Steve, I have e-mailed you, while my IP is not dynamic in a sense like AOL, it is dynamic in a sense that it does change every few days to a week (sometimes a month) just as that is how Charter Communitcations seems to do such.

I can sypathize with you and the rest of the vBulletin Team as I am on the hosting side of things and know that surpressing a DoS or DDoS is not an easy thing to do, especiall when you are not at the DC and have little control over your hardware and the network it is connnected to.

Guys, please understand that Steve is not located at the DC, neither is any of the vBulletin team more than likely. While software firewalls can be installed, they do not match up to hardware firewalls and that CANNOT be installed without being at the datacenter, even at that a firewall cannot block everything incoming and outgoing, regardless of how it is built or how hard it may try.

DoS and DDoS is something that any popular website, even those that do not even receive 10% of the traffic will experience them. Complaining about it in this thread or forum, even to Steve and the rest of the staff is NOT going to get you anywhere anytime soon or at all.

Do you honestly think that moaning over the site being down is going to make it magically pop back up just so you can be happy? I don't honestly think so, but you are free to keep trying until you set one off and are banned for something you should not have said (I can't control the banning, but imagine steve and others can). While this may be a forceful way to get you all to realize they can do little other than to keep in touch with the DC, it may just have to be done if they are willing to go that far.

I own a hosting company, run vBulletinTemplates.com, was a moderator here, and have experienced my share of DoS, DDoS, downtimes, problems, errors and so forth and never in my life have I seen such a problem with something that cannot be controled physically by someone who leases, rents or has otherwise sent a server into a DC for hosting.

Now this is not directed to everyone, so please understand. I may be venting off since I am a host as well and can consider the fact that there is little that can be done, but honestly, come on, get a grip.

I cannot download vBulletin either, add me to the list, but I am dealing with it. YES, I have customers and yes they download and install it as well, more than likely some are here reading this thread too as with you, but do you seem them blaming an agreement or the vBulletin staff because they cannot download the software.

Correct me if I am wrong, but unlimited is not stated ANYWHERE in the contract/agreement as being 24/7/365 days a year without any interuptions, problems, faults, or restrictions nor does it state their liability for such....want to know why it is not there? Because problems happen, things happen and people deal with them as some of you need to as well.

Maybe I will be flamed for this post, maybe not, but I feel Steve and the rest of the vBulletin team will agree and possible have said (may have mis-read) but this whining and arguing is not getting you anywhere.

Funnier thing is this is the case for me for days.. I have never had problems reaching vb.org even in very bad times. (I know it was a bad time because there was only 5-10 users online.). But I cant reach vb.com for days with my ADSL. I can access both if I connect via dial up.

To ALL:
I believe this is a syber terrorism and we should all keep calm and stop blaming Jelsoft. Our getting mad to them is what the "bad guy" is trying to achieve. So if too many customers gets mad and Jelsoft starts losing cash, he might get what he wanted from them and then he can move to find another victim site in the internet and you can be a customer of this new victim either. (Or worse victim itself, as you have a website too!)

Jelsoft refuses to do what the bad guy is asking for and this is what we should all applause. If more companies chooses the same noble path, we can get rid of this syber terrorists. If companies start paying the bad guys so as to stop such attacks, you can expect more bad guys rushing the internet as this will become a "business".

This is not a time you should ask support from Jelsoft, this is a time you should support Jelsoft.

I have to agree with aliencode on the principle. A simple mailing script, sending notification to every registered owner would have been a starting point. THEN we would have known to contact support. Having to search the web to find this information is wrong. Are you concerned that an actual customer is doing this so you did not send out bulk emails? All in all I think this was handled badly although I will say this is the first "bad" thing that Jelsoft have done.

With that said, I will still be recommending VBulletin to a potential customer next week. I would just like to see a little better customer care next time something like this happens.

What's your support ticket number? I have been asleep - something I am forced to do at least once per day because of my weak constitution. ;)

Sorry you are disappointed in our service. I'm not sure what more I can do about this. I have many, many hours checking the support system and responding to these requests as quickly as possible. However I do need to sleep and consequently am not available 24/7.

As for the email to customers, I think that would have been a good idea. Sometimes we get so caught up in fighting the DDoS attacks and responding to support requests that we don't often think of every possible action.

What the heck are you talking about. I am the customer, I expect certain BASIC support. They could have sent me an email, instead they expect me to seek out the reason. What kind of company is that? Why is it MY problem they are getting attacked? Now you say that they will BAN me, well they already have they banned my range of IPs from accessing thier site. Sorry I think your points do not excuse them for what is thier responsability to thier customers.

Steve: issueid 100406
My IP will change next time I reboot my computer. Will I have to continue to send you emails?

I see the ever popular Template Monster is down too!...Its a conspiracy I tell ya ..a conspiracy!!

Well i personally think vB have been handling this excellently. While on one hand its easy for us to sit here and moan about beeing a paying customer etc, but the simple point is, they are doing all they can and im sure you could not do better yourself. If i was Steve i would be fumming at some of the attitude he has been given on alot of these posts, when he is only human.

1. You are right. Excellent support = banning customers from your site without notification.
2. I dont have to 'do better myself'. That is thier job to keep thier business online has nothing to do with me.
3. This is not an attitude its called customer support. I wouldnt even have posted this here if I had access to the vbulletin.com website.
4. It is Steve's job, he gets paid to deal with customer support.
5. They could have done better with a simple mass email.

I obviously love the VB product since I bought it, so dont try and win brownie points with the VB team trying to say I dont have right to support. Too many mindless drones. We dont want VB to be overthrown by Invision do we? We need to make them step up to the plate and be an example of a fine product with great support. I think thats what they want too.

I agree..... just another net-fact of life. Learn to deal with it.

I understand Steve and I wish VB team luck with dealing with those attacks. I know there are many ways(on the hardware side) to deal with it and I suggest you tell your uplink they need to provide you with protection.

I have nothing but respect and admiration for your team and your product and do not misconstrue my criticism. By getting caught up in those attacks and not keeping your customers in the loop you are letting that cyberterrorist who is DDoSing you win. Your customers should come first thats the first rule of business. Thanks for the reply today finally about my support ticket.

Well maybe they could have mass emailed all members, you are correct there. But everyone makes mistakes.

Now then you say it is their job to keep the business online, Havent you just stabbed yourself in the foot there, because that is exactly what they are doing :) If they did not resort to baning some IP's then the server would have got ddos attacked to death to the point where you would not reach any site at all.

I just think some people need to step back at times and see this through the eyes of the Staff of vb.com. Does everybody really think they are enjoying this happening? Do you think they want to mass ban IP's? Of course they dont, as you said this is their buisness and at the moment they are doing all they can to protect it.

I don't think it is Steve's job to support vbulletin.com customers via this vbulletin.org, or any other webiste that isn't vbulletin.com. As far as I know he is here helping on his own behalf, though he does not have to, and you think people would be more greatful for that. It his job to support users who email support@vbulletin.com. And even then it isn't his job to answer every single support query, as there is others in the position to do so as well. If I get an attitutde with someone who is here on his own time helping, I wouldn't expect a damn thing. Thats like going to your local Walmart manager's house to +++++ about customer support you got while you were at Walmart earlier in the day.

I want to purchase the vbulletin, and emailed support with what i thought was my IP, but I got the following message back:

"The IP address you have quoted is an internal network address. We need the IP address that you use to access the internet."

Would someone have a sec to tell me how to get this? I'm sorry, I just don't know, and I'm so excited about getting started with the vbulletin!

Cary responded to your ticket 28 minutes after you sent it. You didn't provide the IP address until about 5 hours later. By that time I was asleep. I took care of this when I woke up and responded to you more that 2 hours ago. You should be set now. :)

I read this thread at 21:00, emailed support@vbulletin.com at 21:02 (including my IP address) and had a reply from Steve at 21:02 along with access back to vbulletin.com at the same time. That is probably the fastest reply I've ever gotten from any tech support system so many thanks to Steve. Considering the situation not only are they doing the right thing in my eyes (not giving in to blackmail as I understand it) but they are doing everything in their power to sort out the problem as quickly as possible once they know you are affected.

Would a support site on a separate domain make a difference? No public HTML, just everything hidden behind a login form.

Let vbulletin.com live on as the sales site.

It wouldn't make any difference.

It's not the domain that is targeted, it's the server. And as soon as the attacker finds any official vBulletin site that he doesn't know about, he'll find the server IP and start attacking it. DoS attacks overload a server through the sheer number of requests it receives... I'm sure the vB team are doing all they can, but there isn't much that can be done. Even banning IP addresses would only stop an inexperienced attacker. :(

Click Start and then Run

Type command.com and press enter.

Type ipconfig /all and press enter.

Now look for "IP address: x.x.x.x.", where each x is a number between 1 and 255. You've probably got more than one, look for one different to the IP you sent to support@vbulletin.com.

My IP does not end with a .1 - .255 my IP ends with a .0
So just because my IP ends with a .0 I can't have access to the site.
Thats BS

Whoops. Yeah, it can end in 0 too, probably. (Can remember anything from my ICT lesson days.)

Getting old now ay John ;)

But could this be why I can't access Vbulletin.com? Because my IP ends in .0?

You may want to look at this. GRC went through a DDOS attack as well.....and documented it!

http://grc.com/dos/grcdos.htm

Made an interesting read :) Some points sounded like he was writting an action film though :)

What, as he entered the lair of the evil zombies? :ninja:

I um also unable to connect to vBulletin.com but hav access here...can somebody help me pls :)

Appreciate it.

email support@vbulletin.com stating your problem and your IP

Goodluck

Why wont Vbulletin e-mail their members about this? If I did not find this thread, how would I be able to connect to vb.com?

You used the IP address that your network card uses (an example would be 10.0.0.1). These arn't used by the internet, so when you run "Ipconfig /all" pick the other IP that you see... (not the 255.255.255.255 one either if you see that)


You could try accessing here and look in the left hand frame for your IP and country where your ISP is, in which your IP is obviously the number x.x.x.x :)

No. If you read the thread, it is more than likely that your WHOLE ip, is within a range of IP's that vbulletin.com has banned because also within this range are numerous computers that are attacking said website.

For Example, If you dont understand, and no offence if you do, your IP is 12.3.24.0 and vbulletin has banned 10.0.0.0 - 14.0.0.0...your ip is within that range, so your banned :)

Email them your IP and Customer number (if you have one) and you should be sorted soon :)

Optima, it has already been admitted by Steve that they didnt look at all the options and are sometimes too caught up in fighting the attacks that they didnt consider the best way to proceed.

Aliencode has already mentioned this point..and while i am not affected, the person under whom i have become a licensed member is (My Admin)..and as with yourself and aliencode, he hadn't a notion of what was going on, until i asked him to come to a thread and he told me vbulletin.com was down. Then i told him to email support. Without me, he would probably still be stuck thinking vb.com was gone forever.

My point is, you and aliencode arnt the only ones affected by this error in judgement, many of us are, and if you cant let a business/support team away with an error, then you need to find something better to do with your time!

Well, first I'll say that Steve Machol has helped me out of a bind that I was in, and I'll never forget that. Obviously people are frustrated and confused because they can't reach the site. vBulletin needs to take that into account and be understanding of the complaints and use the suggestion to email their customers about the situation.

I found this thread, but I would have thought it was just down and out and dead if I hadn't. That's not good. I asked around. Dead for them too. Hoping people stumble upon threads like this which explain the situation and instruct users isn't good.

But I suppose that's obvious (or at least one would think so).

John posted:
Click Start and then Run
Type command.com and press enter.
Type ipconfig /all and press enter.

Just note that this is not going to find your IP under all circumstances. It may only find your network IP. My suggestion is to go to this URL (not mine) and look at the IP it displays in the box (it displays your IP to you only, no one else can see it, someone else going to that URL will see their IP). That is the IP you send to vB. I could put something like this on my site, but I don't want to get banned for spamming my URL, so this was the best I could find. It's quick and easy for anyone of any level to use.

http://www.danasoft.com/sig/sig1jpeg.jpg

I hope it helps, and will be emailing with my IP. Nice to know vB's not dead, but I would have preferred not having to stumble upon this thread.

hi, im not a vb customer, but i haven't been able to access vb.com since like the 26th and i have some sites that are most likely using vb illegaly and licence numbers of people who have sent vb to me that i need to report, but im unable to get to vb.com to get the email address to report them to, so i wanted to know would i be able to email my ip to the support@vbulletin.com even if im not a customer and would it even work for me since im unable to access the vb.com url?

Pollo, there are some even easier websites that one can use to get their IP address.

Such as:

http://www.whatismyip.com/
http://www.network-tools.com/

Both of those will allow you to copy the IP as text, making it easy to paste into an email or whatever else.

I think you can send your report to support@vbulletin.com as well.
Or you can take this formular from vBulletin-Germany.com: http://www.vbulletin-germany.com/contact/piracy.php

email the relevant people as has been mentioned many times before at piracy@vbulletin.com. i am sure jelsoft will be very appreicative of your co-operation

Well i've emailed piracy@vbulletin.com a day or two ago and it no longer works.

I know I felt like :cry: lol. Yeah being serious though it was really interesting. He's one clever guy!

Notes from a not-going-to-be-a-new customer:

I must say that after not being able to access the main product site; not having any sort of direction as to where else I could view product information for this product; and reading a few attitude filled replies in the thread both to and from customer service; I will be looking for an alternative forum.

There are enough perfectly fine products available for free without the attitude that if I am going to pay for a product and support just to be ridiculed and chastised by staff. Nor will I pay for a product before I know what price it is or the features available.

It was really only because I bothered to do a search on yahoo that I could even find this site. Most people I know wouldn't even take that extra step. If you're wanting to let the DDoS kill your company; you're on your way to doing a good job. I for one am not willing to pay to be hassled.

I was really appalled by the tone inflection in your tech support responses and your flippance towards actually helping anyone. Your attitude that 'if you are having trouble, you should contact us' is perfectly fine if it's an individual problem; but when it is something that you know affects a large number of people and you do nothing about it; that is just unacceptable. I couldn't even purchase your product now if I wanted to; because there is no link whatsoever leading me to a 'purchase' page. If you think your product is god's gift to forums; and that all people everywhere will be lining up and jumping through hoops because of it; you are sadly mistaken.

Hoop jumping turns your customers into someone else's customers.