RFCM

Should be fixed now

Let me know if anyone still has problems

Mmm I'll have a look

Here is the file

Barry died of cardiac arrest following complications in Dec 2023, aged 75.

Hi son Barry Hill jr continues the family business. He sculpts still (he did a lot of the   Lurkio ranges ) but has moved to digital sculpting now. I don't know about the painting service . It became so hard to sent stuff back and forth to the Philippines following the 2020 duties changes I gave up then .

Fun fact was that Barry snr was the person who came up with the Lurkio monika a long time ago , some Frankie Howard quote .. when the first blog I did was 'a funny thing happened on the way to to forum '

QuoteVPN s we use by nature alter or IP addresses as a normal thing ?
So giving you our IP addresses this week might be different next time around ?

If the IP changes its a moot point, as its only blocking based on IP address. It why resetting router, release-renew IP also works.

There has been some disruption in access to the RFCM forum of late.

When accessing if you do get a message from BitNinja this is genuine. Whatever you have done has been deemed worthy of a security check. It might ask you for a captcha code. You must perform that test. If you do not, then its is likely that your IP will be blocked from access to the Forum.

If you do get blocked, please email me at admin@rulesforcommonman.uk I can request that you be unblocked. When you make this request please send me your IP address (use what is my IP) I will need the IPv4 number

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TLDR warning - read only if have an interest
This has been identified as a result of the ISP's use of BitNinja. BitNinja is some software that sits in-between the end user and the RFCM forum software ( a WAF - Web firewall). Its purpose is to analyse requests to any software that sits in the 'application layer'. This is to identify 'brute force' attacks, or 'denial of service' activity. However, the SMF software (The Forum) by its very design can look like one of these 'attacks'. BitNinja is being a bit twitchy and banning some users (by IP address) that it thinks are trying to make such an attack.

There has been some discourse between myself and the ISP about where any change needs to be. Their argument being that the SMF software is acting like one of these bad actors. My argument being that the check is bad - as it is throwing a false positive

The outcome is that all of the IP addresses that have been banned as a result of this activity have now been 'un-grey-listed'. As a workaround this looks to have worked for most of the users that have been banned.

On the RFCM as a precaution I have disabled some of the email notifications that get sent out. The reason being that a couple of folks noticed being banned following clicking on a link in a notification email.

At the moment nothing has changed other than a reset of IP addressed and the email notifications. I have reached a bit of an impasse with the ISP over this. Worst case is that we might have to move RFCM to a different service (one that doesn't use BitNinja). But we aren't at that point yet.

thanks
Simon

Quote from: Ilkley Old School on July 31, 2025, 08:21:02 AMLooks like something has changed. My WIFI connection is now working.

The ISP has un-greylisted your IP address. There is more to tell on this. But I just need to get to a conclusion with the ISP

before we get too far. Just checking do you have just a single 'box' to the internet? not seperate modem, wifi or switch in the equation?  It is just ethernet cable from the wall to the wifi box?

If you take 1 PC and it works on a different network/hotspot, and then not on your home network, then it does imply it not a PC issue and is network/modem/router related

Have you tried a 'hard' reset of your router? Normally there is a button you need to hold on /or hole for paperclip etc.

The full URL is https://rulesforcommonman.uk

try this

That's interesting as RFCM is HTTPS.

This sounds like a cache problem (trying to connect to an older version of the site )

What is the exact URL you use ?

This is covered in the FAQ here

While Martin says it's by design , I don't really like it , as it leads to 1/2 bases being useful in the square to absorb the hits, but reducing the final casualties 

Here are some more option Cannot connect to website

Just to confirm, it's not because you click the  mention link.

When one accesses the internet , you have an 'address' known as an IP address. The ISP has protection in that any nefarious activity will cause blocks on these IP addresses. It can be something as simple as too many incorrect login attempts (failed password) that causes this twitch . However , it more likely that a 'bot' impersonates an IP address and tries to gain access. There are hundreds of these a day in RFCM alone.

The easiest solution is the standard IT one. If you turn off the router then most have dynamic IP allocation so you just get assigned a new number. If you do have one that is static IP then you will have to change it manually

Thanks
Simon

The battlefield hobbies SB will stay as it is . I was only taking on the topic as a possibility to get attendance from wider group

The current numbers are just about viable , around the dozen mark. Ideally we'd want a few more just to get a bit more variety.

I do think if new version is available it might give it a shot in the arm.