Gary reported this morning by email that the site was undergoing maintenance today and would be down. Didn't have any way to notify anyone, just letting you know retro what was going on. If I ever have advance notice on such a thing I will post it so you have some headsup. Don't know if there was a problem they had to fix or what. Anyway, Thanks.
Thanks James. I just hope the tent-maker web site has a regularly scheduled back up in case of a total wipe out.
:trampoline:
During your early night I could access the forum but got an error message on an increasing number of pages.
The security software (malware, virus) started refusing display pages because the are flagged as spreading malware.
Yeah, not sure of many details of this event.
I do know Gary has said that Tentmaker (being an older site) can be unstable, as it's sort of patched together over the years on a bit of an unsteady platform/foundation. They keep it bandaged up and work on glitches as they occur. And yes, I think there's ongoing backups.
The forum isn't really unstable, but there is are more recent versions.
No new functionality but security patches to stop hackers doing unwanted things to the forum.
I was actually busy doing some computer maintenance of my own yesterday, but I was unsuccessful every time I tried to take a quick look at the forum until much later when I was ready to log off for the night.
Quote from: jabcat on November 06, 2014, 04:08:24 AM
Gary reported this morning by email that the site was undergoing maintenance today and would be down. Didn't have any way to notify anyone, just letting you know retro what was going on. If I ever have advance notice on such a thing I will post it so you have some headsup. Don't know if there was a problem they had to fix or what. Anyway, Thanks.
Ronny to Jabcat:
Thank you. :-) Was wondering yesterday,why the page was so slow to load and wouldn't load? Good to know,that it was just for maintenance.
Quote from: jabcat on November 06, 2014, 05:53:19 AM
Yeah, not sure of many details of this event.
I do know Gary has said that Tentmaker (being an older site) can be unstable, as it's sort of patched together over the years on a bit of an unsteady platform/foundation. They keep it bandaged up and work on glitches as they occur. And yes, I think there's ongoing backups.
Ronny to Jabcat:
Blamed,that sounds a bit like a description of my 59 year old body! :-) LoL
Quote from: RonnyTX on November 06, 2014, 03:29:07 PM
Quote from: jabcat on November 06, 2014, 04:08:24 AM
Gary reported this morning by email that the site was undergoing maintenance today and would be down. Didn't have any way to notify anyone, just letting you know retro what was going on. If I ever have advance notice on such a thing I will post it so you have some headsup. Don't know if there was a problem they had to fix or what. Anyway, Thanks.
Ronny to Jabcat:
Thank you. :-) Was wondering yesterday,why the page was so slow to load and wouldn't load? Good to know,that it was just for maintenance.
Good to know , Thank you !! :flowerred:
getting there ronny :)
up and running :thumbsup:
Thanks for the help once again , bro James !!
Hello,
I was unable to get on the forum for the last few days. Was this maintenance, a glitch or was it hi-jacked?
:dontknow:
Quote from: joeteekay on December 17, 2014, 05:14:26 PM
Hello,
I was unable to get on the forum for the last few days. Was this maintenance, a glitch or was it hi-jacked?
:dontknow:
Me too Joe ! :dontknow:
I don't know yet..no information has come my/our way...I've been out a couple of days with a family situation (good, new grandbaby :) and just was able to log back in...i see there are 173 new members awaiting approval. since we might get one every couple of days or so, something's very fishy. i'm wondering if we were hacked/slammed with a ton of spammers or something and it clogged up the server?? ..i'll have to check some things out and report back.. :(
if john or card know anything about it plz let me know..i can dig some more later...
i've emailed gary to see what he knows...in the meantime, there are 2 more member requests that are obviously spammers bringing current total to 175... and i see 3 more currently registering :doh: looks to me like some spigot has opened up somewhere and we're under attack from spammers somehow and for some reason... more later..say a prayer
since i posted a little while ago, 9 more have requested membership and 4 more currently registering..anyone heard anything out on the web about any such thing happening recently on other sites, or any other ideas?
Ok James,
BIG GUESSWORK
I don't know any details....
On average you get 0.5 member request a day. Right?
Now you got 175 in 3 days. I bet if you check the times they are regged on the same day.
My other guess is that the previous time the forum crashed you had a lot of new members too.
If so, I'm quite sure what is happening.
The forum gets hacked and new members are inserted into the database directly. That saves the spammers lots of work and those irritating chaptha questions a computer is never able to pass.
Solution: Ask Karen to update the forum. It has few well known security flaws. Not my opinion but from the 'company' that programs the forum. Those security holes were fixed over a year ago. Because TM is running old software, those holes are likely exploited by the hackers.
The hackers know this forum has this weakness so my guess is they will return....
I can guarantee the forum will be more hacker proof after Karen applies the security updates.
I can't, nobody can, guarantee the forum will never be hacked after the updates because even the Pentagon gets hacked....
thanks tony..i'll definitely look into the updating
awhile back we were getting slammed so bad with spammers, we went to every member request must be manually approved...so it's not that we have new members, it's that we have a list now of 185 (and counting) awaiting approval or rejection. out of interest and future reference i'm just leaving them sitting right now, unless i find one here or there that actually looks legit...
in 6 years i've never seen anything like this...i wondered if something happened elsewhere that sent so many here..i don't know, i'm just guessing too...just very strange...
thanks again
This sort of hacking (well more likely script kiddies) roughly goes as follows:
Someone discovers a security hole in certain version and brand of a website, forum, etc.
A script (little program) is written to automatically hack the forum/site etc.
But before that happened 'they' started a search program that finds all sites/forums that are vulnerable to that specific hack.
Quotei wondered if something happened elsewhere that sent so many here
What happened is likely this:
a] A flaw was discovered in a certain SMF version.
b] They figured out this forum runs this version.
c] Accounts are fully automatically added.
It's nothing personal against TM. Likely the owners of the hack program don't even know the forum exists. It's just one of 1000s on their list.
Quoteawhile back we were getting slammed so bad with spammers, we went to every member request must be manually approved
Do you have email verification switched on? That way they have to reply to an email even before you get a registration request. Depending on the hack it may totally stop them because the email address is usually fake. Or it doesn't help at all because the hack bypasses that step.
Again just a possibility because I don't know any details.
Congratulations on the new grandbaby James !!! :HeartThrob: little bundles of joy they are . :thumbsup:
Thanks Tony !!!They should have you as the fixer as well as Karen , a team effort :gimmefive:
thanks rose :) yes they are
tony, i passed your suggestion about updating onto gary...he said the server is giving them fits and they're having trouble with support (in india now) and may change servers...he is contacting karen about a thing or two and we'll pass along pertinent info as it comes...thanks
Congratulations James, that's awesome
thanks seth...i know you know how cool little ones are :)
They're so much fun. They're like little monkeys
Quote from: jabcat on December 19, 2014, 05:27:39 AM
thanks rose :) yes they are
tony, i passed your suggestion about updating onto gary...he said the server is giving them fits and they're having trouble with support (in india now) and may change servers...he is contacting karen about a thing or two and we'll pass along pertinent info as it comes...thanks
http://www.arvixe.com/
It's for Karen and Gary to decide but Arvixe is cheap, flexible and gets great user reviews on their support. I have only a tiny site but have been on their support forum. They are really on the problem. Servers are US based.
Quote from: WhiteWings on December 19, 2014, 09:48:21 AM
Quote from: jabcat on December 19, 2014, 05:27:39 AM
thanks rose :) yes they are
tony, i passed your suggestion about updating onto gary...he said the server is giving them fits and they're having trouble with support (in india now) and may change servers...he is contacting karen about a thing or two and we'll pass along pertinent info as it comes...thanks
http://www.arvixe.com/
It's for Karen and Gary to decide but Arvixe is cheap, flexible and gets great user reviews on their support. I have only a tiny site but have been on their support forum. They are really on the problem. Servers are US based.
:thumbsup: Karen's on now working on some things..
A saviour is near :-)
:dsunny:
she said she did update the forum and was checking into adding a couple of antispam pieces..
last night i deleted 310 spammer member requests, and now we're back up to over 100 in the past few hours...hopefully this stops it or dramatically slows it down
It was clear to me that this forum was under attack for a long time. I very often is see 1 or even 4 people registering at the same time. That very unlikely for a small forum like this.
Quoting a previous message it's something you can do. If the option exists in this forum it's just switching on an option. Nothing techy.
QuoteDo you have email verification switched on? That way they have to reply to an email even before you get a registration request. Depending on the hack it may totally stop them because the email address is usually fake. Or it doesn't help at all because the hack bypasses that step.
and was checking into adding a couple of antispam pieces. (//http://)
http://www.peoplesign.com/main/officialDemo.html
That anti spam is easy for people and impossible for computers.
Same program different setting. Select "click the label". http://www.peoplesign.com/main/customize.html
Quote from: WhiteWings on December 19, 2014, 09:50:19 PM
It was clear to me that this forum was under attack for a long time. I very often is see 1 or even 4 people registering at the same time. That very unlikely for a small forum like this.
Quoting a previous message it's something you can do. If the option exists in this forum it's just switching on an option. Nothing techy.
QuoteDo you have email verification switched on? That way they have to reply to an email even before you get a registration request. Depending on the hack it may totally stop them because the email address is usually fake. Or it doesn't help at all because the hack bypasses that step.
and was checking into adding a couple of antispam pieces. (//http://)
http://www.peoplesign.com/main/officialDemo.html
That anti spam is easy for people and impossible for computers.
Same program different setting. Select "click the label". http://www.peoplesign.com/main/customize.html
thanks, karen's still checking things..as far as the email verification, since we're on admin approval setting for new members due to spamming, the only option i see for email verification is where i choose how to notify them of their approval...there's the option of 'approve and send email' or 'approve and require email verification'...it doesn't seem to me to be right up front at registration but rather buried in the approval options after they've registered and then awaiting approval
hijole., just what keeps on happening with the tentmaker site? I come here every now and then to get my fix and what? It's all broken, hacked or something., don't know? But you got to fix it so it doesn't keep happening!
Once in a while i read things here and there, mostly from the same type of mainstream understanding; sites that preach the same., all the while they leave me with question marks - question marks that to some extent are being answered by this here Universal believers forum., so when this site goes down, even for a day or so, it bothers me greatly
SO DON'T LET IT GO DOWN!
there's a question that's always been there in the back of my mind, and maybe some of you can get me a glimpse of the rightful answer
astrology is wrong no? and if it is, but even if i got it wrong., how is it that there were three wise men from the east who knew and saw the star of Bethlehem and followed it ~> to where the Lord was born
just how was it that non-Hebrew "astrologers" knew of the "prophecy" and yet they went and came out of history with such a short tell tale story to tell
remembered only by a gospel writer?
Astronomy is fine. The zodiac is mentioned in the Bible. In the book of Job for example. Google "The Gospel in the stars" and you will find several books and articles by Christian writers. God uses the stars, including sun and moon to tell His Salvation plan.
Astrology isn't about God's plan. It's more like fortune telling. It's used for all sorts of things not being God's purpose.
There is a thread on this forum about this topic. I tried to locate it for you, but right now the forum barely works...
But to give a quick summary their astrology is a perverted version of the astronomy of God's things taught to their king by one of the Jewish prophets.
Hi WW and GR,
I agree with WW.
Just for your information I did a search on the forum for the word astrology and found 30 posts. Yes WW you were in the list, as well as other regular conributors. I think this kind of topic should be in its own thread. It is very interesting to see the zodiac refered to in scripture and knowing that God's design of the universe is perfect and every jot and title has a meaning.
But astrology is akin as WW says to fortune telling. It borders on whichcraft IMO.
Pleiades and Orion, constellations in the zodiac, are mentioned in Job, which I find intriguing. Pleiades has 7 main stars, also interesting.
Job_9:9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
Job_38:31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
Signs in the heavens for a purpose, probably has significant spiritual meaning.
Gen_1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Back in the sixties I was interested in various alternative philosophies among which was astrology, but these days I think it's just mythology associated with how ancient people used the stars for navigation, timekeeping, and predicting the future. So I guess it could be said to have been a primitive form of astrology, and maybe the "magi" used it. The word "magi," from the Greek "magos," literally "magician," (Matthew 2:1,7,16; Acts 13:6,8) is used for good and evil as it refers those who came to worship the Christ child and to Elymas, the false prophet, who Paul blinded.
Probably, if it were possible, a comparison of what the 3 "magi" practiced to discern the star of Bethlehem as a sign of the Messiah's birth and to follow it, would not be the same as what we call astrology today. :2c:
It would probably be more like what we call astronomy now, and they probably just got a prophetic vision or dream about Christ being born.
I know before GPS the stars were the global guidance system.
lots in them , of course they can be defiled and its just how well you can discern [gift of God ] in my opinion
http://www.mazzaroth.com/Introduction/MazzarothDefined.htm
Yeah, there are a bunch of different zodiacs going back to Babylon and beyond. The Chinese zodiac is different than what folks use here in the states. It's all mythology, but I've seen some info about various forms of ancient knowledge most modern folks probably aren't aware of some that's still used by a few who have received it through various disciplines. It's not all about mythology. Some of it's about precise use of mathematics not numerology though. Scripture says there's nothing new under the sun. It seems some stuff just gets lost and comes up again. I guess it all comes down to if the knowledge glorifies God or not. If it's based on chance, I'd say it doesn't.
http://bdsda.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/untimely-figs/
"Thomas Hyde, an eminent Orientalist (1636-1703), writing on the
ancient religion of the Persians, quotes from ABULFARAGIUS
(an Arab Christian Historian, 1126-1286), who says that ZOROASTER,
or ZERDUSHT, the Persian, was a pupil of Daniel the Prophet, and that
he predicted to the Magians (who were the astronomers of Persia), that
when they should see a new star appear it would notify the birth of a
mysterious child, whom they were to adore. It is further stated in the
Zend Avesta that this new star was to appear in the sign of the Virgin." (1)
http://www.biblicalfulfillment.org/id8.html
But how, we still may ask, did the heathen Magi, followers of the
teachings of Zoroaster, hear about the prophecy Isaiah pronounced to
the "house of David" more than seven hundred years before? Well,
today we know for sure Zoroaster, the founder of the Persian
religion that is called after him, lived in Babylon from about 560
BC., at a time, when the Jews stayed in the Babylonian Captivity.
The Jews obviously told Zoroaster about Isaiah's prophecy of the
birth of the Messiah from a Jewish virgin of the house of David.
Even the Syrian scholar Abu'l Faragius (1226-1286) states that when
Zoroaster was in Babylon he became a pupil of the prophet Daniel,
who was deported to Babylon from the land of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar
II in 605 BC. And in his History of Dynasties Faragius further
writes that Zoroaster had predicted to the Magi a "new star" would
appear in the skies and signal the birth of a wonderful boy whom
they were to adore. According to the Avesta, the bible of the
Zoroastrians, the redeemer would be born of a virgin. When the new
star appeared in the womb of the celestial Virgin (ERUA), the Magi
knew the Messiah was born from a Jewish virgin, and immediately
started on their long journey to Jerusalem in order to adore the
new-born "King of the Jews."
Why they searched for Jesus?
Isaiah predicted His birth. Daniel was captive in Babylon.
Zororoaster was a pupil of Daniel. He build his own religion based partly on what Daniel taught him.
The Magi's where looking for a pagan savior but found the original Christian savior.
Yeah, I read about the Zoroaster connection before and even that the religion had some form of belief in universalism.
This guy talks about that.
http://www.near-death.com/god-is-with-us.html
Forum maintenance? :dontknow: :dunno2:
Quote from: WhiteWings on December 21, 2014, 07:39:39 PM
http://bdsda.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/untimely-figs/
"Thomas Hyde, an eminent Orientalist (1636-1703), writing on the
ancient religion of the Persians, quotes from ABULFARAGIUS
(an Arab Christian Historian, 1126-1286), who says that ZOROASTER,
or ZERDUSHT, the Persian, was a pupil of Daniel the Prophet, and that
he predicted to the Magians (who were the astronomers of Persia), that
when they should see a new star appear it would notify the birth of a
mysterious child, whom they were to adore. It is further stated in the
Zend Avesta that this new star was to appear in the sign of the Virgin." (1)
http://www.biblicalfulfillment.org/id8.html
But how, we still may ask, did the heathen Magi, followers of the
teachings of Zoroaster, hear about the prophecy Isaiah pronounced to
the "house of David" more than seven hundred years before? Well,
today we know for sure Zoroaster, the founder of the Persian
religion that is called after him, lived in Babylon from about 560
BC., at a time, when the Jews stayed in the Babylonian Captivity.
The Jews obviously told Zoroaster about Isaiah's prophecy of the
birth of the Messiah from a Jewish virgin of the house of David.
Even the Syrian scholar Abu'l Faragius (1226-1286) states that when
Zoroaster was in Babylon he became a pupil of the prophet Daniel,
who was deported to Babylon from the land of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar
II in 605 BC. And in his History of Dynasties Faragius further
writes that Zoroaster had predicted to the Magi a "new star" would
appear in the skies and signal the birth of a wonderful boy whom
they were to adore. According to the Avesta, the bible of the
Zoroastrians, the redeemer would be born of a virgin. When the new
star appeared in the womb of the celestial Virgin (ERUA), the Magi
knew the Messiah was born from a Jewish virgin, and immediately
started on their long journey to Jerusalem in order to adore the
new-born "King of the Jews."
OH MY,
So much speculation. I believe it is very doubtful, very doubtful, that God wound have pagans at that ime worship Jesus.
When you read George Rawlinson, "The sixth Great Oriental Monarchy", Steven Collins "Parthia' and Josephus You can consider:
The wise men were the Magistanes (Magi), the nobles of Pathia (Persia). This is one place that one or more of the "lost 10 tribes" went to.
They came to worship Jesus from the east (Persia). Their lineage can be traced back to the Levites.
The star was an angel (messenger) guiding them. No one else saw the "star" only them. Not a comet asteroid and any thing of the kind.
The Magi ( and there were not 3) had a caravan consisting of many gifts and other accrutriments for travelling a long distance.
So much more to this as revealed in the scriptures.
Joe
Quote from: joeteekay on December 22, 2014, 03:35:01 AM
OH MY,
So much speculation. I believe it is very doubtful, very doubtful, that God wound have pagans at that ime worship Jesus.
That's speculation too, considering God has allowed to people to get of the right path and follow false gods. Plus it's not sure they really came to worship Jesus of the Jewish religion. Perhaps the messiah of their own religion.
QuoteThe wise men were the Magistanes (Magi), the nobles of Pathia (Persia). This is one place that one or more of the "lost 10 tribes" went to.
That was why Daniel was there.
QuoteThey came to worship Jesus from the east (Persia). Their lineage can be traced back to the Levites.
But that's no proof they didn't turn into fullblooded pagans. Or at least enough pagan for God to call them pagan. Keep in mind that the exiled Jews weren't totally pagan but breaking God's commandments. That was bad in God's eyes. Very likely things got worse when they became part of the pagan culture.
Besides of that what is the proof the are of Levite lineage and not a lineage that already exited before the Jews arrived? If you call the historical writing I quoted speculation, then what you wrote is speculation too.
QuoteThe star was an angel (messenger) guiding them. No one else saw the "star" only them. Not a comet asteroid and any thing of the kind.
Well, the Bible doesn't say anything about it besides they followed a star. Not that others did or didn't see the star.
As the animation in my other post shows, here (http://tentmaker.org/forum/christian-life/jesus-wasn't-born-in-a-stable/msg182163/#msg182163) there was a 'traveling star' and everybody could see it. The 'star' travelled over a period of months. Many may have seen it. But only a few saw any significance in it. And even less could be bothered to follow the 'star'.
QuoteThe Magi ( and there were not 3) had a caravan consisting of many gifts and other accrutriments for travelling a long distance.
So much more to this as revealed in the scriptures.
Not much imo.
Apparently lots of server trouble. Hang in there, not sure what Gary's going to do but they've been working on it. We don't usually get blow-by-blow details, often just watch like everyone else. We'll see.
We all began as pagans, unless we were Jews. I think it quite likely the magi were infidels, in technical terms, before they became the first believers.
Quote from: jabcat on December 23, 2014, 06:55:16 AM
Apparently lots of server trouble. Hang in there, not sure what Gary's going to do but they've been working on it. We don't usually get blow-by-blow details, often just watch like everyone else. We'll see.
Ronny to Jabcat:
Odd thing,yesterday I couldn't get on here,so I was trying to get on another group or two,that I've posted in,in the past and they weren't working as well.
Quote from: RonnyTX on December 23, 2014, 02:45:09 PM
Quote from: jabcat on December 23, 2014, 06:55:16 AM
Apparently lots of server trouble. Hang in there, not sure what Gary's going to do but they've been working on it. We don't usually get blow-by-blow details, often just watch like everyone else. We'll see.
Ronny to Jabcat:
Odd thing,yesterday I couldn't get on here,so I was trying to get on another group or two,that I've posted in,in the past and they weren't working as well.
Hey Ronny..Gary emailed several days that there's a major cyber attack going on right now, sent me a map showing the assault, where it's coming from etc...i don't know where the other sites are based out of you were trying to get on, but one of the hardest hit is st. louis where TM is generally located from...strange stuff
Cyberwarfare is a reality now even if it hasn't happened on a large scale yet. You can't do much about a denial of service attack, but you can keep your antimalware and operating system updated.
Quote from: Tom on December 23, 2014, 09:34:57 PM
you can keep your antimalware and operating system updated.
That's what Karen (TechHelp) has been working on. Even the forum update didn't fix things for awhile, but something does appear better today.