dynDNS banned my account :(

[gokuDX7 2,871]

for those of you that don't know what dynDNS is, it's a dynamic name service that offers free domains for your IP address (ex. omg.dyndns.com). Well anyway, I've had an account and the same domain with dynDNS since 1999 and have never had a problem with them until recently. All of a sudden I noticed a dramatic drop to the amount of traffic visiting my web server. Normally I get around 800+ or so hits a day depending on the content and it dropped to 10. So I spent probably an hour or two trying to figure out what was going on. I had a few people try visiting sites hosted on my server to see if it was even viewable and sure enough the people I asked could not see it at all. So I ended up fooling with my web server software and still no luck. at that point I ended up logging into my dynDNS account and to my surprised I was confronted with a big "Your account has been banned" message with instructions on how to contact them and a link to their Terms of Service. So I sent them an e-mail 2 days ago and still have gotten no response other then a ticker number. I ended up sending another today out of anger.

It's really frustrating since I've had the same address since 1999 and really don't want to be forced to get another for no reason at all. I did read over their Terms of Service and could not find anything that would cause them to ban my account. So I'm in the dark desperately waiting for a response so I can get my damn site back up.

As you may notice my sigs no longer load since the address does not work. :/

GRRRR I'm pissed!

[Myk JL 1,731]

I use http://www.thesighost.com/index.php for sigs.

[gokuDX7 2,871]

I don't really care about the sigs I just want my damn domain name back. I wish they would hurry up and give me a damn answer for why it was banned. Its like buying a house and then having it taken away 9 years later for no reason at all >

[Sledgstone 8,672]

Damn that sucks. I wonder why they'd want to ban you after all these years.. Maybe they hit a wrong button.. being a free service do you think they'll even contact you back?

[gokuDX7 2,871]

Damn that sucks. I wonder why they'd want to ban you after all these years.. Maybe they hit a wrong button.. being a free service do you think they'll even contact you back?

I have no idea. I'd like to hope they contact me. I really don't want to call up their phone number and bitch over the phone.

[the56ker 100]

dude what site was it agian you could have broke somthing in there terms of service contract certian hosted things or content even just information because your using them they are liable if anyone has a prob with your site

[gokuDX7 2,871]

I already mentioned I looked over the ToS and have found nothing wrong.

The only thing I can think of, is that someone bought my name and dynDNS banned my account because of it. I was using the free service and in their ToS is says they have the right to suspend any free account. But thats where i'm confused, my account wasn't suspended. It was banned. I guess I'll have to wait till they finally get back to me sometime this week.

[Pchan 5,162]

Good luck goku~kun, be sure to make friends or go easy on the women you speak to at customer care, who knows what glories this mishap might bring about. It was meant to happen

[Vincent 2,861]

is it possible that someone hacked your account and violated the ToS?

[gokuDX7 2,871]

is it possible that someone hacked your account and violated the ToS?

Not sure, if they hacked it then they would have to point my DNS at something that brakes the ToS (ie. something illegal). But since my DNS has been pointing to my IP for the past 10 or so years I doubt it was a hacking.

So, I'm still lost in the dark about what happened. I'm give them till Tuesday to get back to me via e-mail. If they don't then I plan to call them and figure out whats going on.

[gokuDX7 2,871]

dynDNS finally unblocked my account! My sig images should be loading now.

Apparently my account was blocked because of "copyright infringement". Lets Backup a year. Last year a friend of mine created a popular job site which I wont name. It ended up being so popular thanks to digg that a company bought it from him. Since my friend allowed me to use his code for another job site for a small community I was forced to sign a license agreement with this company if I wanted to keep using the code. The license basically stated that I could continue to use and modify the code as long as I did not redistribute it or run a site that would compete with theirs. I was also forced to keep their google ads on the site so they could gain 50% of my ad revenue. Which I didn't really care much about since the site doesn't generate much money anyway.

So anyway, apparently this company reported me to dynDNS's abuse center saying that I am illegally using their code and that my account should be banned. The company did not even contact me and ask me to stop...they know who I am after all. So dynDNS complied and put a red mark on my account (which stays there for life and puts me on a watch list for bad activity).

Now, I'm pretty frustrated. Not because I can't use the code anymore but because they broke their license agreement and they didn't even contact me and request I stop using it. I would have gladly stopped if they asked nicely in an e-mail or over the phone. So I contacted the friend that sold them the code and he's contacting the company to try and get answers since I don't have their e-mail and id really like to know why they broke their deal with me. Either way I don't plan to use the code again since I've started coding my own job site and I wont take any legal actions since it's not really that big of a deal, its their code after all anyway. But I'm still angry that they would do something like that. Is it that hard to e-mail someone and say "Hey, I know we signed an agreement about letting you use our code but where gonna have to ask you to stop using it."

O well, lesson learned, never trust company's that buy popular sites.

[the56ker 100]

wow thats messed up atleast its resolved though?

[Eppy 3,446]

prison shank is always an answer =D

[gokuDX7 2,871]

prison shank is always an answer =D

*Prison shanks Eppy* lol j/k

[Sledgstone 8,672]

dynDNS finally unblocked my account! My sig images should be loading now.

Apparently my account was blocked because of "copyright infringement". Lets Backup a year. Last year a friend of mine created a popular job site which I wont name. It ended up being so popular thanks to digg that a company bought it from him. Since my friend allowed me to use his code for another job site for a small community I was forced to sign a license agreement with this company if I wanted to keep using the code. The license basically stated that I could continue to use and modify the code as long as I did not redistribute it or run a site that would compete with theirs. I was also forced to keep their google ads on the site so they could gain 50% of my ad revenue. Which I didn't really care much about since the site doesn't generate much money anyway.

So anyway, apparently this company reported me to dynDNS's abuse center saying that I am illegally using their code and that my account should be banned. The company did not even contact me and ask me to stop...they know who I am after all. So dynDNS complied and put a red mark on my account (which stays there for life and puts me on a watch list for bad activity).

Now, I'm pretty frustrated. Not because I can't use the code anymore but because they broke their license agreement and they didn't even contact me and request I stop using it. I would have gladly stopped if they asked nicely in an e-mail or over the phone. So I contacted the friend that sold them the code and he's contacting the company to try and get answers since I don't have their e-mail and id really like to know why they broke their deal with me. Either way I don't plan to use the code again since I've started coding my own job site and I wont take any legal actions since it's not really that big of a deal, its their code after all anyway. But I'm still angry that they would do something like that. Is it that hard to e-mail someone and say "Hey, I know we signed an agreement about letting you use our code but where gonna have to ask you to stop using it."

O well, lesson learned, never trust company's that buy popular sites.

That sounds like a bunch of BS. Both of those companies should have contacted you to begin with. At least its all resolved now and that company isn't trying to sue you for infringement or that other 50% of ad revenue.

[gokuDX7 2,871]

ya, I was in shock that dynDNS didn't even contact me. If I didn't try and log into my account I would have never known. Especially since I have to edit my windows HOSTS file to view my .ath.cx address. So even though it was banned, it still worked for me since I was directing the .ath.cx to my server's local address 192.168.1.100.

O well. I may think about switching to no-ip soon since they seem to be pretty good with notification stuff. DynDNS keeps trying to force me to buy into their paid system where I pay like $23 a month for full phone support, DNS control, MX records, mail hopping, name server....etc. Which is a bit pricey.

[Eppy 3,446]

yeah no-ip is sometimes a bitch...if you dont login and hit modify on the dns atleast every month or htne jsut turn it off till you login and hit modify ...godamn hobag had my TS go down few times cause of that