Server slowness

[jimnyc]

A short while ago we had severe slowness. Figured out that we had about 4,500 users online, and of course about 4,400 of them being "bot spam". There were many IP's hitting us, and searching the forum for indexing or whatever.

Nighttrain was kind enough to get on the phone with me. Took forever due to the slowness, but one by one we started blocking IP subnets. Eventually it started picking up speed. We still have 3,000+ online, but they will disappear soon as they have been blocked. I will block more if I find them.

Most of them were foreign, and one massive USA company that apparently we were getting nailed by. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon.

[Drummond]

A short while ago we had severe slowness. Figured out that we had about 4,500 users online, and of course about 4,400 of them being "bot spam". There were many IP's hitting us, and searching the forum for indexing or whatever.

Nighttrain was kind enough to get on the phone with me. Took forever due to the slowness, but one by one we started blocking IP subnets. Eventually it started picking up speed. We still have 3,000+ online, but they will disappear soon as they have been blocked. I will block more if I find them.

Most of them were foreign, and one massive USA company that apparently we were getting nailed by. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon.:clap::clap::clap:

I suspected something of the kind (.. and posted on it ..). Yes, this site is now loading at something approaching normal speed. Glad to see that it's being sorted out. Thanks to all concerned ... I'd hate to see this site rendered inoperable !

[NightTrain]

That was fun.. I've never participated in defending a site against a botnet before.

So, I'm just curious as to who the butthurt party was. Was it the hippie from CA? A random liberal that doesn't have the balls to debate?

[jimnyc]

Rick sat on the telephone with me, he was reading off multiple IP's to me to look up and helping me identify and block them. We would still likely be down/slow right now if not for his help!!!

I don't know if it was an "attack", or if it was runaway bots. Usually it would be just one bot scouring the entire site, where in this case it was a bunch. For example, there were many in the USA, and also a few from Romania!!

[Drummond]

Rick sat on the telephone with me, he was reading off multiple IP's to me to look up and helping me identify and block them. We would still likely be down/slow right now if not for his help!!!

I don't know if it was an "attack", or if it was runaway bots. Usually it would be just one bot scouring the entire site, where in this case it was a bunch. For example, there were many in the USA, and also a few from Romania!!

'A bunch' suggests targeting to me. If it was a wholesale attack against many such sites in the US, surely there would be news reports saying that such a thing had happened. It'd surely also make the news, even in the UK ? But I've come across no such report. So your site was chosen ?

Jim, if so ... should you be flattered ?? Seems that someone out there is really bothered about your site's successful operation.

Stands to reason that a targeted attack comes from a source that finds outright attack preferable to attempts at debate ? To testing out standpoints publicly, instead, to test their worth ?

... so, from a Leftie source, then .. ? My thinking may be speculative. Seems to fit, though ...

[aboutime]

Jim. Romania? Really? Ring any bells....maybe???

[jimnyc]

'A bunch' suggests targeting to me. If it was a wholesale attack against many such sites in the US, surely there would be news reports saying that such a thing had happened. It'd surely also make the news, even in the UK ? But I've come across no such report. So your site was chosen ?

Jim, if so ... should you be flattered ?? Seems that someone out there is really bothered about your site's successful operation.

Stands to reason that a targeted attack comes from a source that finds outright attack preferable to attempts at debate ? To testing out standpoints publicly, instead, to test their worth ?

... so, from a Leftie source, then .. ? My thinking may be speculative. Seems to fit, though ...


Jim. Romania? Really? Ring any bells....maybe???

Guys, I'm no network expert like this. I'm good on certain things, but identifying and finding attacks are difficult. It wasn't even until I saw the users online that I realized something was up. We set a record today! LOL

I would have thought if it were someone commandeering, via a botnet from malware/virus, we would have seen IP requests from thousands of machines. We had thousands of requests during that time, but it was from about 12 IP addresses in total.

I've seen Google bots come here and have about 150 of their IP's here at once, and the same for MSN. I've seen it from foreign search engines as well, but I block most of them.

Could have been a few search engines gone awry, but I don't think so. I believe some weird behavior going on for sure, but it doesn't always mean it's directed. Could have been random too. Who knows.

Suffice to say, I'll be keeping a close eye on things. I have the webhost looking into a few things for me as well.

[Gunny]

A short while ago we had severe slowness. Figured out that we had about 4,500 users online, and of course about 4,400 of them being "bot spam". There were many IP's hitting us, and searching the forum for indexing or whatever.

Nighttrain was kind enough to get on the phone with me. Took forever due to the slowness, but one by one we started blocking IP subnets. Eventually it started picking up speed. We still have 3,000+ online, but they will disappear soon as they have been blocked. I will block more if I find them.

Most of them were foreign, and one massive USA company that apparently we were getting nailed by. Hopefully we'll be back to normal soon.

So this was YOUR fault? I was dismantling my freakin' computer and checking connections. You owe me a steak or something.:laugh:

[jimnyc]

So this was YOUR fault? I was dismantling my freakin' computer and checking connections. You owe me a steak or something.:laugh:

Nevermind the geeky guy in the closet playing with the wires!! :)

[Gunny]

Nevermind the geeky guy in the closet playing with the wires!! :)

I think you did it on purpose because Jeff and I were talking about you. :laugh:

[jimnyc]

I think you did it on purpose because Jeff and I were talking about you. :laugh:

Hmmmmm.... Ever hear of the old "tachy goes to coventry" in the older vbulletin days? I think you were able to set a member as such, and they can login, post and do everything, only the rest of the board wouldn't even see any of it. Kinda like putting that person on everyone's ignore list! LOL

[Gunny]

Hmmmmm.... Ever hear of the old "tachy goes to coventry" in the older vbulletin days? I think you were able to set a member as such, and they can login, post and do everything, only the rest of the board wouldn't even see any of it. Kinda like putting that person on everyone's ignore list! LOL

I only did it to ONE person. :laugh:

[NightTrain]

I only did it to ONE person. :laugh:


Please tell me it was PsychoBabble.

[Gunny]

Please tell me it was PsychoBabble.

Nah. It was some railroad mouth from NC that was worse. And yes, I said "worse". I only used it once because when you do the math, if you take the person out of tachy goes to coventry it screws up your board by inserting posts everywhere.

[NightTrain]

Nah. It was some railroad mouth from NC that was worse. And yes, I said "worse". I only used it once because when you do the math, if you take the person out of tachy goes to coventry it screws up your board by inserting posts everywhere.

Ahhh yes, I never thought of that. Suddenly all those old posts would show up as new posts... that would get confusing.

I suppose once Tachy does go to Coventry, it would be best to extend that ban eternally. That would be even more entertaining than miserable user.

[Gunny]

Ahhh yes, I never thought of that. Suddenly all those old posts would show up as new posts... that would get confusing.

I suppose once Tachy does go to Coventry, it would be best to extend that ban eternally. That would be even more entertaining than miserable user.

Miserable user was easy. Tachy goes to Coventry doesn't show up those old posts as new ones. It inserts them by date and time where they were originally supposed to be.

Miserable users just timed you out trying to log in.

[LongTermGuy]

So this was YOUR fault? I was dismantling my freakin' computer and checking connections. You owe me a steak or something.:laugh:


And a case of BEER!:coffee:

[Max R.]

That was fun.. I've never participated in defending a site against a botnet before.

So, I'm just curious as to who the butthurt party was. Was it the hippie from CA? A random liberal that doesn't have the balls to debate?

More likely someone seeking to cash in on email addresses or other information. With bots, as with spammers, it's a net as big as the Internet.

[NightTrain]

More likely someone seeking to cash in on email addresses or other information. With bots, as with spammers, it's a net as big as the Internet.


Well... maybe, but I really don't think so.

There were over 4,000 bots all on this site, performing searches and trying to PM users. At one point, the site didn't respond to me for over 22 seconds, and a few times it actually timed out. We identified the primary offending server (most likely being used as a proxy and it has a bad reputation for allowing attacks / spam traffic) and it began to recover after Jim began blocking swaths of addresses from that server. But it wasn't just the one server, there were others from overseas doing the same thing at the same time. It seemed to me like it was coordinated botnet assault - really, you're not going to gain any information by attempting to PM members and a lot were doing that over and over.

I can see where it could have been a mistake and there were runaway spiders because someone screwed up and added a zero somewhere, but then all those users would be from the same origin and there were quite a few different origins all doing the same pattern of crippling activity here on the board.

Legitimate spiders are up front with who they are - they'll say something like rate-limited-Googlebot or Yahoo or MSN... none of these identified themselves as such, and many were duplicated IPs doing intensive queries to the site all at once.

I think it was an attack, albeit a clumsy one that was called off when countermeasures were taken... but I'm not an IT guy and Jim knows a lot more about it than I do.

[jimnyc]

Just to assure some, all data is fine, including PM's and email addresses. What these folks want to do at a time like that is to make tons and tons and tons of requests to the site, no matter the request, with the intent of making so many, that the site will be dead/unusable/slow.

But those hitting the site, whether live people or bots, have the same rights to the board as any other guest. They will see an error message if attempting to send a PM or even view something they don't have rights to. When viewing "Who's Online", it shows us the IP address of each visitor, and what they are doing. All of these visitors also had a stop sign next to their names, or an error sign, meaning they were having an error message displayed on their side. Unfortunately, although they get nothing from us, it still uses resources to go through the request. And as you can imagine, even just a few thousand over a short time can kind of cripple a smaller site like this. Imagine some of the larger sites with redundancy that get hit with millions of requests in a very large botnet attack!

All is safe and all is well, and all of your data is fine - and no one's email addresses have been compromised. :)

[Jeff]

Hey Jim how about y'all just keep this thing going right, heck I don't want to hear all the boring details, just keep it running right. Thank you, that will be all.:laugh::laugh::laugh:


Seriously, appreciate y'all working so hard. :thumb:

[jimnyc]

Hey Jim how about y'all just keep this thing going right, heck I don't want to hear all the boring details, just keep it running right. Thank you, that will be all.:laugh::laugh::laugh:


Seriously, appreciate y'all working so hard. :thumb:

I feel bad that I got Rick involved too! I didn't mean to "put him to work", just wanted to have someone to bounce some ideas off of, and he had texted me shortly before. But I got to hear his wife too, so I technically "met" her. And she laughed at my NY accent. Mean lady. :)

But poor Rick was taking forever to load page after page after page and reading IP's off to me, looking for dupes, while I was running tons of them and finding out which were the sneaky bot bastards. Hopefully we didn't block like entire countries. :) I don't know if anyone from Romania can get here anymore. :)

Worst part? I originally opened a ticket with the provider. The guy gave me a typical canned response without even visiting the site. I kinda chewed him out a tad and then asked to have the ticket sent off to an engineer or supervisor. Within 5 minutes I noticed just how many visitors we had online and that was what was causing the slowness. I had to make a quick and huge apology to them. Sucks to make an ass out of yourself! :laugh:

[NightTrain]

Nah, it was fun to help defend the site.

And Sharon loves hearing people talking with NY / Jersey accents, since she grew up in Joisey!

IMO, you were right to complain to your provider... they should have seen the massive uptick in illegitimate users before even being called and started defending or at least alerted ownership that there was an assault. It had to be affecting them as well.

[Gunny]

Hey Jim how about y'all just keep this thing going right, heck I don't want to hear all the boring details, just keep it running right. Thank you, that will be all.:laugh::laugh::laugh:


Seriously, appreciate y'all working so hard. :thumb:


I feel bad that I got Rick involved too! I didn't mean to "put him to work", just wanted to have someone to bounce some ideas off of, and he had texted me shortly before. But I got to hear his wife too, so I technically "met" her. And she laughed at my NY accent. Mean lady. :)

But poor Rick was taking forever to load page after page after page and reading IP's off to me, looking for dupes, while I was running tons of them and finding out which were the sneaky bot bastards. Hopefully we didn't block like entire countries. :) I don't know if anyone from Romania can get here anymore. :)

Worst part? I originally opened a ticket with the provider. The guy gave me a typical canned response without even visiting the site. I kinda chewed him out a tad and then asked to have the ticket sent off to an engineer or supervisor. Within 5 minutes I noticed just how many visitors we had online and that was what was causing the slowness. I had to make a quick and huge apology to them. Sucks to make an ass out of yourself! :laugh:

That's YOUR brother, Jim? Sounds like mine. He still has his cell phone from 1998. :laugh:

[Gunny]

I feel bad that I got Rick involved too! I didn't mean to "put him to work", just wanted to have someone to bounce some ideas off of, and he had texted me shortly before. But I got to hear his wife too, so I technically "met" her. And she laughed at my NY accent. Mean lady. :)

But poor Rick was taking forever to load page after page after page and reading IP's off to me, looking for dupes, while I was running tons of them and finding out which were the sneaky bot bastards. Hopefully we didn't block like entire countries. :) I don't know if anyone from Romania can get here anymore. :)

Worst part? I originally opened a ticket with the provider. The guy gave me a typical canned response without even visiting the site. I kinda chewed him out a tad and then asked to have the ticket sent off to an engineer or supervisor. Within 5 minutes I noticed just how many visitors we had online and that was what was causing the slowness. I had to make a quick and huge apology to them. Sucks to make an ass out of yourself! :laugh:

I remember your NY accent the one time I talked to you. I probably sounded like a total hick to you, so I figured I wouldn't bring it up at the time. :)

[jimnyc]

I remember your NY accent the one time I talked to you. I probably sounded like a total hick to you, so I figured I wouldn't bring it up at the time. :)

The best was when I first went to visit Jeff in Georgia, and it happened to be quite a time since I last saw him and the boys. I arrived midday and then Jeff and I went to pick up the boys at school. While they did politely say hello, for the next 5 minutes they just kinda stared at me. I was like WTF? Why are you guys just staring at me? They were like "Uncle Jimmy, you sure do sound funny", in their little hick voices! LOL I just started cracking up. I'm like "I'M" the one who sounds funny? Kids were a trip. At least they were well spoken and polite (till we got in private and Daddy couldn't see them), unlike Boomhaeur and Cousin It who lived down the road. I'd rather stick a knife in my ear than hear them 2 weirdos talk again!

[Gunny]

The best was when I first went to visit Jeff in Georgia, and it happened to be quite a time since I last saw him and the boys. I arrived midday and then Jeff and I went to pick up the boys at school. While they did politely say hello, for the next 5 minutes they just kinda stared at me. I was like WTF? Why are you guys just staring at me? They were like "Uncle Jimmy, you sure do sound funny", in their little hick voices! LOL I just started cracking up. I'm like "I'M" the one who sounds funny? Kids were a trip. At least they were well spoken and polite (till we got in private and Daddy couldn't see them), unlike Boomhaeur and Cousin It who lived down the road. I'd rather stick a knife in my ear than hear them 2 weirdos talk again!

LMAO. Y'all have NO idea how you sound to us. Hell, I can understand Scots better than people from NY. (Oh, and my first wife was from Rochester).

Since I know who/what Cousin It is, I'm not sure I want to know who you're calling Cousin It. :laugh:

[jimnyc]

LMAO. Y'all have NO idea how you sound to us. Hell, I can understand Scots better than people from NY. (Oh, and my first wife was from Rochester).

Since I know who/what Cousin It is, I'm not sure I want to know who you're calling Cousin It. :laugh:

Hell, even I think New Yorkers sounds different than me!!

Jeff had a guy that lived down the road that you literally couldn't understand. He must communicate with everyone in writing. And his wife was a hairy and scary little woman. It's actually where my Chihuahua came from!! I'm afraid he would have been Chihuahua soup if I didn't pick him. :(

[Gunny]

Hell, even I think New Yorkers sounds different than me!!

Jeff had a guy that lived down the road that you literally couldn't understand. He must communicate with everyone in writing. And his wife was a hairy and scary little woman. It's actually where my Chihuahua came from!! I'm afraid he would have been Chihuahua soup if I didn't pick him. :(

Nah. Chihuahuas are family in the South. I actually find it funny when I talk to someone on the boards who have read only what I post. I usually get "You sound like a Southerner", or "You talk funny". I'm a native Texan. What does anyone think I talk like?

The biggest problem I had with my ex was terminology. I'd always be asking "Okay, what does THAT mean?" But then, we cut the lights off and warsh our teeth.

[NightTrain]

I thought it was hilarious that Jim claimed he didn't have an accent. :laugh:


FYI, Alaskans are the only ones without an accent. Honest Injun.

[jimnyc]

I thought it was hilarious that Jim claimed he didn't have an accent. :laugh:


FYI, Alaskans are the only ones without an accent. Honest Injun.

See, now I thought you sounded just like me, as in you didn't sound much different that most around here ('cept for the guido type).

[NightTrain]

See, now I thought you sounded just like me, as in you didn't sound much different that most around here ('cept for the guido type).

Actually, your accent isn't overly obvious at all, but still detectable. It was cute watching Sharon grin when she heard your voice, I think she gets homesick sometimes.

Now, a Boston accent... I've heard some of those and I was only able to decipher about 3 out of 5 words he was saying. The Louisiana cajun accent gives me problems understanding, too.

[Drummond]

Actually, your accent isn't overly obvious at all, but still detectable. It was cute watching Sharon grin when she heard your voice, I think she gets homesick sometimes.

Now, a Boston accent... I've heard some of those and I was only able to decipher about 3 out of 5 words he was saying. The Louisiana cajun accent gives me problems understanding, too.

As relatively small an island nation that we are .. the UK has several distinct regional accents. Easily the most impenetrable to the untrained ear is the Geordie one (Northumberland .. NE England).

Where I worked, we started employing a Geordie who'd just moved to London. Few people found it at all easy to understand him. So, there was a bit of an issue as to how to best make use of his individual attributes.

It was solved in the only way possible. We put him on telephone duty, answering queries from the general public .. :eek::laugh:

[NightTrain]

As relatively small an island nation that we are .. the UK has several distinct regional accents. Easily the most impenetrable to the untrained ear is the Geordie one (Northumberland .. NE England).

Where I worked, we started employing a Geordie who'd just moved to London. Few people found it at all easy to understand him. So, there was a bit of an issue as to how to best make use of his individual attributes.

It was solved in the only way possible. We put him on telephone duty, answering queries from the general public .. :eek::laugh:


There's a certain British accent that I almost can't understand at all... is it Cockney? I think it's because it's loaded with British slang combined with a very heavy accent?

I have a friend that lives near Gravesend, Kent. I can manage to keep up with him with a little effort, until he gets drunk and then all bets are off. Hell of a good guy, but he gets self-conscious when anyone mentions his British accent for some reason. I've always enjoyed hearing it, along with the Aussie accents.

[jimnyc]

Actually, your accent isn't overly obvious at all, but still detectable. It was cute watching Sharon grin when she heard your voice, I think she gets homesick sometimes.

Now, a Boston accent... I've heard some of those and I was only able to decipher about 3 out of 5 words he was saying. The Louisiana cajun accent gives me problems understanding, too.

I just don't like Boston accents as I instantly think "liberal" when I hear it, and the Kennedy's.

[Drummond]

There's a certain British accent that I almost can't understand at all... is it Cockney? I think it's because it's loaded with British slang combined with a very heavy accent?

I have a friend that lives near Gravesend, Kent. I can manage to keep up with him with a little effort, until he gets drunk and then all bets are off. Hell of a good guy, but he gets self-conscious when anyone mentions his British accent for some reason. I've always enjoyed hearing it, along with the Aussie accents.

I don't have any trouble with the Cockney accent .. possibly because I've a bit of a twang of it in my own voice ...

It's loaded with British slang, to those who are especially immersed in that accent and region it comes from. But not all Cockneys indulge in the slang aspect ... it's down to education to an extent.

South and east London are the 'home' to that accent ('within the sound of Bow Bells', according to tradition, though that goes way back). However, during and even after WWII, when London suffered from German bombing and its aftermath, so whole chunks of London's population ventured elsewhere for safety. Places like Kent and Essex have become increasingly inhabited by East Londoners (and their descendents).

[It somehow made sense to Cockneys to slightly SHORTEN the distance between themselves and the German bombers' point of origin ...]

Curiously, a 'sub-accent' is discernible from people in Essex .... sounds characteristically Cockney, only with a broader twang to it still. Or to put it another way, they're as common as muck ... and I should know, having once spent ten years there myself (my locality there had street names named after places I'd just come from, in London) ....:cool:

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

I don't have any trouble with the Cockney accent .. possibly because I've a bit of a twang of it in my own voice ...

It's loaded with British slang, to those who are especially immersed in that accent and region it comes from. But not all Cockneys indulge in the slang aspect ... it's down to education to an extent.

South and east London are the 'home' to that accent ('within the sound of Bow Bells', according to tradition, though that goes way back). However, during and even after WWII, when London suffered from German bombing and its aftermath, so whole chunks of London's population ventured elsewhere for safety. Places like Kent and Essex have become increasingly inhabited by East Londoners (and their descendents).

[It somehow made sense to Cockneys to slightly SHORTEN the distance between themselves and the German bombers' point of origin ...]

Curiously, a 'sub-accent' is discernible from people in Essex .... sounds characteristically Cockney, only with a broader twang to it still. Or to put it another way, they're as common as muck ... and I should know, having once spent ten years there myself (my locality there had street names named after places I'd just come from, in London) ....:cool:
We Southerners are often accused of having a Cocky accent! :laugh:
And some of its well deserved since we shoot better than any other regional group in this nation methinks.
, 'Cause one-of-'em old boys raised on shotgun, so sings the great Hank Williams Jr.

"A Country Boy Can Survive"

The preacher man says it's the end of time
And the Mississippi River she's a goin' dry
The interest is up and the Stock Markets down
And you only get mugged if you go down town

I live back in the woods, you see
A woman and the kids, and the dogs, and me
I got a shotgun, a rifle, and a 4-wheel drive
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I can plow a field all day long
I can catch catfish from dusk 'til dawn
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke, too
Ain't too many things these ole boys can't do
We grow good ole tomatoes and homemade wine
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

Because you can't starve us out
And you can't make us run
'Cause one-of-'em old boys raised on shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma'am
And if you ain't into that we don't give a damn

We came from the West Virginia coal mines
And the Rocky Mountains and the and the western skies
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trotline
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

I had a good friend in New York City
He never called me by my name, just hillbilly
My grandpa taught me how to live off the land
And his taught him to be a businessman
He used to send me pictures of the Broadway nights
And I'd send him some homemade wine

But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife
For 43 dollars my friend lost his life
I'd love to spit some beech nut in that dude's eyes
And shoot him with my old 45
'Cause a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive

'Cause you can't starve us out and you can't make us run
'Cause one-of-'em old boys raised on shotgun
And we say grace and we say Ma'am
And if you ain't into that we don't give a damn

We're from North California and south Alabama
And little towns all around this land
And we can skin a buck; we can run a trotline
And a country boy can survive
Country folks can survive
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Definitely one of his best songs IMHO.
I once lived so damn much of that song. -Tyr

[indago]

There's a certain British accent that I almost can't understand at all...

It's because they annunciate only half a word...

[Gunny]

I thought it was hilarious that Jim claimed he didn't have an accent. :laugh:


FYI, Alaskans are the only ones without an accent. Honest Injun.

You're full of crap. Y'all talk goofier'n shit.:laugh:

[Gunny]

I just don't like Boston accents as I instantly think "liberal" when I hear it, and the Kennedy's.

Liar. You think "Red Sox fan". :laugh:

[Perianne]

I have traveled some. People say they cannot detect any accent from me. But that is because I put on my "proper speech" when traveling. I can talk Kentucky pretty well when I want to. So, I think while some of us take the extra effort to speak properly, others don't. And I guess that's okay.

I remember once we were in Chicago and were on a tour bus. On the front row were some guys from England and they were talking to the bus driver. Finally, the bus driver told them he could not understand one word they were saying. I can more easily understand black gibberish than I can some people from England.

[Drummond]

I have traveled some. People say they cannot detect any accent from me. But that is because I put on my "proper speech" when traveling. I can talk Kentucky pretty well when I want to. So, I think while some of us take the extra effort to speak properly, others don't. And I guess that's okay.

I remember once we were in Chicago and were on a tour bus. On the front row were some guys from England and they were talking to the bus driver. Finally, the bus driver told them he could not understand one word they were saying. I can more easily understand black gibberish than I can some people from England.

Because of a cockney accent ... or another accent ?

These days, there's a significant chance that 'a person from England' wears a turban. Or a burkha ....

If you ever come across a certain turd by the name of Anjem Choudary, give him a handbagging from me ....

[Perianne]

Because of a cockney accent ... or another accent ?

These days, there's a significant chance that 'a person from England' wears a turban. Or a burkha ....

If you ever come across a certain turd by the name of Anjem Choudary, give him a handbagging from me ....

I don't know what kind of accent it was. They didn't appear to be Muslims. They looked like regular people.

I honestly have difficulty understanding even British movies and TV programs. It doesn't click in my brain for some reason. The accent doesn't annoy me like Boston or Mexican accents do. I simply cannot process what British people are saying. I still love you though, Drummond. :)

[jimnyc]

Liar. You think "Red Sox fan". :laugh:

When I was there in Boston is was the "Sawx". I heard that in line at D&D from quite a few of them and almost laughed in their faces. :)

[Drummond]

I don't know what kind of accent it was. They didn't appear to be Muslims. They looked like regular people.

I honestly have difficulty understanding even British movies and TV programs. It doesn't click in my brain for some reason. The accent doesn't annoy me like Boston or Mexican accents do. I simply cannot process what British people are saying. I still love you though, Drummond. :)

Thanks for that last sentence, Periane .. you're a sweetie ...:D

As to whether you'd understand one word of my speech if you ever heard it ... that's another matter, I think ...

One of the problems with our Muslims is that some of them just look British, and in fact, a proportion are native Brits who've been converted (brainwashed ?) into becoming Muslim.

Consider Anjem Choudary's accent. He looks Muslim - of course. But he speaks with a native British accent.

I fully understand what you mean about not processing British speech. It seems, even to me as a born 'n' bred Londoner, as a less than 'naturally flowing' speech (though of course - Geordie accent excepted - I can always understand it).

Turning the tables, as to how I process American accents .. I don't think the British have the same issue, broadly speaking. OK ... I'd have a bit of difficulty with, say, a 'hillbilly' type accent, though if I listened carefully, I'd overcome the difficulty. Otherwise, the 'processing' goes just fine.

Have you ever seen the Jeremy Kyle show ? Do you have a problem understanding him ?

Over here ... we get both the home-grown show, fully British .. AND the version he has exported to the US. In all honesty, comparing the two, the American productions make for more 'comfortable' listening. I prefer the American ones.

[jimnyc]

A short while ago we had severe slowness. Figured out that we had about 4,500 users online, and of course about 4,400 of them being "bot spam". There were many IP's hitting us, and searching the forum for indexing or whatever.

Odd, just noticed this at the bottom of the board:


Most users ever online was 5,199, 01-07-2016 at 12:16 PM.

So that was after our last major episode. I don't recall this happening, so I obviously wasn't online, nor did I get hammered with automated emails that the server was dying. No need to even look at stats, as without looking I know it was the same thing, bot spam. Weird. Folks are weird around the world.

[Gunny]

Odd, just noticed this at the bottom of the board:



So that was after our last major episode. I don't recall this happening, so I obviously wasn't online, nor did I get hammered with automated emails that the server was dying. No need to even look at stats, as without looking I know it was the same thing, bot spam. Weird. Folks are weird around the world.

So this was YOUR damned fault? I'm getting tired of trying to fix my computer when it's you. Dammit. Heathen.

[NightTrain]

Weird... I didn't notice anything.

[Gunny]

Weird... I didn't notice anything.

You don't live in the same time zone as the rest of us. Probably slept right through the sh*t.

[NightTrain]

You don't live in the same time zone as the rest of us. Probably slept right through the sh*t.


Usually at 8 AM I'm here online... this time of year is really slow in this line of business.

[Gunny]

Usually at 8 AM I'm here online... this time of year is really slow in this line of business.

I remember being stuck in Anchorage forever. Do y'all ever have daylight there? And I left Okinawa once on a 14 hour flight and got home an hour earlier than I left. That was fun. Especially when I was used to driving on the left side of the road. I'm sitting at a stoplight wondering why that f*cker is 3 lanes over to the right? :laugh:

[NightTrain]

I remember being stuck in Anchorage forever. Do y'all ever have daylight there? And I left Okinawa once on a 14 hour flight and got home an hour earlier than I left. That was fun. Especially when I was used to driving on the left side of the road. I'm sitting at a stoplight wondering why that f*cker is 3 lanes over to the right? :laugh:


You must have been here during the winter months. In June it's daylight 24/7! You can really get some fishing in during that time o' year.

But right now it's almost 8:00 and still pitch black out. Just part of the gig and we all have kickass headlights!