BB Error

[Joel]

Hi,

Just thought I should let you know I got this error about 5 mins ago:


The board was taking a while to load, but it seemed like an unusual error.

[Proud Pies]

email Mike as sometimes he doesn't see the messages in here straight away.

[David]

hmmm I've seen that before, generally I just refresh it and it's ok.

[Joel]

No rush Jacqui, whenever he sees it, it is ok.

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

The site's been running real slow for me since last night.
Is everyone trying to book their finals tickets through Nick's?

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

lol the site seems to have crashed shortly after last post. Back on now and it's flying

[Proud Pies]

yeah it was terrible earlier this arvo, but seems to be fine now.

[DaVe86]

i have also experienced difficulties. I suppose every pie fan is on the net to get the latest.

[Mike]

Your error Joel and the performance problems over the last few days noted by the others have been due to repeated spam floods bogging down the mail server and bringing the system to its knees.

We're slowly building up some protection, but it's difficult to do. Every piece of email has to be handled by the server before it can filter out the crap and the amount of spam is just overwhelming.

We're getting there slowly, but you may have to tolerate some performance problems now and then.

[The Prototype]

Where's all that spam coming from?

[Joel]

Thanks Mike. Is that the reason I am getting a bit in my magpie mail address as well?

[Mike]

It's not just us Joel, the whole world is getting it. Anyone who has ever had their email address published in plain view on the internet is getting it. 99% of it is removed by mail server filters before it gets to you and then most people have some sort of filter system running on top of that - so if enough is getting through to be annoying, just imagine how much you are actually getting and then multiply that by everybody using the server.

I keep all spam coming to me in a separate directory on the server for 30 days and then the server deletes it. The reason I do this is that it gives me an accurate idea of the flow of spam into the system. When I started doing it, about 4 years ago, I was holding about 2500 emails in that spam folder at any one time. So a month's spam to me (just me - not the server) was about 2500. At the moment that folder contains just under 15,000 emails.

We're at the point where the email system is no longer reliable. Spam filters have had to be tightened and tuned to the extent that legitimate emails are now starting to disappear and you can no longer assume that if an email does not bounce it is delivered. And we're very close to the point of the whole email system becoming useless, because important emails will either have to be backed up by snail mail or telephone.

[Joel]

Thanks for the info Mike. I understand that it is a wholesale problem, no issue there. It's a great service either way, and it has actually reduced a bit in the last couple of weeks.

[Proud Pies]

Joel, i use a programme called Mailwasher Pro that filters my mail from a few accounts before i download it. I look at the mail, if it's spam, it gets bounced back as if the email address it was sent to doesn't exist. If it's people i don't know, i get to read it first before deciding what to do with it. If it's viruses, I get to check that out first as well.

Then when I'm happy with what's there, i'll download what's not being deleted or bounced or blacklisted

Here's the link for the free download of Mailwasher

http://www.mailwasher.net/main.php

I have the Pro version from here:

http://www.firetrust.com/

[Mike]

Jacqui

I use Mailwasher too and agree that it's an invaluble tool that lets you check your mail out while it's still on the server, but please do the world a favour and don't bounce spam.

People bounce spam in the mistaken belief that if their email address appears not to exist then spammers will stop sending them spam. Bounced spam does not return to the spammers because spam never carries a legitimate return address - in fact it usually carries a spoofed address belonging to some innocent individual who is going to end up with your bounced spam.

Spammers don't care if email accounts are active or not - it costs them bugger all to send email out by the million and they count on a tiny percentage actually getting through and then getting a result. They're not interested in going through address lists and weeding out dead accounts, it's too much like hard work for a get rich quick scammer and would cost far more than just sending out mass emails. Because of this they never leave themselves open to returning bounces because 99% of their mail bounces. They don't care how many dead or non-existant email accounts they hit as long as they get 1 or 2 percent through.

Please turn the bounce off, you are only adding to the traffic and achieving nothing.