Single post in Regarding Site Downtime

Recently, we've had issues with users with incredible (in the thousands) numbers of connections to the server resulting in a DDoS attack, as well as discovering 15+ users obviously using botting tools and bringing the site to a crawl during peak hours. I know we've been rather closed with information regarding this, but for the past three days we've been in full panic mode and completely swamped keeping the site up against the veritable flood of traffic. Now that everything seems to have calmed down and we've gotten Sally back in her pen and not running around the farms screaming and smashing down walls, we can talk about it. I feel that it needs to be said yet again - botting programs (be them autoclickers, mass link openers, or anything of the sort) are completely against the rules. (here's a quick link to the rules) This is referenced under section 9, subheading B regarding account control. If it isn't your fingers clicking the mouse or typing on the keyboard, you are in violation of account control rules. So, on behalf of the staff, I apologize for the interruption in service and the massive slowdowns, but we think we've gotten the situation under control and removed the users responsible for bringing the site down. I hope it doesn't happen again, but that's how it is.

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UPDATE We're aware of a number of users using autorefreshers distributed by a certain individual. If anyone has been sent a bot or sent a link to one, notify us immediately. If you choose to use it, you will be removed for botting. Don't make that mistake - don't even try it to see if it works. Let a staff member know immediately. And if you're distributing bots? Don't. Unless you really don't like using the site anymore. We'll know.