Johanna

Hello Joe & Cindy! Glad you made it to the forum! Folks- check out powermallet.com and watch the videos. ~J

and you cleared your cache...thanks, I'll check into it some more. ~J

I found a remote mysql % and deleted it, changed all passwords. Let me know if the problem continues.

Also, when a Google link redirects once, it won't do it a second time on that computer. The link clicks true from then on- after showing the redirect page. There's nothing in the forum software out of the ordinary and I don't think the problem is on our end.

So Google is allowing a legit link from the forum to display the real forum page and then interrupting it with these rogues?

I would like to see one of those emails, and if you know how to copy the headers, I would appreciate it. No one else has reported anything like that, and I am not aware of any problems with the mailserver. Thanks for your help. ~J admin@leatherworker.net

Karina I have to agree that it's a Google problem and not necessarily a person's computer. When I got your original message, Dennis, I investigated immediately. The site and server are clean. I did a search using the terms you mentioned, and the first time I clicked the link I got a weird page, and the status bar indicated I was on LW. But the page doesn't exist here. Strange. So I did it again on my daughter's computer, no problem. My son's computer on a different network, all okay, tried my computer again and the link went straight to LW like it was supposed to. Now I'm wondering what the devil is happening, so I start Googling common LW search terms. Every LW link came up clean on all the computers, so now I can't duplicate the problem, but I saw the odd page too- said 404 and was shrouded in gray. (should have screen capped it for submission to Google!) If anyone experiences this again, please let me know as much detail as you can. I filed a ticket with Google to have them investigate after I started Googling for other examples of this kind of thing. Like Karina said, Google is aware of the issue because they have all sorts of folks fussing about redirected links. bleepingcomputer.com and geekstogo.com are excellent resources for people looking to make sure their computers are clean. I know the admins there, and they have top-of-the-line help to assist you. ~J

St8line, if you can't log in, you can't post, so you were logged in okay when you wrote that. The biggest problem people seem to have when logging in is that their log in "user name" might be different from the display name. I tell people their user names more than I reset passwords, but if anyone needs help with logging in send an email to admin@leatherworker.net and I'll fix you up. AFAIK, everything is fine on our end and has been for weeks. The server load is low, the logs look good and there are no viruses or other malware living on this site or the server it sits on. Incidentally, today is the anniversary of the horrible crash of 2008. Kate and I worked hard to get the site online again, and to try to prevent anything like that happening in the future. We did everything but staple Beaverslayer's tinfoil hat on on his head, but he said that it had to come off once a year for his bath. During that time we ask leatherworkers from around the world to hold hands and sing "Kum-bay-yah" until he's got everything shiny again. Please let me know if you are having any problems, but all systems here look good, knock on wood. ~J

Thank you for understanding and expressing what LW is all about, Mike. I hope the people involved resolved things.

Not usually, but this past month has been an exception. The host did some updates a few weeks ago that caused some problems, and today a server data center in Utah failed, and we went offline. As long as Beaverslayer keeps his tinfoil hat on, we should be okay now.

Okay, think I'm caught up again. If you don't see the NSFW area by the Marketplace, try logging in/out first, then send me a PM if you have any problems. Thanks! ~J

All you have to do is click the X to collapse the sidebar. I don't know why your pages are taking so long to load. I can't duplicate your problem on any other computers or networks. Glad you had an improvement! ~J

Tom (Northmount) Your good advice about controlling spam will be helpful to many members. Thank you for explaining the options so well. You can also tell people on the forum to email you or PM you. If you hover the cursor over a members name, a box will pop up with the send message icons on the left. If the member has allowed it, an email and PM option are presented. You can also reach these options on a member's profile page. The board keeps PM email addresses confidential between the parties. We mods try to catch the real email addresses on the board as they get posted and "fix" them to be bot-unfriendly, but of course we don't get them all. The advertisers use their ads to announce specials, new products and to introduce themselves to new customers. The ads don't flash or pop up. Many members have found them to be useful, and our sponsors pay for the server fees. A site like this, busy and full of pictures, requires a lot more than "average" hosting. Like I said before, perhaps your ad blocking software does not recognize our private adserver. Our ads do not come from doubleclick, Google or the other big companies that mine data from your Internet browsing and sell it to the highest bidder. Our ads are meant to be informative and useful, and they are owned by very reputable businesses. If we allowed a third party company to do ads we would have no control over the content, or what was done with the info those kinds of ads can collect. Even worse, we wouldn't be able to control where a click on those ads would go. The decision to establish our own adserver was made for those reasons- protecting the privacy of our members and the integrity of the site. With our arrangement, there is nothing on this site that can infect or interfere with anyone's computer. I hope this answers some questions. I am sorry you feel that the ads are an inconvenience, but I assure you that they are in the best interest of this FREE site. Any person, anywhere in the world, can come here to learn about leather and meet new friends. Without our sponsors, we would not be able to stay online. ~J

There are no pop up ads here. The reason your ad blocker software might not block the 4 banner ads at the top of the page is because they are NOT coming from a third party website. We have a private adserver, to protect your privacy. No data is collected from the ads other than the clicks. The banner ads at the top of the page are from respected businesses in our industry, and they pay the bills that keep LW online and available for everyone. I hardly think they are "in your face" advertising! You can help LW by clicking on the ads, buying quality products and telling them you appreciate their support of leatherworker.net. Thank you. Johanna

You 3 are added, as well as the 6 who sent me a PM. Thank you! ~J

Thank you Alex! I'm going a little crazy trying to keep up with things this week, and I couldn't have said what you just did any better. Thank you for explaining posting so well. ~J

Okay, Chancey- that made me snort coffee up my nose. There are no "Gods", just me and a handful of other green people. We're more like janitors than royalty, but I really liked the "best site in the whole wide world" part. That got my attention! Okay, we'll add it in there next to motorcycles, but you have to promise to help fill it up with pics of your pretty work! Encourage your friends to share there too so the place isn't empty. You folks make my job fun. I've been playing guitar for 40 years now...and music is good for the soul. When my phone rings, I have to turn Pandora down to answer.) ~J

You understand exactly what we are trying to do: "Education, entertainment and fellowship". Would you like to join the ambassador team and help out with the welcomes and bumping up any oversights? ~J

I warned everyone that things might be a little bumpy for a day or two until we get everything sorted out! Thanks for letting me know what happened to you. I'm still working on the issues. ~J

We usually post new stuff in "Show Off" and then the mods sort the older posts into the proper catagories after a few weeks. If you see any inappropriate posts just click "report to mods" and one of us will delete/move/edit/ the post as needed. HTH Johanna