CarpForum.co.uk IP address blocked?

[KarlStarnes]

A friend messaged me earlier saying he couldn't surf www.CarpForum.co.uk , only by using a VPN connection.

I discovered I had the same issue. I asked if he used Virgin Media and he said yes.

I can see there are users surfing CarpForum but I guess they are not Virgin Media customers.

For years now CarpForum has been unable to send emails to Virgin email addresses (including older/acquired company email address eg. @blueyonder). This was a pain (I have to deal with hundreds of bounced emails) but to actually block the site now!?

I need to know why it's blocked, and why nobody made any effort to contact the webmaster if there is something 'bad' on the site. I can get things removed within a matter of minutes...it's a forum and I am not able to control every single thing users post on there and my moderation team can't check every single post (we respond to posts if anything is reported)

It appears to be an IP address block of some description as my other domain names also return nothing when I try to ping them

C:\Users\karl>ping www.carpforum.co.uk
Ping request could not find host www.carpforum.co.uk. Please check the name and try again.

A swift resolution would be appreciated as I am getting more people messaging me asking about issues

Thanks,
Karl

[findshorty]

We're in the same boat. It seems the WebSafe software is not fit for purpose.

[KarlStarnes]

Thanks for your reply...I done some googling earlier and spotted the WebSafe options, so went to my Virgin account and tried to toggle the WebSafe on/off (even though it was already off).

It just errored and wouldn't accept/save the change.

For such a big company you'd think someone might know what's going on and that things just aren't working very well

[findshorty]

I'm not a Virgin Media customer, and there's no way I can tell my client to tell their customers that in order to access the website they must either edit the WebSafe settings (impossible it seems) or not use Virgin Media.

It's just absurd, however that was one of the solutions proposed previously by the twitter team.

How do we know who a potential customer is? How do we ask them to change their settings? How do we ask them to change to a different ISP? How WOULD they change to a different ISP even if we could ask them?

This issue has clearly been happening as long as WebSafe has been around, because I've found forum posts several years old with the same issue.

[Tudor]

You can bypass websafe by changing the DNS servers in the device trying to connect, try 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8

[用心棒]

---

@Tudor wrote:

You can bypass websafe by changing the DNS servers in the device trying to connect, try 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8

---

… and there in lies the issue because: (a) this does not appear to be a Web Safe issue; (b) other DNS services, like Cloudflare, Quad9, etc also fail to resolve the name

[Tudor]

I’m currently in the US and cannot resolve the name. Only thing I can find is:

Domain name:
        carpforum.co.uk

    Data validation:
        Nominet was able to match the registrant's name and address against a 3rd party data source on 02-Mar-2018

    Registrar:
        Namecheap, Inc. [Tag = NAMECHEAP-INC]
        URL: https://www.namecheap.com

    Relevant dates:
        Registered on: 20-Sep-2000
        Expiry date:  20-Sep-2024
        Last updated:  25-Aug-2021

    Registration status:
        Registered until expiry date.

    Name servers:
        ns1.meganameservers.eu
        ns2.meganameservers.eu
        ns3.meganameservers.eu

    WHOIS lookup made at 03:58:12 13-Apr-2022

-- 
This WHOIS information is provided for free by Nominet UK the central registry
for .uk domain names. This information and the .uk WHOIS are:

    Copyright Nominet UK 1996 - 2022.

You may not access the .uk WHOIS or use any data from it except as permitted
by the terms of use available in full at https://www.nominet.uk/whoisterms,
which includes restrictions on: (A) use of the data for advertising, or its
repackaging, recompilation, redistribution or reuse (B) obscuring, removing
or hiding any or all of this notice and (C) exceeding query rate or volume
limits. The data is provided on an 'as-is' basis and may lag behind the
register. Access may be withdrawn or restricted at any time.

[Graham_A]

The carpforum website is accessible via my VM connection this morning with websafe on which suggests that the issue seen yesterday was caused by something else, or the site has since been cleared by the websafe team.

[SCA1972]

@KarlStarnes

Hi Karl,

I tried clicking through to your site and the first thing Chrome says is the site is not secure, which is not a great look.

If I check the site on Blocked.org it says that BT is blocking it but not VM:

https://www.blocked.org.uk/site/http://www.carpforum.co.uk/

Here is a table of the BT filter categories:

Something on your site is causing BT to filter it but as far as I can see not VM.

______________________
Scott

My setup: VM TV 360 box, M350 Fibre broadband with Hub 3 in modem mode connected to a Netgear R7000 router. Telewest/VM user since 2001.

[SCA1972]

---

@findshorty wrote:

I'm not a Virgin Media customer, and there's no way I can tell my client to tell their customers that in order to access the website they must either edit the WebSafe settings (impossible it seems) or not use Virgin Media.

It's just absurd, however that was one of the solutions proposed previously by the twitter team.

How do we know who a potential customer is? How do we ask them to change their settings? How do we ask them to change to a different ISP? How WOULD they change to a different ISP even if we could ask them?

This issue has clearly been happening as long as WebSafe has been around, because I've found forum posts several years old with the same issue.

---

@findshorty I agree that Web Safe is not fit for purpose, I don't think any of the UK ISP provided parental filters are, but not for the reason you think.  They are compliance services that the UK government forced upon ISPs to present the impression they were doing something to protect kids.  The fact that most kids can bypass these filters with ease has been glossed over.

As for finding old posts with the same issue, that is not necessarily an indication that it is not fit for purpose.  All filters will occasionally flag sites incorrectly as they are automated systems looking for key words or patterns.  That is why they all have the ability to inform the operator that a site has been categorised incorrectly and they can then get the site reviewed by a human to check it. Not sure what work you do for your client but you don't seem very clued up on the way the web works IMHO.

Instead of spamming various threads with "me too" posts it might be helpful to respond on your own thread and let us know if you have followed the advice that @用心棒 provided here:

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Security-matters/Client-s-website-blocked-by-Virgin-websafe-How...

I'll post on your thread shortly with some other suggestions.

______________________
Scott

My setup: VM TV 360 box, M350 Fibre broadband with Hub 3 in modem mode connected to a Netgear R7000 router. Telewest/VM user since 2001.