IMPORTANT - Board Updates, Security and Bandwidth matters

Hi everyone,

I have made a number of changes to the boards tonight and there are more changes on the way in the very near future. Unfortunately they are not new features, they are all to some extent firefighting.

The boards are currently suffering from two problems, spam and massive bandwidth overruns. I don't need to go into the problems with spam, they have been raised repeatedly already! What you may not be aware of is that right now this site is runnign massively over its bandwidth allowance, this month so far we are already at 150% of our allowance and the month is not over yet! The main culprit is the files section so there will have to be changes there over the next number of weeks.

Now, this is what has been done today:
1) Boards updated to phpBB 2.0.13 (the very latest version)
2) Visual confirmation added to the registration page. This should put an end to automated regisrations from now on and hence put a serious dent into our spam problem.
3) Email notification mod re-applied (so you shouldn't notice any difference in theory)

And this is what will be done in the near future:
1) Offsite linking will be blocked. There are a number of people putting images into the files section and then linking to them from other web sites directly or worse still including them in posts on other bulletin boards. This ammounts to giving our bandwidth ot other people and simply has to stop. I was lenient on this at the start because we had plenty to spare but Bandwidth is now a scarce resource so we cann't be giving it away ATM!
2) A maximum file size will be imposed on files upoloaded. Some people uplaod HUGE JPEGs that are simply FAR bigger than they need to be. This again has to stop as it is massively wasteful on bandwidth.
3) Some file types will be banned from the files section. BMPs have no place on the internet, they are un-compressed and as such MASSIVELY wasteful, they will be the first against the wall. I may also impose a requirement that only open formats be used but I haven't decided on that yet. (.pdfs that everyone can read instead of .docs that only MS drones can read).
4) User limmits will be enforced on file uploads, each user will be allowed to upload a set amount to the files section each month rather than the current un-limmited amount.
5) All users who have been registered for longer than a week without activating their accounts will be deleted on a regular basis.

Once these changes are made work can start on adding new features.

Clear Skies,

Bart B,
IFAS Webmaster.

Hi Bart,

Just a thought, but one idea people could think about is hosting their pictures (or at least some of them) on a photo sharing site like Flickr and just providing a link to the photo.

You may want to restrict the size of the avatars as well. Some of them are large (for avatars). They build up over time.

You may want to restrict the size of the avatars as well. Some of them are large (for avatars). They build up over time.

I have been thinking about that myself but for stylistic reasons more than anything else.

Overly large avatars distort that shape of the page and as such make any pages with posts by these users a little harder to read and a bit less pretty.

However, from a bandwidth point of view avatars are not actually causing problems ATM. I trawled through the Webalizer reports to see what the big guzzelers were and it's the files section that stands out above all else, hence that's where I'm concentrating my attentions ATM.

BB

Further update:

I have improoved the New Topic Notification System to remove most special characters from the emails you get and to stripp out any BB Code that may make its way in.

I have also re-added the code to show your IFAS club below your username when you post and in your profile. If you havn't yet set you club you can do so in your user control panel:

www.irishastronomy.org/community/userCP/index.php

Right, off to get some sleep now, that bloody missing hour is rally gonna hurt in the morning (It's almost 5 am as I post this!)

Bart B.,
IFAS Webmaster.

Hi Bart - can you put Kildare Astronomy Society (KAS) up as a choice please?

Appreciate it

Dave McD