ENWorld blocking my Internet address!

DrSpunj · Jun 18, 2014

Starting about 2 weeks ago I found I couldn't get to ENWorld on my computer or portable devices from home. At first I just thought the site was down for maintenance for a few days but then realized I could connect fine at work.

I have been working with my ISP today troubleshooting the problem thinking maybe they for some reason had it blacklisted or banned but we traced the connection and the link is actually being blocked at ENWorld, at the cyberstreet server/address. Using a different address there's no problem connecting but with my Internet address it's blocked. I have fiber optic to my house so I have a static address.

I'm a long time supporter and monthly subscriber and want to visit regularly to check up on D&D5e so how do I get my Internet address unbanned/unblocked/unblacklisted at cyberstreet?

Help please!

Thanks in advance!

Umbran · Jun 18, 2014

From your description, it is not clear to me if you are being blocked by cyberstreet, or by EN World.

One of the common techniques of restricting spammers is to block the IP they are coming from. Most home users have their IPs change occasionally as your ISP rotates things around. The end result is that every once in a while, a user can end up with an IP used by a spammer that has been blacklisted.

It is not within my power to fix the situation. You'll have to talk to one of the admins. [MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION]?

Morrus · Jun 18, 2014

"Blocked" is unfortunately a bit too vague to diagnose. Could you be more specific on what you see when you try to go to www.enworld.org? Do you just get a blank page, a 'page not found', an error message, a message saying you're blocked? It could be anything from an anti-spam measure to a broken router somewhere between you and the server, or any number of other things.

DrSpunj · Jun 18, 2014

Morrus said:
"Blocked" is unfortunately a bit too vague to diagnose. Could you be more specific on what you see when you try to go to www.enworld.org? Do you just get a blank page, a 'page not found', an error message, a message saying you're blocked? It could be anything from an anti-spam measure to a broken router somewhere between you and the server, or any number of other things.

I can send you a couple TraceRoutes that helped us figure out it was my IP. I'll have to do that tonight when I'm home since I don't have them here at work.

While on the phone with my ISP and doing troubleshooting they finally had me unhook my router and hook my computer directly up to wall/fiber optic system. When I did that EN World came up right away so my ISP figured it was my Apple Airport router.

So then I worked with Apple and they helped me determine that when my router is in place I have one IP address, and when I take the router out and reauthenticate with my ISP they give me a different IP address. When I put the router back in the chain I get my original IP address.

The Apple guy had me run TraceRoutes both ways, with the router (where I can't get to ENWorld) and without it (where I can get through). The TraceRoutes are identical except the very last step which was cyberstreet and only appeared without the router when I got through.

So I figured I'd have to get you my IP specifically and see what you could find out on your end. I just didn't want to post it here openly to avoid any mischief.

Is there a preferred email you'd like me to use, Morrus? Or send them as a message through ENWorld itself or what?

EDIT: Oh, and to your question when I'm using Safari it just says server not responding and when I use Firefox it says request timed out.

Thanks!

darjr · Jun 18, 2014

[MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION]; Please CC me on the ip address.

DrSpunj · Jun 18, 2014

Sent!

I just sent Morrus a private message with all the info I have and the exact error messages I get using Safari and Firefox.

Thanks

DrSpunj · Jun 25, 2014

I'm at work and checking the front page. It hit me I hadn't seen any subscription replies to this thread so I wanted to follow-up on things.

I sent the private message to Morrus directly. Is there anything else I can do?

Thanks!

DrSpunj · Jul 10, 2014

I'm back in Iowa from a vacation to the warmer parts of Florida and wanted to check in and see if anything had changed here.

I know with the launch of D&D 5e this isn't a major priority for EN World but that's exactly why I really want to be able to visit EN World from home; so I can look through the threads and participate in the discussions.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help solve this at the ISP, cyberstreet or EN World levels.

Thanks much!

Morrus · Jul 11, 2014

I've honestly no idea. We have no software installed that would block you like that. The only IP blocking thing we have is the banning tool, which gives people a banned message but they can still physically see the site.

DrSpunj · Jul 11, 2014

Bummer, I was really hoping the traceroutes I sent you with and without the block would help pinpoint the problem. From my end all I see is the timeouts in the browsers at the last leg of the traceroute at the cyberstreet.
As requested earlier in the thread I sent the same info to darjr today so he could check things out on his end.

I'm not sure how often the IPs get changed by my ISP. If this doesn't clear up before long I'll try checking with them I guess. :.-(