9 replies to this topic

[White Knight]

After reading recent posts in various sections of these forums it would seem that some sort of dispute has broken out between developers of Autopatcher. Coupled with the lack of any updated releases since 18th January, it would seem reasonable to assume that Autopatcher is in trouble. It would be greatly appreciated if someone could advise as to whether it is still an ongoing project or dead. It would be a great pity is the latter was to be the case.

[_def_x_]

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...if someone could advise as to whether it is still an ongoing project or dead.

Well, it looks to be dead. The project had a great run but the interest has dried up. I don't think the dispute was anything more than burn-out on display, maybe more than that, not sure, but it does happen.

There was communication about continuing the project, but it looks like this has fizzled out. My advice is to find an alternative tool, maybe a new forum where the conversation is lively and the user base helps more, virtually no one helps out here which leads to burn out real fast.

[White Knight]

Thanks for the info Mike. It is really a pity to see such a wonderful project die. As a user of many years I can state categorically that Autopatcher was the most useful tool I have ever had the pleasure of using. It has saved me many, many hours when compared to the time that would have been wasted waiting for updates to be downloaded and installed. To all have been involved in the project over the years I offer my heartfelt thanks for a job well done.

[_def_x_]

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It is really a pity to see such a wonderful project die.

Agreed! What's worse, with the advent of automated spam bots the forum will soon fill up with some pretty nasty threads, Porn, Ads, and to keep the site as an archive would require maintenance to deal with it, this issue will force (autopatcher.com) to disappear altogether - IMO.

[Cristiano]

that was the main reason why i've quit. the very first action that frank did after look at the forum after an very long absence was remove all autopatcher team members from the group that had rights enough to reach the admin control panel, allowing with this filter the spams, lock the registration form (in case of too many bots at same time), etc. when i've complained about the issue, i've got this as answer:

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It looks like the fourms are being targeted by a group of spammers. I don't think any of the security settings changed after the IPB forum upgrade. We removed the restrictions on gmail addresses when we originally upgraded to IPB 3.0. This can be put back in if you think it will help but looking at the database in stopforumhacks.com the emails seem to be spread around to other providers as well. We can also link into stopforumhacks.com to report the members flagged as spammers (automatically handles the posts and gets rid of the users) as well as query the stopforumhacks.com DB every time a new user signs up to deny them if they are already in the database.

the problem: very often, spammers has dynamic ips. so, doesn't matter if you check the user IP every single time that the user log into the forum, because the ip may not have be already in the database. worst: if the ips of the know proxies aren't locked, this will not help at all. even with that security measure in place, know spam domains should be locked as well, or the spammer comes back again. the result: every single day, the only one that was banning those %$#$% had to do it several times a day (9 times in a few hours, if i didn't forgot). to be honest, this isn't a life

but the worst thing of all: frank or caesar seems that doesn't trust no one, doesn't come here often and doesn't reply emails in a regular basis. the result of all this was an whole nightmare: the developers still had the regular user status 6 months after join the team and we had to talk through pm to not do this in open forum. the users that could help was unable to be promoted even to beta team, the support for new OSs had to be done in anyplace, because no one cared enough to make an new area for it, etc. the result of all this: a few guys keep posting, even less offer some help and the whole project dies. also, if someone is able to read italian, please take a look at the main page or in the internal pages of it. users helping developing modules (even the ones that already was in the scripts that i was doing), guys tracking missing updates, interaction...

[]s

[_def_x_]

Well Cristiano I hope you're having fun again, getting some sleep, and not stressing as much over the small things that are out of your hands.

Btw, did Domenico and Antony also quit along with you?

[Cristiano]

they didn't said a single word about it and they are aware of that. and that also is another problem with the project: instead just say "i've quit", the guys just go silent. but domenico has a hand full of guys helping him someway and he has the sources. plus, he is able to deal any issue with an kind of spam attack at his own forum (admin rights, instead the "pray for help" rights that are in place here). if he wanna keep the project running, even if this site dies, all that he has to do is change a single parameter in apup code and redirect it. as for antony, all that i know is that his daughter shall be in the first words age by now and this is an unique time

[]s

Edited by Cristiano, 10 February 2011 - 08:20 PM.

[TechSwap]

Guess, my worse case scenario came true...autopatcher once a good program has come to a end...well we always got belarc advisor but I like autopatcher more though....along with windows update...

[White Knight]

For those fellow desperates (like myself) who want to avoid continually downloading the same updates I suggest taking a look at WSUS Offline Update at http://www.wsusoffline.net/ . Most of the forums are in german which makes things a bit difficult for english speakers and it does not provide all that Autopatcher provided in terms of options and tweaks but it can still be very useful.

[_def_x_]

I just wish WSUS gave the user more control - and that I understood German