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Login problems fixed.
Posted by Chris on 15 Feb 2011 13:23
In an effort to eliminate the issue of people getting "you have exceeded the maximum number of login attempts" messages and having to solve the CAPTCHA, we have blocked several anonymous proxy networks. ALL of the hacking attempts were coming from these IP addresses, and since we have blocked them a few days ago there have been 0 attempts...
If you havent logged on since all this started, you may get the message and be required to solve the captcha, but the problem shouldn't return... Unfortunately this may block some people who were using the anonymous proxies to get to the site legitimately, but the alternative is to leave them unblocked, inconveniencing every user of the site every time they logon...
We have also blocked large amounts of China, Bulgaria and Russia's IP space due to the large amount of spam/fake registrations from those areas (and the fact that we have had 0 legitimate users from those areas)
'You exceeded the maximum allowed number of login attempts'
Posted by Chris on 08 Feb 2011 11:19
Several users have had issues when logging in for the first time on any given day when they get a message "You exceeded the maximum allowed number of login attempts" and have to re-enter their usename/password and type in the captcha. This is a known issue with many high-profile forums... (see http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2115563&start=15 for some more info).. It appears that infected computers have some malicous programs running on them that are performing systematic attacks on user's passwords for many forums on the internet, once they get in they are saving a list of the usernames and passwords to be used for spam... The requirement to complete the captcha makes it impossible for these malicious automated password cracking attempts to continue, but unfortunately it also affects us when we attempt to logon while these attacks are underway... There have been many other forums that have reported the same problems, the people who make the PHPbb software are aware of this and hopefully they will deliver a fix that blocks consecutive bad logons on a per IP basis rather than on a per user basis sometime soon...
Here is a quote from one of the many other forums being hit with the same attacks: ( http://foldingforum.org/viewtopic.php?p=170999#p170999 )
A number of our members have reported receiving the "You exceeded the maximum number of login attempts" message while trying to login to the forum, and are then prompted to enter the confirmation code as well as their username and password.
Unfortunately it seems that several phpbb based forums have been attacked in the same manner which involves a bot persistently trying to login to member's accounts. The forum software catches this and after 3 attempts prompts with the challenge question.
There is no indication that the bot has ever got past this challenge (as it is specific to our forum) as it would require both the correct password, and the correct challenge answer.
I have been using the 'log me in automatically' feature on my home machines and it has helped a lot...
Death to Spammers!
Posted by bourbonv on 05 Jan 2010 18:50
In order to prevent spammers, I have changed the permissions so that I have to approve new members. I am sorry if this inconviences new members, but I am tired of deleting spam.
New Administrator & New Moderator and Moderator Promotion
Posted by Mark on 09 May 2009 11:50
I have posted this in this thread found here but I also wanted to make an announcement about it as well.
In light of what has happened with a few spammers lately it has become necessary to have a few more eyes and ears out there to help watch out for the site. Besides watching the site for these type of people it's also a way to reward people for their time and dedication to not jsut the site but everything they do for their love of bourbon and friendship.
It is our honor to make BourbonV an Admin on the site!  Also, we are proud to promote Brewer to a Global Moderator and also help us welcome Mozilla as a new Moderator!
Chris and I think that with some changes made, some which will be made and with the help of our staff (who as you know all do this in their own time to help out the community) BourbonEnthusiast will be safer from the exploits of these... Well, I'll put it politely, scumbags. 
Thank you all for your patience and understanding!
Mark and Chris
Problems registering? Does it say your email is banned?
Posted by Mark on 20 Mar 2008 17:39
To all the new members who may be trying to register and are having problems:
Is it saying your email address has been banned? That's because unfortunately some time ago we had to disallow email addresses from many 'free' based sites such as hotmail, yahoo, gmail etc. The spam/porn people creating bs accounts became too numerous to deal with. We do not do anything with your email address, heck we never even look at them, so please feel safe using your regular email from your isp. For example roadrunner, aol, comcast, any email that works except like I said, from the free email sites.
Thank you for your understanding in these matters and we sincerely hope you can understand why we have had to enact this. It has and will continue to make a more pleasurable site for everyone. 
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