Ask a Moderator — Part 23

[Sertil]

Hi everyone, I doubt you remember me but about a year ago I was on here asking for help with my sister's account (her username is "Milopie"). Everything got fixed then, but it's not working again. She can log in, but she can't see most of the forums or post anything. This is the message she gets when she tries:
You have been banned for the following reason:
No reason was specified.

Date the ban will be lifted: Never
We find this especially perplexing because, well, she never posted anything, so how could she have done something worth being banned for?
Also, we've both tried searching her in the member list, and apparently she doesn't exist. Which is strange, because, as I said, she is able to log in.
I know there hasn't done much with her account (most of what she's done is browse the forums), but she would really like to be able to use it when she wants to. Is there any way to lift this ban, or to delete her account so she can recreate it, we'd both really appreciate it.
Thanks so much!
-Cory

[NikkiSue]

Sertil - People who use a wireless internet connection have been running into this problem a lot lately. I only saw four or five IP addresses for your account so that may (not) be the case here. There are not any indications of her being banned. PM me and give me the IP address. Have her try to log on ASAP and, if you can, let me know if she still shows as banned.

Sorry for the trouble.

~Nicole

[Padfoot Patronus]

How is it that a new thread I tried posting in RoR didn't appear instantly? Have you begun to mod-approve them first?

Thanks.

[NikkiSue]

How is it that a new thread I tried posting in RoR didn't appear instantly? Have you begun to mod-approve them first?

I just checked and YES, they are to be approved by a mod first. I am about to hit that area of the backstage area. ;-)

Sorry for the wait!

~Nicole

[bellanca]

I'm another person whose been banned for no discernable reason. The message is that my IP address is banned. I noticed the issue two or three weeks ago but haven't been able to go somewhere else to give it a try. It let me log in at a family member's house but I won't be back till next Sunday to check the boards again. I don't think it will allow me to read PMs at home either. Not quite sure what to do.

Thanks, emily


Edit. Thanks, I won't worry about, just check back once in a while I guess. I will say
I wasn't aware that the IP was through verizon, but all those companies are so intermingled...another reason to chuck my service and find someone better. Struck with ABS, I like that well not suffering the effects of course. At least no one hacked my wireless and got me in trouble! I was imagining all sorts of havoc in my name!!

[ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor]

I'm another person whose been banned for no discernable reason. The message is that my IP address is banned. I noticed the issue two or three weeks ago but haven't been able to go somewhere else to give it a try. It let me log in at a family member's house but I won't be back till next Sunday to check the boards again. I don't think it will allow me to read PMs at home either. Not quite sure what to do.

Thanks, emily

From what we've been able to discern, the only commonalities between the people suffering from Accidental Banning Syndrome are that they live in the US and that their ISPs are in some way affiliated with Verizon. I'm not sure why this is, but it may have something to do with Verizon and how they distribute their IPs. As far as we can tell, there is no way around it as of yet, because none of the IPs in question have been on our banned spammer list. It's a bit of a conundrum, but rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to work on it.

[Unregistered]

First, thank you for addressing the Accidental Banning Syndrome (which means my Verizon has failed me for the first time ever). I have been suffering from it since I registered, which just makes me sad. But is ABS the reason that there are some boards available in guest mode but not when I'm logged in? Because, right now, I can (obviously) post, but if I logged in, I wouldn't be able to even see the Questions forum on the MoM board let alone post in it.

[Essence_of_Lily]

Hey, my cousin was trying to make an account a couple of weeks ago, on my laptop.
For some reason, she never got the registration email which would complete the registration, and she tried to contact you, but she never got a reply. She tried again, but the same thing happened. Do you know the problem?

[ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor]

Hey, my cousin was trying to make an account a couple of weeks ago, on my laptop.
For some reason, she never got the registration email which would complete the registration, and she tried to contact you, but she never got a reply. She tried again, but the same thing happened. Do you know the problem?

The MNFF email system has not been working correctly for some time now. It's very hit and miss. If you can PM me her username, I can add her to the registered user list manually.

[Gmariam]

Okay, if the email system is preventing people from REGISTERING, what is being done about it? I mean, it's one thing to lose notifications for reviews, since we can still check manually. But that hardly matters if new members can't register to LEAVE them. Bad enough the malware probably scared loads of people off even reading; if they still can't use the site, they just won't bother anymore. And there are enough active members here that it seems only fair that after all this time it should be looked at. Is this something that the MNFF team needs to take care of, or the main site? What version of efiction do we use and can it be upgraded? I'm thinking it's been discontinued, so what about patching? If it will cost money to find a professional coder, is there a way to solicit funds from the main site to do so, since (I assume) they get all the ad money generated by the hits on OUR stories?
And it would be lovely to know what is being done, who is doing it --heck, who is still working here -- etc. etc. Transparency is a good thing.
THANK YOU!