Oh, I wish I was on my other computer to type this...
The MCGamer Forums are run off of something called XenForo, a pre-made and somewhat customizable website... type?
XenForo has many features, and the option to add extra features. One of the features that can be found on most, if not all, XenForo-based websites is
Discouraging.
Discouraging is, essentially, a feature that the Website Administrators use when they do not want a user on the website but don't have enough valid reason or evidence to ban them, or perhaps that user is suspected of being an "alt" of another person, et cetera.
Some common symptoms of Discouraging:
- Incredibly slow loading time. A single page can easily take 15-45 seconds to load, if not more. The web server sends blank/empty packets in between the legitimate information.
- Random redirecting. Click a link, and there's a chance that you'll get sent to a random page, or perhaps just the home page.
- Otherwise impossible (or very difficult) for the Discouraged user to navigate the website.
- After being Discouraged, the user may experience other unusual symptoms such as randomly being detected by an anti-bot/anti-spam filter even when doing completely normal behaviors such as sending a PM, responding to a thread, or creating a thread.
"The user discouragement feature subjects users to random errors, delays, and pages, simulating failures in the system behavior, with the ultimate aim of making them eventually leave the site."
A quote taken from the XenForo website about Discouraging:
https://xenforo.com/help/discouraging-banning/
About mid-2014, I experienced Discouraging.
If I'm not mistaken, discouraging can be applied to both IPs and individual users. It is most likely your account that is being discouraged, whereas in my case it was my IP.
IP Discouraging can be avoided using a VPN, and it is not a specific violation of the rules, but is not recommended or advised.
In my experience, MCGamer does not admit to Discouraging their users. I sent an email directly to Col_StaR, and he replied that my
account was not being Discouraged. He never mentioned my IP. (That was quite clever on his part, I didn't notice it until a few seconds ago - months after the email.)
Your best bet is to send an email to "
[email protected]" or send a PM to the Administrators stating that you recognize that you are being Discouraged and wish to have the feature deactivated upon your account and IP. After all, the purpose of Discouraging is to make the user wonder, "Hey, why is this website so slow?!?!" Until they quit the website. Stating that you recognize discouraging defeats the purpose.
