Those who were around a year ago know about the massive amount of headaches the EliteBNC staff went through. DDoS Season 2013 when said and done cost us dearly with the loss of several BNC servers. Unfortunately, it looks like the same situation has already developed again this year.

As has become obvious, the EliteBNC service itself was under a major DDoS attack a while ago. The result: 5 servers were hit, 3 are still down (Alpha, Kappa, Omega) all apparently null-routed by the hosts. The time table for the return of those servers is unknown at this time. Requests are halted until tomorrow until we know the full extent of the damages.

Since the start of May, we have now had 7 servers attacked: Alpha, Epsilon, Gamma, Kappa, Lambda, Omega, Rho. The probability that we may have lost at least 1 server today is very real, and possibly 3 more could be on the verge of being terminated. The likelyhood of these being replaced does not exist at this time. They will be total losses if that is the case.

As of today, all networks without default hostmasking (automatic masking of the connecting IP) are indefinitely suspended, including: QuakeNet, IRCnet, EFNet, DALnet, OFTC, GRNet, PTNet, EsperNet. Freenode is exempt from this list simply because we have an ILine with the network and ALL of our IP’s are automatically cloaked on connect. QuakeNet is for certain going to be suspended until at least August 1st as this is the network I suspect the most bringing today’s attack upon us because of the recent closing of the “Brainlag” free service due to DDoS attacks and the users coming to EliteBNC. This is when the mass of recent attacks on our servers started. There is no such thing as “coincidence” in this matter.

More info will be coming soon.

Robby
General Manager
EliteBNC Free IRC Bouncer Service

For years now, my mom has had several what one would think of as ‘bad falls’ and always hit her head… yet she would get back up (eventually) and walk away from it with only her pride bruised a bit. 2 weeks ago today, she had another bad fall. This time, though, she didn’t hit her head. Instead, she broke her hip. She had surgery the next day and from all indications she had a great chance of recovering physically. The problem is, this time it’s the mental collapse, not the physical collapse, that has done the most damage. After talking to my sister last night, there was no doubt that mom is giving up, isn’t eating much or making much effort to help herself, and will be passing from this life soon. Hospice will be taking over caring for her to comfort and ease her pain until the day comes.

Obviously, this is a dramatic event for the family and I. I will be leaving EliteBNC, and IRC as a whole, when the time comes… and most likely I won’t be coming back anytime soon. The passing of my dad 12 years ago took a huge emotional toll on me, and I know this will be as well. Being on here is not where I will want to be.

The rest of the staff and I will be deciding who will take over my position, and find someone who can run the service bot… or, if we simply need to discontinue this service. These will be decided in the coming days.

Farewell, fellow EliteBNCer’s
Robby,
General Manager

As much as I was upset, annoyed, and even very angry in the last news post, 3 events have happened that are worth noting.

1) To my total surprise, Omega was replaced and improved by a long shot
2) When Rho’s owner ended up in the hospital, I thought for sure that server was going… but it won’t
3) For the first time since November last year, we have 1000 accounts!

Okay, granted it’s likely this is just a temporary stroke of ‘good fortune’. The fact is, it won’t take much bullshit and I will be right back to wanting to quit. A couple of really stupid users already put me close to that point. But, I must admit, having some positive ‘accomplishments’ happen does make me feel better… I am sure everyone reading this can agree. In any case, I am still spending less time with EliteBNC and will continue to do so. The other real ‘positive’ I can say is that we are finally out of DDoS Season 2013 and things (on that front) are finally stablizing. As long as things are at least tolerable, I’ll be around. Thanks again to our users who have always been awesome users, but helped out when they could.

As for you idiot/fucktard/asshold abusers: DON’T FUCK WITH ME ANYMORE. You will get shit in return if you do. That’s all I need to say…

Robby
EliteBNC General Manager

A lot… and I do mean a LOT… of shit has happened this year. Really, since November of 2012 when we suddenly lost the original Omega server, then Xi a few weeks later in December. Then it was the loss of our .net domain in January and subsequent loss of hundreds of users following that when they were no longer able to connect to the BNC servers and never came in to ask for help… though a big part of that was the fact our website was also down due to the domain loss and they couldn’t get to us if they didn’t already know where we were. We went from almost 1300 users in August/September of 2012 to just over 600 by mid-March of this year. It wasn’t easy for me to accept this, or the server losses… or generally the lack of support I was getting at the time, and I nearly quit a couple of times during the January to March stretch of this year.

Then there was the “revival”. 3 new servers were added (Theta, Lambda, new Omega), Alpha’s move off BuyVM, and the new .org domain steadily made it’s way into Google and other search engines. We were finally moving forward again. I was, what I believed, ‘honestly’ ready to move into what I always call the “DDoS Season” (June/July/August) confident in the fact we already had most of the major networks with ‘DDoS tendencies’ banned: EFnet, IRCnet, UnderNet, DALnet. And then in late May, the shit began.

Prior to this we had already been getting the ‘occasional’ DDoS… it’s something every BNC service has to deal with. 99% of the time it is not directed at the ‘service’ but at 1 user on a particular server that “pissed off the wrong person”… subsequently, getting that IP and the BNC server taken down. This is pretty much unavoidable when you run a service like this. However, in late May the service itself was attacked with at least 6 servers getting hit, and the end result was the loss of Lambda as it’s owner pulled it from our service. But, it didn’t end there. Overall, since May, we have lost 5 servers… Lambda, Zeta (replaced), Theta, Epsilon (replaced), and recently the 2nd Omega, though the Omega loss isn’t due to DDoS. Every server was hit with DDoS shit at some point this summer. It didn’t matter that we had these nets banned. The latest Omega loss is a product of what we, and all ‘free BNC services’, generally run into… no funds coming in to ccver the costs. We at least had forewarning this was going to happen, unlike the DDoS server losses over the summer. Still, it hurts us… and it’s another server lost.

Where am I at? I’m fed up. I’m ready to quit IRC and everything associated once and for all. Yeah, I’m seriously talking not just the end of EliteBNC, but the end of all of my IRC projects. I’ve had enough bullshit. Either things change and I get some support, or fuck it and I’m out of here.

To our users: It’s pretty simple on your side also. There has been a shitload of abuse. Those of you who have always followed the rules, I thank you very much. Unfortunately, we have had more than our fair share of abuse. I, nor anyone else with this service, will EVER put up with abuse, bullshit, harrassment or any such bullshit. Just because we are free does NOT give you the right to abuse us. You WILL be dealt with if you abuse us. More so than if you were on any paid service. We cannot ‘afford’ abuse. It’s that simple.

If I do remain here, just expect me to become a total fucking asshole… because, quite frankly, it has been earned. I will not put up with anymore IRC bullshit… period. Do right, or be gone. If too much shit continues, then know that I am gone. And now, I seriously mean it, if I go, the EliteBNC service is likely to go soon after. This has to work both ways, or none at all.

Robby
EliteBNC General Manager

For 2½ years now, even back when I was a part of GeekBouncer, there has been a continuous history with the UnderNet network having problems. Servers would crash/die frequently, inconsistency with connection limits between the servers (some would have 5, others would have 2), and obviously the inevitable user abuse. Not only have the UnderNet servers become targets of DDoS attacks many times, but those abusers who would never get a user account and userhost (the name.users.undernet.org cloak) would end up bringing DDoS attacks upon the BNC servers.

Most of our users are pretty much aware that I have suspended the network many times in the past for one reason or another, and that last October I ended up suspending and removing accounts due to a mass of G-lines from the network. At the start of this year (January 1st, 2013), I opened the network back up for our users. However, the most recent multiple-day DDoS attack that UnderNet underwent this past week has ended up being double jeopardy for our service. Not only were users unable to connect and sometimes get killed for exceding session limits, but it forced UnderNet themselves to take actions that drastically impacted EliteBNC.

The network listed several of our BNC’s IP’s to DroneBL, a database that many IRC networks use to keep so-called trouble IP’s off their networks. Subsequently, their listing of our IP’s affected many users across at least 8 other network that were suddenly k-lined/z-lined/otherwise banned. As of last night, I made the decision that UnderNet was simply too much trouble and headache to continue to deal with. The network is now permanently banned and all users have been removed, and this is mostly due to the fact that I cannot allow UnderNet to keep listing our IP’s to DroneBL and affect so many of our other users. I’m sorry to those long-time UnderNet users that suddenly find themselves without a home on our service, but this situation had left me with no other choice.

eh.. i have been quiet of late.. for good reasons… some of you already know.. most don’t… but eh, i need to get this out because it really is bothering me now, whether anyone really realizes it or not…

my older brother tried to off himself 3 saturdays ago with a drug overdose. he has been locked away in a mental health facility since. but, the fact is, he is getting WORSE, not better. not sure if i am the first in the family to understand this or not, though i suspect one of my sisters realizes it also and not said it yet… but the truth is he is likely eventually heading for a state facility and never coming out. so yeah, he is what i would say ‘lost’ as a family member… i really don’t know what more to say at this point. you see this shit on tv, but that is tv… to see it in reality, it’s just overwhelming in many aspects… :(

[update 2013/04/14]
He was taken back in and Baker Act’d again. Not sure what is going to happen at this point…

Okay………

So much has happened since the last News post… I don’t know where to begin. Obviously, though, the fact is that “EliteBNC” has been extremely FAR from ‘elite’ for over 6+ months. I was more than ready to quit a number of times over these last months. This has been far below my standards, and I have had little control over it. I don’t pay into it, I don’t own any of the servers, I don’t own the domain… I just have the time to take care of the users. In the end, I resigned myself as “Co-Owner” and resided myself to just being the “General Manager”, which honestly I don’t mind. This is what I am best at. So here is a list of what MAJOR things have happened:

1) EFnet and IRCnet permanently banned because of DDoS crap.
2) Moving our homebase from Infinity-IRC to BitsJoint-IRC because of massive instability on the first net.
3) Loss of Omega server, terminated by the host because of excessive DDoS attacks.
4) Loss of Xi server, because the server’s owner disappeared and didn’t renew it.
5) Firing of Iota due to leaking private info.
6) The end of ‘relay’ channels being used for requests, etc. as a result of Iota’s firing.
7) The EliteBNC.net domain expired because the current staff didn’t control it (owned by a former staff, who didn’t check and let it expire).
8) BuyVM’s moving of Alpha to their new location in Las Vegas, causing a few outtages.
9) Moving of Theta to a new host because of hosting issues.
10) The new domain EliteBNC.ORG is up and under OUR control.
11) a few room closures and openings during this whole period. Current rooms are on our main page now, elitebnc.org
12) Mostly, the fact all of the current staff of EliteBNC have REAL LIVES, and not as much time to put into this anymore. Just accept this fact. This is IRC, it’s not that important.

This is where we stand now. At minimum, we are back to being a ‘real’ service with a website, email ability, and webpanels accessible by our new domain name. We hired a new staff to take care of hours the main staff are not around. But, the fact is, we are still a FREE service and you users need to accept us as such. Also, we are working closely with PanicBNC and BNC4FREE to curtail abuse of all 3 services. All 3 of us have a mutual respect with each other, and this does nothing but help each service out. I’m happy to be a part of this ‘unity’.

While I’m at it, there is some new shit upstart service that has done nothing but steal ideas of our 3 services. Seemingly, they have been DDoS’ing our friends at PanicBNC lately, and attacked our newest staff member a couple of days ago. For now, their IP’s are banned from our rooms on a permanent basis. I won’t mention the name, just because of ‘privacy’ rules… but, it starts with an “M”. Enough said.

I do apologize for being a part of allowing our service to fall to such a low level. The fact is, I gave up caring about it much. I am trying to do better again, so just take this for what it is… my words on this post. It may happen, it may not. I’m not going to make excuses for ‘real life’ stuff. That’s basically it.

Thanks for those of you who have stuck around. Hopefully, we are moving forward again and will be around for some time to come.

Robby,
General Manager,
EliteBNC

As many of our users know, Sigma had fallen victim to daily DDoS attacks for several consecutive days this week. We were finally able to figure out which user was responsible for this and have removed their account. This user, once again just like the Rho DDoS attacks last month, had their account for the EFnet network. This is now the second confirmed user on EFnet that has brought this problem upon our servers, and I suspect some of the other recent DDoS attacks on other servers such as Alpha, Xi and Zeta are also EFnet related. As of yesterday, I put in place a 30-day request suspension for EFnet. However, the ongoing discussion with the rest of the staff is about whether or not we should outright ban any future accounts to the network. I am leaning heavily in that direction, as EliteBNC simply cannot continue to take these kinds of attacks. It was suggested that we only allow IPv6 accounts to EFnet. When the suspension ends and if we are going to allow new accounts to EFnet, this will be the case. For now, it’s just a “wait and see” situation for us to figure out if it is worth the risk. We will be posting more information about our decision on this matter in a couple of weeks.

In a recent turn of events, EliteBNC was invited by the owners of GeekBouncer (J0rd4n and Ishaq) to set up on their IRC network, Obsidian-IRC (server irc.obsidianirc.net). GeekBouncer is either being sold or will simply shut down, and they want our service to take over helping the users that connect there looking to request a BNC. The owners, plus the rest of the GeekBouncer staff, have made the decision to move forward in their lives and that they no longer have the time or interest in running the service. We set up our channel on Obsidian-IRC several days ago, and as of now it is running the relay bot. More than likely, this will become an official EliteBNC network with the official bot in the next couple of weeks. I want our service to get some things settled first before we expand, though. We have 1 server that is going to move to a new host, and I want to make sure the DDoS situation for all our servers has settled down. It simply wouldn’t be wise to try expanding when there are issues that could affect the new users.

Our expansion could also include us putting a channel on the Bitsjoint IRC network. The BNC service running there could be merging into EliteBNC, bringing us additional servers and IP’s to work with. The details are not worked out yet, but we will keep our users informed if and when things develop.

We have officially closed our room on the ICQ network and moved the bot to our new channel on EsperNet. The server is irc.esper.net. The abuse from the users on ICQ has been ongoing for too long, plus the instability of the network’s servers has made us realize it was time to leave. Apologies to those ICQ users who have always supported us and respected our rules. Unfortunately, there are just too many on there that continue to abuse and try to take advantage of our service.

Also, the Omega server will be moving to a new host in the next week or so. We will keep our users informed when we are ready to move the server.

We have figured out that the issue with UnderNet is their Tampa.* server, which has recently started killing our BNCs with the following message: (:Closing Link: ****** by Tampa.FL.US.Undernet.org (Sorry, your connection class is full – try again later or try another server)). Either they have hit a limit, or have changed either their connection limit per IP or started limiting the BNC server IP ranges. Either way, it is affecting all of our BNC servers. We are adding other UnderNet servers to users as their accounts are killed. When the request suspension ends, we will resume adding accounts to the network, but we will leave the Tampa.* server out of the server list until such time that it is working normally again. We have already set up other servers to add for now. In the meantime, UnderNet will remain suspended from new requests until tomorrow. Check the status in any of our channels with the !suspended command.

Additionally, we have suspended a number of networks for 2 primary reasons. MindForge and ICQ because of requesting abuse, and EFNet and IRCnet because of DDoS concerns. The DDoS attacks this week on the servers have been on user IPs, not the main server IPs, which tells us it is particular users that are being attacked and not us directly, unlike what happened last week. We have found 2 such users on EFnet that were responsible already, so that is the network of highest suspicion for this week’s attacks. Unfortunately, without the network using any hostmasking, it is impossible to prevent such attacks, especially the large-scale attacks that have overwhelmed measures to protect the servers. The MindForge and ICQ suspensions are because of repeated hoarding issues. For ICQ, this is now the third time in 3 months. The next time it happens, I will close that room and suspend requests to the network for 30 days. This network has gone beyond ridiculous with the amount of abuse the users have caused. I am no longer willing to put up with it.

We have added a couple of new features, the first one I mentioned on the last post. There have only been a handful of people using the email request system so far, but they have been happy with the ability to keep their email private. This method is taking longer as we still put our priority with the normal requests first. This slower response time is also a preventative measure for abuse, as hoarders and other abusers such as ban evaders generally do not want to wait for their BNC account. The other new feature is the ability of a user to !cancel their own pending request if they made a mistake, instead of waiting for staff to fix it for them. This can only be done by the user as long as they remain on the same ip/host they requested from. If they ping timeout and return on a new IP, the !cancel will not work. This new feature has already seen some use, and makes things a lot faster for both staff and the users when they can fix their own request.

We continue to move forward in adding new features for our users. Thanks for the continued support!