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I’ve brought this to the front of the line because it is still true and I want to make sure everyone knows because we really do not want to have to ban anyone! -Susie March 17, 2015
———————————————————————————————————-Hi everyone! I know I have posted this warning before, but it still seems to be a problem as a few people (I do not know who) are still doing this. I realize it is entirely possible that they don’t know it’s hurting us, and may not even read the forums, so I am looking into getting a little notice put on the store page as well.
HOWEVER…. as of this morning I have been notified and asked by our host (this is the person that tends to the physical computer server that runs the Windstone website [and other websites], and is NOT part of Windstone Editions) to post this warning again: any user who runs automatically refreshing scripts (computer programs) on the Store will be automatically banned starting later this week.To be clear: Checking the store a few times a day is not harmful. 🙂 Having an automatic program running to check it hundreds or thousands of times a day is. Unless you or someone you know set up an auto-refreshing script or program on your computer to check the Windstone Store you are okay!
This is an important announcement, and while it will probably only effect 1% of our users, we need to make it just in case!
Some of our more computer-savvy users have discovered how to write a script (this is a mini computer program that runs by itself after you set it up, more or less) that automatically refreshes the Windstone site (store) at a regular rate. We are guessing this is a way to see when new items are added to the store. We also understand that none of you would do this to intentionally harm Windstone and that you are just excited about collecting our pieces. That means a lot to us! 🙂
Unfortunately… running these auto-refresh scripts ARE creating a drain on the server, impacting the infrastructure, and have to be stopped before it affects not only our site but the others that are hosted by our host server. When a script auto-refreshes it requests information from the site and server each time it refreshes, and when it does this often enough it causes a problem! It’s actually seen as a low level attack on the server.
If you are running a script to auto-refresh the store, your IP (your computer, more or less) will be blocked by our host and you will not be able to use any part of the Windstone site. This is NOT us trying to be mean or punish you! This is our HOST trying our site (and his entire server and other clients) from going down or causing problems for all of our users.If you find you are blocked, please cease use of your script (if you don’t know how, please write to me) and write or call Susie so she can coordinate with our host to get you unblocked.
What is okay: Refreshing the store manually (by clicking reload/refresh on your browser) a few times a day is okay as long as you are not doing it hundreds of times a day. 🙂
If you have any questions please let us know!
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comI haven’t a clue even how to do that . Thats not nice to do . I keep hearing about it but still don’t understand how to do something like that . Which is probably a good thing . Don’t want to know how .
I haven’t a clue even how to do that . Thats not nice to do .
It’s not a matter of it being nice or not. The idea of a script is to have an automated way of showing you what is in stock in the store. For example, I had a script running that would tell me when certain PYOs were in stock. This was especially useful to me when there were not many PYOs in stock in the store, and allowed me to get to my computer as soon as possible so I could order them. It wasn’t something I did to be mean – I was completely unaware that it was costing Windstone any extra money!
In short, I just wanted to let you know that this isn’t something that people do maliciously – they probably have no idea that they are harming Windstone when they do it.
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Please visit My Webpage to see my art and PYO's that I've done in the past!They are going to ban people for doing it to much .
Yes, they are. They will be banning people for doing it AT ALL.
This is because it takes up bandwidth and also costs them more money. My statement still stands – I seriously doubt anyone that is doing this is doing it maliciously, and I’m fairly certain they probably don’t even realize it’s harming anyone.
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Please visit My Webpage to see my art and PYO's that I've done in the past!I didn’t even know there was a program that could do that 0.o
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Dreamscape, Orion, Poison Dart, Fireberry, Spangler + Tigerberry DragonsI didn’t even know there was a program that could do that 0.o
It’s something that techy nerd types like me have to actually create the code for from scratch XD
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Please visit My Webpage to see my art and PYO's that I've done in the past!Thank you Hannah for helping to explain it further! I am certain that anyone using a script to auto-refresh has no idea they are causing any trouble – they just want to see when we have something new in stock. We hope to eventually have a way of notifying those who are interested when new items go into the store – at this time we cannot do that – but it’s on our list of improvements to make! Until then, please, if your computer is automatically telling you that something new is in our store, turn off that program now so that you will not be automaticly blocked by our host server. Thank you!
World of Warcraft fans know all about bots, and this is the same concept…it does run things very hard on the techy side of the house…I have never used them, but I have seen them being used in game, and it totally freaks me out cause they glitch all over the place…
World of Warcraft fans know all about bots, and this is the same concept…it does run things very hard on the techy side of the house…I have never used them, but I have seen them being used in game, and it totally freaks me out cause they glitch all over the place…
Oooo a WoW fan! XD I think we have a thread in the community section (or you can start a new one too!) if you want to discuss more WoW nerdiness with me and probably others on the forum 🙂
Commission spots are currently closed! Please message me for details.
Please visit My Webpage to see my art and PYO's that I've done in the past!Yes, to be clear I don’t think anyone is trying to be mean, greedy, or otherwise bad!! The people that have run the scripts in the past did NOT know that it was harming Windstone. Actually it’s flattering that anyone wants to buy the Windstone products that badly!! :love:
Please understand that the banning is not “punishment” but is the decision of the Windstone host– the person that runs our server, and does NOT work at Windstone Editions. It’s sort of like your internet provider, in a way. He has to keep the health of the server in mind, and it’s also important to note that he hosts websites other than Windstone (totally not related to Windstone) and bandwidth draw is hurting the other sites too.
Please accept my apologies and I beg your patience with us as we figure out solutions to all this. We do hope to make it easier to be alerted when things come back in stock / new items are added!
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comIt’s great that you (or I guess it is the computer person) are trying to figure out a way to alert us when something new hits the store! I am pretty sure that when that happens you will make many, many forum members happy! Perhaps even ecstatic;)
I just wanted to bring this topic back up to the surface again. Our website crashed on March 13, 2015 due to too much traffic caused by the running of auto-refreshing programs on our site. While we appreciate your enthusiasm over new products, the use of such things on our site cannot be allowed. Any program (script) that refreshes our website repeatedly and then alerts you to something new is a problem. If you are running something like this (or if your significant other is in an effort to help you!), please turn it off. If you aren’t sure but think you might be running something that could be a problem, please contact us and we’ll let you know. email susie@windstoneeditions.com
We don’t want to ban people from our site, but this is a BIG problem and we will ban offenders if necessary.
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