September 04, 2004
Running community websites

.. is really a chore. I cannot imagine anyone would do this for pure satisfaction of creating something useful. While that's great.. and I enjoy helping others, it's the few jerks who chooose to make everyone around them miserable to compensate for their lack of a meaningful life that make it annoying.

This is where running your own server comes in handy.

(1) web server



RewriteCond %{REMOTE_HOST} 24.171.49.245

RewriteRule (.*) http://www.joke-archives.com/computers/howtogetalife.html [R,L]

(2) mail server



/^From:.scgower@charter.net/ REJECT This server does not accept e-mail from \          

                                                   idiots, thanks for playing

Petty to do this? Probably.. Petty to post it in a weblog where I know it will be read by a lot of people and archived by google? Most definitely.
Does it feel great? Most certaintly..

Don't call a girl who knows unix a "cunt".

Posted September 04, 2004 05:03 PM in Personal
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.unix-girl.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1322
Comments
On September 4, 2004 06:35 PM Christopher added:

Sweetheart, some days you just make me smile. :)

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On September 4, 2004 07:12 PM Garrett added:

In case nobody has told you this lately, you rule.

:-)

-garrett

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On September 4, 2004 08:43 PM pjm added:

Dang, and here I thought you were going to say something about websites for the running community.

Nice job, though. I'm filing this helpful hint, myself. I'm using your comment-spam mod_rewrite hack now, and it has done wonders for me in that regard.

(What did he think he was going to gain?)

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On September 4, 2004 09:52 PM Aristotle added:

:-)

No, it's not petty to do. Yes, it's petty to post about it. No, I'm not going to berate you. I've run a messageboard. I know your pain.

Occasionally, you just need that release of sticking it to someone just because you can, because you've been good and patient and level headed for such a long time that the jerks think you're simply lame and weak and have to decided to take advantage of it. Their painful surprise when they discover that patience runs out eventually is infinitely satisfying… particularly when you have the respect of your other regulars and they've have grown as tired of a jerk as yourself, so they cheer and holler when you bring down the hammer. Ahh…

Like pulling a thorn out of your flesh and feeling the sting subside.

Good riddance.

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On September 5, 2004 01:35 PM Dimi added:

Considering what you could have done with his information, consider yourself a saint.

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On September 5, 2004 02:59 PM Eric added:

I've created several websites that were solely for the benefit of others. And I've been screwed by other people on all of them. heh!

But, I find it even easier to ban someone.. every file sent has a PHP include file attached to the beginning. And it starts with a list of IP addresses to check for bans, at which point it spits out proper messages, and then aborts.

I find that easier than modifying the web server config.

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On September 5, 2004 11:56 PM jgs added:

Not petty, IMO...maybe you were too nice with the redirect though.

Depending on how strongly you felt about the message, you could have sent him here: http://www.mostannoyingwebpage.com/v1/index2.html

Click at your own risk, there's about 200 or so javascript popups there...

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On September 7, 2004 03:44 AM david added:

Lack of meaningful life..*logs into interface*..

I feel your pain..you don't want the numbers on people who write in demanding (mostly), where, what, and when they'll be getting their little discs-o-linux..

The sad part is, I maintain a policy (wrote the response interface too) that says we just dump em and go. No response..

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On September 7, 2004 09:51 AM Mike added:

Here's a bit of apache config that allows you to block whatever IPs you like. And you don't need to restart the server when you change blockip.txt.

blockip.txt:
1.2.3.4 bad
5.6.7.8 bad

Apache config stuff:

RewriteMap blockip txt:/path/to/list/blockip.txt

RewriteRule ^/ - [E=security_flag:${blockip:%{REMOTE_ADDR}|good}]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/blockedip.html
RewriteCond %{ENV:security_flag} ^bad$
RewriteRule ^/ - [F]

ErrorDocument 403 /blockedip.html

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On September 7, 2004 03:48 PM pbw added:

Nicely done. Very glad I stopped in to read today. :)

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On September 8, 2004 10:08 AM Steve Friedl added:

Hmmm. From searching scgower@charter.net it seems that he is Scott Gower - I wonder if his mom (or his daughter) knows he refers to women that way.

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On September 8, 2004 02:34 PM Mark added:

Why even allow the guy to fling packets at your webserver in the first place?

iptables -I INPUT 1 -s 24.171.49.245 -j DROP

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On September 8, 2004 02:36 PM kasia added:

Because it's more fun to redirect him to something funny and make him think I actually changed my site (he's not very bright).

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On September 8, 2004 03:26 PM pbw added:

Now that's even funnier. :)

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Trackbacks
Teal Sunglasses:Running Community Websites
Kasia: I cannot imagine anyone would do this for pure satisfaction of creating something useful. Well, Laurie and I have been doing just that for a decade or so (or, more correctly, before there were web sites, it was mailing lists). If you include our...
(read more)
September 7, 2004 12:12 AM