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#231454 - 06/06/12 06:06 PM Re: LDWForums blocked by FireFox/Google [Re: TheGnome]
txmom2 Offline
Consigliere

Registered: 02/21/09
Posts: 213
Oh no, it's malware? Well, it was Text Enhance, so I'll have to look into that. Thank you.

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#231457 - 06/07/12 01:32 AM Re: LDWForums blocked by FireFox/Google [Re: LadyCFII]
OrionsRose Offline
Trainee

Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 37
Loc: BC, Canada
Originally Posted By: LadyCFII
We did discover a problem very early yesterday, and we promptly took action to correct it (although it might take some time for the warnings to go away for everyone, unfortunately).


That's very interesting considering I emailed forums@ldw.com on May 15 to tell them of the problem and again on May 26 (by which time Google had completely blocked the site and I couldn't find any way in). Today my favorite pages were still blocked but as I figured it must have been fixed by now I sought another way in and got here fine without my antivirus putting up notices.

I found it disconcerting that there were no notices put up (on the LDW main website, facebook, or twitter) about the forums being blocked. Now to see this thread, I'm frankly more upset as those of us who were blocked from the forums had no access to the info.
I fully realize people who work here are extremely busy (and I don't think I'm anyone so special as to deserve special treatment) but it feels really disrespectful that no one took 60 seconds to reply to my emails to tell me, "hey thanks for the head's up, we're workin' on it" or "hey, it's fixed now you don't have to worry about coming into the forums." It also feels like a huge slap in the face to find that my original warning (which I did as a courtesy) was apparently ignored but several days later the problems is finally "discovered."

I've always had a lot of respect for LDW and have been a customer (owning nearly all of the games) for a long time and I can't imagine this is truly an appropriate way to treat your customers. frown


Edited by OrionsRose (06/07/12 01:37 AM)

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#231459 - 06/07/12 02:28 AM Re: LDWForums blocked by FireFox/Google [Re: OrionsRose]
LadyCFII Administrator Offline
Unicorn

Registered: 10/07/04
Posts: 17505
Loc: Colorado
I'm sorry that you're upset. Unfortunately we did not see those emails from you, and we certainly weren't deliberately ignoring them. The forums@ldw.com email address is only used by the forums for routine notifications and is an outgoing email address only. Any time that you want to make sure you reach one of us, please use support@ldw.com or let us know via our Help Desk. There is contact information for us on our main ldw.com site, as well, that will ensure that you reach us.

The first indications we had of a problem was on May 22nd, which corresponds with the diagnostic information we received from Google. Arthur and I took the actions necessary to get things cleaned up and he did tell me that he would notify our fans on Facebook and Twitter that same day.

Unfortunately, we don't have the resources of a large company when dealing with these situations, and we aren't perfect, by any means. However, in no way did we intend to be disrespectful of anyone. We work hard and do the best we can, and we know that this entire incident has been more protracted than any of us wanted. We realize that some people are still receiving warnings, even though the malware was removed over 2 weeks ago.
_________________________
Barbara
Unicorn
Last Day of Work

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#231460 - 06/07/12 03:37 AM Re: LDWForums blocked by FireFox/Google [Re: LadyCFII]
OrionsRose Offline
Trainee

Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 37
Loc: BC, Canada
As this wasn't an issue with the games but rather the forums, I didn't think the support@ldw.com was the appropriate email address to use, never imagining the forum one wasn't even a checked one but I get what you're saying. Still, I recall from having to contact other companies with forums that they usually get annoyed if you contact the company proper when it's a forum issue so I did what seemed obvious for the issue. But I'm glad to know I wasn't being ignored deliberately and as I said I couldn't imagine that would be normal.

I still can't find any notifications on Twitter or Facebook so if you could point me towards those pages I would like to bookmark them in case there are ever future notices I wouldn't want to miss.

I am one of those people still receiving warnings as it took me several minutes of go-arounds just to get back here now - hopefully this will clear up soon. I am puzzled though why Google didn't catch it sooner. Guess I'm really glad now to have my Kaspersky system and it's early heads-up.

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#231462 - 06/07/12 04:12 PM Re: LDWForums blocked by FireFox/Google [Re: OrionsRose]
LadyCFII Administrator Offline
Unicorn

Registered: 10/07/04
Posts: 17505
Loc: Colorado
I do understand the reason you used that email address and your expectation that your concerns would get to the right people that way. I'm sure that other companies have dedicated people handling their forums, as well. However, we're practically microscopic when it comes to company size, and we simply don't have the manpower to dedicate anyone to one area of our business. It works far better for us to use a single support email address that can be monitored by the entire team.

I was too busy on the day of the malware incident to look at Twitter or Facebook, so I didn't actually see anything that Arthur posted there. Once the malware was removed, he likely deleted anything he may have posted that was related to the incident, in order to avoid alarming anyone unnecessarily.

To the best of our knowledge, the incident on May 15th was not related to malware. There were issues with forum images and downloads (which you kindly posted about), but those problems were caused by a corrupted table in the underlying database, which I repaired. I monitor the forums daily (including weekends), and the first indication of malware on the site was on May 22nd.

We are aware of Google's process for dealing with these malware warnings, and we are considering how we want to proceed.
_________________________
Barbara
Unicorn
Last Day of Work

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#231463 - 06/07/12 09:21 PM Re: LDWForums blocked by FireFox/Google [Re: LadyCFII]
OrionsRose Offline
Trainee

Registered: 06/23/08
Posts: 37
Loc: BC, Canada
I completely appreciate that as a smaller company you have to spead your resources (people) around and it usually does work great that way.

I'm not referring to the previous issues of the images and the downloads which you guys so wonderfully fixed (and I'm currently enjoying a mod for Plant Tycoon).
I suppose it's possible that my May 15 issue had nothing to do with Malware but in the email I sent I listed the same info about weddingbells and trojans as keeps showing in the Google "attack site" block so I have to think it was the same thing. Anyway, glad it's fixed now, hope the warnings stop soon.


Edited by OrionsRose (06/07/12 09:24 PM)

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#231464 - 06/08/12 12:38 PM Re: LDWForums blocked by FireFox/Google [Re: OrionsRose]
arnie Offline
Master of Meditation

Registered: 09/13/06
Posts: 4896
Loc: London, UK
A couple of years ago I had a site that I no longer maintained or needed. I got an email from the hosting company saying it was infested by malware, and when I checked it looked similar to what has been described. I deleted the site (which I should really have done a couple of years earlier as it was well out of date) and closed the hosting account.

A couple of months or so later out of curiosity I searched Google using some of the keywords for the site and to my surprise it still appeared, although clicking on the link gave a 404 error message. Obviously Google don't rush to change some things. smirk
_________________________
To err is human; to arr is pirate.

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#231478 - 06/11/12 06:35 PM Why is this site flagged for malware?
esther1981 Offline
Master

Registered: 06/22/08
Posts: 574
Loc: Marion, Ohio
I have this site bookmarked, and was coming here this morning and received these messages. Of course, I told them it was safe, but it did get me a little concerned. What's going on?


Attachments
what the heck.jpg

what in the world.jpg


_________________________
VV4 ROX MY SOX! laugh VF IS AWESOME!!!!!I love my nieces and nephews and ALL of LDWs games!!!

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#231479 - 06/11/12 07:15 PM Re: Why is this site flagged for malware? [Re: esther1981]
MissKathy Administrator Offline
Lead Tester

Registered: 06/07/09
Posts: 1253
Loc: California (USA)
Hi esther1981, this thread has info on that. smile
_________________________
Kathy
Lead Tester
Last Day of Work

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#231480 - 06/11/12 07:23 PM Re: Why is this site flagged for malware? [Re: MissKathy]
esther1981 Offline
Master

Registered: 06/22/08
Posts: 574
Loc: Marion, Ohio
Awesome! Thanks MissKathy! I didn't realize there was another thread about it. Thank you!
_________________________
VV4 ROX MY SOX! laugh VF IS AWESOME!!!!!I love my nieces and nephews and ALL of LDWs games!!!

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