I banned 5000+ accounts, more to follow - WHY and LES improvements.

AnthonySmith

So, this probably needed to be done for a lot of reasons, but recently, when I found out that NodeSeek people are actually selling LES accounts or access to LES accounts, I moved this up the priority list, I had other things to do today, but hey ho... they don't care about what carnage they create as long as they get cheap servers, eh.

Nodeseek aside, there has never been any sort of bulk prune done to my knowledge here. We have a TON of almost certainly bot accounts built up over years, never logged in after registering, never used once. Hence, they are just an attack or misdirection vector I don't want, so they were set to banned to block the email address at least and the username, so they are essentially nullified.

Then we have the ones that have logged in at least once after the registration date but then never again for over 1 year, they have also been set to banned for inactivity.

Then we have the ones that registered 14+ days ago and never made a single post, banned.

Then finally, those that never made it out of being in the new member group within 14 days, banned.

There is a small chance some genuine accounts got mixed up in this; those banned for inactivity will see a message on how to restore their account and I don't expect that to take longer than 24 hours, worst-case scenario.

Next up, duplicates and bad actors, I won't make too many details public, but... I have inside info, lots of markers and lots of methods now to automate accounts that are very likely being shared, sold, moved between people and just straight-up ban evasion and duplicate accounts. I have a massive list to work through, and I will do that over the next few days so we have a clean slate for BF/CM. I will apply common sense and will not be doing this in bulk; I have around 1000 accounts to work through.

Additionally, we have a new bouncer in place for registrations, logins, and account use.

You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days, you cannot register with the same IP someone else has used in the last 60 days, email addresses during registration ignore the dotted and + notation now (outlook, gmail etc), dispoable/throwaway email addresses cant be used and there is a nightly update from the public maintained list, and another little fun issue, the click bots were able to attempt to register the same account with the same email and username and sometimes it even worked as good old vanilla core did not lock or impose uniques on these columns, LES version does now.

If you got caught up in this, in error, email admin@ and tell me why it is in error; if I believe you I will unban your account; if I don't, do not expect a reply.

.... large exhale ...

Edit: You might have seen an error if trying to make a post while this ran, should be fine now.

pvum

The Great Purge of LES?

sumo

@pvum said:
The Great Purge of LES?

2026 Epoch, the Great Purge.

Mumbly

Careful, @ehab has 11 brothers, and every single one has a legit account. So tread carefully before you start swinging that ban hammer!

ba796

Wow!.. I truly.. do **not **want to be in your boots! That a lot to cover but offering low costs does bring out the lowest of the low. Just have to keep the entry bar high. Good luck. Keep moving forward.

WSS

@AnthonySmith said: You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days

This is bad news for CGNAT carriers.

AnthonySmith

@WSS said:

@AnthonySmith said: You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days

This is bad news for CGNAT carriers.

Agreed.

cmeerw

@AnthonySmith said:

@WSS said:

@AnthonySmith said: You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days

This is bad news for CGNAT carriers.

Agreed.

People just need to move to IPv6 then.

BTW, do we have any statistics about IPv4 vs. IPv6 use for new user registration?

AnthonySmith

@cmeerw said:

@AnthonySmith said:

@WSS said:

@AnthonySmith said: You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days

This is bad news for CGNAT carriers.

Agreed.

People just need to move to IPv6 then.

BTW, do we have any statistics about IPv4 vs. IPv6 use for new user registration?

I can get the stats, did you have something specific in mind, time frame wise or user group wise?

cmeerw

@AnthonySmith said:

@cmeerw said:

@AnthonySmith said:

@WSS said:

@AnthonySmith said: You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days

This is bad news for CGNAT carriers.

Agreed.

People just need to move to IPv6 then.

BTW, do we have any statistics about IPv4 vs. IPv6 use for new user registration?

I can get the stats, did you have something specific in mind, time frame wise or user group wise?

Was just interested in very rough figures. Maybe an additional thought would be if IPv4 or IPv6 users are more likely to get banned/promoted (are bots trying to use IPv6 to evade IPv4 filters or are bot operators too lazy to set up IPv6)?

risturiz

Holy Moly Chicken Bots!! Thanks for your hard work @AnthonySmith

AnthonySmith

@cmeerw said:

@AnthonySmith said:

@WSS said:

@AnthonySmith said: You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days

This is bad news for CGNAT carriers.

Agreed.

People just need to move to IPv6 then.

BTW, do we have any statistics about IPv4 vs. IPv6 use for new user registration?

All time IPv4 vs ipv6
v4: 78%
v6:22%

last 100 days:
v4: 84%
v6: 16%

phart

I can get behind most of the changes apart from:
"You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days"
You know just passing through say an airport using public WiFi that someone else had also used in the last 30 days, seems quite strict. Also this effectively bans VPNs but then perhaps that is intended.

Maybe something to look at loosening after things settle.

Falzo

@phart said:
I can get behind most of the changes apart from:
"You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days"
You know just passing through say an airport using public WiFi that someone else had also used in the last 30 days, seems quite strict. Also this effectively bans VPNs but then perhaps that is intended.

Maybe something to look at loosening after things settle.

You sign up to forums while at the airport wifi a lot?

The statistics you see as an admin are often so obvious, so there is no need to question this decision ;-)

mhubud

Those of us who travel often and/or live abroad rely on vpns (at times full time on vpn for various legit reasons). Please have a process whereby real users (who rely on vpn) can still be part of this community (without having to jump extra hoops each time we want to visit the site). When OGF did a vpn ban many years ago, we could submit vpn subnets where we real users usually come from when vpns were blanket banned. Though I realize it might be too much extra work.

phart

@Falzo said:

@phart said:
I can get behind most of the changes apart from:
"You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days"
You know just passing through say an airport using public WiFi that someone else had also used in the last 30 days, seems quite strict. Also this effectively bans VPNs but then perhaps that is intended.

Maybe something to look at loosening after things settle.

You sign up to forums while at the airport wifi a lot?

The statistics you see as an admin are often so obvious, so there is no need to question this decision ;-)

"Additionally, we have a new bouncer in place for registrations, logins, and account use."

I thought this means in general you can't use an IP that has been used within the last 30 days?

AnthonySmith

It's not a VPN ban it's an account IP sharing restriction, I picked 30 days because that would not have hot a single user (except those that have already been banned for suspected account purchase) in the last 45 days so I added even more overhead.

Decicus

@AnthonySmith said:
It's not a VPN ban it's an account IP sharing restriction, I picked 30 days because that would not have hot a single user (except those that have already been banned for suspected account purchase) in the last 45 days so I added even more overhead.

But does that account IP sharing affect only registrations, or logins as well? It's probably not extremely common - but I'd argue it's common enough - that two existing accounts that log in via the same exit IP (as would happen with a VPN) could end up with a few false positives.

---

[...] dispoable/throwaway email addresses cant be used [...]

I assume this is specifically disposable email addresses/domains and not email alias services (e.g. Addy.io/AnonAddy, SimpleLogin, Firefox Relay etc.)?

AnthonySmith

@Decicus said:

@AnthonySmith said:
It's not a VPN ban it's an account IP sharing restriction, I picked 30 days because that would not have hot a single user (except those that have already been banned for suspected account purchase) in the last 45 days so I added even more overhead.

But does that account IP sharing affect only registrations, or logins as well? It's probably not extremely common - but I'd argue it's common enough - that two existing accounts that log in via the same exit IP (as would happen with a VPN) could end up with a few false positives.

---

[...] dispoable/throwaway email addresses cant be used [...]

I assume this is specifically disposable email addresses/domains and not email alias services (e.g. Addy.io/AnonAddy, SimpleLogin, Firefox Relay etc.)?

That was account IP sharing, it's not common at all.

mhubud

I realize that but if I understand it, only the first person to access LES from a shared IP (company, cgnat, etc) or vpn ip wins (for 30 days). It's fine, I just wanted to clarify.

rockinmusicgv

@AnthonySmith said: NodeSeek people are actually selling LES accounts or access to LES accounts

okay, but why? If it's a free sign up, why do you sell an account? Freakin weird.

Nekopara

surprised im not banned after reading this, im not commenting alot...mostly a reader

AnthonySmith

@rockinmusicgv said:

@AnthonySmith said: NodeSeek people are actually selling LES accounts or access to LES accounts

okay, but why? If it's a free sign up, why do you sell an account? Freakin weird.

Well as it turned out dangling free money at nodeseek users got me an explanation and a few double agents for hire on side, pretty cheap too, amazing how quick they even sell each other out.

It's because @ShockHosting emailed all people that used the LES exclusive offer to get their LES username and profile link to ensure it really was being used exclusively by LES members and they panicked after sharing the promo code.

This meant they needed accounts that pre dated the offer.

mhubud

Well as it turned out dangling free money at nodeseek users got me an explanation and a few double agents for hire on side, pretty cheap too, amazing how quick they even sell each other out.

It's because @ShockHosting emailed all people that used the LES exclusive offer to get their LES username and profile link to ensure it really was being used exclusively by LES members and they panicked after sharing the promo code.

This meant they needed accounts that pre dated the offer.

Wow. Ugh, these type of ppl have to ruin everything.

deko

My account is 13 days old and this is my first ever post💀 ...

I'm kind of happy I didn't get caught by this ban wave but I just want to lurk around a bit more 😅

I don't want to appear like I'm karma farming or anything, so I held off from posting.

yoursunny

@AnthonySmith said:
You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days

1. Reboot the optical network terminal.
2. New IP assigned.
3. The last household who used this IP happens to be another LES member.
4. Boom.

 

1. Invite classmate to LES.
2. Both logged in via school WiFi.
3. Boom.

 

1. Refreshed LES page while on Starbucks WiFi.
2. Another LES member was there last week.
3. Boom.

 

1. Refreshed LES page while on the bus.
2. The entire county bus WiFi has one IP.
3. Boom.

luis

Or use Hyperoptic, which does CGNAT, and get unlucky 🙃

WSS

@yoursunny said:

>

4. Boom.

5. Boom.

6. Boom.

7. Boom.

FAT32

Is my account still alive

jarland

Life goals: Make something so good people will sell it even if it’s free.

STICKnoLOGIC

if you read this comment, that means I am not included (yet) in 5000+ banned account...
good to go for smooth sailing!!

tulipyun

No banned users have been found in this thread!

abiaolaoge

I always use the cheapest NAT VPS as my VPN server, so my account is at high risk of being banned now. 😄

truemagic

@FAT32 said:
Is my account still alive

I just checked mine is still alive. I'm not even a NodeSeek member yet lol. Seems like there's a lot going on over there with all the LET/LES drama. Maybe I should spend some time...

dev

Pls nobody else use protonvpn

pdalancer

I'm just here to read and lurk. Please spare me! 🥺

gomi

it become better

zizai

I hope my account is still okay.

imok

@zizai said:
I hope my account is still okay.

Is it?

@FAT32 said:
Is my account still alive

Maybe

RedButtefly

Is there a minimum activity requirement to not be part of future bans? I mostly read the forums as I have very little to contribute

stupidgenius

How does the single IP limitation handle large networks like universities with people living on campus or even corporate networks?

curiouswanderer

@stupidgenius said:
How does the single IP limitation handle large networks like universities with people living on campus or even corporate networks?

Mentioned above

@AnthonySmith said:

@WSS said:

@AnthonySmith said: You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days

This is bad news for CGNAT carriers.

Agreed.

hiasakireina

I've only been on LES for about three days, haha. I was probably a bit too active on my first day since I'm totally new to hosting communities.

I actually found NodeSeek first while looking for a cheap VPS to run my QQ bot, but the invitation requirement put me off, so I ended up here.

I think the cleanup makes sense, especially with accounts being sold and bots hanging around. Thanks for putting in the effort to keep LES a nice place!

I probably won't be around every day, but I'll try to drop by every week to chat and learn a bit. Hopefully I can stick around!

lapua

a firestorm to purify! - always welcome, always refreshing!
plus, the background music:

@Mumbly next week i see ec! remebering teh good old times!
@ehab @everyone else who loves offbeat music

lapua

@yoursunny said:

@AnthonySmith said:
You cannot use the same IP as someone else within 30 days

1. Reboot the optical network terminal.
2. New IP assigned.
3. The last household who used this IP happens to be another LES member.
4. Boom.

 

1. Invite classmate to LES.
2. Both logged in via school WiFi.
3. Boom.

 

1. Refreshed LES page while on Starbucks WiFi.
2. Another LES member was there last week.
3. Boom.

 

1. Refreshed LES page while on the bus.
2. The entire county bus WiFi has one IP.
3. Boom.

boom means no les. ican handle it.

lapua

@FAT32 said:
Is my account still alive

no!

lapua

got @treesmokah banned?

bikegremlin

Plus addressing can make it more difficult to keep a track of duplicate emails automatically. A filter like "+" for disallowed email addresses may prevent plus addressing (with all the pros and cons of that choice). An even better option would be email address normalization when checking for blocked emails.

FrankZ

Ant be like ....

ascicode

@bikegremlin said:
Plus addressing can make it more difficult to keep a track of duplicate emails automatically. A filter like "+" for disallowed email addresses may prevent plus addressing (with all the pros and cons of that choice). An even better option would be email address normalization when checking for blocked emails.

Scan all between + and @ would make it as an option.

ascicode

@hiasakireina said:
I've only been on LES for about three days, haha. I was probably a bit too active on my first day since I'm totally new to hosting communities.

I actually found NodeSeek first while looking for a cheap VPS to run my QQ bot, but the invitation requirement put me off, so I ended up here.

I think the cleanup makes sense, especially with accounts being sold and bots hanging around. Thanks for putting in the effort to keep LES a nice place!

I probably won't be around every day, but I'll try to drop by every week to chat and learn a bit. Hopefully I can stick around!

If you're interested, you login at least once week. All other have no reason be here.