Please do not use VPN's

[EL34]

Hackers and spammers are a huge problem on forumsThey all use VPN's or TOR exit nodes to hide their true IP address

If you use a VPN on the forum here I will just delete your account
I will assume you are trying to hide your IP address.

It's in the forum agreement to not use a VPN

Please read this for more info

https://el34world.com/Forum/index.php?topic=33040.0

[pdf64]

In the UK, since September, we need a vpn to view any photos hosted by imgur.
I've not got one sorted out yet, but Merlin advised that's how to work around this current imgur issue.
Having Merlin active on this forum seems like a massive asset to me, deleting that account seems like it would be a regrettable decision.
Dunno if the imgur thing also applies to the rest of Europe 

[dogburn]

If my computer restarts automatically when doing updates, the VPN starts up automatically, so by accident, I have occasionally tried to get to the site with it running. I will try to change the settings on the VPN, but I hope not to get deleted in the meantime.

But I completely understand the reasoning.

[EL34]

In the UK, since September, we need a vpn to view any photos hosted by imgur.
I've not got one sorted out yet, but Merlin advised that's how to work around this current imgur issue.
Having Merlin active on this forum seems like a massive asset to me, deleting that account seems like it would be a regrettable decision.
Dunno if the imgur thing also applies to the rest of Europe 

I doubt any of that will happen.
You should be able to access the forum without using a VPN


It's a constant battle with spammers and hackers every day trying to access this forum
It's way more important to keep the forum running without having to deal with all that comes with that non sense.

[tristanc]

I doubt any of that will happen.
You should be able to access the forum without using a VPN

Access the forum, yes. Viewing any image posted using imgur, no. The work round is to use a VPN, even temporarily, to “be outside” the UK.

edited to add an example

[shooter]

to “be outside” the UK.

 
we're watching the beginning of the end of "internet www" I watched in horror as www took over FTP, I could spend days reading white-papers from MIT, Cal-Tech....www offered to sell me access for $19.99 a month, Web-AI will want your kidney, maybe your soul for access
 

[tubeswell]

to “be outside” the UK.

 
we're watching the beginning of the end of "internet www" I watched in horror as www took over FTP, I could spend days reading white-papers from MIT, Cal-Tech....www offered to sell me access for $19.99 a month, Web-AI will want your kidney, maybe your soul for access
 

Yes this has me worried too. Next thing they’ll take over the International Date Line, and bang goes yesterday and tomorrow…

[EL34]

Sorry, I can't control what the UK does
Maybe you should get rid of that Lefty government who prosecutes people for on line comments and a horrible immigration policy?

It's way more important to keep the forum free from spammers and Hackers
It's a constant battle keeping them out

Do you guys not remember what happened to other forums that were attacked?

[shooter]

Unfortunately "digital warfare" is here to stay, fortunately we have the best gremlin fighters in the world here 

the only social media platform I'm on is a STRICT Constitutional 1st Amendment site, so the whole world hates the place since you can freely say things that polite society hates.  The IT-guys have to block entire country IP addresses just to stem the attacks.  The owner regularly posts letters from guvmints demanding information on users, his reply is always a nice letter telling them to "pound sand" 


that might be something to watch for behind the curtain here, 95% of all spam came from just 2 places, India and Israel

[EL34]

There are some days I have 10 attempt's to join the forum from known IP's in the spammer database .

Russia, Ukraine and Netherlands are the most frequent.
TOR exit nodes can be anywhere in the world and they use those also.

I have people try to join that flat out are using a VPN even though it says in the agreement to not do that.
Many of the attempts are hacker bots
Once someone fills in the anti spam join questions, the hacker bot can spam membership join attempts

I have to constantly change the memberships join question answers once the bots are setup with the correct answers

It's a daily battle
Just be thankful someone is actually on top of the situation so we can all have a safe place to come and enjoy amp discussions

[acheld]

Thanks for sharing that info.  Helps put things in perspective.

[tristanc]

How about implementing 2FA? I know it’s a constant arms race, irrespective of politics etc, to keep bad actors (and content) out.

[EL34]

Nothing stops spammers and hackers from trying to register

They don't get past me 99.9% of the time

I can't tell what I do to investigate them and 2FA cannot do what I d.
SMF is the forum software and it does not offer that

[shooter]

2FA and voice recognition are the new hacker go-to's.  they can clone your voice and grab your 27/7 gazing-glass tracker "ID" for even more ways to exploit!

[Joel]

I understand your frustration.  However, I will not stop using a VPN for two primary reasons:
1. My online safety is more important than belonging to this forum.  Don't get me wrong, I love this forum.  It's been a great resource to me on my amp building journey, and the people here have been consistently awesome.  I don't want to get kicked.  But I will if it comes down to a choice of VPN vs EL34world.
2. The Australian Defence Force *highly* recommends its members use a reputable VPN, amongst other things, for cybersecurity.  They have *very* good reasons for making this recommendation. 

It's true that a determined hacker could probably defeat most defences I could marshal (heh!  get it?).  Cyber-crimes, like other crime, is predominantly crime of opportunity.  For me, a VPN reduces opportunity by making me a slightly more difficult target to track.

This website is a fixed target.  You need castle defence strategies and I'm no expert.  I'm just sorry I'll be caught up in the crossfire.

[kagliostro]

A few years ago, we at DIYItalia stopped accepting registrations from abroad due to the high number of spammers.

But I understand that's not a good thing for EL34world. There's also an e-commerce section, and preventing customers from registering is inappropriate.

Franco

[EL34]

I am not concerned with real members that post here
I am concerned with spammers that register on a normal IP and then a couple days later they use a VPN
I have plenty of those guys with zero post and no activity on the forum
Those guys get deleted
In your case Joel, You have 188 post
I doubt your are here to cause trouble

[Rontone]

In the UK, since September, we need a vpn to view any photos hosted by imgur.
I've not got one sorted out yet, but Merlin advised that's how to work around this current imgur issue.
Having Merlin active on this forum seems like a massive asset to me, deleting that account seems like it would be a regrettable decision.
Dunno if the imgur thing also applies to the rest of Europe 

I'm in the UK but not running a VPN, to view the imgur pictures I open another tab in my browser and paste the imgur links into https://proxypal.net/

Slightly more effort but a quick getaround

[EL34]

Ok, I am in the dark on this?
Why can't you guys view imgur pictures

[Rontone]

Ok, I am in the dark on this?
Why can't you guys view imgur pictures

The new "online safety act", and I think imgur is classed as one of those "open" image sites where some bad images and videos get posted and shared

Buts its a bit more annoying as some normal websites got swept up in the decision process and blocked, I think there may be an appeal process as some of the sites seem to be back up now, I believe its more to do with liability, so if anyone posts content deemed harmful then the site operator can be held responsible, so especially sites originating in the UK that are small and run from home would be most at risk as I suppose they would get legal action taken against them straight away, but if its from another country I presume it would harder for them to prosecute?

Bitchute.com is from the UK but can't be viewed, yet you guys in the US will be able to view it

There's some great videos on youtube of people using computer game character faces to get past the age verification!

[EL34]

Ah yes, the UK government
I follow what is going on
It's a matter of time until the people get fed up with that crap

[rake]

It's a bit ironic. When the VPN's first became the new thing they were touted to protect people from the bad guys.
It didn't take long for the bad guys to start using them. I'm an admin on another forum and we get bombarded with
sales junk, porn & a host of other garbage. Our IT guy is constantly blocking IP's. IIRC we've blocked most of Asia and
at least half of Africa! LOL! One of the best defenses is the members. If it looks pfishy, reach out to Doug or the mods.
The faster they can act, the lower the damage.

Back to sniffin the flux!

[shooter]

normal websites got swept up in the decision process and blocked

gotta luv GuVminT solutions, bit like kill'n the baby, washing it n throwing it out with the bath water.

[kagliostro]

I asked to ChatGPT to know the reason IMGUR necess a VPN to be accessed from UK

The response in because to avoid problems with the UK gov and don't wanting to adopt expensive solutions IMGUR decided to block the access to theyr's page to UK peoples

To obtain more info ask to ChatGPT and it will give you more details about young people protection and others

BTW, for similar reasons, also in Italy someting is changed, the access to some porn sites now require the registration to a third part database with full personal data, but this isn't a problem at all, don't have interest to access YouPorn or similar

All' started because using AI someone published lot of images and movies with some female member of the govern and some famous actress, so using the reason to protect young people the block of not registeted at the database

Franco

[EL34]

That's understandable considering Keir Starmer's goverment policies

Good thing I am not a UK citizen, they would arrest me.

[shooter]

 


goes for at least 1/2 your members, we could start a tube-amp forum in the pokey!!!

[acheld]

for at least 1/2 your members, we could start a tube-amp forum in the pokey!!!

And the other half us would be happy to listen from the outside!   

[pdf64]

That's understandable considering Keir Starmer's goverment policies

Good thing I am not a UK citizen, they would arrest me.

The Online Safety Act 2023 was introduced by our previous, somewhat chaotic, Conservative government (as opposed to our current, somewhat chaotic, Labour government).
Though I recall the legislation had widespread cross party support, and also I suspect across the electorate, grooming children being generally perceived as a bad thing here   
What's unfortunate is imgur declining to put necessary measures in place to ensure compliance with the Act.

[EL34]

Sounds like their way to silence and censor people.
That will end badly