Hello Gentlemen and I certainly feel the frustration some of you are having regarding my website. That was quite an early Christmas Present that somebody gave my website yesterday! Unfortunately, this has happened several times before and will probably happen again.
I hope that I can straighten out some misinformation or guesses about what is going on. The fact is I had to get a strong security system a couple of years ago after a DoS attack first occurred. Our Security System keeps the bad guys out but does have to close the site until the DoS attack stops. I can't explain the technical aspects of how it all works because I have no expertise in that area (or most others). But, it was explained in laymen's terms to me this way - it's like throwing 50,000 bots at the website's front door that blocks anyone from getting in.
No orders can take place during the attack or while the website has been closed. No one, you good guys or any bad guys can get into the site - me included, until the Security System detects no more bots at the front door. The site is then reopened. And I'm giving you my word that no one can sneak in and make orders while the site is down. And as some of you found out, even when you are in the site, you lose all connection with pipestud.com when the security system shuts down the site.
I am obviously being picked on by somebody. Perhaps a disgruntled customer. But so are a lot of other websites much larger than my little one. That's why there are a lot of security services out there whose job it is, among other things, to stop all of the evil DoS attacks constantly taking place around the world. It is big business as many of you tech savvy members know.
As for the future; well, I've been running my website for 18-years in various forms but the same format, and judging from a very supportive and loyal customer base, and near sell-outs every week, I must be doing something right. And I'm not going to let those D0S creeps put me on the canvas for the count.
Finally, if any of you have ideas that you think might be helpful to me, I would appreciate hearing them and I can always be reached at
steve@pipestud.com. And I can't tell you guys just how much it means to me to get so many kind comments over the years about my website from the members here at pipesmagazine.com. And that is certainly why I have been a long time sponsor of this site and you can bet that I'll continue to be.
You guys rock!
Steve
