BLACKLISTED, ALL FORMS OFFLINE

Danielle · **on:** November 29, 2005, 06:21:07 PM

Due to some spammer abuses while I was on vacation these past two weeks, TAFL is now being blacklisted by several email places, including Yahoo and Gmail. If you use these addresses, please keep a close eye on the Updates blog to make sure your fanlistings are okay. We are working to fix the glitch that allowed spammers to abuse one of our forms, but until we do, we have no chance of getting unblacklisted.

This is really horrible and I'm really sorry for the inconvenience. I will post updates as I get news on how this can be fixed. In the mean time, most forum topic notifications are bouncing to me, so if people could please unsubscribe, that's like 50-100 less bounces in my box per day. ><;;;

Edit: All forms at TAFL have been disabled temporarily, until we can resolve the blacklisting issue. (Our own email addresses are bouncing forms sent through the site, and that's a bad thing.) I will be posting updates here and on the updates blog, and staffers have been instructed to hold all updates, to ensure that no forms are lost.

Danielle · **Reply #1 on:** November 29, 2005, 08:30:03 PM

Update: I have created a Gmail address to email any concerns to, since all forms are offline. If you need to urgently contact myself or any member of the staff, or any category, please email animefanlistings {@} gmail [.] com.

Danielle · **Reply #2 on:** November 30, 2005, 01:08:27 PM

In an effort to suppress the hundreds of bounced emails I'm getting -- I did mention it last post, didn't I?? -- I have nuked all notifications, and will continue to flush any new ones until this email problem is resolved.

I realize it may be a pain in the neck to get them set up again the way you like them, but you're not getting them at the moment anyway (or at least, most of you aren't), so I can't be overly sympathetic to complaints at this time.

We have isolated the form that was used by the spammers, but are still working to remove the threat in future, and somehow prove that we are not a Bad Website Full of Spammers to whatever blacklists currently think that of us, so until then, all forms will remain offline.

For those who have asked via Gmail, again let me reiterate, no updates will occur until this problem is fixed. This includes applications, finished, updated/moved, closed AND troubles. I realize the necessity to get finished forms in on time, but please be aware that you will NOT be going on troubles due to this problem, since it is very clearly our problem and not yours. :pirate:

Feel free to keep emailing, but again, nobody's getting on troubles for anything at the moment, as the staffers can't update those either. :pirate:

Danielle · **Reply #3 on:** December 02, 2005, 04:31:58 PM

Update: We have narrowed down the blacklist issue to one, which we are currently trying to be removed from. AOL has just whitelisted us, so if any AOL users were not getting through, they should be at this time.

Danielle · **Reply #4 on:** December 02, 2005, 07:30:47 PM

Great news! We have heard back from the blackhole list and our IP should be removed by tomorrow. Barring no further complications, we are still dealing with an overage issue, but I feel fairly comfortable saying that we should have functional forms tomorrow, at which point the site can go back to doing what it does. Happy news!