this is another conversation

Ok. What's the topic?

How quiet it is here on the Last Day page with only 6 boards with new messages. This is the first time in six and a half years that I remember it being in the single digits.

Well, it doesn't help that some of the topics, like the Classic TREK boards, are closed off for posting. I mean, I was gonna list some of the enhancements made to the ep, "The Trouble With Tribbles" til I saw the thread was closed.

Of course, once we get all this registration business all worked out and are sure the spambot won't be able to attack again, then the boards will obviously be re-opened.

Live long and prosper.

Exactly, Benn. If it was just a matter of a few spam posts each day, it wouldn't be a problem to just block or delete them, but with this current 'bot posting a couple of hundred or more at a time, we just can't leave the boards open.
Hopefully we'll get it sorted out soon.

Yeah. Sorry, Benn.

Will everyone be notified when the boards are re-opened?

Well, I for one will make a notification on my boards when they're reopened.

I would like to extend my thanks to all the moderators and Phil for taking the time to address this spam crisis. I think I can say we all appreciate the hard work that has been put in.

clap clap clap clap

Phil Farrand for President!

The only problem I've run into with this is that the system is not mailing the new account information to the email address. It's not a huge problem, but I discovered it when I lost my first password & had to register for another account.

Neither email received any messages from nitcentral.

I never received an email either when I registered.

Me neither. I'm not sure that it actually does that.

I've made a couple of dummy accounts while trying things out and they never received any e-mails either. I suspect something isn't set up for those. It shouldn't be happening anymore as the topics that were requiring it have been reset to the group use/instant password setting.

I still don't understand what we're waiting for.

OPEN YE BOARDS!

Since Nitcentral is down to such few posts and things are kind of locked up, how about we reorg the main nitcentral discus page?

Combine the Star Treks together, (putting Enterprise with them so I don't have to scroll down through prehistoric topics to find it

Maybe Putting TV shows together sort of like what Luigi has set up in movies. drama, sci fi, comedies etc.

I'd also suggest moving the Kitchen Sink to the top of the list as that board would be the one used by any newcomers.

Authentication Errors are still getting through, so opening the entire board again would be dangerous - and messy - and a pain for the Roving Mods!

Butch Brooksheier: I've made a couple of dummy accounts while trying things out and they never received any e-mails either. I suspect something isn't set up for those. It shouldn't be happening anymore as the topics that were requiring it have been reset to the group use/instant password setting.

What does that mean? Instant password setting, I mean?

The reason it was a problem for me was that I incorrectly copied the first password it displayed. I thought "Oh, ok; I'll go check my email & get it," since the system said there would be one. Only--there was no email. So, I had to make a new account. Not the end of the world, by any stretch, but mildly annoying.

It means that when you set up a user account, the password is given to you right then, no waiting for an e-mail with a password. Helpful hint to all: Write it down. It won't be shown again. Once the boards are opened up again, you'll be able to post to all of them.

Hurry up and open the boards, its election day and political musings is on lock down...

Power to the people... well, I guess not...
Power to the spammers... for they aren't people...

Especially here in the state of Missouri because who wins the Senate seat here could make the US Senate Democratic and not Republican. SO GO CLAIRE MCCASKILL.

Unless of course, the dead are voting in Missouri again... or the dead are getting elected again...

Torque, I've reopened PM for now, since it didn't get spammed as much as movies. Hopefully the spambot won't adapt and take advantage of this opportunity. Enjoy.

Luigi, I can't post on PM. I get authentication errors.

Same here.

Really..."OPEN SESAME"...please!

I just got "Speed Racer-Vol 5." and there
are a lot of nits & observations I wish to post.

I can't post in PM either. Is this a devious ploy by Luigi to keep his opinions from being refuted by others or is it simply computer ignorance/stupidity/negligence on Luigi's part.

and I've tried clearing cookies, history, and temp files in case it was me... its not me... its definitely a conspiracy no doubt caused by Luigi's RED Army...

I've experimentally re-opened Farscape as the smallest of my four groups to see whether the spambot finds it or not. If I get hammered with a load of Authentication Errors, I'll shut it down again!

The spambot has just hit the Doctor Who, Star Wars and Political Musings boards.

So have the Lost and Battlestar Galactica boards.

Butch: It means that when you set up a user account, the password is given to you right then, no waiting for an e-mail with a password. Helpful hint to all: Write it down. It won't be shown again.

Yup. But the board still says that it is also sending an email & that is useful if you've done something like mis-copy a number.

If it's not emailing the password--perhaps it could be altered so it doesn't say it will?

You got me on how to go about it, Ibookwyrme. I think that's in the Chief's area of expertise.

How is it these "Authenication Errors" are getting through if all the public discussion boards are closed?

Does this mean someone who has logged in for a password is spambotting Nitcentral?

No. It has to do with the way spambots work. They obviously don't click the buttons. They do some stuff with the raw html, and submit that way, bypassing the "click" checks.

Well, not all the boards are closed, John. I opened up PM for posting.

I do have to say the 'bot has been hitting the BSG boards selectively, only in the Colonies discussion in the Flight Pod (a.k.a. the Sink) and one episode of season two. And only four times in the past week, at that.

Have we weathered the worst of the storm?

Not necessarily. It may not be attacking more en masse because most of the Topics are closed. I'm afraid to open up Movies for this reason, since of all the boards I moderate, those got hit the worst. I don't know if the same thing will happen if I open them up again.

I'm afraid to open up Movies for this reason, since of all the boards I moderate, those got hit the worst.

So maybe we should take away your moderator access and we wouldn't get hit at all.

Well, the only way to find out is open the board & see.

BTW something I tried when the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Movie thread kept getting hit was create a new thread and moved all the posts over & deleted the old thread.

True this was just 1 thread & not a whole topic of them, but so far the Buffy topic hasn't been hit since. (Although with my luck as soon as I hit post I'll discover 407 spam posts in the Buffy topic.)

As I understand it each thread has a different address so presumably the bot bookmarks certain threads & hits them over & over.

If that's the case, then just copy all the movies threads into a new thread of the same name and delete movies from Nitcentral.

The original movies that is.

I don't think we have made it past the bot. My board still gets it every few days.

Torque, you want me to copy all the movie threads into new ones? Do you realize how many boards that is? (Or am I misunderstanding you?)

Yes I want you to copy all the moview threads into new ones.

Yes I know how many boards that is.

So maybe we should take away your moderator access and we wouldn't get hit at all.

You know that might be a good idea after all. :-)

Hey, Then I get first dibs.

Torque: Yes I want you to copy all the moview threads into new ones.
Luigi Novi: Not happenin'.

As for removing my moderator access preventing getting hit at all, I don't understand. Can you clarify?

I'm afraid to open up Movies for this reason, since of all the boards I moderate, those got hit the worst.

My mistake, I didn't see the "of" when I made the comment which made it sound like you were pointing out that it seems that its mainly your boards that get hit, thus I was joking that maybe the spam bot doesn't like you. and would go bug someone else's site if you weren't in power.

One apparently mean spirited remark moved to the Garbage Dump.

It was a joke! Luigi gets to make snarky comments why can't everyone else.

I only got one.

Well apparently the [CENSORED] spambot isn't done.

Well, so much for my hope that the worst was over, and that re-opening Movies so that others could enjoy posting there might not be a bad idea. Guess we'll have to wait until Phil is fully done switching to the new server/Discus upgrade.

Torque: My mistake, I didn't see the "of" when I made the comment which made it sound like you were pointing out that it seems that its mainly your boards that get hit, thus I was joking that maybe the spam bot doesn't like you. and would go bug someone else's site if you weren't in power.
Luigi Novi: Okay, I gotcha. No sweat.

Justice Mann, you should have made it clear it was a joke. Since it could be taken as a serious insult, I moved it to the Dump. There's no inflection or tone on the 'net. You have to be clear something is a joke or it should be very obvious.
Lest you think I'm being 'holier than thou', I assure you I've stuffed my foot in my mouth a couple of times when I've posted something ambiguous. Just something everyone should keep in mind.

Sorry about that. Forgot my smiley. No problem.

I don't mean to sound impatient but would there happen to be a (tentative) timetable for when the boards will be reopened? I've e-mailed Phil but I forgot to put "For the Chief" in the subject line so he probably deleted it. If this is covered elsewhere I apologize.

Andrew, as far as we know at the moment, the Chief is still waiting to hear back from the people at Discus software. The Chief would rather have somebody with experience do the upgrade and move rather than try to do it himself and possibly have something go disasterously wrong and lose a lot of stuff.
In case it hasn't been mentioned, current plan is to upgrade the software and move us to another server.
When we know something definite, we'll pass it on.

Thanks Butch. That's probably a wise choice on the Chief's part. I was just curious, and a bit anxious I suppose as well.

not sure if the board for this is open so I'm putting it here

PS3 in Gamespot

How much money do you think Microsoft paid to get those Xbox pics in the PS3 page?

I just clicked last day for messages and it said 0!!!!

Not even a spam!!

AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

Shoulda waited about 7-28 minutes, buddy.