fyi- We're updating our DNS to cloudflare to attempt dealing with some bot issues

[Sean]

Hi All,

The server has been getting hammered by various bots the last week, driving up the server load. I just set us up with cloudflare which has tools to prevent malicious activity from hitting the site. It can take a day or two for this to fully kick in. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks,
Sean

 

[jimjm]

Thanks Sean.
Yeah, I've noticed that Photrio pages have been taking considerably long to load this week.
Appreciate the work you're putting into the site!

 

[Sean]

Ok we should be on cloudflare, but had a few glitches to get through, so some have have had no access for a bit. We are still adjusting

 

[Sean]

Thanks Sean.
Yeah, I've noticed that Photrio pages have been taking considerably long to load this week.
Appreciate the work you're putting into the site!

How are things for you now? We've got server load way down and before after is looking better:

before:

after:

I am still lining up a server performance expert to do a full system tweak as well.

 

[Sirius Glass]

 

[Dusty Negative]

Those are nearly Wallace (& Gromit) sized hands, Sirius.

 

[Sean]

I've further tweaked for protections against bad bots, and also rate limiting -for example 20 requests on the site within 10 seconds would likely be malicious.

 

[juan]

Cloud fare blocks my iPad with Brave browser. Firefox works.

 

[Sean]

Cloud fare blocks my iPad with Brave browser. Firefox works.

Brave seems ok on my mac desktop. Are you running through any proxy servers or VPNs on brave? I'll try my mobile version now. Ok, brave is running fine on my android. Is it giving you a particular error message? Thanks

 

[juan]

Yes, here’s the info Cloudfare reports
Cloudflare Ray ID: 7047bd07bb83b733 • Your IP: 67.187.47.213 • Performance & security by Cloudflare

Firefox on the same iPad works fine. I can just use that.

 

[Sean]

Yes, here’s the info Cloudfare reports
Cloudflare Ray ID: 7047bd07bb83b733 • Your IP: 67.187.47.213 • Performance & security by Cloudflare

Firefox on the same iPad works fine. I can just use that.

I added your ip, but it may change. I'll investigate the logs tomorrow and see why it happened. Did it ask you for a captcha type challenge to then let you through or a straight block?

 

[Sean]

Yes, here’s the info Cloudfare reports
Cloudflare Ray ID: 7047bd07bb83b733 • Your IP: 67.187.47.213 • Performance & security by Cloudflare

Firefox on the same iPad works fine. I can just use that.

I wonder if your Brave is using built in tor function, that would throw up a red flag maybe

 

[jnamia]

it used to be 5,000+ people logged in 24x7. seems most of the people ( 4,000! ) logged in were bots ?
now that's funny, who would have thought a 2ssian troll farm had an interest in aesthetics ...
I guess they have to be able to have small talk / conversation with their mark B4 they drain their bank account.

 

[Sean]

It could be a bit lower due to some services being restarted, but cloudflare is definitely blocking a ton of them:

firewall events in last 10hrs or so

We're still wrestling with a few bugs causing load time delays but hope to have it resolved soon

 

[radiant]

Works fine here with Firefox + tons of privacy blockers & pihole etc. "suspicious".

 

[MattKing]

It is really slow on updated Chrome browser and Windows 10.
It is definitely faster on Epic browser and Windows 10.
I think it is a bit faster on Edge browser and Windows 10.
All three on the same desktop.
My Chrome doesn't seem yo offer the ability to whitelist a website.

 

[flavio81]

It could be a bit lower due to some services being restarted, but cloudflare is definitely blocking a ton of them:

firewall events in last 10hrs or so

View attachment 304367

We're still wrestling with a few bugs causing load time delays but hope to have it resolved soon

Good work. I work on a payment gateway and this is a serious problem that causes frustrations.

 

[BrianShaw]

The bulk of the delays I'm seeing before photrio loads seem to be due to (I might not have them complete/correct):

dpm.demdex
signal-collector-beta
secure.pubads.g

... and others. The information is fleeting and difficult to read. It seems different every time I go away from Photrio and return again.

When those are not seen, Photrio loads quickly.

 

[juan]

I wonder if your Brave is using built in tor function, that would throw up a red flag maybe

I don’t know. I get the home page, but when I click on new posts or forums, I get the blocked message.

 

[radiant]

I don’t know. I get the home page, but when I click on new posts or forums, I get the blocked message.

Your device connects to your local wifi which uses network that is blocked, probably. Sounds like it is nothing to do with your device.

The site works fast to me, maybe it is because I'm blocking many of those tracking / "statistic" sites.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Your device connects to your local wifi which uses network that is blocked, probably. Sounds like it is nothing to do with your device.

The site works fast to me, maybe it is because I'm blocking many of those tracking / "statistic" sites.

+1
Adblocker Plus
DuckDuckGo Privacy
Privacy Badger

 

[Sean]

We have problems with the counts in the red flags causing too many queries, if you disable the flags for now the site should be faster, we're still looking into it

 

[radiant]

+1
Adblocker Plus
DuckDuckGo Privacy
Privacy Badger

Hah! Almost set here, but with CleanURLs and Privacy Redirect (no Privacy Badger).

I've also set up pihole on my local network - it blocks ~12% of traffic.

 

[radiant]

Ah, now I see what "red flag" means. I've turned those off week ago so that is why this is responsive for me.

 

[pentaxuser]

We have problems with the counts in the red flags causing too many queries, if you disable the flags for now the site should be faster, we're still looking into it

I have just done that and migration from one thread to another is only slightly faster if it fact all faster

pentaxuser