Back to the matter in hand. O-P wrote:
The error_log and access_log files show no mention of julianxu's IP address. The servers .htaccess files also show no denial of his IP range, just in case you wanted to ask about that too.
Sorry to report but the highlighted quote above was in error.
Checking the
error_log for the time suggested in your previous post, I was able to isolate 6 separate IP addresses within a ten minute range, all coming from China, with the statement
client denied by server configuration:I then went back through the listings in the .htaccess file, copied them to a new file rearranging them into a
vertical list, one IP address or network per line, because their arrangement as used in the working file was very difficult for me to read. Old far sighted eyes, even with glasses, don't work like they should with massive blocks of single space separated IP addresses. Once I had the vertical list I was able to locate the individual spammer bans involved.
All told there are 237 separate bans listed as the result of Chinese spammers, some to individual addresses, most to entire networks. It was the latter type that caused the confusion, and are responsible for
julianxu's current problem. Unfortunately these network bans are in place because the spammers were attempting 10-20 registrations per hour from them, using automated bot networks to constantly change individual IP addresses for each registration, thus poisoning the entire address pool for that network.
Considering the current state of the situation with Chinese spambots, it's highly unlikely these bans will be removed in the foreseeable future. I've had to ban a few more known individual Chinese spammers just since my last post to this thread.
Sorry I didn't catch this sooner, so as to save all the time and effort everyone has spent trying to sort this out.
Special thanks to
kjpetrie for finally putting me on the right track to solving this. Working with Internet servers is all new to me, so this is very much appreciated. The results may not be what we desired but, from my viewpoint, it's been an interesting learning experience.
julianxu:Sorry to say, it looks like you are stuck using proxy servers if you want to continue accessing the forum.
