*** Attention all Members ***

[Proteus]

FYI,

Several new forums have popped up in the past 24hrs using similiar names to the websites which I have owned and operated for several years now. They have even gone to the extent of closely copying the colour schemes and topic categories, in what could best be described as trying to manipulate users into thinking there was an association with forums such as this.

We are not associated in any way with these websites.

It should be noted that all of these sites have been set up under the instruction of a former sponsor/member here who is now not only banned from this network of forums, but many others as well.

These sites have not been set up with the hobbyist in mind, they are purely for commercial interests.

It should be noted that the specific domain names have been compiled in the database here, as we have learnt in the past, various members go about recruiting others via PM to go to such sites. It should be noted that this practice goes against what we have stated in our user agreement and is generally considered as unsolicited spam.

Thank you

[Proteus]

Apologies for the lengthy outtage last night.

It would seem that a jealous few think it is funny to run a Denial Of Service (DOS) attack on various websites. It is also very coincidental that this exact same event happenned at roughly the same time last week.

What these people, (if they can be called that) don't realise is this affects many many websites, not just the forums I run.

Theses people will be caught and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

I should also point out for anyone that uses Aquarium Supplies Australia please only use the .com and .com.au address. It appears the same person responsible for these new forums thinks it is amusing to misleadingly & dishonestly divert potential customers to another website if using similar domain names (.net .info .org .biz). This speaks volumes for the person behind it... I guess you can call a spade a spade

[Merrilyn]

I don't usually get involved in the politics of running websites, but there is something happening here that needs to be brought to the attention of all members, and I can no longer stay silent.

To our wonderful and loyal members, please be aware that there are strange things happening, and if you suddenly log onto one of our websites, and it just doesn't look quite right, then that's because it isn't. Someone out there is trying to tear down a wonderful Online Store and an established Aquarium Shop, as well as our beloved Discusforums and associated sites.

To the people who are doing this, I am shocked and ashamed. I didn't think you would ever stoop so low. Is a dispute with the owner of this forum really worth destroying your good name and your good reputation in the aquarium industry. Please stop.

Thankyou everyone.

[Robdog]

Several new forums have popped up in the past 24hrs

I'm a little suspicious of some of the members there, including the most recent. :lol:

Our users have posted a total of 1 article
We have 4 registered users
The newest registered user is she****
:shock: :shock:
Very interesting website that member had

[Proteus]

Just as an FYI, all the spam members you see on those sites have joined here (they pop up every day). The difference is we have protocols in place to ensure they are removed very promptly.

On an average day I would probably swat 20-25 new registrations across 3-4 forums as they are just purely spam bots.

And in case I miss one, we have a few handy folk that make sure I know about them very quickly.

oh, the transgender links are hillarious, however never go to those links unless you have top notch firewalls and anti virus as they are just propagation grounds for viruses and spyware.

[stonedavid]

Hi guys, well i did think something was a bit strange a couple of months back, just cld sense there were underlying problems, with whom i did not know, but cld tell just by a few comments made here and there. Sorry but being so far away from you southern members can sometimes keep us Far Northern memebers out of the loop and scratching our heads. Hope it all works out in the long run. rgds Pete