Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

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TedSwippet
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Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by TedSwippet »

As of recently, I am now regularly and repeatedly seeing the following when trying to access this site from Chrome:
This site can’t be reached

www.bogleheads.org took too long to respond.
Try:

Checking the connection
Checking the proxy and the firewall
Running Connectivity Diagnostics
ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT
It persists for an hour or so, and then clears. However, a local down detector reports no problems with the site, and indeed there are not; I can access it (as right now, in fact) using a suitable proxy.

It appears that bogleheads.org may be blocking my IP for some reason. It is however unclear what triggers it ... although I'm mostly seeing it during wiki edit sessions, and it usually leads to frustrating loss of edits.

Anyone else seeing this, or just me? Perhaps related to protections put in place to combat the recent DDOS attacks on the site? For the moment though, disruptive enough to make forum posting brittle, and wiki editing effectively impossible.
Last edited by TedSwippet on Sun Oct 06, 2024 8:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by jebmke »

I have not seen this. One thing you might try is to change your DNS server. It could be related to the DNS server.

Also, if you are using a Windows system I'd suggest flushing the DNS cache periodically. This can be done with the following command in Command.
ipconfig /flushdns
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nisiprius
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by nisiprius »

I noticed something like that yesterday, and maybe "occasionally." I haven't kept records but it might have lasted an hour In my case, the form it takes is that the page loading progress bar goes perhaps 25% of the way and then stalls indefinitely; attempts to reload the page produce the same results.

I've chalked it up to something related to the DDOS attack and to whatever actions the technical people have put in place to deal with it.

By the way, thank you for being a Bogleheads Wiki editor.
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TedSwippet
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by TedSwippet »

jebmke wrote: Sun Oct 06, 2024 7:54 am I have not seen this. One thing you might try is to change your DNS server. It could be related to the DNS server.
No visible problems with that:
crosh> ping bogleheads.org
PING bogleheads.org (142.11.200.210) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from ded445.hostwindsdns.com (142.11.200.210): icmp_seq=1 ttl=51 time=231 ms
64 bytes from ded445.hostwindsdns.com (142.11.200.210): icmp_seq=2 ttl=51 time=196 ms
64 bytes from ded445.hostwindsdns.com (142.11.200.210): icmp_seq=3 ttl=51 time=187 ms
Agrees with external DNS lookup:
IP Address: 142.11.200.210
All other sites are working fine. Only bogleheads.org times out.
jebmke wrote: Sun Oct 06, 2024 7:54 am Also, if you are using a Windows system ...
Thanks, but not. :-)
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mhc
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by mhc »

I had this happen on Friday. I accessed the Wiki then lost all ability to access this site. It didn't work in Chrome or Edge. On Saturday morning, it was working until I accessed the Wiki. I updated the firmware on my router and rebooted everything. I still couldn't get in. I couldn't get in on the DW laptop or my phone using the wifi. I could get in through cellular data on my phone. I figured it was the modem or router. I left for an hour and when I came back, everything was working fine again. Something got mucked up on my router/modem.

I wanted to plug my laptop directly into the modem to eliminate the router, but none of our laptops have ethernet ports.
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Raraculus
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by Raraculus »

It happened to me, too, on my desktop computer. I would go to bogleheads forum site on my phone and it would work. I think it's IP-based blocking rules or something to prevent heavy use.

I don't read the forums everyday. Just on the occasional weekend, and I try to catch up on posts.
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by LadyGeek »

TedSwippet wrote: Sun Oct 06, 2024 7:50 am ...Anyone else seeing this, or just me? Perhaps related to protections put in place to combat the recent DDOS attacks on the site? For the moment though, disruptive enough to make forum posting brittle, and wiki editing effectively impossible.
That's what I'm thinking. Please send me a PM with the IP address that's getting blocked, approximate time you had these problems, and anything else that might be helpful.
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nisiprius
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by nisiprius »

Something just happened to me, but I'm not sure it's the same thing. I was using the Apple Safari browser. I composed and tried to post in the "What Book Are You Currently Reading" thread. All seemed well, and "preview" worked, but when I pressed "submit" nothing happened. Interesting (and helpfully) the text in the edit box remained selectable, and I quickly copied and saved it. I tried waiting a while, pressing "submit" again, then a few browser page refresh and "submit..." no joy.

So I opened Firefox to see if I could access Bogleheads from a different browser. Bogleheads.org opened near-instantaneously. I found the thread, I pressed the "reply" button, pasted my saved text in, pressed "submit," and it was accepted and posted with, let's say, two or three seconds.

So presumably this doesn't have anything at all to do with my IP address. It is some kind of problem with "submit" sometimes stalling in Safari, but not in Firefox. Or "not in a different browser."

This is the posting in question:

viewtopic.php?p=8067506#p8067506
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by LadyGeek »

nisiprius wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 5:15 pm Something just happened to me, but I'm not sure it's the same thing.
It's not the same thing. If your browser can't access this site, you'll get a an error message that it can't connect. If it just hangs, then something else is wrong.
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billthecat
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by billthecat »

I've been having problems connecting over the last 24 hours too.
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by RetiredAL »

LadyGeek wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 6:04 pm
nisiprius wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 5:15 pm Something just happened to me, but I'm not sure it's the same thing.
It's not the same thing. If your browser can't access this site, you'll get a an error message that it can't connect. If it just hangs, then something else is wrong.
First, I'm not having trouble, but then I have been connected for days.

However, I do find it quite unusual to have so few logged into the site at 4pm Pacific time. "Users browsing this forum: linakin, Makefile, RetiredAL, RuralLivin and 5 guests".
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by yankees60 »

RetiredAL wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 6:10 pm
LadyGeek wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 6:04 pm
nisiprius wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 5:15 pm Something just happened to me, but I'm not sure it's the same thing.
It's not the same thing. If your browser can't access this site, you'll get a an error message that it can't connect. If it just hangs, then something else is wrong.
First, I'm not having trouble, but then I have been connected for days.

However, I do find it quite unusual to have so few logged into the site at 4pm Pacific time. "Users browsing this forum: linakin, Makefile, RetiredAL, RuralLivin and 5 guests".
I am only seeing me and 3 guests at 7:32 PM EST.
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by TimeRunner »

yankees60 wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 6:33 pm
RetiredAL wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 6:10 pm...However, I do find it quite unusual to have so few logged into the site at 4pm Pacific time. "Users browsing this forum: linakin, Makefile, RetiredAL, RuralLivin and 5 guests".
I am only seeing me and 3 guests at 7:32 PM EST.
It's only showing you who is browsing the "Forum Issues and Administration" community. Not many. :)
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by RetiredAL »

TimeRunner wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 6:40 pm
yankees60 wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 6:33 pm
RetiredAL wrote: Mon Oct 07, 2024 6:10 pm...However, I do find it quite unusual to have so few logged into the site at 4pm Pacific time. "Users browsing this forum: linakin, Makefile, RetiredAL, RuralLivin and 5 guests".
I am only seeing me and 3 guests at 7:32 PM EST.
It's only showing you who is browsing the "Forum Issues and Administration" community. Not many. :)
Got it. I never never knew it was thread dependent.

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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by sco »

I've noticed the same, however I tend to notice it when I login and try to catch up by reading a lot of threads in a short time.

I guess I assumed it was some rudimentary DOS protection that is a little to aggressive.

But yes then the site is unavailable for a while, but just from that IP address.
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by Point »

Do you have the same behavior when using a VPN?

Have you tried sitting content externally and posting final version to site to avoid losing edits?
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by sycamore »

sco wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2024 9:12 am I've noticed the same, however I tend to notice it when I login and try to catch up by reading a lot of threads in a short time.

I guess I assumed it was some rudimentary DOS protection that is a little to aggressive.

But yes then the site is unavailable for a while, but just from that IP address.
I've experienced the same thing more than a few times.

The circumstances are similar. What I often do is open 20 or 25 different tabs from the main page (https://www.bogleheads.org/) so I can read the threads I'm interested in.

At some point after opening those tabs, I try to open another thread and the browser hangs as described in the first post.

I haven't kept close track but it takes a fair amount of time like 20-30 minutes before I can connect again. Trying to reset things from my end ("ipconfig /release & ipconfig /renew") doesn't help, and I wouldn't expect it to.

This has happened with both my home computer (behind a typical router <-> cable modem setup) and my smart phone when I'm out using public wi-fi.

In the latter case, I've found that if I turn off my phone's wi-fi and use my cellular data plan then new connections work fine. This makes sense as I have a new IP address using the cellular network instead of the wi-fi.
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by LadyGeek »

sycamore wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2024 10:15 am I've experienced the same thing more than a few times.

The circumstances are similar. What I often do is open 20 or 25 different tabs from the main page (https://www.bogleheads.org/) so I can read the threads I'm interested in.

At some point after opening those tabs, I try to open another thread and the browser hangs as described in the first post.

I haven't kept close track but it takes a fair amount of time like 20-30 minutes before I can connect again. Trying to reset things from my end ("ipconfig /release & ipconfig /renew") doesn't help, and I wouldn't expect it to.

This has happened with both my home computer (behind a typical router <-> cable modem setup) and my smart phone when I'm out using public wi-fi.

In the latter case, I've found that if I turn off my phone's wi-fi and use my cellular data plan then new connections work fine. This makes sense as I have a new IP address using the cellular network instead of the wi-fi.
Try this: Login to the forum first - before opening those tabs. Then, open those tabs and read the threads you're interested in.
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by sycamore »

LadyGeek wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2024 12:08 pm
sycamore wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2024 10:15 am I've experienced the same thing more than a few times.

The circumstances are similar. What I often do is open 20 or 25 different tabs from the main page (https://www.bogleheads.org/) so I can read the threads I'm interested in.

At some point after opening those tabs, I try to open another thread and the browser hangs as described in the first post.

I haven't kept close track but it takes a fair amount of time like 20-30 minutes before I can connect again. Trying to reset things from my end ("ipconfig /release & ipconfig /renew") doesn't help, and I wouldn't expect it to.

This has happened with both my home computer (behind a typical router <-> cable modem setup) and my smart phone when I'm out using public wi-fi.

In the latter case, I've found that if I turn off my phone's wi-fi and use my cellular data plan then new connections work fine. This makes sense as I have a new IP address using the cellular network instead of the wi-fi.
Try this: Login to the forum first - before opening those tabs. Then, open those tabs and read the threads you're interested in.
I stay logged in; I don't intentionally log out.

I have run into the problem where I get logged out automatically and have to log back in, not as often as some others have reported. I'll keep an eye out for it and make sure I'm logged in before opening tabs.
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by sco »

sycamore wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2024 10:15 am
sco wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2024 9:12 am I've noticed the same, however I tend to notice it when I login and try to catch up by reading a lot of threads in a short time.

I guess I assumed it was some rudimentary DOS protection that is a little to aggressive.

But yes then the site is unavailable for a while, but just from that IP address.
I've experienced the same thing more than a few times.

The circumstances are similar. What I often do is open 20 or 25 different tabs from the main page (https://www.bogleheads.org/) so I can read the threads I'm interested in.

At some point after opening those tabs, I try to open another thread and the browser hangs as described in the first post.

I haven't kept close track but it takes a fair amount of time like 20-30 minutes before I can connect again. Trying to reset things from my end ("ipconfig /release & ipconfig /renew") doesn't help, and I wouldn't expect it to.

This has happened with both my home computer (behind a typical router <-> cable modem setup) and my smart phone when I'm out using public wi-fi.

In the latter case, I've found that if I turn off my phone's wi-fi and use my cellular data plan then new connections work fine. This makes sense as I have a new IP address using the cellular network instead of the wi-fi.
That's exactly how I use the site, and when I see the behavior. Its how I catch up at the beginning or end of day
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by LadyGeek »

sycamore wrote: Tue Oct 08, 2024 3:29 pm I stay logged in; I don't intentionally log out.

I have run into the problem where I get logged out automatically and have to log back in, not as often as some others have reported. I'll keep an eye out for it and make sure I'm logged in before opening tabs.
Be sure to check the "Remember me" box at the login prompt. Otherwise, you'll get logged out when you make a post.

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TedSwippet
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by TedSwippet »

LadyGeek wrote: Sun Oct 06, 2024 2:26 pm
TedSwippet wrote: Sun Oct 06, 2024 7:50 am ...Anyone else seeing this, or just me? Perhaps related to protections put in place to combat the recent DDOS attacks on the site? For the moment though, disruptive enough to make forum posting brittle, and wiki editing effectively impossible.
That's what I'm thinking. Please send me a PM with the IP address that's getting blocked, approximate time you had these problems, and anything else that might be helpful.
Currently locked out again, since approx 1010 UTC (using a web proxy at the moment). Mid wiki edit, as previously.

I'm going to halt wiki editing until this gets fixed. Working with the wiki as things stand is not manageable.
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Re: Is bogleheads.org periodically blocking my IP address?

Post by YeahBuddy »

Not sure but, maybe this is unrelated, I just received a "529 bad gateway" message. First time ever here. I hit back, then submit again, and it worked.
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