Website Updates and News

[Administrator]

We are aware of the spam posts as of recent. We will be updating the forums at some point later on when we have free time to do so. Until then, they are manually deleted by the admins when noticed.

[Administrator]

- The forums have been updated. A new theme will need to be coded for it though which we will get around to doing later on. There are also some other minor theme problems, but we will adjust them as needed when we have spare time.

- All users with a post count of 0 (zero) have been deleted from the database.

[Administrator]

- The main theme header and footer have been fixed. There are still colour issues in the messaging section, but I'll get around to changing those later.

[Administrator]

Fixed a bug in the PHP code which rendered the header and footer incorrectly on mobile devices (or if a computer browser was scaled down smaller than usual). There is still a small problem with the far right side however, so I'll take another look at it another time and address it.

The colours in the messaging section were also fixed, as well as a few other tweaks. If anyone notices any problems, be sure to PM me.

[Administrator]

All users with a post count of 0 (zero) have been deleted from the database.

[Administrator]

Again, all users with a post count of 0 (zero) have been deleted from the database (we have had a lot of spam attacks recently).

[Administrator]

Public/guest downloads have been locked. I understand it is a real pain to have to now create an account to download or yet even view pictures of information needed quickly (this is why it was left off so downloading files would be quick and trouble-free), but this has now been done because the server kept exceeding the download quota for a few months now and our hosting company would charge us a very expensive fee once the download quota was triggered.

NOTE: Some downloads will however still work fine with public access (such as hardcoded non-forum downloads).

[Administrator]

We will start to implement HTTPS for PSXDEV.NET soon for increased security of our website and users.

[Administrator]

Database pruned of all users with a post count equal to zero. This was done to remove any potential spambots lurking in the database. If you had a genuine account and it was deleted, please re-register.

[Administrator]

CloudFlare added to protect the server from attacks.

[Administrator]

Fixed a huge problem regarding images not showing when logged in and users being logged out all the time.

[Administrator]

Cloudflare CAPTCHA has now been disabled (DDoS protection level set to 'Medium').

[Administrator]

Database pruned of all users with a post count equal to zero. This was done to remove any potential spambots lurking in the database. If you had a genuine account and it was deleted, please re-register.

[Administrator]

• The forum software (phpBB) was updated to V3.3.4 (the latest version publicly available). The PHP backend was also updated to V7.4.7. The results are improved security (there should also be no more spam bots) and faster speeds (due to the major PHP update). All plugins were also updated.
  
• Database pruned of all users with a post count equal to zero. This was done to remove any potential spambots lurking in the database. If you had a genuine account and it was deleted, please re-register.
  
• What about SSL and HTTPS? Err, I'll do that probably never. It's just a massive pain and it takes a lot of work to setup the certificates and convert everything on the site so it works without any problems
  
• The phpBB Native Fulltext Index was updated.
• 'Stop Forum Spam' and 'ReCAPTCHA V3.0' installed.
• Unnecessary BBCodes removed.
• Discord ID field added to all profiles (optional).
• All broken emoticons have been fixed.
• CloudFlare IP unmasking enabled.
• Footer copyright year updated to 2021.

NOTES: If there are any problems with the site, please let me know.

[Administrator]

• cURL installed (anti-spam will now function correctly).
• Some custom fields were hidden from all post pages.
• Custom fields can now be filled out when registering.
• The CSS for the 'Login' dialog window was adjusted.
• The 'Joined' date/time field on all profiles has been shortened so it does not include the time anymore.
• The CloudFlare cache has been reset (so that the new version of the forum can be re-cached).

[Administrator]

There was a bug in the anti-spam system. This has now been fixed (IE: user IP addresses will now be reflected correctly).

[Administrator]

Spam manually cleaned. I see artificial intelligence is getting more advanced and making the spam harder to detect since they talk about things that are on topic. Might switch to "Akismet" anti-spam soon if it keeps happening but I see it isn't too aggressive and the spam is generally light so it is manageable.

Updates

• New "Verified" plugin (respected members on the forums now have a green tick next to their names).
• Reference topic removal (cleans up the threads by removing the "Re:" title on each reply).
• All users equal to a post count of 0 deleted (helps remove lurking spammer accounts).

If you account has been deleted, make a new account and introduce yourself to avoid this happening again.

[Administrator]

• Fixed a bug on the forums where a CSS file was missing and as such, the menu bar was not being rendered.
• Spam cleaned.

[Administrator]

• Cache Cleared.
• Formatting Toolbar Improved (image of how it should look is below).

[Administrator]

• Fixed a problem on the forums where users couldn't upload their avatars.
• Gravatar avatars were enabled.