What is it this time?

[WRoss]

So what happened this time?

[Viekn]

So what happened this time?

Kranar said in the unofficial unofficials that it was the same DDos attack but the server they had set up to combat the problem failed.

[WRoss]

for why?

[Viekn]

Didn't say specifically. This is what he said exactly...


Hey everyone, currently the forums are subject to the usual DDOS attack. As you may or may not know the PC is almost constantly subject to one attack or another and unfortunately the proxy that has been use to protect against the DDOS failed. Work is underway to either use an alternative proxy to guard against the DDOS or reconfigure the current proxy. At any rate the forums may remain down for another day.

As usual thanks to everyone who notified me and thanks to Buckwheet for providing an alternative where updates can be posted.

So it's the same person or persons that have always been doing it.

[Kranar]

The same problem as usual. In fact technically the DDOS proxy is still down so the PC could go offline again any minute.

Some time in mid-September the DDOS Proxy Server stopped working for reasons I still haven't been told about yet and then I guess in early October our nefarious pal noticed that and decided to DDOS the forums again. The DDOS Proxy Server is basically what allows the site to remain available even in the face of a DDOS. It's basically a 10 Gbps shared proxy so if someone wants to DDOS us they'd need to REALLY hammer us and the cost to them to sustain a 10 Gbps attack would be quite substantial, far more costly than it is for me to protect against it.

The only reason we're back up is well... obviously people are justifiably angry at me over this, so I channeled much of that anger to the host, since after all it's pretty crummy that the DDOS protection failed and I wasn't told about it, and so the host moved us over to another server but I figure it's only a matter of time before the new server gets targeted again.

The host is working on getting the proxy fixed.

One complaint was that no one knows my contact info. I became aware of this problem on Sunday night, which was about a day and a half after the DDOS attack started, so of course an e-mail on Friday could have likely saved a day or two. Given how important it is for the site to remain available continuously for stuff like merchanting, if anyone has an issue with the site you should always feel free to contact me to let me know if you have connectivity problems.

My e-mail address is kranar@hotmail.com

[Viekn]

obviously people are justifiably angry at me over this

I'd hope note. It's not like we're paying you to manage these forums for us, that'd be a different story. We always appreciate your hard work. Was just a minor inconvenience. Now for the nefarious pal of ours, that's where the anger is directed.

[Fallen]

I blame Dionket/Doug. That dude really dislikes the PC and it came up a few times on the officials.

[caelric]

I blame Dionket/Doug. That dude really dislikes the PC and it came up a few times on the officials.

Doug's a complete douche, but I don't think he is both smart enough, and dedicated enough (or rich enough) to pull this off

[Buckwheet]

Hey K, thanks for getting it back running. Can you please just make sure that you have a contingency plan in case something happens to you so we don't lose 15+ years?

Really appreciate your effort in bringing it back, saves everyone a lot of anxiety!

[Taernath]

Doug's a complete douche, but I don't think he is both smart enough, and dedicated enough (or rich enough) to pull this off

This.

It's Andraste. Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

[Nephelem]

Fantastic to see things back up and running and thanks for the contact email.

[SHAFT]

The email for kranar makes sense. Very simplistic. No numbers, no innuendos, no nonsense. Kranar-on kranar.

[Androidpk]

The email for kranar makes sense. Very simplistic. No numbers, no innuendos, no nonsense. Kranar-on kranar.

As opposed to yours, XxShaft69420xX@pimp.com

[Allereli]

Doug's a complete douche, but I don't think he is both smart enough, and dedicated enough (or rich enough) to pull this off

It's really unfortunate how Doug comes across on the officials, in the couple of times I've worked with him on Wiki stuff I've enjoyed his input and skill. I really don't think Doug is the type to do something like this.

[Archigeek]

A few of you don't like Doug, or his opinions on the officials. Welcome to the free world.

In spite of your disagreements with him, he is very much a stand up guy. There's no way this is him. You guys need to find another boogie man. And please find him soon, so we can neutralize him.

[Fallen]

There are a lot of asshats on the officials, he's the only one who of late seems to have a real hard on for the PC. That being said, I'm perfectly willing to hear other completely unfounded accusations in addition to my own.

[caelric]

A few of you don't like Doug, or his opinions on the officials. Welcome to the free world.

In spite of your disagreements with him, he is very much a stand up guy. There's no way this is him. You guys need to find another boogie man. And please find him soon, so we can neutralize him.

As much as I think Doug is a douche (as I said), this is not something he would do

[caelric]

It's that Vanwen guy from DR (or whatever his name is) that's the pharmaceutical company guy.

[Viekn]

There are a lot of asshats on the officials, he's the only one who of late seems to have a real hard on for the PC. That being said, I'm perfectly willing to hear other completely unfounded accusations in addition to my own.

In general, what issues does he seem to have with the PC? Or if you happen to have a link to that specific forum thread, I am happy to go read it myself.

[Fallen]

Going through the officials looking for specific posts is like pulling teeth.

[Viekn]

Going through the officials looking for specific posts is like pulling teeth.

Oh, totally, I only meant if you had it handy or just knew which one it was. Hell, if I'm not willing to wade through a bunch of officials posts, I wouldn't expect anyone else to.

[WRoss]

Let's just say that it isn't some act against the hosting server and that it is against the PC. There are countless people who really hold a grudge against the PC. I've heard Inspire, this new Pollster guy, Doug, among countless other names thrown around. Not trying to sound all TV Showish, but the most logical answer is usually the correct one. In this case, there are some facts, as well as motives that would lead me to conclude that the most logical answer is likely a competing MUD and/or MUD Connector.



Throughout the month of September, GS and DR rose from unranked to highly ranked on both the mud connect sites.
There have been past hostilities towards GS on those sites.
There is theoretical monetary loss for other MUDs by having GS rise in rank.
The PC is ground zero for coordinating the voting on these sites.
In the past, there have been corresponding DDoSes against both the PC and the GS official services.
On October 1, both the officials and the login server for GS went down and quickly came back up. The next day, the PC goes down.


If it isn't just some random act against our hosting server, that would be the first place I'd look.

Wow, I need to go to bed.

[Allereli]

I thought Inspire was the pollster guy

Wasn't there a triple attack once earlier this year against the PC, play.net and Lich?

[Fallen]

Sounds good to me, W. That being said, I wouldn't rule out the fact that people are willing to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to get what they want out of GS, or GS related activities. I could easily see someone deciding that things like the PC and/or Lich going away is for the good of the game.

[Thondalar]

I can't imagine how anyone would see PC or Lich going away as "good for the game"...a lot of people are still here only because of those things.


Not me, personally...I played before any of these, and I'll continue to play until the hamsters stop running...playing without PC and Lich would be a bitch, but I'd still do it.

[Fallen]

You've never seen Candor's thoughts on Lich, T? His views aren't all that rare, even amongst those that use it.

[Kranar]

I think it's fairly certain that the person behind the DDOS on this site is the same as the person behind the DDOS against Lich. I'm not familiar with the DDOS against Simutronics, don't know any info about it.

Having said that I think it would be very counter productive to accuse anyone of doing this, there just isn't much of any evidence to go off of. People can be assholes on the one hand and never think of pulling a stunt like this, and someone might come across as a big sweet heart but secretly get a kick out of this. Without something concrete there's no way to tell. Witch hunts very rarely catch the actual culprit but they often do end up really hurting people and creating a poisonous environment.

My attitude is let's not give this person the attention they want. They are far more likely to burn themselves out and eventually mess up, leaving a trail behind. Until that happens we just continue to do our best to keep the community together.

[Thondalar]

I think it's fairly certain that the person behind the DDOS on this site is the same as the person behind the DDOS against Lich. I'm not familiar with the DDOS against Simutronics, don't know any info about it.

Having said that I think it would be very counter productive to accuse anyone of doing this, there just isn't much of any evidence to go off of. People can be assholes on the one hand and never think of pulling a stunt like this, and someone might come across as a big sweet heart but secretly get a kick out of this. Without something concrete there's no way to tell. Witch hunts very rarely catch the actual culprit but they often do end up really hurting people and creating a poisonous environment.

My attitude is let's not give this person the attention they want. They are far more likely to burn themselves out and eventually mess up, leaving a trail behind. Until that happens we just continue to do our best to keep the community together.

Nah, I'm not getting that angle from anyone I know, and most of my circle has been here a very, very long time...someone has a grudge, and that's fine...or, it could be someone completely random that has nothing to do with any of this otherwise. Just out for the "lols".

Regardless, I agree with your assessment. We're all adults here, keep on keeping on, and the children will lose interest eventually.

[Geijon Khyree]

Thanks for the work getting it back up and running Kranar.

[Thondalar]

Not sure why this posted twice, deleting this one as best I can.

[Cigger]

It's China. China did it.

[Tgo01]

I think Kranar is behind the DDOS attacks. It's the perfect crime.

He's both the hero and the villain in the situation. The book practically writes itself.

[Buckwheet]

Let's just say that it isn't some act against the hosting server and that it is against the PC. There are countless people who really hold a grudge against the PC. I've heard Inspire, this new Pollster guy, Doug, among countless other names thrown around. Not trying to sound all TV Showish, but the most logical answer is usually the correct one. In this case, there are some facts, as well as motives that would lead me to conclude that the most logical answer is likely a competing MUD and/or MUD Connector.



Throughout the month of September, GS and DR rose from unranked to highly ranked on both the mud connect sites.
There have been past hostilities towards GS on those sites.
There is theoretical monetary loss for other MUDs by having GS rise in rank.
The PC is ground zero for coordinating the voting on these sites.
In the past, there have been corresponding DDoSes against both the PC and the GS official services.
On October 1, both the officials and the login server for GS went down and quickly came back up. The next day, the PC goes down.


If it isn't just some random act against our hosting server, that would be the first place I'd look.

Wow, I need to go to bed.

I will say you have a point. I didn't know that the Simu services went down/attacked the day before. But that is a pattern that seems to have happened more than once now. I believe Tillmen has also put Lich services behind anti-ddos services so maybe we just got "lucky" this time in that they tried to hit all three services and PC's anti-ddos was down for whatever reason as Kranar said.



I thought Inspire was the pollster guy

Wasn't there a triple attack once earlier this year against the PC, play.net and Lich?

I believe it has happened more than once now.


It's China. China did it.

I am going to go with Shaft. Its ISIS, they don't like our way of life.

[Taernath]

[LIST]
There have been past hostilities towards GS on those sites.

The hostility I saw was limited to 'have you played GS', 'Yes, the sub prices make it suck.', 'oh ok'. There was a guy who was blatantly advertising that got crucified, but that's about it.

[audioserf]

I thought it was pretty commonly agreed that Geralt/GSRocks is just Inspire.

[caelric]

Most likely yes

[Tisket]

Doug's a complete douche, but I don't think he is both smart enough, and dedicated enough (or rich enough) to pull this off

You give the actual DDOSer too much credit. He/she is simply someone with an neurotic obsession and mommy issues. Probably didn't get hugged enough as a child.

[Tisket]

Also, I had Kranar's email address but I just assumed he was on top of it already. Silly me.

[Astray]

Oh DDoS.

I didn't know we were back to being 12 years old and learning how to be dicks on the internet.

[darkcipher]

Why use reasoned arguments and social skills when you can brute force your will upon others?

[Astray]

Why use reasoned arguments and social skills when you can brute force your will upon others?

I mean it works, y'know, if you want to be a dick your whole life and become unlovable.

[caelric]

There are plenty of socially inept people who are more than willing to take on that role.

[mgoddess]

obviously people are justifiably angry at me over this
I'd hope not. It's not like we're paying you to manage these forums for us, that'd be a different story. We always appreciate your hard work. Was just a minor inconvenience. Now for the nefarious pal of ours, that's where the anger is directed.
Exactly... we aren't paying K to host, manage, etc. these forums, they're a convenience to us. Thanks, Kranar, for putting up with so much b.s., both from us, and from the DDoS'ers, and keeping the PC up as much as you have been. We appreciate it!

[Allereli]

We're all adults here

Based on some of the rep I get, I highly doubt that.

[Androidpk]

Many thanks to Kranar and Buck.

[Kronius]

Exactly... we aren't paying K to host, manage, etc. these forums, they're a convenience to us. Thanks, Kranar, for putting up with so much b.s., both from us, and from the DDoS'ers, and keeping the PC up as much as you have been. We appreciate it!

I'd definitely be interested in and open to donating some funds to the upkeep of these forums, much like what a lot of us do for Tillmen in regards to Lich.

[Omrii]

I'm with Kronius on this. I'd be willing to donate to those providing this forum.

--Omrii

[Fallen]

I don't think Kranar is remotely hurting for funds (pretty sure he's at "Fuck You" money status), but i'd gladly chip in as well if he was interested in offsetting costs. DDoS protection isn't cheap.

[caelric]

I agree. I've throw a couple of bucks to the various forums I have been involved in, and I would do the same here.

[caelric]

I'd definitely be interested in and open to donating some funds to the upkeep of these forums, much like what a lot of us do for Tillmen in regards to Lich.

I think I just accidentally gave you neg rep because I was a retard and clicked on the wrong button. You'd think it would be easy to tell apart. Sorry 'bout that.

[everan]

obviously people are justifiably angry at me over this, so I channeled much of that anger to the host, since after all it's pretty crummy that the DDOS protection failed
Don't mistake anxiety or withdrawal for anger. We just miss our fix, but still channel the perception of anger to the host, you should get what you're paying for. If you have a bitcoin account, PM me with your address and I'll kick a little fraction over to you, since I now have all this exciting bitcoin, but nothing that I want to buy with it. Maybe I'll luck out and it will just bubble back up to $1k. Thanks for your continued and under-appreciated service to the community.

[darkcipher]

Nah, no one is mad at you, Kranar. We appreciate the time and effort you put into maintaining the boards. Thanks for sticking with it.


The same problem as usual. In fact technically the DDOS proxy is still down so the PC could go offline again any minute.

Some time in mid-September the DDOS Proxy Server stopped working for reasons I still haven't been told about yet and then I guess in early October our nefarious pal noticed that and decided to DDOS the forums again. The DDOS Proxy Server is basically what allows the site to remain available even in the face of a DDOS. It's basically a 10 Gbps shared proxy so if someone wants to DDOS us they'd need to REALLY hammer us and the cost to them to sustain a 10 Gbps attack would be quite substantial, far more costly than it is for me to protect against it.

The only reason we're back up is well... obviously people are justifiably angry at me over this, so I channeled much of that anger to the host, since after all it's pretty crummy that the DDOS protection failed and I wasn't told about it, and so the host moved us over to another server but I figure it's only a matter of time before the new server gets targeted again.

The host is working on getting the proxy fixed.

One complaint was that no one knows my contact info. I became aware of this problem on Sunday night, which was about a day and a half after the DDOS attack started, so of course an e-mail on Friday could have likely saved a day or two. Given how important it is for the site to remain available continuously for stuff like merchanting, if anyone has an issue with the site you should always feel free to contact me to let me know if you have connectivity problems.

My e-mail address is kranar@hotmail.com

[Kronius]

I don't think Kranar is remotely hurting for funds (pretty sure he's at "Fuck You" money status), but i'd gladly chip in as well if he was interested in offsetting costs. DDoS protection isn't cheap.

Right, I mean regardless, a little something to show our collective appreciation is all I had in mind. Even if he just withdraws it for a couple cases of really good beer or whatever floats his boat.


I think I just accidentally gave you neg rep because I was a retard and clicked on the wrong button. You'd think it would be easy to tell apart. Sorry 'bout that.

Surprisingly enough, you weren't the only person to neg rep me.

[Warriorbird]

I'm extremely grateful that Kranar has maintained the forum for so long... though some additional contingency plans for further outbreaks might be good.

As to speculation? I don't think it helps us much. While I'm pretty sure Geralt/Pollster is Inspire I think the rival mudconnecter or wildcard (like Vanmar) speculation is most probable.