Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

Dear All,

This is to notify you that the LWAG site (www.lwag.org) may be going down. If there is something that you were wanting to look up, I suggest you do so now.

I have lost my site's software guru and thus the site's vBulletin software has not been updated for some time. The site works through the guru's server, so updating is out of my control.

Beginning around September, the site has been the subject of numerous spam registrations. Further, it appears that the spammer has been able to change the password to the control panel, so that I can't get in there to attempt a fix.

Every time there is a registration, I get a notice by e-mail and, quite frankly, I'm tired of receiving up to 12 spam registration notices per day.

The problem has been further aggravated by issues with the company whose server the site is on. Whether these problems can be worked out is now rather debatable, as communication with them appears to have been interrupted and/or is malfunctioning.

I regret that I may have to take the site down, but enough is enough.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

Hello Richard,



Sorry to hear the news. Can you archive the contents? Perhaps someone here can help? I'd give Peter D. Evans at the LEMB a shout.



Good luck,
Ed

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

That's awful news Richard. My best wishes for a solution!

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

If there is anything I can do to help Richard, by all means drop me a line...

I would add, however, that without access to where the board is hosted, updating and archiving may prove difficult. If vBulletin is anything like Invision Power Board (the board on which the LEMB is built on) then recent updates have addressed issues with spam applications etc. However, not knowing much about vBulletin, it's difficult to know what the updates since v3.6.8 (LWAG current version) and v3.7.4 (which appears to be the current version)

Come on guys... if any of you out here are able to help Richard in any way, please pipe up... keeping these boards up and running is hard and it would be a huge shame if the time and hard work put into keeping LWAG going was to disappear...

cheers
Peter D Evans
LEMB Administrator

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

Hi

I can help by offering a new place for LWAG to stay free of charge (have my own server now).

I haven't used vBulletin, but it seems to run based on PHP and MySQL.

I suggest the following action Richard, in order to at least secure the data contained on the site:

1. Get a manual backup of the MySQL database that hold the data contained in the system. The host service should be able to provide you with this, if you want assistance in order to communicate with them, pls let me know

2. Install vBulletin on my server along with the backup of the database.

3. Run LWAG from my server until we have fixed everything

If this is of interest pls reply here or send me a pm.

Regards,
Andreas B

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

Dear All,

Thank you for your support. To be honest, I'm absolutely not a software expert. I have relied upon the advice of the site's software guru. I do know that the site somehow goes through his server to the server at 24hostingnow. At one point, it was suggested to me by 24hostingnow that updating the software would be a good idea, but that this should be coordinated with the site's software guru. I believe what he has done is to add special features to the basic vBulletin software, including the site's logo in the upper left corner and security features intended to ward off spammers.

After 3 successive years of attacks by the spammer, my guru has stated that he is too busy to help. I haven't been able to get a reply from him in over a month, so he may have blocked any communication from me. It is really an intolerable situation for me.

After posting my message here, I did finally get a reply from 24hostingnow, probably as a result of my going to the U.S. company they use to handle billing, 2checkout.com. At the moment, they are actively trying to fix the problems. Whether they are smart enough to do so is really up in the air, as I am also getting tired of trying to explain things to them that they are having a hard time grasping.

I haven't a clue myself as to how to store the site. I do have a repair shop that might know.

Recognize that I am a provider of information, not a software expert, and thus must rely on those that are. In essence, I drive the car, but I don't know how to repair it.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

Hi Richard,

Wish I could give practical assistance in some way but unfortunately I'm only a "driver" just like you so I can only offer my moral support. I'd hate to see LWAG go down or be lost since it really contains a lot of practical information/hints/tips which is valuable for those who are doing archival research.

Hope you can find some solution, possibly in collaboration with Andreas!

I'll keep my fingers crossed.
/Mike

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

Dear All,

I thank you for your good wishes and offers of support. I have regained control of the site's control panel, a big plus. Andreas, if we can't get control of the spam issue, I may take you up on your offer. Are you at all familiar with MySQL databases?

I was advised to increase the tightness of the security with the site's Spam Assassin software. This I have done. However, if I understand how it works, this likely will be ineffective, as the spammer now never appears to use the same e-mail address twice, something I think Spam Assassin relies upon to be effective.

Right now, I've been advised to just wait a bit to see if, indeed, Spam Assassin will actually work. So, this I will do. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the U.S., a good day to take a break.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

PM on the way to you.

Best Regards,

D.B. Andrus

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

Kudos to all of you. This is an online community at it's best. I really mean that. I've seen the other side of the spectrum with forums that would have left a member in need to his own devices to solve a problem on his own.
In this case a rather valuable research resource hung in the balance. Those here in a position to help offered to do so....and those that couldn't offered support. This is a model that other online forums should use as a tool for what they want to be when they grow up.
Again kudos to all.

Billy

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

In an intererest this specialized, your research acquantices become very dear friends. You do what you can, if any thing.

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

Dear All,

I couldn't agree more and for my friends here I am ever so grateful.

Let me bring you up to date on the current status of things. To begin with, I am not a website expert. I use the administrative tools available, but when it comes to looking under the hood and tinkering, I am out of my league.

Thus, when I have dialoged with 24hostingnow where the site is located, their suggestions, some of which I can follow and others I can't, I am left in a state of great hesitation, what I early on called the fear of pressing the wrong button only to see a small mushroom cloud arise from my monitor.

24hostingnow did what they could, but the spamming has continued. I raised the sensitivity level of the site's Spam Assassin software, but, in reading how Spam Assassin is supposed to work, the type of spam I am getting wouldn't be affected, which has proven to be the case.

I realized that I had a resource I had not involved and that was my son, David, who, himself, happens to be a computer scientist working at Google. Why did I take so long? Well, typically my problems have dealt with Windows and this is a subject that David has stayed away from. So, typically, he wouldn't be able to help. But, dealing with a spam attack and delving into code is actually something he can wrap his arms around and he has agreed to try to help. I'm hopeful that he can pull off a miracle. He's a pretty savy CS.

In the meantime, I continue to look at each registration, as about 1 in 10 or 20 is actually legitimate, and these I do authorize.

Failing success in this area, a stopgap measure would be to halt all registrations, meaning that the site would be read only, except for those already registered. I'm not sure we can do this, but I would suspect it could be done.

That's where things stand at the moment. This is a very pernicous spam attack. 24hostingnow has not been able to defeat it.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

Dear All,

As I struggle with the spam registration problem, I find that I need the assistance of someone familiar with spam control in the registration process. The software used by LWAG is vBulletin. I am just now looking into the cPanel, but really don't understand it. If there is an expert in cPanel that would be willing to answer questions, please send me a PM with your e-mail address.

One possible method of spam control is cPanel's Spam Assassin. However, this appears to be directed to e-mail spam control and I am unsure whether it has any bearing on spam control in the registration process. At the recommendation of 24hostingnow, I changed the Spam Assassin setting to 3.0 from 8.0, a more aggressive setting, but to no affect.

Also, if there is an expert in vBulletin, especially someone who has also struggled and, hopefully, overcome spam registration issues, I would very much appreciate hearing from you.

The spammer pulled a new one on me yesterday, sending me a spam message in my private message account. This smacks of intentional maliciousness, rather than an automated spam for financial gain.

Regards,
Richard

Re: Luftwaffe Archives and Records Group (LWAG) website possibly going down
 

Dear All,

The spam bot has been registering about 10 times a day. Unfortunately, my son David's efforts, so far, have not yielded positive results. Thus, at least temporarily, I have halted all new registrations. He will be home for the holidays and we can attempt a fix then, unless I find one sooner.

Regards,
Richard