
Actually, I wonder if it's even legal and am surprised that no one (especially in the USA) has sued. I was thinking that something like tortious interference might be applicable, if not to you iomfats but to business sites that get blocked or to the business hosting the sites.
[Updated on: Sun, 17 November 2013 11:09] |
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13678
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Quote:Kitzyma wrote on Sun, 17 November 2013 11:08
"Quote:"timmy wrote on Sat, 16 November 2013 10:57They do this to surround the offending IP address with loads of other people who are hostile to it. This forces the hosting provider to act because it hurts its business.
--
Punishing whole groups of innocent people in order to get something done about a guilty person is immoral. It makes me think of occupying troops killing random villagers in order to get them to betray resistance fighters who come from the same village.
Actually, I wonder if it's even legal and am surprised that no one (especially in the USA) has sued. I was thinking that something like tortious interference might be applicable, if not to you iomfats but to business sites that get blocked or to the business hosting the sites.
--I doubt it is lawful, but those affected are alwasy small beer. Large organisations with sufficient muscle to sue have their own servers in their own datacentres. Imagine suing Yahoo? Suing Spamhaus is useless. They simply create and sell lists. Yahoo et al implement them
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13678
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Our service provider has now kicked the spammers off their servers and applied for the IP range to be unblocked.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13678
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And the range is unblocked.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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