Post your suggestions or feedback about the site here.
#4939650
Just wondering if GBFans ever blocks user IP address for any reason?

As of the last couple of days, I am unable to connect to GBFans.com on my home wifi. If I use a VPN or mobile network , I can load the site without issue. This is happening on all devices on my home network. I have tried restarting the routers, changing DNS, etc but it still persists.

Any reason you can think of why I may have been blocked?

Thanks,

Dave
#4939663
It is just a bit of an overzealous firewall that drops the hammer fairly easily.

I am working to find the right balance between false positive and 1337 h4x0r.

The IP block has been removed as well as for anyone else that may have been affected.
RedSpecial liked this
#4939898
I am having this same issue right now too. I was in the Hasbro Pulsecon thread in Collectibles posting a reply. When I went to preview, it said I didnt have permission or that I required access. I figured it was just a hiccup and tried it again and got the same thing. Then I figured I would just post the reply and then the site timed out. I haven't be able to reach the site on my home network since. I took additional steps to try and resolve the issue. I opened up a command prompt and flushed my DNS, reset the router, etc. to no avail.

Yeah, this is silly. Whatever it is. I have to use a VPN now in order to get on the site.
#4939996
I've been working with the firewall company to help them write exceptions for phpBB forum software.

We just implemented another set of exceptions and everything appears to be working much better now. All blocks have again been removed that may have been added errantly.

I can even write the following code without being banned!

DELETE FROM `phpbb_users` WHERE 1=1;

;-)
910dohead liked this
#4940066
One time wrote: September 28th, 2020, 4:08 pm Same here. Cannot loadup gbfans on Wifi. Must use 4G telephone connection.
That's a new one that we're working on. I've unblocked your IP but I'll be on the lookout for repeats.
#4940094
Thanks but still no luck.

I could log in via wifi this morning, but as soon as I tried to reply to a post on a thread I made, I got the “Forbidden: you have no permission to access this resource” screen and now it’s back to 4G.

Am I doing something incorrect that keeps flagging my IP address for some reason?
#4940132
I wish I could adequately explain why it is occurring, but it is kind of like squashing one bug makes another one reveal itself.

There are lots of words that are used in computer programming, that are unfortunately also common English words. These firewalls basically look at what is being written and saying: This looks exactly like a computer command!

What the firewall does not know (yet) is that phpBB is perfectly capable having someone type computer commands into a message and not having them executed. The firewall also is too overzealous in shutting down connections. For example if I posted all the text in the dictionary, the firewall would think there are off limits commands in there too. It is kind of like the old adage of giving a monkey a typewriter and letting them type for a infinite amount of time, eventually they will write a command too. :-P

Right now typing the following words are trigging many of the errors:

get, post, head, options, connect, put, delete, trace, track, patch, propfind, propatch, mkcol, copy, move, lock, unlock
#4940155
AJ Quick wrote: September 27th, 2020, 8:03 pm I've been working with the firewall company to help them write exceptions for phpBB forum software.

We just implemented another set of exceptions and everything appears to be working much better now. All blocks have again been removed that may have been added errantly.

I can even write the following code without being banned!

DELETE FROM `phpbb_users` WHERE 1=1;

;-)

Reminds me of this good ol comic strip:
Image
#4940187
AJ Quick wrote: September 29th, 2020, 10:04 pm I wish I could adequately explain why it is occurring, but it is kind of like squashing one bug makes another one reveal itself.

There are lots of words that are used in computer programming, that are unfortunately also common English words. These firewalls basically look at what is being written and saying: This looks exactly like a computer command!

What the firewall does not know (yet) is that phpBB is perfectly capable having someone type computer commands into a message and not having them executed. The firewall also is too overzealous in shutting down connections. For example if I posted all the text in the dictionary, the firewall would think there are off limits commands in there too. It is kind of like the old adage of giving a monkey a typewriter and letting them type for a infinite amount of time, eventually they will write a command too. :-P

Right now typing the following words are trigging many of the errors:

get, post, head, options, connect, put, delete, trace, track, patch, propfind, propatch, mkcol, copy, move, lock, unlock
That makes sense. I could add a reply but as soon as I added a picture link:

[im g]https://i.imgur.com/n4jrtHD.jpg[/im g]

Without the spaces, it locked my ip out.
#4941326
I think I may be having this issue now. For a few days I've been unable to access gbfans on my home wifi, I can only access on my phone with mobile data. I thought the site was down.

I tried rebooting my router, restoring default settings, changing the DNS and I still can't get on using my home wifi.
#4948137
Just wanted to note that this is still occurring as of April 2021. I was doing a few searches on the forum and at some point the site just wouldn't connect anymore. I thought maybe the site went down momentarily or something but it seemed rather odd. So I decided to test on my cellular connection and I was able to view the site. Then I connected to my VPN and sure enough, I was able to access the site again. So for some reason my IP was blocked for just casually browsing/searching the fourm. I'm not sure what kind of SPAM issue you guys have around here to justify such strict firewall rules, but when legit members can't even access the site, then what's the point?
#4948149
SpookyGhost wrote: April 13th, 2021, 8:03 pmSo for some reason my IP was blocked for just casually browsing/searching the fourm.
It wouldn't have been blocked for browsing the forum. What might've happened is it may've been blocked as part of the response to the daily influx of spambots we've had since late last year. Could you send me a PM with your IP and the username you were trying to sign in with? I'll see if it's mentioned in the mod team's spambot thread.
SpookyGhost liked this
#4948178
Kingpin wrote: April 14th, 2021, 2:18 am
SpookyGhost wrote: April 13th, 2021, 8:03 pmSo for some reason my IP was blocked for just casually browsing/searching the fourm.
It wouldn't have been blocked for browsing the forum. What might've happened is it may've been blocked as part of the response to the daily influx of spambots we've had since late last year. Could you send me a PM with your IP and the username you were trying to sign in with? I'll see if it's mentioned in the mod team's spambot thread.
Well I would think that one would need to be posting SPAM in order to be flagged as a spambot, but apparently not as I hadn't even made a single post on the forum yet. I was merely only browsing/searching. In any case, I have PM'd you my info. Thanks for looking into the issue.
#4948181
SpookyGhost wrote: April 14th, 2021, 4:22 pmWell I would think that one would need to be posting SPAM in order to be flagged as a spambot
In the cases of the recent spambot flood that the mods have been dealing with, we'd usually been banning them by name - the reason being as pointed out by one of the Mod team was if we banned a spambot's IP address, it could affect legitimate members. In this particular case I'd considered the possibility that your account specifically may not've been banned... But it could've been that a spambot user operating on a similar IP who had been banned might've caused the trouble you experienced...

Though that didn't end up being the case of what had happened - I've gone into further detail in my reply to your PM (and thanks for passing on those details). Hopefully you shouldn't any further issues going forward. :)
#4948225
This is a server wide firewall and not related to the forum.

I went through and made a few further changes. The new changes allow me to monitor for problem rulesets while not overly impacting legitimate users access to the site.

The incorrect blocks should be removed.
Kingpin, SpookyGhost liked this
#4948255
AJ Quick wrote: April 15th, 2021, 8:32 pm This is a server wide firewall and not related to the forum.

I went through and made a few further changes. The new changes allow me to monitor for problem rulesets while not overly impacting legitimate users access to the site.

The incorrect blocks should be removed.
IP is unblocked and working again. Thanks for your help.

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