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DDOS Attacks, Server Load Issues and Donations.

krtx said:
I would suggest shuttering clearnet access and completely migrating to TOR. Would also partially resolve DoS attacks, or at least make them more annoying to execute.
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Not really, the clearnet site and the TOR site run on the same server. If the DDOS attackers can overwhelm the server... the load will be too high to serve TOR requests quickly. TOR as a ddos prevention only works if there isn't clearnet access to a site.
 
JustAGSDEnjoyer said:
While going to TOR only would have some benefits, it would probably also remove like 90% of the users here (which you may or may not see as a benefit depending)
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If the only thing keeping this forum alive is providing easy access to porn, then it has missed its objective of being a community platform and is frankly just another porn repository.

I can acknowledge that the problem stems from the userbase, but we also need to ask ourselves if we want to have those users, as they at best provide nothing, or are woefully irresponsible and do more harm than good.

Leaving a clearnet wiki / static site to educate and eventually provide a means to the TOR forum would be my opinionated compromise.

Then again, it's not my problem to solve, and the administration has their own ideas and plans on how to manage it.

tbh I'm figuring out that I'm on the wrong forum, as the more I care about zoo, the less I care about porn.
 
krtx said:
tbh I'm figuring out that I'm on the wrong forum, as the more I care about zoo, the less I care about porn.
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You are not the only one who has come to this conclusion.
Zoocadia was created for just this reason. It's a lot less active than Zooville, but is more focused on discussions and I personally like it better.
There is also a decent overlap of users between the two.
 
JustAGSDEnjoyer said:
While going to TOR only would have some benefits, it would probably also remove like 90% of the users here (which you may or may not see as a benefit depending)
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If such a large number of users disappeared, it would be impossible to pay the server costs and the server would shut down permanently.
This method is good as it works now, it just needs to be taken out of the hands of the current operator and some members should pay the costs.
 
MashaSobaka said:
If such a large number of users disappeared, it would be impossible to pay the server costs and the server would shut down permanently.
This method is good as it works now, it just needs to be taken out of the hands of the current operator and some members should pay the costs.
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I do wonder how big is the intersection of users that do not care for their own privacy / lack the skills to protect their privacy AND are willing to financially support this forum using crypto.

Note that dropping userbase would also allow scaling back on server capacity, so even if we loose a "potential" random patron, we might actually have a greater net positive.
 
JustAGSDEnjoyer said:
While going to TOR only would have some benefits, it would probably also remove like 90% of the users here (which you may or may not see as a benefit depending)
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The cake can be eaten and had at the same time so long as the traffic is distinguished.

The priority can go to Tor requests, a first chance queue that ensures Tor users get served whether or not the attack spam is happening or not.
 
ADreamOfLiberty said:
The priority can go to Tor requests, a first chance queue that ensures Tor users get served whether or not the attack spam is happening or not.
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I mean, that is basically how it works already. They have a frontend that has DDoS prevention services built in and hides the true server IP. Kinda like Cloudflare, but a different company (I forget the name of it)
When that gets overloaded, you can still access the TOR service. This is exactly what happened earlier this year.
 
JustAGSDEnjoyer said:
When that gets overloaded, you can still access the TOR service. This is exactly what happened earlier this year.
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If its just limited to the front end sure, but you can take down a server without touching the exposed website. Indirect DDOS is a thing, Also, it's not hard to create accounts and have them submit tons of requests that overwhelm the database at the same time you're engaging in another DDOS technique. There are a lot of times where even over TOR the site is slow as crap. There's times uploading a 2mb image would take 30 minutes because it'd keep failing due to lag and timeouts, and in these cases it was not related to anything related to my TOR relay, I could connect to other tor hidden services fine and upload/download fine elsewhere.
 
ADreamOfLiberty said:
If there is an .onion route (Tor hidden service) my Tor browser isn't finding it; but I suppose what you describe could be the case even without an onion route.
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The link is at the very bottom of the page in small letters. The server is not configured properly to announce it though.
And there are some site functions (like search) that still fall back on the public site address.
 
man it would suck to see it go down, ive loved every second I have been here, I dont have a single dollar to my name right now so I cant donate but I will do as soon as I can since I hate feeling like a leech, and I dont think any other place can replace this forum❤️
 
ZTHorse said:
Zooville has been facing an absolute wave of DDOS attacks and other denial of service tactics as of recent. The issue has gotten so bad & out of hand, i've come to help address and keep zooville running.

That is, keep zooville running as long as YOU the community, wish to keep it running. The staff has always agreed that to keep ZV running as long as it can be run, on the donation basis of the community to keep it running.

We are planning to spend a large amount of donations to fund the required DDOS protections and security measure to keep ZV running.

These expenses will be in the realm of an extra $3,000 per year to operate and with an additonal $3-5,000 upfront to initiate these upgrades over the next several months. likely before the end of December this year, onto the next year.

We have tapped into ZV's rainy day fund, and are grateful to have had it. However, it wont be sustainable unless YOU the zoo community wish to keep ZV alive with your donations. We can expect a yearly server costs of now 3800$ to 5000$ per year depending on the level of attacks we sustain.

I've been enjoying retirement, and glad to see ZV still strong 2 years later, and this is the limit of my return here. Keep the lights on, you the community still run things, and hopefully, keep this place a haven for zoo's worldwide.

Please Donate if you can. Zooville depends on it.

-ZTHorse.
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10/4
 
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