Paflyfish Updates Fall 2026

[DaveKile]

Just some notes about some changes with the site coming up. The Internet has always been an ever-changing beast to keep up with over the years. There are always a variety of evolving standards, changes to operating systems, servers, applications, and many others that all happen behind the scenes. Paflyfish has had to adapt to this over the last thirty years. A couple of examples would be Google's requirements for site security and the shift in users from desktops to smartphones. The site changed over a few years ago to a new forum platform, Xenforo, and it helped accomplish those and more.

One of our bigger issues has always been dealing with unwanted foreign attacks. We had them in the form of human and bot user signups by the thousands on the old site. A daily chore of manually deleting this scourge, and again with the new forum platform, the problem was fixed. Not seen is a continued attack by these foreign bots still trying to get in and hammering the site for a variety of reasons. These systems are from Asia for some reason. They pose a security risk to the site and impact the performance.

I'm going to have to try and add a front-end system (Cloudflare) to filter traffic from certain regions and countries. I'm not sure how it will go and how it will affect the site and users. There are some of you that use VPNs and personal security software on your devices to keep yourselves safe on the Internet. Once these new security measures are installed, I'm not sure how this will impact some users here on the site. There may be some disruptions for all users by simply adding the service with no filtering, and then once I start filtering countries, some users might be impacted.

There is no intention to interfere with any traffic or users we get from North America. VPN's will still be permitted, just certain countries will be filtered.

The plan would be to get this started in the early part of November. I'll notify everyone once it happens. If there are issues for you, please try and post them in the Site and Forum comments. It is easier for everyone to see any known problems.

 

[JG63]

Just some notes about some changes with the site coming up. The Internet has always been an ever-changing beast to keep up with over the years. There are always a variety of evolving standards, changes to operating systems, servers, applications, and many others that all happen behind the scenes. Paflyfish has had to adapt to this over the last thirty years. A couple of examples would be Google's requirements for site security and the shift in users from desktops to smartphones. The site changed over a few years ago to a new forum platform, Xenforo, and it helped accomplish those and more.

One of our bigger issues has always been dealing with unwanted foreign attacks. We had them in the form of human and bot user signups by the thousands on the old site. A daily chore of manually deleting this scourge, and again with the new forum platform, the problem was fixed. Not seen is a continued attack by these foreign bots still trying to get in and hammering the site for a variety of reasons. These systems are from Asia for some reason. They pose a security risk to the site and impact the performance.

I'm going to have to try and add a front-end system (Cloudflare) to filter traffic from certain regions and countries. I'm not sure how it will go and how it will affect the site and users. There are some of you that use VPNs and personal security software on your devices to keep yourselves safe on the Internet. Once these new security measures are installed, I'm not sure how this will impact some users here on the site. There may be some disruptions for all users by simply adding the service with no filtering, and then once I start filtering countries, some users might be impacted.

There is no intention to interfere with any traffic or users we get from North America. VPN's will still be permitted, just certain countries will be filtered.

The plan would be to get this started in the early part of November. I'll notify everyone once it happens. If there are issues for you, please try and post them in the Site and Forum comments. It is easier for everyone to see any known problems.

Thank you for stating those facts - with all the political correctness and trying to play nice, USA systems have been burdened heavily by the areas you’ve mentioned - it was a constant fight in my former career and even more prevalent now - anyone who thinks it’s just “hacking” by some kids in a vacant warehouse is living in la la land -wishing you well in your fight - and thanks for keeping this site running!

 

[ianpcook]

I wouldn't doubt that a lot of that traffic is now LLM training bots.

 

[falcon]

What are these bots looking for? Or are just being disruptive. I was a IT guy years ago (Unix admin type job) but no longer up to speed with current issues especially Micusoft type platforms. I used HPUX and Solaris Unix.

 

[DaveKile]

What are these bots looking for? Or are just being disruptive. I was a IT guy years ago (Unix admin type job) but no longer up to speed with current issues especially Micusoft type platforms. I used HPUX and Solaris Unix.

The range is general site scrapping traffic to site and server takeover. They then use sites they compromise as a legitimate cover for other bad things. My server is hosted in a data center and maybe the bad guys really want to get into a server within the same data center. They will start compromising softer targets to get to the real objective. The old ones would be taking over a server and then using it as a host to propagate any number of virus or phishing threats from the mail hosting domain. This is one of 1,000 things that could be going on. Basically a lot of the old problems just dressed up in a new way and more of them.

 

[Tigereye]

Thank you for the update and vigilance.

Sometimes you just have to call out the bad actors for who they are.

 

[moorestowngreg]

It's a lot of work and takes dedication to keep this going. Thanks for doing this Dave, I am sure I am not the only one who appreciates this site and all of the good stuff here.

 

[CRB]

Big thank you!

 

[[WR]]

Just saw much the same from the site owners/administration for 2 other fishing related sites I'm on. Funnily, they're also tech guys and apparently the entire industry is calling this Black October.

Thanks for being on top of this, Dave

 

[DaveKile]

Just saw much the same from the site owners/administration for 2 other fishing related sites I'm on. Funnily, they're also tech guys and apparently the entire industry is calling this Black October.

Thanks for being on top of this, Dave

Yeah there was a very big "Zero Day PHP Exploit" (Nerd stuff) for most web servers last week. This happens for desktop and smartphones too, but this was a server issue. Basically the a patch was installed to updated and solve the potential issue.

 

[albatross]

Dave, I've been blocked on the site for at least a few years while using a VPN. I use Mulvad VPN and generally a USA exit node (New York, Wash DC, etc). Not a big deal, I just turn it off when I want to come here. ;-) Just thought I'd mention this while your thinking about it.

 

[DaveKile]

Dave, I've been blocked on the site for at least a few years while using a VPN. I use Mulvad VPN and generally a USA exit node (New York, Wash DC, etc). Not a big deal, I just turn it off when I want to come here. ;-) Just thought I'd mention this while your thinking about it.

Greg thanks for the details. There must be something about your VPN service that flags stuff at a level even above my server security and maybe a hosting security flag? Honestly my server level security controls aren't even that great which is why I'm looking around at Cloudflare.

Do you have other sites you run into problems? Not looking for specific sites, just if there are issues?

 

[StreamBottom]

Thanks Dave and

 

[albatross]

Greg thanks for the details. There must be something about your VPN service that flags stuff at a level even above my server security and maybe a hosting security flag? Honestly my server level security controls aren't even that great which is why I'm looking around at Cloudflare.

Do you have other sites you run into problems? Not looking for specific sites, just if there are issues?

Yes, I run into issues from time to time. Just like my ad-blocking software is based on a list of IP addresses associated with ad servers, I've always assumed there are lists of IP addresses associated with VPN servers and some sites choose to block access from these addresses. One specific example would be Cloudflare asking if I'm human, this seems to happen more often when I'm on the VPN.

 

[DaveKile]

Yes, I run into issues from time to time. Just like my ad-blocking software is based on a list of IP addresses associated with ad servers, I've always assumed there are lists of IP addresses associated with VPN servers and some sites choose to block access from these addresses. One specific example would be Cloudflare asking if I'm human, this seems to happen more often when I'm on the VPN.

I use a VPN and don't have any issues here, but run into the Cloudflare notice asking about if you are a human question pretty often elsewhere. So guessing that will be a little more common here with or without VPNs when I turn on that service.

As for your issue using the site now, it must be something that VPN and how the current site security looks a profile like yours. I will put on my list to do a site security audit before turning cloudfare on. I should be aware of the other security switches already in place. Turning on a new one could throw a monkey wrench into the site. Thanks

 

[tomgamber]

I can't get into my online banking unless I turn my VPN off on my home laptop. Seems a little ironic. I have no problem with this site on my home 'puter, just my phone.