# We May be Back to Normal

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [April 24, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006 "2016-04-24T19:15:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/61 "2016-04-25T14:16:39Z")

</div>

I’d say that creating a sock without permission - even _in extremis_ - has the potential to place your posting privileges in jeopardy and it’s not recommended.

Far better to contact the staff and ask about such troubles unless it’s been otherwise stated clearly that socking is allowed.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/62 "2016-04-25T14:22:20Z")

</div>

That’s why we call alternative IDs that don’t engage in sock-puppet behavior “alts” where i come from…

But i can’t imagine the alt IDs actually helped much. Didn’t they also have trouble logging on the second time they were used?

Anyhow, things do look normal, now. Thanks to those who had to work over the weekend to make that happen.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/63 "2016-04-25T15:12:18Z")

</div>

Thanks to John and others behind the scenes for spending part of their Sunday putting things right. We’re hopeful all is now back to normal and that we’re protected against further attacks. We’ll find out what we can about who was behind this but experience suggests it won’t be much.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/64 "2016-04-25T15:45:02Z")

</div>

One odd thing just happened.

I submitted a post and immediately got a “duplicate post” with some 5 minute warning thing. The latter I understand, but not the former.

But even odder: The post went thru. No need to wait.

No, I didn’t double click the submit button.

Just a hiccup?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/65 "2016-04-25T21:23:45Z")

</div>

I had to log in a couple times this morning but this afternoon not at all. Thanks so much for the hard work!

Is it even worth the effort to try to find who was behind it? Seems like it would be better to spend time fortifying protection than giving some loser that much attention.

But whatever, thanks. 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/66 "2016-04-25T21:39:35Z")

</div>

So … will **The Master** now refrain from answering questions about the NSA?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/67 "2016-04-26T18:01:15Z")

</div>

> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> But i can’t imagine the alt IDs actually helped much. Didn’t they also have trouble logging on the second time they were used?

Mine had trouble the first time. I was never able to log in at all, with or without socks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2016, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/68 "2016-04-28T00:40:04Z")

</div>

I’m sure this has already been pointed out somewhere but --------- we’ve had at least one real banning and a thread complaining about a mod action.

So clearly we are back to normal! 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/69 "2016-05-05T13:34:16Z")

</div>

Since this morning it has been touch and go for me. Anyone else having problems?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/70 "2016-05-05T13:38:17Z")

</div>

About an hour ago I tried looking at the board for the first time today and got a server error, then it seemed to be working but very slow. But that only lasted a short time and all seems normal now.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WilyQuixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f9ae1b/32.png) [@WilyQuixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WilyQuixote)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/71 "2016-05-05T13:43:42Z")

</div>

Board works sometimes, other times i get 503 errors. Been like this for past 90 minutes or so.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Enola\_Gay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/72 "2016-05-05T13:57:15Z")

</div>

I got errors all morning too

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/73 "2016-05-05T14:29:50Z")

</div>

All okay on my end. No troubles today.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/74 "2016-05-05T14:36:03Z")

</div>

Ditto on server errors.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/75 "2016-05-05T14:49:42Z")

</div>

Board and main site was down for a bit earlier for me this morn.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/76 "2016-05-05T15:20:41Z")

</div>

Yeah, 503 error. Really slow when it did work. REALLY slow.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/77 "2016-05-05T18:07:33Z")

</div>

Getting 503 errors and slowdowns now.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/78 "2016-05-05T19:03:23Z")

</div>

From the sounds of it, it’s been up and down since this morning. It’s been pretty much unavailable for nearly an hour til just now. I wonder if this sort of intermittent behavior is just what a DOS/DDOS attack might look like.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/79 "2016-05-05T19:25:52Z")

</div>

> [@wolfpup](#):
>
> From the sounds of it, it’s been up and down since this morning. It’s been pretty much unavailable for nearly an hour til just now. I wonder if this sort of intermittent behavior is just what a DOS/DDOS attack might look like.

Ditto here. Web server 503 errors, also CloudFront CDN errors trying to access webserver.

Could be DDOS, could just be DB or webserver faults. :mad:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006/80 "2016-05-05T19:27:26Z")

</div>

Or not.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006.md?page=3)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-may-be-back-to-normal/753006.md?page=5)
