An open message

[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.

[Proteus]

I guess when someone is desperate they will stoop to very very low levls.

[Nathan]

what sort of strange things are happening?

[Merrilyn]

You may have noticed that Discus Forums and all associated sites were down for an extended period of time last night. This was due to the server being bombarded with spam until the server shut itself down to prevent overload.

At the same time, a number of Discus Forum clones appeared on the scene, including one that was shamefully masquerading as Aquatic Supplies Australia, but directed you to a completely different online store.

I guess someone thought that if they could make all the Aquadot Network sites go off line on a busy Sunday night, then people would eventually come across these clones (which have VERY similar names).

I am a firm believer in "innocent until proven guilty". At this stage there is absolutely no conclusive proof where this spam is coming from. Everything is being done to track down the source. I know nothing about computers, but I'm assured by a computer scientist/computer systems engineer, that everything leaves a trail, no matter how clever someone may be at using proxies to hide their identity. It just takes someone a little more clever to unearth the trail.

[scott bowler]

i personily would love to get hold of this a** hole myself i finaly find some people with a lot in common with me and we all just try to help one and other with something that we love . and i do take this sort of thing personily and proteus has my full support and if there is any thing that i can do i would be happy to do so

[Proteus]

Thanks Scott, as they say, what goes around, comes around, and it usually its you in the face ten fold.

Time is something we have, and these people will just fall into the hole that they are creating themselves.

[scott bowler]

no probs mate i love the work that you do here and the help that you give us ,you back us and i am very happy to back you keep up the good work, and if there is any thing that i can do let me know no mater how small,

[shake]

Australia is big enough to accommodate ASA and any other online store in this country. It's not like ASA was the second online store to open and took all the business away from a competitor. There was quite a few before them and I'm sure quite a few will start up after them.

If this is how one business is trying to win business, then I think it's pathetic.

If they want our business, all we ask for is very competitive prices and good service. How simple is that. ASA does it, that's why their customers always return.

The person/people who are trying to sabotage this forum and any other affiliated with Aquadot. :evil: GROW UP. :evil: It's a good way of loosing all your business.

[Proteus]

OK, so they think it is funny to register my name on there pathetic little forums...(now deleted by the same people) Make prank phone calls every 4-5 minutes... well then...

Here are some facts...


Domain Name: AQUARIUMSUPPLIESAUSTRALIA.NET

Owner, Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Billing Contact:
AQUARIUMS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
George Fallon
165 Hall St
Bondi, New South Wales 2026
Australia
Phone: +61.293155288
Email: admin@aquariumproductswholesale.com

Note: This is publically available information

It should be noted that the ASA name is not only a registered business name, it is listed with ASIC as a company therefore giving it some degree of name protection, plus the ethics of pointing to a competing business... need I say more

George owns Slippery Little Suckers.

[G-1000]

Pro,

If you are being harassed like this then I think that is 100% disgraceful.

Not only is their activity unethical and childish, I would even say downright nasty. So what if there was a disagreement, we are all human beings and deserve to be treated with common decency.

I will be voting with my feet, in that I will never give the business in question or any of its affiliated companies any of my business. I would very strongly suggest that all members of this forum do the same.

Sorry to be so blunt.

G

[Dee]

I will be voting with my feet, in that I will never give the business in question or any of its affiliated companies any of my business.

G, I think that pretty much well sums up the situation and how a fair few members feel ... well said mate !

Cheers,

Dee :D

[Proteus]

and just so we all know how blatant these rip offs are...

The Aquadot Network websites:

www.ausfishforum.com
www.bettaforums.com
www.discusforums.com
www.aquaticgardensaustralia.com
www.aquastoredirectory.com
(plus over 10 other websites)

Also:

www.aquariumsupplies.com.au
www.aquariumsupplies.co.nz
www.aquariumsuppliesaustralia.com
www.aquariumsuppliesaustralia.com.au
www.aquariumsuppliesaustralia.net.au
(which are co-owned by myself)

The other sites:

www.ausfish forum.com.au
www.betta forums.com.au
www.discus forums.com.au
www.aquaticgardens australia.com.au
www.aquastore directory.om.au
www.fish forums.com.au
www.aquariumsupplies australia.net
www.aquariumsupplies australia.info
www.aquariumsupplies australia.org
www.aquariumsupplies australia.biz
(breaks placed to prevent them being detected by search engines)

What more can I say...

[DiscusEden]

Right.

Up until now, I thought this might be a personal disagreement that I was better off keeping out of. I was planning to buy from this business, given the previous good reviews, than figured I'd work it out later, after they left the forum. But to do things that p*** off your own customer base, like shutting down the forum deliberately? Not good business management. Or being a decent human being.

Dumb, guys, really dumb. Way to put yourself out of business. I can tell you now it's nothing being said here by the moderators doing it, it's your own stupid behaviour. I won't be paying you for it.

DiscusEden

[lime84]

Looks like they were at it again tonight... Couldn't access the site via 3 different links (Home, Work and Mobile Broadband) but was able to ping the site, perhaps another DoS attack?

Has anything been reported to the police? The harassment you guys are receiving is far beyond a joke...

Dont worry Karma will kick in shortly...

Take care guys

[DiscusEden]

I just had the same problem, after receiving a pm telling me to keep out of it.

[Proteus]

Yes, same old story...

*rolls eyes*

[Proteus]

I just had the same problem, after receiving a pm telling me to keep out of it.

The account of that so and so has been suspended.

One of the staff members of the business in question.

Guess, they need all the help they can get

[mcloughlin2]

Right.

Up until now, I thought this might be a personal disagreement that I was better off keeping out of. I was planning to buy from this business, given the previous good reviews, than figured I'd work it out later, after they left the forum. But to do things that p*** off your own customer base, like shutting down the forum deliberately? Not good business management. Or being a decent human being.

Dumb, guys, really dumb. Way to put yourself out of business. I can tell you now it's nothing being said here by the moderators doing it, it's your own stupid behaviour. I won't be paying you for it.

DiscusEden

Great post! I agree 100% with you matey.

They're running themselves out of business. :roll:

[DiscusEden]

Thanks.

Well, if there was any doubt before, that sealed it. Nice work on their part. I don't think we need karma to catch up, when they're going out of their way to abuse customers. What is that?

[mcloughlin2]

What is that?

I'd call that stupidity. :wink:

[samir]

the dos is really starting to p1ss me off. Proteus here's the link for the Federal Police, if you already don't have it.
http://www.afp.gov.au/online_forms/report_a_denial_of_service_attack

[benjohnson]

Much support from here in the UK .... if someone is trying to ruin this absolutely fantastic website for everyone else, they deserver everything they have got coming to them ....

This place is such a useful resource, desighned to help people who all share love for the same thing.

Pro/ LR if you need some help tracking these suckers, im a network engineer over here in the UK , If you need any help let me know .

For those people trying to ruin this website.... you are obviously too pathetic and weak to create your own pheomenon such as this site, and suffice to say , the amount of people you have pissed off by trying to ruin this for them will have done you enough damage that no amount of sabotage will rectify.

Rock On discusforums.com !!!!!!!!

[mistakes r crucial]

Simply pathetic and I hope you haven't spent all your spare cash registering rip off domain names. You just might need quite a bit shortly.
MAC

[FishLover]

What can we do to support you?

I notice the problems too. I also had some spam mails made it look like from the pm notice here. I thought that was low.

[Merrilyn]

The messages of support we have received from you, the members has been overwhelming. Thankyou all.

We anticipate there will be more 'prime time' attacks made on the server, so if we go off air for a while, please be patient.

Details are starting to come to light regarding the source of these attacks, and once confirmed, need I say more.

Expect a knock on the door Mr. N. :evil:

[Ben]

Ultimate sabotage!

You have nothing to gain Mr. N!
:evil:

[fish_r]

the site is running pretty slow again :(
can someone please PM me with the name of the online store that is responsible for causing all this crap. i have an idea which one it is but not 100% sure...
but one thing for sure is i want to make sure i dont give them any of my money...
hope they go out of business real quick !!!
pathetic losers !!!

[Bill T.]

I'm a great fan of this site. A few problems while you fight off these low lifers is not going to deter me. If the site does go down, I will just try again later.

[Proteus]

Thaks once again for the support.

The one thing that really stands out, is the fact that over almost 3 years, up until a week or so ago, the site had been offline in total for no more than a couple of hours. Mostly a few minutes here or there whilst the server or webservice reboots itself, yet since other parties have been trying to defame me to suppliers, make threatening and prank phones calls etc etc, this site has been offline for over 10hrs in the space of 1 week. I guess when business starts getting tough, some people think dirty tactics are the answer. Well here is a Newsflash... you have messed with the wrong people this time.

[Del]

:shock:

[Mattzilla]

wow just got back from a weekend in melbourne....a huge thanks again to Chris...and also a 'just missed you' to Ladyred...next time i hope.

can't believe that someone is stupid enough to try to knock the Discusforums and aquadot network train off it's tracks....IT'S JUST NOT POSSIBLE!!!!!!

there are some simple minds out there in the world but com'n....be serious....if you havn't got what it takes to be a successfull business and actually be HELPING the hobby then don't try to bring those around you down in jealousy!!! just stupid

DF and the entire aquadot network and it's owners have my FULL AND COMPLETE SUPPORT. you have done and continue to do amazing things for the hobby so keep it coming.

cheers

matt

[elvip]

Sad that it has come to this - I just don't understand people sometimes!! :shock:
Nonetheless, these pathetic attempts to close down Discus Forums will only make the members resolve to support this fabulous site even more -' when the going gets tough, the tough get going'!!!!!!!
These people and any of their associated affiliates trying to shut down Discus Forums (DF) are only doing themselves damage in the long run as they are losing customers !!!!
Elvip

[Proteus]

If ever this or other sites go down, I will try and post an FYI on AGA (http://www.aquaticgardensaustralia.com) to advise what is going on.

So far tonight there have been 2 short outtages, and I cant promise there wont be more given what has been happenning recently.

[Nathan]

how come aga doesnt go down when plantggek this forum an ausfish forum goes down?

[Proteus]

www.ausfishforum.com
www.bettaforums.com
www.discusforums.com
www.aquaauctions.com
www.aquaclassifieds.com
www.aquastoredirectory.com
www.aquadotnetwork.com
www.aquadotdomains.com
www.dwarfcichlidforums.com
www.fishinthe.net
www.plantgeek.net

(+ 74 other sites)

are all hosted on the one big server.

AGA and several other sites are on a totally seperate server at a different data centre...

[StonX]

What about the server provider? are they taking action or any measure? I assume you are paying someone to host this forum.

If its thats the case, I'm pretty sure that you already raise your concern to the hosting provider...
have they come back to you?

[Proteus]

I assume you are paying someone to host this forum.

The box is privately owned, so nobody gets paid other than for the leasing of the rack space.

So far tonight there have been 3 outtages... The good thing is, the actions of those that we believe are responsible are becoming very obvious... for instance, 2 minutes after these sites go down, a certain individual posts on one of those clone sites (the screenshots may just come in handy as they are all date and time listed)

[TomNS]

Curious - all on one server you say - might be able to adapt some firewall rules - who hosts the real DF ?

I am @ work behind the big content filter so I can have a sniff around but I will have a look @ home tonight - if the DoSing can be identified we may be able to get your provider to drop the packets .....

Will have a look tonight

Tom

[nicholas76]

Im very pleased that the truth is coming out in relation to the other party!!!

[parkap]

Howdy all,

Just read these posts.

Regardless of what people have said in regard to this being a poor strategy to try and win business and how unethical / immoral it is, etc, etc, at the end of the day a Denial of Service attack on a website is a federal criminal offence. This should be reported to the Federal Police. I have no misconceptions that an attack on a forum or commercial aqaurium site won't feature particularly highly on their priority investigations list, but at the very least reporting such occurrences, especially if it's happening more than once will get it on the radar.

DF came to the rescue of all us dwarf fans when another forum closed their dedicated dwarf forum. Since then the dwarf enthusiasts and some new fans have come together in really good numbers on what's a very friendly, user / open discussion orientated forum site. Any business that seeks to remove what used to be a very good source of patronage for them, is absolutely crazy and I'll unfortunately not be visiting them anymore.

I'd never really liked their customer service and business practices, but they did used to import some great apisto's. Personally, the more shops there are out there that support the industry as a whole will make the industry stronger. So I really have no reason / desire to go back there after all this.

p.

[nicholas76]

with that said have we had any developments?

[Proteus]

Official complaints have been made.

Funny how as soon as steps are put in place to have the offending party prosecuted, the attacks stop on the forums.

[parkap]

Official complaints have been made.

Funny how as soon as steps are put in place to have the offending party prosecuted, the attacks stop on the forums.

Woo Hoo!!! Well done. :D

[TomNS]

Official complaints have been made.

Funny how as soon as steps are put in place to have the offending party prosecuted, the attacks stop on the forums.

Yes,

jail is a powerful motivator :)

Tom

[scott bowler]

good to hear pro hope the law takes care off it and they are delt with acordingly

[shake]

What I don't understand is that these people/person responsible for all the attacks that stupid that they thought Proteus would not find out.

Wake up you idiots. :evil:

It's good that it has all stopped and we can get back to doing what we love best. Being on this forum :roll:

[Maximus]

Nearly got tricked into another clone site [advisor edit]LINK REMOVED[/edit]

Been having problems off and on logging into this genuine website...

[Proteus]

Just when the denial of service attacks stopped, a few very inventive sod's thought they would join up under bogus, unassuming usernames and start sending PM's & emails to select members to join up on these pathetic clone sites.

It should be noted that every PM and email sent from or on the forum is stored in the database. None of these messages are ever read, but various words are flagged to alert us of various activities.

To put it bluntly to the idiots and scammers out there, we know who you are, and you can go take a walk and maybe go watch the Smurf's or something... pffffffffffffft

[mistakes r crucial]

There is only one Discus Forum in Australia Proteus and I'm sure most people around here would agree. Why they would persist I have no idea, the words fruitless and futile come to mind.
MAC

[Proteus]

the words fruitless and futile come to mind

Fruitless...

Pathetic...

Losers...

Hey, maybe they need a sign

:stupid

[shake]

There not at it again are they.

[enigmatic]

There not at it again are they.

I was wondering, response times for the site have been erratic last few days.

[scott bowler]

just a note is the rubbish still happening in some degree there seems to be some probs from time to time getting on the site like chris said seems to be in the last few days is anyone else haveing the same probs ?

[DiscusEden]

Yes, same problems. Site wouldn't connect for 30 mins thisafternoon & 10 mins just now. Seems slow the rest of the time compared to usual, then works fine for 5 mins. Been happening since Christmas, but worse since last weekend.

[Proteus]

In all honesty I can only shrug my shoulders and shake my head at the stupidity of a few certain people. From what can be seen we have a good idea who it is, but not enough to have something done about it.

Obviously, these people don't get bored of the same games over and over again.

:banghead

[scott bowler]

yeah thats what i thought good its not only me .but crap its still going on but at least we know

[DiscusEden]

Luckily we, too, don't get bored - of looking at the forum. You've created a beautiful thing.

[scott bowler]

well people like that pro will make a mistake sooner or later and well who knows but the word will and can get out time will tell

[fiftycal]

Can anyone PM me and tell me what store it is, so that I dont inadvertently buy from them?

I hope they are not in Sydney

[Proteus]

What I don't understand is that these people/person responsible for all the attacks that stupid that they thought Proteus would not find out.

Wake up you idiots. :evil:

It's good that it has all stopped and we can get back to doing what we love best. Being on this forum :roll:

It is very amusing to read your comments especially given how vocal you are in supporting these idiots elsewhere. As they say, what goes around, comes around, and it has a habit of biting you on the backside on the way out....

bye bye now...