I Needed Chat Room - But.... - Al-Anon Family Group

Flora123 · Senior Member

I Needed Chat Room - But....

david62 · ~*Service Worker*~

((((Flora))))

Not sure whats going on there...but have you tried going directly to

www.mipchat.net

I just tried it and it seems to be working fine!

David

bobump · ~*Service Worker*~

Flora,

It's a technical issue not a personal one I believe.

What is the site name you are hitting trying to get in and what happens whe nyou do?

Bob

Christy · ~*Service Worker*~

(((Flora)))

I'm sure you haven't been blacklisted. We love you!! No one would "throw you out"!!
You know that can't be true..
Try www.mipchat.net as suggested. Hoping that will work for you!!

Cjo

bcanuck · Senior Member

I haven't been able to get in for weeks either, keep getting a "security warning" pop-up. Maybe next near....sigh

No Flora, I don't think it's you, it's the "new and improved" version of chat.

Vent away here, we're always here.

Bonnie

ednaxray · Veteran Member

hold on sweetie,,it cant be u

i have not seen flumpy or she either today nor pico

so i think its something with the site.

www.mipchat.net try that

if it still say blacklist let us know

we love you so much,, at least i do..

John_R · Veteran Member

Hi Flora,

What's the exact message you are getting? I don't know about any user being "blacklisted". The ops occasionally ban a user for violating the rules of the room, but I don't think that is what is going on here.

As for the security warning thing someone else was seeing -- when running the new Java applet the first time you will get a warning dialogue asking you if you want to run it. It has the author's name on it (Phillippe DeTournay or something like that). Just say yes to this, and it will let you in. It probably will never ask you again.

alanon_2002 · Member

Hi, I have a problem getting into online places sometimes and that is due to the security I have on my computer and the firewall. sometimes I have to turn them off just to get in or list a safe site on the firewall. I dont know if this helps but it might.

John_R · Veteran Member

I have found out what the probable source of the problem is. Can't say with 100% certainty this is what is happening though.

The IRC server(s) that the chatroom uses are run by an organization called Webchat. As long as we are using those, we don't have much control over who they allow to connect to the servers -- this is something that's being worked on.

I just had a conversation with one of their admins and they told me that they use a blacklist called "spamhaus" to control who can connect. It is common for large ISPs to get added to these blacklists as people send out spam. Complaining about being on it will generally get you removed again.

The page to do this, and I realize it isn't very user-friendly, is http://www.spamhaus.org/lookup.lasso

It is likely that other people are complaining as well (your mail to some places will bounce while you are on that list also) and you will be removed without taking any action within 24-48 hours.

This won't be an issue once we get our own server set up, which I am working on doing.

John · ~*Service Worker*~

--- "John F. (MIP Founder)" <mip@12stepforums.net>

wrote:

> http://www.whatismyip.com/

> How to find out what your ip address is, shows you

> this information at the

> top of the page. (example: mine is 65.184.168.236)

>

> http://www.emailtools.co.uk/tips/blacklists.htm

> Explains how to check and see what servers you are blacklisted on, why

> and how to get removed from them.

>

> I was once blacklisted as well, come to find out

> that it was because I had

> set my email program to automatically bounce spam

> emails back to its

> original sender, in a attempt to flood them with

> their own junk email.

> Another thing that sometimes results in looking like

> you are sending out

> spam is automatic email replies, responders that are automatically

> sent out to people who email you. You may or may not have

> done either of these

> things, but something has you blacklisted on one of

> the list servers. The

> server we use our chat room on, adheres to the

> blacklist and stops people

> from being able to get on their server to gather new

> email addresses or

> create spam list from their server users.

>

> It took me about 24 hours after I sent in request to

> be removed from the

> blacklist. They will automatically remove you on

> request, but it takes a

> little bit of time before you are off all their

> list.

>

> Try this and let me know what you discovered, k?

>

> John

John_R · Veteran Member

I did some more research, and it does appear to be a spam-database blacklist thing.

Flora123 · Senior Member

I've just been into the chat room- it is 12.15pm here, and it worked perfectly!!!

Thanks to all for your help and support, and Edna, for your emails!

Don't know what you did, John, Edna and JMR, and, if you told me, I probably still would not understand - but thanks.

I feel a bit stupid for my first post, a realy "poor me" outburst, however, today is another day.....

Lots of love

Flora
xxxx

tea2 · ~*Service Worker*~

(((Flora)))

Yeah! So happy to hear this news

Tracey (tea2)

ednaxray · Veteran Member

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ive got my flora back

John_R · Veteran Member

I am glad everything got sorted out with that. A lot of these problems will be alleviated once we get the new server set up. There is a serious problem with spammers on the network we are using right now, and that is the reason they have to take such drastic measures. We will be leaving that behind us soon, if everything goes according to plan.

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