We're back!

Any non-electronic/automotive related discussion goes here. Current events, sports, music, etc.
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stipud
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We're back!

Post by stipud »

Very sorry for the downtime folks. Last Thursday we got hammered by spam scripts from China and eastern europe, which were trying to exploit flaws in the PHPBB code. Likely so that they could gain access to the system and install malware.

My host (Dreamhost) noticed the huge rise in traffic, and disabled the site. However, since I didn't receive an immediate email about it, I re-enabled the site right away. This caused their admins to disable my DNS completely, so that I could no longer bring the site back up, nor put up a static page letting you guys know what was going on. Only after that did I get a message telling me why it was disabled! Then, even though I had gone through and banned all of the spammers, they didn't want to bring me back online until I upgraded to one of their VPS hosting packages ($23-30/mo, vs the $8/mo I pay now). It took me awhile to convince them to let me bring it up on the shared system again.

So now we need to figure out what to do in the long term. Right now this site probably has too much traffic to feasibly run on a shared system, so we need to look into a VPS host. It's only a matter of time until spammers bring us off the shared server again. Dreamhost offered me a $10/mo discount on their VPS, for a total of $13/mo, for a managed VPS with 300mb RAM, shared MySQL, and unlimited disk and bandwidth. This is probably more than adequate for our site. Alternatively, Ryan and I have been checking out unmanaged VPS options, where we would be given a blank slate to run and manage ourselves. Costs would run similar, about $8-15/mo, but we would get much more RAM, more cores, and more bandwidth. However, the onus of security, stability, backups, etc. would then rest entirely on us. Migrating would be a huge effort, whereas with Dreamhost it would be automatic.

Alternatively we can try to continue getting by on the existing shared hosting. This would mean I'd have to find some sort of firewall software, to ban people who make too many requests. This could be indescriminate though, and end up banning our power users. We will need to use some caution if we go down this road...
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joerg
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Re: We're back!

Post by joerg »

I thought it was something serious! :shock: Thanks for fixing it Tom!
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PhuckinGood
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Re: We're back!

Post by PhuckinGood »

Thanks for getting the site back up, I didnt understand a word of your explanation mind! :?

As for moving forward and the costs involved how about a small yearly subscription? I know its contoversial but it works well for a VW forum I am a member of. Anyone can sign up and use that forum as normal but paid up members get extras, for example only paid up members can post for sale ads, have a member logo under their name, etc ... you get the idea.

Happy its back up anyhow :)
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Wrennagade
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Re: We're back!

Post by Wrennagade »

I'd gladly sign up! this site rocks! :D
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Drock
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We're back!

Post by Drock »

Wrennagade wrote:I'd gladly sign up! this site rocks! :D
X2
ttocs
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Re: We're back!

Post by ttocs »

figured you were just busy with the fam this weekend. Sounds like alot of calls/emails on stuff I don't understand.
what else can I say I am a grumpy asshole most of the time.
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Re: We're back!

Post by itchnertamatoa »

thanks for getting us back online Tom :clap:
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nico boom
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Re: We're back!

Post by nico boom »

You're the best Tom...., just open a account so we can all donate a few bucks and save you a lot of trouble.
Let's keep this forum going people!
Greetz for Wendy and Nico. :kiss:
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mr tibbs
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Re: We're back!

Post by mr tibbs »

nico boom wrote:You're the best Tom...., just open a account so we can all donate a few bucks and save you a lot of trouble.
Let's keep this forum going people!
Greetz for Wendy and Nico. :kiss:
x2, even though I am not around much anymore I am more than willing to help out! Whatever you need sir just let us know!! :mrgreen:
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Re: We're back!

Post by Audiophiliac »

I do not like subscription forums. I think opening a paypal account to accept donations is sufficient. You would easily raise the $$ to maintain the phorum and probably much more. That is $$ in your pocket. And I have no problem with the software auto-banning users with too many requests. Not sure how flexible the threshold settings are, but it might be the best way to stop spammers. Just my 2 cents.
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finbar
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Re: We're back!

Post by finbar »

nico boom wrote:You're the best Tom...., just open a account so we can all donate a few bucks and save you a lot of trouble.
Let's keep this forum going people!
Greetz for Wendy and Nico. :kiss:
This.

I would be happy to help out too.
A sincere thank you for putting in the time and effort in keeping this site up. :)
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ROBSCUSTOMSAPK
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Re: We're back!

Post by ROBSCUSTOMSAPK »

Thanks for getting it back up and running tom. Maybe members donate a dollar every time they post a new thread in the buy&sell section? Would probably cut down on new guys coming just to dump stuff and leave.
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dwnrodeo
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Re: We're back!

Post by dwnrodeo »

I'm willing to contribute some money to keep this forum going. The burden doesn't need to fall only on Tom's shoulders.
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ttocs
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Re: We're back!

Post by ttocs »

If only we could find a corporate sponsor. Some really BIG company that would enjoy us always plugging them, buying from them, and hoping to get ahold of them, or spent the last 20 yrs stockpiling their gear. A company big enough that a small forum run off of their servers would just be peanuts on the side of what they normally do. Darn if only we could find a company like that............
what else can I say I am a grumpy asshole most of the time.
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joerg
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Re: We're back!

Post by joerg »

ttocs wrote:If only we could find a corporate sponsor. Some really BIG company that would enjoy us always plugging them, buying from them, and hoping to get ahold of them, or spent the last 20 yrs stockpiling their gear. A company big enough that a small forum run off of their servers would just be peanuts on the side of what they normally do. Darn if only we could find a company like that............
I haven´t laughed so hard in ages :lol: :lol: :lol:
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itchnertamatoa
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Re: We're back!

Post by itchnertamatoa »

ttocs wrote:If only we could find a corporate sponsor. Some really BIG company that would enjoy us always plugging them, buying from them, and hoping to get ahold of them, or spent the last 20 yrs stockpiling their gear. A company big enough that a small forum run off of their servers would just be peanuts on the side of what they normally do. Darn if only we could find a company like that............
never heard of such a company ... :twisted:
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Starunit10
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Re: We're back!

Post by Starunit10 »

Only makes sense, especially if they want to have some control over the content.
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stipud
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Re: We're back!

Post by stipud »

Don't forget, this forum was originally PG's. They shut it down, and we carried the torch! Plus there are certain advantages to not being tied down to companies... WE control the content (how many company forums do you know with titty sections?) ;). Of course we don't want to tarnish the reputation of the brand we all enjoy together, so there is a good gentlemen's agreement between us like this.

In the mean time, I will be using Dreamhost's VPS to run the phorum on its own, with the rest of my hosting remaining on the shared server. That way things should stay nice and fast here. If not, we can always investigate doing an unmanaged server instead. But for right now i'd rather not have to worry about migrating all of my domains, setting up mail servers, scheduling remote backups, etc.

I don't think I want to charge subscription or buy/sell fees... those would probably generate way too much money anyways. It's only another $5/mo, which I can literally pay for with my bathroom break ;). At most I'll do an annual donation drive. Actually there was always a donation link in the Welcome post, but nobody ever reads that :lol:.
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stipud
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Re: We're back!

Post by stipud »

So the transfer to VPS is complete, and we had all of 10 minutes of uptime!! :lol:

Sorry for the downtime again last night again! This time it was my bad. I switched the server to use mod_php for speed, but it looks like that didn't work. I switched it back to xcached FastCGI and it appears to be running nicely now ;)

What do you guys think? It seems quite a bit faster to me...
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Re: We're back!

Post by ROBSCUSTOMSAPK »

Seems to be faster to me.
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kg1961
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Re: We're back!

Post by kg1961 »

stipud wrote:So the transfer to VPS is complete, and we had all of 10 minutes of uptime!! :lol:

Sorry for the downtime again last night again! This time it was my bad. I switched the server to use mod_php for speed, but it looks like that didn't work. I switched it back to xcached FastCGI and it appears to be running nicely now ;)

What do you guys think? It seems quite a bit faster to me...

x2
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JK
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Re: We're back!

Post by JK »

Hey Tom!! I have no problem covering it myself if money is needed.. This site has changed my life.. I'm not joking when I say this.. I'm not the computer type of person but this site is one of the few I go to. I have met many cool people on here and have scored tons of gear without payin a VIG.. I have been directed into the rite directions from members on this site in witch is a major result of my financial outcome.. THANKS MATT!! Along with all the others.. I'm happy to be able to come on here and be a part of this site.. I don't want to see anything bad happen here with this site. I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH WHATEVER IS NEEDED.. Just pm me whenever you need something and ill make sure it gets handled.. If I were able to do a dirrect deposit into a account like a chase, Wells Fargo or Bank of America would make it easy for me.. IM GLAD TO SEE IT UP IN RUNNING AGAIN..
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Starunit10
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Re: We're back!

Post by Starunit10 »

There's a titty section! =-O . I have not seen that, where is it ?
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stipud
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Re: We're back!

Post by stipud »

Starunit10 wrote:There's a titty section! =-O . I have not seen that, where is it ?
Sorry bud... it's been forever since I've promoted newer members!
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bretti_kivi
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Re: We're back!

Post by bretti_kivi »

dude, if you need another pair of hands on administration, shout; I run waaay too many linux boxes these days ;)

- Bret
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