David Allen Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 I needed to look up some information on a thread from the old forum, and as of today, trying to visit http://www.afcaforum.com or https://www.afcaforum.com results in a direct to the new.afcaforum.com domain. Need to be able to look up some info. Please advise. Sincerely, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave McManaman Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Same issue here. Can access the old galleries, the old resources section, pretty much all of the old site but the old forum. I think it’s been a week or more for me. Before then, I’d get a spam redirect page about 50% of the time but would exit out and reenter without a problem. I use the old forum often because of the shear volume of knowledge there. Hopefully it’s not gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Clayton Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 http://afcaforum.com/category1/ 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave McManaman Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Thanks Tony! Same old same old with the malware but at least I can back out and get to it eventually!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Clayton Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 Your Welcome. I use Norton Security never had the problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kearns Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 I've been having issues gaining access to the old forum since early June. Is there a way around this? Any help would be appreciated! Server Error 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Allen Posted June 13 Author Share Posted June 13 4 hours ago, Mike Kearns said: I've been having issues gaining access to the old forum since early June. .... Mike, I just tried and got the same error. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Michael Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 (edited) The old forum server is NOT down, but it is—veeeeeeery slooooooooow!: Edited June 13 by Paul Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Carmody Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Kovar Posted June 18 Share Posted June 18 2 hours ago, Paul Carmody said: So sad 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave McManaman Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 Have we heard anything about the status of getting the old forum up again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Huber Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 On 6/13/2023 at 12:38 AM, Mike Kearns said: I've been having issues gaining access to the old forum since early June. Is there a way around this? Any help would be appreciated! Server Error 503 Service Temporarily Unavailable The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later. Same here. I went to Chrome and same thing. If I google images after entering topic, the old forum website topic images will be there. If I click on them, I get the server error. Can't even cheat or sidestep my way in. Priceless information and images on that website forums to revisit for present forum topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Kovar Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 13 hours ago, Dave McManaman said: Have we heard anything about the status of getting the old forum up again? Bupkis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Allen Posted June 19 Author Share Posted June 19 This morning I had a conversation with Annie. She has reached out to the owner of the old forum server. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Smith Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 Hi everyone, I'm the guy who manages the server. I have the old forum back up and running again for now, but it is not a sustainable site. It was being hit hard by a very bad "denial of service" attack that was having an impact on the entire server...not just that old forum. That kind of activity will continue to happen...and most likely get worse. The old forum is running on decades old code and requires an old version of PHP that hasn't been in production for years. That site will go permanently offline at some point and there will be nothing that can be done about it. That's why we set up the new forum. If you still reference that old forum you really need to copy and paste or screenshot of whatever you want to do to download that information and move it over to the new forum. The new forum has been up and running for 2 years now and we will do our best to keep that old code running, but like I said, it is not sustainable on a permanent basis. Chad 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Michael Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 34 minutes ago, Chad Smith said: Hi everyone, I'm the guy who manages the server. I have the old forum back up and running again for now, but it is not a sustainable site. It was being hit hard by a very bad "denial of service" attack that was having an impact on the entire server...not just that old forum. That kind of activity will continue to happen...and most likely get worse. The old forum is running on decades old code and requires an old version of PHP that hasn't been in production for years. That site will go permanently offline at some point and there will be nothing that can be done about it. That's why we set up the new forum. If you still reference that old forum you really need to copy and paste or screenshot of whatever you want to do to download that information and move it over to the new forum. The new forum has been up and running for 2 years now and we will do our best to keep that old code running, but like I said, it is not sustainable on a permanent basis. Chad There s a way to migrate *anything* . . . 😉$$$ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Peters Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 Is there any chance that the club can afford transferring the old site. Possibly by a dues increase? This information should be saved! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Allen Posted June 19 Author Share Posted June 19 4 hours ago, Chad Smith said: Hi everyone, I'm the guy who manages the server. I have the old forum back up and running again for now, but it is not a sustainable site. It was being hit hard by a very bad "denial of service" attack that was having an impact on the entire server...not just that old forum. That kind of activity will continue to happen...and most likely get worse. The old forum is running on decades old code and requires an old version of PHP that hasn't been in production for years. That site will go permanently offline at some point and there will be nothing that can be done about it. That's why we set up the new forum. If you still reference that old forum you really need to copy and paste or screenshot of whatever you want to do to download that information and move it over to the new forum. The new forum has been up and running for 2 years now and we will do our best to keep that old code running, but like I said, it is not sustainable on a permanent basis. Chad Thank you Chad. It is so frustrating that a DOS attack would be launched against an antiques collecting site. Very disappointing. What do they possibly hope to gain from that? I wish I had experience with web applications. I do develop and troubleshoot industrial control software so I'm not illiterate. What I wish I knew how to do was come up with a program to analyze the old forum database and move content into a static, read-only format which could be hosted alongside (or as a part of) the Fan Wiki area. Seems like a non-interactive form of website would be less susceptible to attacks. But again I don't know how the software works so that may be extremely involved to do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Michael Posted June 19 Share Posted June 19 1 hour ago, David Allen said: Thank you Chad. It is so frustrating that a DOS attack would be launched against an antiques collecting site. Very disappointing. What do they possibly hope to gain from that? I wish I had experience with web applications. I do develop and troubleshoot industrial control software so I'm not illiterate. What I wish I knew how to do was come up with a program to analyze the old forum database and move content into a static, read-only format which could be hosted alongside (or as a part of) the Fan Wiki area. Seems like a non-interactive form of website would be less susceptible to attacks. But again I don't know how the software works so that may be extremely involved to do. On 6/16/2023 at 12:24 PM, Paul Michael said: I just left an inquiry (voice mail) with Pamela Smith, who *appears* to maintain the servers NS3.spaceout.com and NS4.spaceout.com which from what I garner, host the domain for afcaforum.com, this after her website contact form was also NOT working for several days. . . 🤔 David, the 'attack' might be directed at a different site hosted there, or at the server(s) themselves, although there's plenty reasons why this site with its vulnerabilities would be the access target... But data is data and any data can be migrated to a new code running on an up to date (security-wise) server. it just takes thought, time, and $$$. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Allen Posted June 20 Author Share Posted June 20 2 hours ago, Paul Michael said: David, the 'attack' might be directed at a different site hosted there, or at the server(s) themselves, although there's plenty reasons why this site with its vulnerabilities would be the access target... But data is data and any data can be migrated to a new code running on an up to date (security-wise) server. it just takes thought, time, and $$$. Yep, I understand. Agree completely. I'm just lamenting I don't have the experience to provide hands-on help with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Huber Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 10 hours ago, Chad Smith said: Hi everyone, I'm the guy who manages the server. I have the old forum back up and running again for now, but it is not a sustainable site. It was being hit hard by a very bad "denial of service" attack that was having an impact on the entire server...not just that old forum. That kind of activity will continue to happen...and most likely get worse. The old forum is running on decades old code and requires an old version of PHP that hasn't been in production for years. That site will go permanently offline at some point and there will be nothing that can be done about it. That's why we set up the new forum. If you still reference that old forum you really need to copy and paste or screenshot of whatever you want to do to download that information and move it over to the new forum. The new forum has been up and running for 2 years now and we will do our best to keep that old code running, but like I said, it is not sustainable on a permanent basis. Chad Thanks for the response and heads up. I wouldn't have a clue how to transfer that much data. It is what it is, thanks for restoring it for now. Time doesn't stand still for anything or anybody. Change is inevitable. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie Hill Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 22 hours ago, David Allen said: This morning I had a conversation with Annie. She has reached out to the owner of the old forum server. Thanks David.. actually , I reached out to Chad Smith. The old server guy/company is long gone and not available and to be honest, was not that helpful at the time...I appreciate your post regarding our convo... 🙂😀 It does however look like we have a volunteer amongst the posters here to set up and lead a committee to work on getting the old forum and all of the backed up, priceless info moved to the new site. I look forward to working with the team he puts together to do this job and reviewing the proposal for incurred costs to get 'er done... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Smith Posted June 20 Share Posted June 20 DoS attacks of this nature don't typically start off targeting any particular site. They are "bots" that simply scan countless IP addresses looking for known exploits in old code or services. Some are more sophisticated than others, but they all usually work the same way. That's why it will definitely happen again and from a technical standpoint that old forum really needs to be taken completely offline. If I block one bot, others will soon follow. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lane Shirey Posted June 21 Share Posted June 21 There’s a thread started in General column. Let’s combine efforts to that thread. I’ve proposed a path forward on this matter, but there will need to be volunteers, both for technical know how and grunt work to transfer data IF THIS can be done. Let’s stop complaining about it and try to find a fix. if you’re willing to volunteer when needed, please make it known on the other thread. We’ve been notified that there is an end of life soon for the old site. That is inevitable. What we do about it, is something we can change if we move on this instead of sitting on our hands saying “the old site doesn’t work” I lack the technical knowledge to lead this project, but I’ll be happy to grind through the old posts and help to move them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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