[RESOLVED] BANNED/K-LINED? Probably not. READ THIS.

zanzjan

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So, starchat seems to be having some significant issues that are resulting in random users getting dropped with a ban message and then being unable to reconnect. Instead they get a message saying they're not welcome and have been k-lined.

Starchat uses an outside service to provide them with a blacklist, which is a list of IPs that are compromised, virus-ridden, spammers, etc. (Your IP is the network address of your computer.) It seems like addresses are getting added to that list at a furious pace, such that we've seen people dropped from chat all throughout the day. A few users were able to reconnect by switching web clients -- enough that we at first thought the problem was limited to mibbit, but either that was never the case or no longer is -- but I would expect that solution may be temporary at best. It is also deeply unlikely that the ops are any more immune to this problem than anyone else.

I popped my head into the #starchat help channel and was told they were aware of the problem and working on it, but they had no other specifics than that, including no estimate for a fix. Since I suspect the actual problem is at the blacklist host, not starchat itself, they may not know any more than that. And obviously this is totally out of the hands of any of the ops.

So, if you suddenly can't get into chat, DON'T PANIC. IT'S NOT YOU. (Unless you called me a stinky rotten poopyhead and made fun of my elbows, then maybe it is you.)

We will post updates as we get them. If you need to check in here and be told we still loves you in the meantime, please do.
 
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Sydneyd

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Welp, if this is a plague, Kweei and I are in the first wave. It attacks chatters and ops alike. Godspeed to those of you who can still chat. Remember us, not for our endless whinings, but the good moments when we were honest and true.
 

dpaterso

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Candles have been lit and Kumbaya has been sung in a mournful key. Hope it goes away soon!

-Derek
 

lilyWhite

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I've gotten a response to my email, informing me that there was a problem with the proxy filters and that everything should be fine now.

I'm able to access chat via Mibbit now, so the problem is resolved for me and hopefully is for others.
 

zanzjan

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Based on word in-chat from a number of people affected by this that they'd been contacted and were now working, I'm gonna mark this as resolved :)