403 errors cant access forum without vpn

[Dav999]

Do you really have more than 2000 IP addresses/ranges blocked?

If it's spammers you're blocking, you really need to solve it with better anti-spam, not by blocking IP addresses.
See this page: https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Spam_-_my_forum_is_flooded_with_spam,_what_can_I_do

Also, not sure how many ISPs like people changing the MAC addresses of their ISP-provided routers. You shouldn't want to solve this by getting yourself a different IP, you'll only block the next person who gets your old IP from your site.

[GigaWatt]

Do you really have more than 2000 IP addresses/ranges blocked?

From what I understood, the host is the one blocking him ... or did I misunderstand?

Also, not sure how many ISPs like people changing the MAC addresses of their ISP-provided routers.

Yeah, they don't like that . But they also don't like me calling their 24/7 tech support at 4 AM .

[Dav999]

Do you really have more than 2000 IP addresses/ranges blocked?

From what I understood, the host is the one blocking him ... or did I misunderstand?

Well, yes and no, to me it sounds like an IP blocking list in the control panel for the website, especially given this bit in the OP:

there are quite a few ips and ip ranges blocked via the host , ive been through about 40 pages containing 50 ips each so far , and so far i cant see my ip or a range that contains my ip . of course i have more ips to go so i will check them all as long as it takes .

[sam casey]

ive personally spoke to the hosting service and given then my ip address and they have said that i my ip is not blocked at their end . i also contacted a friend who has the same internet service provider as me  , my friend is not and never was a member of my friends forums . i asked him to check for me if he could access my friends forums , he also got a 403 error .

[Bigguy]

Sounds like your isp then.

[Illori]

could be that your hostname is banned/blocked and not your ip address, you would need to check with your host on this.

[sam casey]

i have a lot more ips etc to check on the host so ill go through them all when i get time . ill talk to my isp tomorrow and see what light they can throw on it . ill get back to you with what ever information i get , thanks guys

[Dav999]

Again, I want to stress that 2000 plus "a lot more" IP addresses/ranges blocked on the host is madness, and is asking for this type of thing to happen. You'd be better off with good anti-spam, and unblocking literally all those IP addresses.

[a10]

Again, I want to stress that 2000 plus "a lot more" IP addresses/ranges blocked on the host is madness, and is asking for this type of thing to happen. You'd be better off with good anti-spam, and unblocking literally all those IP addresses.

Agree, did try the mass blocking route = lot's of trouble, lot's of wasted time. Spammers \ bots kept coming with new ip's etc all the time ...the only practical result was annoying real visitors \ members who were met with 'unexplainable' 403's :O)

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

IP bans are rarely if ever worth the effort, apart from known bad bots perhaps.