I Don't Understand

[Johnbee]

Something strange is happening.  I tried to get on to my account here to listen to a few songs and it came up saying I was banned from this forum and the ban is not set to expire. I couldn't even view the content as a guest let alone log in. This is happening on two of my devices but not all (which explains why I can post this now).  I borrowed my son's cellphone and found that I could get on but was only able to send a PM to 64guitars.  As of I now I still didn't receive an answer but upon checking three other PCs in my house I found I was able to access and log in.  I can't think of why I would be banned.  I can't remember offending anybody.  My last activities were posting a new song of mine about a week ago and commenting on several others songs here.  I don't think admin here would be so unfair as to ban me without at least an explanation or warning.  I still cannot get in on my cellphone or the desktop in my bedroom.  Hoping somebody can help me with this or at least provide me an answer.  If I am, in fact, banned I would appreciate administration clearing my personal jukebox as I don't think it's fair to continue to allow access to my property without my being able to access this forum.

Thank you

John B

[cuthbert]

Hi JohnBee,

Mea culpa. My apologies for the inconvenience and confusion.

This was done accidentally when I banned a range of IP addresses from an unethical ISP that has been sending multiple spammers to our site. Turns out there's a bug using range wildcards in the SMF forum software, and the ban applied much more widely than expected to IP addresses past the specified range.

Thanks to 64Guitars for finding and fixing the issue while I was offline. Things should be back to normal now, and the spammers remain banned.

Once more, my apologies to anyone who was affected by this (and there were several that we already knew of before it was corrected).

Thanks,
cuthbert

[cuthbert]

I still cannot get in on my cellphone or the desktop in my bedroom. 

If this is still happening, try clearing your browser cache on each device and then log in again.

[DarrenG / The Devil's Toupee]

I thought i was banned too yesterday. Was worrying all day about what i could have done  Im glad it's been sorted out now.

[the physics teacher]

I had the same problem on several devices in several wifi networks and chrome logins.
Ik found one combination of the above so I could read this thread.
Not all of the above combinations is working but I am glad that it is not my fault.
It seems I am addicted to this forum it is to much a joy to have you all in my life.
So cuthbert if you read my attempt to send you a message leav it for now and thanks for the update.

[Johnbee]

Hi JohnBee,

Mea culpa. My apologies for the inconvenience and confusion.

This was done accidentally when I banned a range of IP addresses from an unethical ISP that has been sending multiple spammers to our site. Turns out there's a bug using range wildcards in the SMF forum software, and the ban applied much more widely than expected to IP addresses past the specified range.

Thanks to 64Guitars for finding and fixing the issue while I was offline. Things should be back to normal now, and the spammers remain banned.

Once more, my apologies to anyone who was affected by this (and there were several that we already knew of before it was corrected).

Thanks,
cuthbert

I thought it was something like that because you guys seem to be too decent to just off somebody's account without reason or explanation.  Thanks, Cuthbert, for your prompt attention to this and thanks to 64g as well.
  John B