Can't access the forum using some VPNs

[pemartins]

When trying to access the forum using a VPN often I get a protection error or the 503 service unavailable error. In example using ProtonVpn I cannot access, also happens with Cyberghost and can't remember if it also happens with SetupVPN or not.
I even began to joke if you were bought by Microsoft or were being sponsored by the NSA or moved to China...

Kidding aside, if I use one of those questionable proxies that probably collects all my life's info I can access just fine.
This is the error message: "Error 503 : Service Temporarily Unavailable"; and here is a report of when the stopforumspam block appears:

Record #:673422
Running:0.4.10a3 / MS-77g / COOK-2015-02a / KP-2017.93.516
Time: Thu, 24 May 2018 19:46:08 +0000
Host:customer.sharktech.net
IP: 107.167.5.91
Post:
Query:
Stripped Query:
Referer: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/forum.php
User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:60.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/60.0
Reconstructed URL: http:// www.kubuntuforums.net /register.php?
Why Blocked: No registrations, or logins, from hosts listed as hostile on Stop Forum Spam (http://www.stopforumspam.com/removal) (local block).

[claydoh]

I have complained about this myself. I cannot use my VPN and connect to the forums, either, using the highly regarded, popular, and foss-supporting PIA. There be spammers out there, for sure, but the security software blanket bans IPs. It stinks, but there does not seem to be a way around it, or a useful alternative.

[SpecialEd]

I got curious. I am accessing the forum right now via P.I.A. with an "East Coast" connection.

[claydoh]

It can change for a bit as the server ips change and more websites report spam to the service a use. I admit i stopped trying some time back.

Sent from my LG-H931 using Tapatalk

[claydoh]

Try it if you are not logged in or cleared cookies, etc. Won't work using a number of servers. I think we are whitelisted

[pemartins]

I was now able to connect with ProtonVPN using their free server 1 in the US:

  "ip": "108.59.0.37",
 "city": "",
 "region": "Delaware",
 "country": "US",
 "loc": "39.6734,-75.7052",
 "org": "AS30633 Leaseweb USA, Inc."

but I have no idea for how long it will work. Oh well, let me enjoy it while it lasts!

I really hope this gets fixed someday because it's a bad image that Kubuntu's forum can't be accessed with some VPNs. And the worst part is not even the blocked page shown, it's instead the "Error 503 : Service Temporarily Unavailable" which leads the visitor to assume that the site (forum) is dead and gone. Four out of five times that's all that is shown, that's really bad:



Well, off I go to browse around the forum. I made the 'mistake' of installing Kubuntu 18.04 a couple of days ago just to test it and now it's literally impossible to use any other OS as my daily driver, everything else looks dumb and ugly and slow. It's incredible how good Kubuntu 18.04 looks and how stable it has become and how functional it is. And lightweight!

[pemartins]

More than 6 months have passed since I made this thread alerting for this weird and unusual blockage behavior and strangely nothing was yet made to solve this ridiculous situation. It even got worse and nowadays I believe the Kubuntu forum blocks every access made from a proxy server or a vpn.

I tried using various services (more than 20) and the result is always the same:



The obvious question and without the need of further details because we are all grown ups and know we are at a forum about something which roots on freedom and privacy, and we've all heard every lame excuse for everything, is: what is going on?

[claydoh]

The problem is, that all popular (and not popular) VPN providers will have spammers, etc using them.The IP addresses pf these servers get reported by a large number of forums/websites and software and services like what we use all pick up the lists containing these ip addresses that are producing these bad posts. Unfortunately normal,live humans also use these services, and we get blocked.

We do not have a staff here, or any sort of IT department or any sort of infrastructure. It is basically one person.

You can gripe about privacy but the website is ssl encrypted. What you wan\t is some sort of anonymity. That is a bit different. I won't get into an argument over it here (as I don't necessarily disagree with you here!), but what you need to do is click the trouble ticket link each time, maybe post the relevant info from that error page as you have done here.

If you have any ideas that might help a tiny team combat the *huge* (and I do honestly and accurately mean **HUGE**) amount of porn, spam, and other baddies, please let us know. So for, none of the action-based detection/protection addons and software have not worked very well.

[Snowhog]

More than 6 months have passed since I made this thread alerting for this weird and unusual blockage behavior and strangely nothing was yet made to solve this ridiculous situation. It even got worse and nowadays I believe the Kubuntu forum blocks every access made from a proxy server or a vpn.

I tried using various services (more than 20) and the result is always the same:



The obvious question and without the need of further details because we are all grown ups and know we are at a forum about something which roots on freedom and privacy, and we've all heard every lame excuse for everything, is: what is going on?

And why aren't you clicking on HERE in "Click HERE to start a trouble ticket." in the screen page you receive (what you are showing us above)? If you don't, the Administrators (and me, specifically) won't know this is happening (to you), and won't be in a position to be able to try and remedy it.

We run ZB Block on our site for a reason, and it works very well. It isn't perfect; nothing is; but it's the best protection for forums that run on PHP available. Period. That said, and as stated (it isn't perfect), without being told; the affected member submits a trouble ticket via the link in the block screen page, you aren't allowing us to help you.

Your last statement: "The obvious question and without the need of further details because we are all grown ups and know we are at a forum about something which roots on freedom and privacy, and we've all heard every lame excuse for everything, is: what is going on?" I will take with a grain of salt, understanding that it comes from a position of frustration. I do understand. What you don't understand, and yes, I'm being pointed here, is that prior to implementing ZB Block, the volume of spam and spammers infiltrating this forum (KFN) was growing almost exponentially. I was literally spending more than an hour culling through, removing, banning, and reporting to Stop Forum Spam, upwards of a hundred (sometimes more) spam/spammers every single day.

There are bad people out there, and given the chance and opportunity, they will create havoc on any and every forum they can get into.

[pemartins]

Just a note about filling the ticket: I did it at the very first time I was blocked. And still not a single time after that I was able to access the forum using that IP address. So I don't believe there is a point on doing it again.

Ok so let's focus on the solution and not on the problem. Let's for a second assume there's no other way of solving the problem you named and that the only solution available is to blacklist the IP addresses and deny them access.

Easy solution: use the IP blacklist to redirect to a captcha instead of redirecting to a deny page.

Because it is easier and quicker to find a new clean IP to spam from then to fill a captcha. So just redirect to a captcha so the bad guys (and bots) will go away and the good guys can get in.