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Bizarre "spam profile" issue I'm having

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JanessaVR:
This started a while back, and I think it's because these forums don't like my VPN (I have ProtonVPN).  If I had it up, I'd get this message:

AN ERROR HAS OCCURRED!
Sorry JanessaVR, you are banned from using this forum!
Spammers
This ban is not set to expire.

If turned off my VPN, I could access the forums normally.

Now it doesn't matter if I have the VPN up or not, I still get this message.  How am I posting here?  Well, if I open a Private Window I can see the site normally (with the VPN up).  I assumed this must have been some sort of cookies situation, so I ran CCleaner to clean things up and then tried again.  Nope, same problem.  So, I can get here, but I have to open a Private Window and login each time.  I have no idea what's going on at this point.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Janessa

Michael Chandra:
Perhaps you have an overly aggressive adblocker or other plugin? Since some browser plugins are by default not on when Incognito/Private, one of those is likely to blame.

FastJack:
I'll take a look. The Spammers suggest it was because some other spambots were using the VPN you use. I'll see what I can do.

Reaver:
Yea, it's most likely your VPN.

I have the exact same issue with surfshark VPN here. And it started after Fastjack tightened up the forums settings a year or 3 ago in an effort to stop the spambots.


It has to do with how your traffic is routed with a VPN. Even 'off' there are location tags that identify you as part of your Service (VPN service) group, which the forums detect and refuse you login.

You can see this if you hover over your connection in Windows on the bottom right....

Basically, you can use a 'private' browser mode to log in as long you're not connected to the VPN network.... But if the VPN is active, even a private browser page won't work...

JanessaVR:

--- Quote from: Reaver on ---Basically, you can use a 'private' browser mode to log in as long you're not connected to the VPN network.... But if the VPN is active, even a private browser page won't work...

--- End quote ---
But that's not the issue.  My ProtonVPN connection is up right now.

Normal browser window - I get the spammer error message above.

Open a Private Window - instant access, no problem.

EDIT:

I have the Brave browser (I like it better than Chrome) and Shields are up for this site (default setting), even in the Private Window.  I think I'll try this with the Brave browser on my phone and see what happens.

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