Pendraken Website

[Wulf]

Very odd, I did a search for 'Pendraken Napoleonics' as above, and, yes, the first result talks about shoes (I didn't click on the link...), but all the others were about toy soldiers...

[Techno]

It's a search engine problem. Google and Bing rather than Chrome and Firefox.

Explain this, to a complete Muppet.

I use Firefox to log on to the net...But that seems to link straight away to Google......So what am I using ?.....Firefox, or Google ?
Is Firefox my browser ?..which points me to Google as the Search Engine ?.....What's the frigging difference ?

Cheers - Confused, as usual. 

[Leon]

Apologies for all this hassle, once again it's the hosting company messing us about and it's getting pretty frustrating.  I've contacted them again to try and resolve this and get us moved to a different server.  I'm waiting on them to come back to me.

A new site would be hosted elsewhere, or ideally on a dedicated server, so that we didn't have these issues.

[fsn]

Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome etc are browers. These link you to the internet and display your websites e.g. our own lovely Pendraken.

Bing, Google, Bing are search engines: websites with a specific function of searching the internet. You can use them through any of the browsers.

You can set up a default webpage when you open your browser. Yours happens to be Google. You could change that to Bing, or Ask Jeeves or any other website you want. You can default to open a number of websites if you wish.

I use Chrome and when I open it, it opens Google, Pendraken main site, the Forum, my e-mail and Amazon.

In answer to your question, the Google search engine is your default page on the Firefox browser.


Hope that explains, and doesn't sound patronising.

[fsn]

Think of it this way: You have a car. It has petrol in it (yes I know that other fuels are available).

Your car is a Jaguar. It doesn't matter if you put into it BP, or ESSO or Shell.
Your wife's car is a Audi.  It doesn't matter if she puts into it BP, or ESSO or Shell.
Just as long as she doesn't look in your glove box.

Likewise, your browser is Firefox. It doesn't matter if you use Google, Bing or Ask Jeeves.
Your wife's browser is Chrome.  It doesn't matter if she uses Google, Bing or Ask Jeeves.
Just as long as she doesn't see your browsing history. 

[fred.]

To add a little to what fsn said (on the previous post!) - when we talk about a browser, we are talking about a bit of software (a program) its function is to connect to and display webpages. You can think of it like Word which is a program to create and print documents, or Excel which is a program to add up numbers.

The browser program is on your computer. You can choose which one to use (although a default one will have been set to use with your computer).

The browser connects over the internet to a websever (which is another computer, setup to host websites). The web server can have many functions, e.g. it can be search engine like Google, or it can be a shop like Amazon or the Pendraken Forum etc etc.

Its not necessary for every website to be on a different computer (web server) its possible to have several on the same server (this is called shared hosting). Shared hosting can be good for keeping costs down, it can have downsides if the other sites on the server are misbehaving.

There has been a deliberate blurring of the lines between websites and applications over the years. Most of the big companies want you connected all the time using their stuff. But most of us like to know when we are using our own stuff on our own computer, and when we are using someone else's stuff. This blurring of functionality makes all of this even more confusing than just complexity of the multiple parts to the overall system.

[Leon]

Imagine the internet is a big library, and every website is a book sitting on a shelf.  Each shelf is a server, and it can hold many books.  There are several librarians who work there, whose names are Google, Bing, Jeeves, etc.  If you tell them what you're looking for, they can direct you to the books you need.  Or if you have the website address (book location), then you're able to go directly to the correct book yourself.  You can get to the library using a variety of transport methods, those being Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, etc.

[Ithoriel]

The internet is a giant labyrinth with a near infinity of rooms.

Each room is controlled by a boss monster but many lesser monsters can live together, more or less in harmony, in each room. Big monsters, like dragons for example, have their own room. Major Demons and Elder Gods may have several connected rooms.

Wizards with names like Bing and Google have grimoires showing which monsters live in which rooms.

Daemon servitors with names like Firefox or Chrome will escort you to the room of your choice.

So .... the Internet ... how does it work? A wizard did it!

[paulr]

A British wizard, Tim Berners-Lee

[Techno]

Thank you. Gentlemen.

Cheers - Phil. (The penny will drop.....eventually.)

[fsn]

Any news? I still get shoes.

[Leon]

Any news? I still get shoes.

Nothing yet, Matt had been working over in the States last week so he's just got back and is going to start looking through the server logs.  I've contacted the hosting company myself, but they're proving somewhat unhelpful so far.

The website is still up and running though, it's just the Google links that have got problems.  Any direct links take you straight there without any trouble:  www.pendraken.co.uk

It's completely safe to order as well, we promise not to send you any shoes...  

[fsn]

Thank you for the update.

Hope Matt can brush aside the difficulties, then we can gloss over this incident.   

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

You satin the corner of shame for that one Nobby?

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

OWWWWWWWWW !!!!!!!!!!!

[Leon]

Matt will have his investigation finished by tomorrow and then we'll know where we stand.  He's going to be performing a 'penetration test' tonight (oo..er missus!     ) to see if there's any holes in the website security and make sure there's no way for hackers to gain entry.  I'm not expecting there to be any, so if 123-reg don't want to accept responsibility for it, we're going to have to move hosts instead.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hello

Looks like the servers have been hacked and redirect to a dodgy shoe website - no Address supplied as required:-

Domain name:
louboutinsale.me.uk

Registrant:
TYTY

Registrant type:
Non-UK Corporation

Registrant's address:
Hitchin Road Stotfold Hitchin
Hitchin
Hertfordshire
SG5 4JE
United Kingdom

Data validation:
Nominet was not able to match the registrant's name and/or address against a 3rd party source on 04-Jul-2014

Registrar:
eNom, Inc. [Tag = ENOM]
URL: http://www.enom.com

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 24-Mar-2015
Expiry date: 24-Mar-2017
Last updated: 07-Jun-2016

Registration status:
Registered until expiry date.

Name servers:
dns1.registrar-servers.com
dns2.registrar-servers.com


Probably means a line by line comparison of the server stored website page against Matt's stored back up and looking for conditional hacks. Meanwhile send a bill for advertising to their address above or to enom.com . Probably not much point in sending it to their very official christianlouboutin@outlook.com address .

Incidentally  they show Visa Approved and Mastercard Securecode on their website - maybe make a complaint through  them.

Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[Leon]

Christian Louboutin themselves have a site set up to report counterfeit goods, so I've already notified them.  I doubt it's going to fix our problem, but at least these parasites will get shut down.  Louboutin are quite proactive when it comes to suing these forgers, they've got a list of their successful cases online.

I just want it to be fixed quickly, as this is costing us a lot at the moment, both financially and in terms of our reputation.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Hello

Tested it out again just now and we seem to back to normal:-



Cheers

GrumpyOldMan

[petercooman]

Good to hear!


Never had problems myself though, as  i always go to the webstore by clicking the banner in the right top of the forum page. I'm on here all the time anyway!


31 days and 17 hours and counting