OldIHC

Updates on the Maintenance of OldIHC by John Hansen, Your Site Administrator

5/1/12

Just a quick update on where things stand.  The classifieds are still not working correctly (can’t add new advertisements, cannot approve ads) – I am working with the software/plugin developer to try to find the solution.

I am also researching new forum software.  I’m just not happy with where the forum stands after all this time – there are still glitches and I am not convinced there won’t always be.  We are over 8,000 members strong now and you deserve better.  Look for a thread devoted to this subject in the Site Development section of the forum – I would like your feedback because switching forum software won’t be a walk in the park – it will mean re-registering at a minimum, unfortunately.  Nonetheless, I will continue my research to make the transition as painless as possible.

2/28/12

OldIHC has been verified as being “malware-free” by Google and we have been removed from their blacklist

As in life, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and that’s the case with OldIHC. The hack attack showed me some security holes that I have now closed, PLUS – I have also taken extra preventative steps as well.

I can concentrate on the new forum 100% now, and will start a new thread accordingly.

2/27/12

Good news – after working on replacing each and every WordPress plugin (I’ve already replaced WordPress and the forum) this morning (and deleting those that aren’t being used, which should also make the site even faster), I believe I have finally nailed the malware. The site has come up clean by a number of tests and I have submitted OldIHC for review to Google (to be removed from the blacklist).

Fingers crossed.

2/24/12

Google has now listed us as a suspicious site, so the forum upgrade has to take place TODAY.  I will be shutting the site down in 30-45 minutes to start performing the forum upgrade.  With a little luck, this should take 2 hours or less. Hopefully the malware was somewhere in the old forum code, which I will be deleting.

Fingers crossed.

Update: As of 12:07 pm Central time, the forum software has been successfully updated.  Whew!  It’s gonna look a little ugly, though, until I create a new theme/template for it (which means reading more instructions… sigh…).

Google has now blacklisted OldIHC.  I do not believe there is any malicious software on OldIHC itself, however, there is still some code, somewhere on the site that is apparently redirecting users to a site that CAN potentially give you a worm, so please be careful and do NOT download any software.  One of the ploys is to tell you to scan your computer – this is where you can potentially get infected – instead hit the red “X” and get off of this page immediately.

As to OldIHC, I have replaced all of the WordPress file and the forum files/software, I have also installed new security measures and am in the process of scanning the site using several different vendors.  Thanks to recent donations, I will also be purchasing malware protection for the site, but am in the process of screening vendors.  Once this is completed and I am CERTAIN all code is clean, I will be resubmitting the site to Google to get off the blacklist.

2/20/12

It’s finally here – SimplePress Version 5.  This is the completely rewritten version of the forum software that we have been waiting for.  Hopefully this will take care of the issues we have been seeing, PLUS add some nice new features.  Upgrading will not be simple, PLUS the forum may look a little funny for a little while as I create a new skin/template to match the rest of the site, but that’s not as important.

When I find a little time for the forum upgrade, I will do my best to give you as much of a heads-up as possible.  Check here and in the “Site Development” section of the forum itself.

2/16/12

I will be shutting the site down later today to re-install the forum software in order to address security concerns. With luck the maximum downtime should be around 2 hours.

Update: The software re-install is complete as of 12:30 pm Central time.

1/4/12

Jim Hadfield has been helping me out by trying another re-install of Photopost (the photo gallery software that has/has all of “Our Truck Pics”), however, things went awry – somehow there was either a virus/worm with the Photopost files or a WordPress update.  As you’ve seen, it crashed the entire site.  We are back now, but I am not convinced we’ve eradicated the problem as of yet, so we’ll see how things go.  This is NOT Jim’s fault, and as always, I thank him for his hard work.

Spammer Report/List
(Updated 5/17/11)

This is a list of all the spammers that have been trying to take advantage of the people using the Classifieds here. If you encounter one of these “Bad Guys” please, let me know so that I can post it here.

1. Derrick Thomas and Thomas Barry are one in the same person. His email is tho.derrick@yahoo,com  He has hit a couple of times.  He claims to be from Bristol, TN.
2. Edward Barret, edwardbarret5@gmail.com, 2 Hyde Park Square, London W2 2JY UK +447024087504
3. Derek MacGregor, derekmacgregor69@gmail.com, 36 Carter Lane London EC4V 5AB UK +447024087504 (Both Edward Barret and Derek have the same phone)
4. Lesley Bennet, mr.l.bennet@gmail.com, Flat 1, 20 Craven Hill Gardens, London W2 3EE, +447024087504 (Is the phone number starting to look familiar?)
5. Frank Millet, Email: frankmilley@rediffmail.com, frank.millet@rediffmail.com, frankrnilley@rediffmail.com. This guy also scams getting your money back: “He has contacted me since saying that I could get all my money back if I send a Western Union transfer fee to helga.graepp@yahoo.com”
6. Laura Derrick, lauraderrick60@yahoo.com, Nigeria, also goes by: Zauberfee and Seppel
7. These guys are getting pretty bold.  I am not even selling anything in the classifieds and just got an email from Bill Washington [bill.washington23@yahoo.com] and [labird23@gmail.com] asking if I carry “(DUAL CYLINDER TRUCK)”. I Googled is email address and found a great site with a lot of spammer listings.  Please check this out if you are feeling like you may be getting scammed:  http://www.steam-brite.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-1388.html
8. Jan Eijgelaar, jan.eijgelaar3@gmail.com

There is additional information on these in our forums. Just search for “scam”

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