Forum innacessable today?

[DeanH]

Hi Marc
Hope you are well
I will pass on your idea to the owners.

[Mark187187]

https://copysubstancepattern7.live/5...ig2WXFCrxJY%3D

I still get redirected to this spam address whenever I try to access the forum from a google search for 'snooker forum' on google and select the top option. The link should take me to https://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/ but redirects to this spam page or similar 5 or 6 times before letting me access the site.

I use chrome browser on android, and the problem doesn't happen on my PC. I have a bookmark that works fortunately, but given that most potential new members will probably also be using the same browser on an android phone and trying to access via a google search, it could explain why the forum is so quiet. Whilst I appreciate having a bookmark helps, this doesn't help all the people giving up and going elsewhere. This has been the same for about a year now, and has been raised many times. Surely this should be a priority as an easy fix before the owners start thinking about advertising

[DeanH]

This is a known issue but not much can be done about a free text search on a search engine, else change the name of the forum completely
The link has to be removed by the search engines which wont happen this millennium!

[Cue crafty]

i see the forum is pole axed again, havent posted for days because I couldnt see any new posts, just thought it was quiet! I'm guessing many others have thought the same given the low level of activity. Real shame.

[Cue crafty]

its seems basically, if you hit the "Todays posts" all threads, even though not highlighted in the darker shade of font will have some updates to read. So post count, and last post by, are not working. These is also the error message again when you post that makes you think your post hasnt been accepted, but if you go back in after it will be there.

[Nifty50]

its seems basically, if you hit the "Todays posts" all threads, even though not highlighted in the darker shade of font will have some updates to read. So post count, and last post by, are not working. These is also the error message again when you post that makes you think your post hasnt been accepted, but if you go back in after it will be there.

I’ve posted this as an issue on the Support section. I’ve only just noticed this. Thought it was a bit strange that there was no posts. I’m also getting the error message when posting.

[John Flaf]

I thought TSF got hacked again ( last Friday?) page would keep timing out, gave up in the end.

[DeanH]

yep hacked again and needed rebuilding again (this takes most of the down-time) and as we have seen before it takes a few days for the system to get back to where it was before with the notifications and indicators back up

[Starsky]

Is it just this forum this keeps happening on Dean or is it a wider issue ?

[DeanH]

it is vBulletin wide from what I have been told, that is someone with lots of time on their hands has their computer constantly hitting vBulletin and damaging what they can when they
the owner and tech team are of course in contact with vBulletin a lot but the hackers are persistent

[Starsky]

So it’s not some ex snooker player and forum member holding a grudge then...

The hackers must be trying to blackmail vBulletin or something otherwise why would you constantly hack the same server ?.
I’m a bit of computer numpty but why else would you do it ?

[DeanH]

if I knew I would say, ?
too much time on their hands?
they probably don't even know what sites their Bots are hacking?

[Cue crafty]

So it’s not some ex snooker player and forum member holding a grudge then...

The hackers must be trying to blackmail vBulletin or something otherwise why would you constantly hack the same server ?.
I’m a bit of computer numpty but why else would you do it ?

Kudos in the playground....

[DeanH]

woo hoo we are back!
amazing how much you miss this old place when it is not here!

I believe that this down was due to a hack and then vBulletin not supporting customers very quickly....

and the TSF needing to be rebuilt again so the error messages and post counts probably wont work for a while.

[fkhan]

Yes, missed the discussions about the English open.