Host Gators IP's are on the BLOCKLISTS!

[TekHousE]

I just updated my blocklists and found that this forum would not launch. I then went to my website and the same thing..

12:17:51 AM FROM: my.ip.here TO:forums.hostgator.com 67.18.0.0-67.18.178.3#bluetack split , allhyperlinks.com[CWS], www.anti-adware.net[Spy], free-wi
12:17:27 AM FROM: my.ip.here TO:67.18.199.2 67.18.178.5-67.19.255.255#bluetack split, rev0lt.net, porn385.com[Spy], cantfind.com[CWS], popupnuker/

I have removed these entries from the blocklists I had downloaded from BLUETACK.

I'm now wondering why they were added to the lists in the first place? ANy ideas?

[TekHousE]

and this is what happens when I use live chat support..

http://server.iad.liveperson.net/hcp...o/chatinfo.gifPlease wait for a site operator to respond.
http://server.iad.liveperson.net/hcp...o/chatinfo.gifWelcome to HostGator! You are now chatting with 'Joel'
Joel: Welcome to HostGator, how may I assist you?
Me: ho Joel
Me: hey mate i just found out that the Ip range i am on with you guys is being blocked by blocklists..
Joel: hello
Me: plus the forum too
Me: i just downloaded blocklists for my firewall from bluetack and then your pages didn't work anymore
Me: and neither did my website..
Joel: please email sales@hostgator.com and they can fix this.
Me: i edited my lists..but thats not the point..im not paying for a site that no one can see, if they use blocklists
Me: ?
Me: how can you gusy fix it..? you were added by somebody else?
Me: http://forums.hostgator.com/showthread.php?t=4588
Me: all the info is there..
Me: since you too suffer from this problem maybe you better go and fix it WITHOUT me having to email support..LOL
Joel: please email sales@hostgator.com and we will take care of it
Me: no mate..you tell support since you are there and take care of it. YOUR domains IP is blocked..not just mine...so potential customers cannot see your own site too.
Joel: please email sales@hostgator.com and we will take care of it
Me: look, im not emailing anyone..so do what you like, if my ip is continued to be blocked by lists i will move to a new host
Me: 67.18.0.0-67.18.178.3 ranges and 67.18.199.2 67.18.178.5-67.19.255.255 are ALL being blocked
Joel: this is not an issue that we can resolve in live chat. please email sales@hostgator.com and we will take care of it
Me: i know
Me: so write it down and tell somebody at the place you work..thanks

[bagel50]

why can't you just email sales or support? it is what everyone who has ever been in this situation has had to do, and support procedures are there for a reason. if you open a ticket, HG can respond to let you know that they are dealing with it, and when this particular blocking issue has been dealt with, neither of which they can tell you over livesupport. Also, phrases like "maybe you better go and fix it WITHOUT me having to email support..LOL" (condescending), "you tell support since you are there and take care of it" (when he has twice told you the proper way of dealing with it) and "so do what you like, (threat threat)" are not likely to make anyone more helpful. Annoyed you may be, but there is such a thing as tact, and whether it's some idiot taking a pee up your garden wall (clearly in the wrong) or you're in a traffic accident where *you're* in the wrong, it always. pays. to. ask. nicely.

Olly.

[TekHousE]

Why should I email tech support? Maybe you should read the post a little more objectively mate. If it was ONLY my IP and MY site that was suffering a problem then I WOULD email support as it would help me, right? But in THIS instance, had you read it properly, you would have seen that these lists are ALSO blocking HostGator themselves! I was simply drawing that to ther attention, so maybe they should email themselves for support???

It probably would have been better not to say anything, then pretty soon everyone paying for service would find out that they are getting less people coming to their sites (including Hostgator) and no one would know why.

The point is that these guys should not just 'look' like a hosting company they should 'be' one too! And for that to happen it is 100% their responsibility to ascertain whether or not the IP's that they own are 100% able to be seen by the users of the internet.

As to emailing, I chose to use live support and then THIS 'SUPPORT' forum. As an alternative, one that not only brings the problem out in the open but also for ALL users to see. Something that is important if HostGator is going to pursue 'continual improvement' with this business.

As to the 'peeing' up the wall analogy..What are you smoking?

[MachineDog]

Alot of things can be solved through live chat. Only small things though. If it's anything big like this, a support ticket is best. That way all the admins take a look and atleast one of them can work on a solution. And you can't expect them to send the email for you, that's kind of well...dumb.

[TekHousE]

You guys don't get it do you?

So let me make this nice and easy for ya'll (LOL).

Go HERE

It is Bluetacks website. Look for the 'Blocklist Manager' if you are 'technologically challenged' then go HERE.

Now, download that install it, choose theses lists :

Level 1 Blocklist
Spyware List
IANA - Bogon – Hijacked – Blackists

This covers the basics, but you could include the anti-p2p Ip lists too.

If you then 'download' the chosen lists, you will find that entire IP ranges that HostGator have our accounts on, are BLOCKED. You do understand what that means right? It means that if YOUR site is within that range YOUR site is blocked too! So why don't you two READ my posts first before towing the HostGator- 'email support' line. This IS NOT ABOUT MY ACCOUNT ALONE...

Sheesh! Amatuers!

[bagel50]

lol well, as you say I must be an amateur, so nothing I say will be listened to. Be assured though, that your issue will not be addressed the way you're going about it.

[GatorChad]

It only takes a few minutes for a server to get blacklisted by someone spamming before we have a chance to suspend that account. This is usually how servers get blacklisted... by spammers signing up with fraudulent info, or hacking a users's account with a weak password. Most blacklists are very quick to act when it comes to blacklisting a server, but take their time to remove the ip from their blacklist status records.

In the case of: http://www.bluetack.co.uk - it looks like they just hold a list of blocked servers, which as you can see is not the best case for creating a block/blacklist because if a server was marked as spam and then removed from the blacklist, it doesn't look like their software includes the update.

I would look at a different solution than using this site's software. Also, can I ask why are you using a block list for viewing HTTP sites? My understanding was that it's just for email -- to reduce spam.

Let me know if I need to clear anything up. Thanks

[TekHousE]

Originally Posted by GatorChad

It only takes a few minutes for a server to get blacklisted by someone spamming before we have a chance to suspend that account. This is usually how servers get blacklisted... by spammers signing up with fraudulent info, or hacking a users's account with a weak password. Most blacklists are very quick to act when it comes to blacklisting a server, but take their time to remove the ip from their blacklist status records.

In the case of: http://www.bluetack.co.uk - it looks like they just hold a list of blocked servers, which as you can see is not the best case for creating a block/blacklist because if a server was marked as spam and then removed from the blacklist, it doesn't look like their software includes the update.

I would look at a different solution than using this site's software. Also, can I ask why are you using a block list for viewing HTTP sites? My understanding was that it's just for email -- to reduce spam.

Let me know if I need to clear anything up. Thanks

Ahh at last..

Great! Well mate, people are using blocklists for more than email, you guys should be aware of it, but if not, at least now you are. The lists I use also prevent me from seeing annoying pop ups, having sites that are notorius for trying to gain more information from my machine than I would consent to them having etc. etc.

The whole aim of my original post was for Host Gator to be aware of this. As with more and more users putting some kind of blocklists into their firewalls etc. this is going to become a real 'visibility' problem for any host that exists. As you rightly say it, alot of it originates from email spammers, but this is not the sole area that is of concern. I have already fielded questions from users of my site who ALSO use blocklists, they are asking why the site is down!!! Now I have figured out the reason I can tell them. But with so many virii, trojans, worms etc. proliferated on the net today, I simply cannot tell them NOT to use such lists. It is strange but it is kind of scary to see exactly what is being blocked and from WHOM, when I look at my logs and what those IP's have tried to do i.e. port scanning etc.

If you are reading this and you don't care, well great for you. But if you are in the slightest bit interested in controlling who gets access to the pc you are on, then you might want to look into this a little further.

I'm so happy to get a response from the hosts here on the forums, thanks for that. It is what I intended all along. But as for the last part of your response Chad, I see that you are still not totally up to speed with blocklists and the like. Bluetack's 'software' as you put it only pulls these lists from various sources on the net, they are not CREATING them. To go further, I don't even use any Bluetack software to 'use' these lists. I use a plugin for Outpost to do that. The Bluetack software is simply accessing then compiling the lists (removing dups) and then writing them in to a format suitable to use for many different 'blockers'. I hope that makes this clearer for you and for anyone else that is currently not aware of how these all work.

[GatorChad]

Thanks for such a detailed explanation. It's something we will be looking into, the problem though again, as I'm sure you understand, is that it might be taking blacklisted servers, but when a server is unblacklisted, I wonder if this 'company' is removing the unblacklisted servers from its database.

Also, I just did a quick and simple blacklist status check on your server - gator20, and it appeared to be clear. If you know of a blacklist specifically that is blocking this server, please do let me know and we'll do our best to pull it off there, but right now it looks like there's just a problem with that blocklist not updating.

Thanks!

[TekHousE]

Will do mate.. TX

[quietFinn]

Originally Posted by GatorChad

Also, I just did a quick and simple blacklist status check on your server ...
Thanks!

GatorChad, can you tell how you did that check?

[JZ]

Originally Posted by quietFinn

GatorChad, can you tell how you did that check?

I am not GatorChad, but most people go here and do a Spam Database Lookup.

[GatorChad]

Originally Posted by JZ

I am not GatorChad, but most people go here and do a Spam Database Lookup.

Right, dnsstuff.com is pretty good, but I've found: http://rbls.org/ to be a little more accurate and up to date.

[Tomato]

FYI

Originally Posted by JZ

I am not GatorChad, but most people go here and do a Spam Database Lookup.

I did a check for Gator5 and found it listed on one of the Spam Databases: "BlarsBL" known as Blars Block List (here's a picture of Mr. Blars and a link to his website). I'm not to concerned that it's on his block list.

Originally Posted by GatorChad

Right, dnsstuff.com is pretty good, but I've found: http://rbls.org/ to be a little more accurate and up to date.

I also did a check here for Gator5 and found that it wasn't blacklisted.

[Osk]

Ya! My site in his list too!

Blars words. Sound like a blackmail to me, not less. So call black list. )))

If you would like a site be added or removed from BlarsBL, you may hire Blars at his normal consulting rates (currently $250/hour, 2 hour minimum, $1000 deposit due in advance for non-established customers) to investigate your evidence about the site. If it is found that the entry was a mistake, no charge will be made and the entire deposit will be refunded.

Send Blars email from a non-listed account to verify current rates and arrange payment.

P.S. Paranoia peoples(HTTP BList users) should see a doctors a bit more often. Or just lift their arses and take the trip to the nearest park for a day, once a week.

Originally Posted by Tomato

FYII did a check for Gator5 and found it listed on one of the Spam Databases: "BlarsBL" known as Blars Block List (here's a picture of Mr. Blars and a link to his website). I'm not to concerned that it's on his block list.

I also did a check here for Gator5 and found that it wasn't blacklisted.

Haha! That made my morning.