Important message from the forum administration!

[Rastus]

Nothing here.

[ellis4538]

I would PM Marshal and let him know.  I didn't get it.

Richard

[crusader rabbit]

Nothing untoward in my in-box.  feeling left out...

[Bic]

Negativo on the pee emmo   

[shooter32]

Nothing.

[Sponsor]

[1911 Junkie]

I'm not even worth spamming. 

[2HOW]

nope

[Marshal Halloway]

Hi ...

The last few days, we have experienced an increase in spam and especially through PMs. Thanks to all who have reported this.

If you receive PMs from new members (click on the member link to check when they registered) with links to websites, report them and then delete.

Last one this morning was called "Important message from the forum administration!"

We are working on "nuking'em" .

MH

[Marshal Halloway]

Hi folks!

It is not a virus and it is not a hack. They registered as members and started sending PMs. We have limited the number of PMs you can send at once, so some members receive them, some don't. We are working on it.

As of now, we have temporarily changed the settings and all new members have to be approved manually until we are able to find the source and block them.

[Teresa Heilevang]

Ok~~~ I'm stepping in here and give my 'less than "..

I received  a pm stating that maybe since this is happening.. and the slime ball spammer/hackers have squeezed under a crack .. that our site is somehow not being tended to in the most secure manner and possibly our giveaways in Down Range are not run properly either..
Well....................................*taking a deep breath* I don't know whether its the massive headache I have today..or that I just knee jerked and took this too personal and wrong. ( I'm willing to admit it could be both.. so if I over react to this.. I apologize)

Down Range is still an extremely secure site.  As most of you Down Range 'lifers' know there was a time awhile back that we were hit hard..( Site was blitzed for a short bit even)  Marshal had to pull out all the guru power to nuke that.. but he did!
Now .. the slime suckers have hit again.. but not near as hard as that other time. This is actually minor..Irritating and Inconvenient for us.. but sill minor..  And this isn't exactly hacker stuff.. This is spammers..
Spammers are little 'hacker wannabes'..who delight in being able to string their trash through everyone yard..hoping that somewhere along the time you are picking up their trash..you will see a piece of it that you will find interesting..
Spammers work sometimes in groups..
Hackers generally work as loners.. That is how they get their jollies.. They are constantly hammering code software into sites trying to get in... in any manner. .. and most are so intelligent that they have automated bots running nonstop doing the figures in the background constantly sniffing and searching for a way in. These guys are far from stupid.. But that is all they do every single day. Its bragging rights within the other geek hackers.

Both are manure ordinated in my books..

 Marshal works on  this site constantly.. as most of you know..  But as with anything that is cyber and internet based.. these things happen to every site that is out there...
What irritates me is when people start insinuating that our giveaways on Down Range are not secure..Nothing could be further from the truth.. To me that is personal..Maybe I shouldn't take it like that ..but I do. Down Range might be powered by the Outdoor Channel now.. but Marshal..all by himself... built this wonderful site from the ground up .. piece by piece. letter by letter... So in our eyes..we still own it and treat it like we own it..  
The contest and giveaway software is extremely reliable and secure.. and what some have forgotten or maybe don't realize is that ..Down Range has 2 humans working  on everything that runs through this site. Nothing is automated and left  without being powered and run and monitored by humans.. ( Marshal and I)  So the give-aways are secure. and we will do and continue to do everything humanly possible to insure that Down Range is run and operated in the highest and secure way we know how..

((Now ..next thing I have to do is try to deal with this headache..))