The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
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bannination
- Captain
- Posts: 5781
- Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:58 am
- Location: Hendersonville
The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Doing the best I can to keep the site up.
Right now I just don't have much of a choice but to keep pouring money in until I can get some free time to try to weed them out.
Certainly feels like a distributed botnet. It's not coming from one specific place but absolutely EVERYWHERE.... but mostly outside the U.S with thousands of different IP addresses.
Anyway, increased the server capacity to a level they haven't matched yet to hopefully allow enough speed to confidently post.
Right now I just don't have much of a choice but to keep pouring money in until I can get some free time to try to weed them out.
Certainly feels like a distributed botnet. It's not coming from one specific place but absolutely EVERYWHERE.... but mostly outside the U.S with thousands of different IP addresses.
Anyway, increased the server capacity to a level they haven't matched yet to hopefully allow enough speed to confidently post.
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supesalemgr2
- Lieutenant Colonel
- Posts: 655
- Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2025 1:21 pm
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Thanks for the update. Good luck getting rid of them.bannination wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 12:52 pmDoing the best I can to keep the site up.
Right now I just don't have much of a choice but to keep pouring money in until I can get some free time to try to weed them out.
Certainly feels like a distributed botnet. It's not coming from one specific place but absolutely EVERYWHERE.... but mostly outside the U.S with thousands of different IP addresses.
Anyway, increased the server capacity to a level they haven't matched yet to hopefully allow enough speed to confidently post.
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Vrede too
- Superstar Cultmaster
- Posts: 63551
- Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:46 am
- Location: Hendersonville, NC
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Bastards. 447 guests at the moment. What do they gain?bannination wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 12:52 pmDoing the best I can to keep the site up.
Right now I just don't have much of a choice but to keep pouring money in until I can get some free time to try to weed them out.
Certainly feels like a distributed botnet. It's not coming from one specific place but absolutely EVERYWHERE.... but mostly outside the U.S with thousands of different IP addresses.
Anyway, increased the server capacity to a level they haven't matched yet to hopefully allow enough speed to confidently post.
Thanks, banni. I've always been happy to kick in towards your expenses.
If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission.
1312. ETTD. 86 47.
1312. ETTD. 86 47.
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GoCubsGo
- Admiral
- Posts: 26900
- Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:22 am
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
New record!
Most users ever online was 9600 on Fri May 22, 2026 12:14 pm
Most users ever online was 9600 on Fri May 22, 2026 12:14 pm
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000 000101 010202 020303 010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
Foxtrot
Delta
Tango
Foxtrot
Delta
Tango
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O Really
- Admiral
- Posts: 24830
- Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2012 3:37 pm
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Thanks banni - your work is really appreciated.
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bannination
- Captain
- Posts: 5781
- Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:58 am
- Location: Hendersonville
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
It was kinda fun watching it handle the load during that time, it was still responsive under that. I was constantly giving the box more resources which allowed more of these bots to connect, which made me have to add more resources..... and on and on...
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bannination
- Captain
- Posts: 5781
- Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:58 am
- Location: Hendersonville
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Appreciate the kind words everyone. I took a chance and just completely dropped traffic from China at the firewall. It seemed to make an immediate difference. I've shrank the box down to it's original size and now I'm just monitoring and playing with my food a little.
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GoCubsGo
- Admiral
- Posts: 26900
- Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:22 am
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Thx Banni!bannination wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 7:07 pmAppreciate the kind words everyone. I took a chance and just completely dropped traffic from China at the firewall. It seemed to make an immediate difference. I've shrank the box down to it's original size and now I'm just monitoring and playing with my food a little.
Bon appétit!
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000 000101 010202 020303 010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
Foxtrot
Delta
Tango
Foxtrot
Delta
Tango
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Vrede too
- Superstar Cultmaster
- Posts: 63551
- Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:46 am
- Location: Hendersonville, NC
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Forking Chinese botsbannination wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 7:07 pmAppreciate the kind words everyone. I took a chance and just completely dropped traffic from China at the firewall. It seemed to make an immediate difference. I've shrank the box down to it's original size and now I'm just monitoring and playing with my food a little.

If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission.
1312. ETTD. 86 47.
1312. ETTD. 86 47.
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bannination
- Captain
- Posts: 5781
- Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:58 am
- Location: Hendersonville
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
That one on the left is kinda hot, she's mineVrede too wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 7:37 pmForking Chinese botsbannination wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 7:07 pmAppreciate the kind words everyone. I took a chance and just completely dropped traffic from China at the firewall. It seemed to make an immediate difference. I've shrank the box down to it's original size and now I'm just monitoring and playing with my food a little.![]()
![]()
See AI... I'm accepting you.
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neoplacebo
- Admiral of the Fleet
- Posts: 13366
- Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 1:42 pm
- Location: Kingsport TN
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Thanks, banni, for all you do. It's taking me about thirty seconds after hitting enter to get anything. Looks like we're a target for sure.
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bannination
- Captain
- Posts: 5781
- Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:58 am
- Location: Hendersonville
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
They're definitely back this morning. I'm blocking Spain, next up may be Brazil.
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GoCubsGo
- Admiral
- Posts: 26900
- Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:22 am
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
CPF is getting nailed too.
Same software?
Same software?
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000 000101 010202 020303 010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
Foxtrot
Delta
Tango
Foxtrot
Delta
Tango
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bannination
- Captain
- Posts: 5781
- Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:58 am
- Location: Hendersonville
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Interesting..... They run behind cloudflare for extra protection, but for that protection you have to hand over your encryption keys to cloud flare which I'm not doing for a political forum, that's just moronic.
Probably similar software. Probably doesn't matter though the main limitation is the database server. Web server can keep up, but it's just way to many queries for small forum database server.
I've had to scale back up this morning to keep us alive.
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bannination
- Captain
- Posts: 5781
- Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:58 am
- Location: Hendersonville
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Has the site been feeling relatively decent the last two days or so?
The last 7 days graph shows a huge improvement, hope that's translating into the real world.

The last 7 days graph shows a huge improvement, hope that's translating into the real world.

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GoCubsGo
- Admiral
- Posts: 26900
- Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:22 am
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Major thumbs up!bannination wrote: ↑Wed May 27, 2026 4:49 pmHas the site been feeling relatively decent the last two days or so?
The last 7 days graph shows a huge improvement, hope that's translating into the real world.
![]()
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000 000101 010202 020303 010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
Foxtrot
Delta
Tango
Foxtrot
Delta
Tango
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Vrede too
- Superstar Cultmaster
- Posts: 63551
- Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:46 am
- Location: Hendersonville, NC
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Wonderful for me. I'm saving this graph as a testament to your greatness.bannination wrote: ↑Wed May 27, 2026 4:49 pmHas the site been feeling relatively decent the last two days or so?
The last 7 days graph shows a huge improvement, hope that's translating into the real world.
https://gallery.blueridgedebate.com/alb ... 164641.png
If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission.
1312. ETTD. 86 47.
1312. ETTD. 86 47.
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Vrede too
- Superstar Cultmaster
- Posts: 63551
- Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:46 am
- Location: Hendersonville, NC
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Hold my beer . . .bannination wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 7:05 pmIt was kinda fun watching it handle the load during that time, it was still responsive under that. I was constantly giving the box more resources which allowed more of these bots to connect, which made me have to add more resources..... and on and on...
I had some temporary issues last night.
Most users ever online was 12570 on Sat May 30, 2026 11:16 pm
banni vs the swarm

If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission.
1312. ETTD. 86 47.
1312. ETTD. 86 47.
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bannination
- Captain
- Posts: 5781
- Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:58 am
- Location: Hendersonville
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Thanks, I was on late last night and afternoon testing some blocking techniques, I'm guessing that I was actually the root cause this time.Vrede too wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2026 10:49 amHold my beer . . .bannination wrote: ↑Fri May 22, 2026 7:05 pmIt was kinda fun watching it handle the load during that time, it was still responsive under that. I was constantly giving the box more resources which allowed more of these bots to connect, which made me have to add more resources..... and on and on...
I had some temporary issues last night.
Most users ever online was 12570 on Sat May 30, 2026 11:16 pm
banni vs the swarm
![]()
Lemmo know if continues though.
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Vrede too
- Superstar Cultmaster
- Posts: 63551
- Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:46 am
- Location: Hendersonville, NC
Re: The bots.... and bots and bots and bots
Running kinda slow for me this evening.bannination wrote: ↑Sun May 31, 2026 3:45 pmThanks, I was on late last night and afternoon testing some blocking techniques, I'm guessing that I was actually the root cause this time.
Lemmo know if continues though.
Not bad.Users browsing this forum: Google Feedfetcher, Uknown Bot, Vrede too and 115 guests
Edit: Opps, different story on the Index page:
In total there are 6068 users online :: 3 registered, 2 hidden and 6063 guests (based on users active over the past 15 minutes)
If you want to achieve greatness stop asking for permission.
1312. ETTD. 86 47.
1312. ETTD. 86 47.