Another day in nerd paradise - ad.info issues

[monchavo]

Absolute weirdness here at ad.info

"Most users ever online was 7864 on Fri Mar 13, 2026 4:18 am"

Crawlers and scrapers are filling up the PHPBB tables which caused an issue and prevented me the Admin from logging in.

All reset now and we're good to go.

As you were.

cheers

monchavo

[Not_Karl]

[3WE]

1. Thanks

2. I seem to have problems logging in from Apple devices: "Form Invalid" or something like that.

The good ole PC seems to keep me logged in. (Yes, I'm aware of the little "keep me logged in" box).

[Not_Karl]

1. Thanks

2. I seem to have problems logging in from Apple devices: "Form Invalid" or something like that.

The good ole PC seems to keep me logged in. (Yes, I'm aware of the little "keep me logged in" box).

The problem is Not_Apple devices, but any device that is Not_logged in.
I was getting the same error for several days when trying to post (I was still logged-in on my main PC) and when trying to log-in on any device (Windows PC, Linux PC, Android tablet and cellphone) and interwebz browser (Chrome, Edge, Brave) and then a couple of days ago my credentials expired on my PC and I could Not_log-in again until now.

I'm both glad and amazed that our resident pilots somehow survived without my professional advice.

[Gabriel]

The problem is Not_Apple devices, but any device that is Not_logged in.

Well, if you include devices that are logged in until in the middle of navigating the forum, and for no apparent reason, they suddenly become not_logged in, and then the site provides an "incorrect username or password" over and over when trying to log in until it suddenly (maybe the next day) it lets me log in with still the same username and password (which I don't ever enter manually thanks to autofill)... then yes, the problem is any device that is not logged in.

[Not_Karl]

...devices that are logged in until in the middle of navigating the forum, and for no apparent reason, they suddenly become not_logged in, and then the site provides an "incorrect username or password" over and over when trying to log in until it suddenly (maybe the next day) it lets me log in with still the same username and password (which I don't ever enter manually thanks to autofill)...

INDEED, happened to me yesterday after my celebratory post.
BUT I was also getting "The submitted form was invalid. Try submitting again." when trying to post from my still logged-in PC for several days

EDITED: And I got the same error again when trying to post this reply. Fortunately logging-off and then on fixed it this time (yes, I feared being unable to login again...)

[Gabriel]

Total airdisaster disaster in 3, 2, 1...

[Mr. Snappy]

Internet Research Agency is work hard fix problem on your behalf

Please standing by

Da

[monchavo]

Exceptionally frustrating day with about four hours fixing the board.
Sorry for the login problems. We have been under attack from bots and AI crawlers.
We're not out of the woods yet, but logins should now be possible.

[Not_Karl]

We're not out of the woods yet, but logins should now be possible.

Thanks!

[Gabriel]

Exceptionally frustrating day with about four hours fixing the board.
Sorry for the login problems. We have been under attack from bots and AI crawlers.
We're not out of the woods yet, but logins should now be possible.

If it's frustrating for us, the ungrateful user, I can't imagine how frustrating it's for you, the volunteer admin.

[monchavo]

Exceptionally frustrating day with about four hours fixing the board.
Sorry for the login problems. We have been under attack from bots and AI crawlers.
We're not out of the woods yet, but logins should now be possible.

If it's frustrating for us, the ungrateful user, I can't imagine how frustrating it's for you, the volunteer admin.

Thanks. Since 2013 :@)

Situation has been the weirdest since I took over and troubleshooting and fixing was tough.

I was a cigarette paper away from building a brand new board and importing the database (which might have been faster on reflection).

The short summary of the situation is:

- The board has been under attack from IP addresses in the US and Singapore, suspected to be AI crawlers from Alibaba (and possibly other ranges)
- The crawlers flood the server with activity and place strain on the DB, however, it also appears to have an impact on the stability of the board in ways I do not (as a simple admin) understand
- A PHPBB upgrade was applied with unknown configuration implications
- A cookie identifier issue was a parallel issue I had to resolve

The upshot is that I have applied Cloudflare services to the board to reduce the impact of the bot situation whilst I troubleshot the other issues. I disabled Cloudflare to run some checks during troubleshooting. Those other issues have now, hopefully, been resolved in a marathon session on Thursday night, ending at 01:30 UTC.

I have not yet re-applied Cloudflare but will consider doing so over the next few days. I am flying from FAO-LGW on Sunday night and will reassess the situation when I am in London on Monday or Tuesday.

Until then, please continue to use the board and fly safe.

monchavo