Randomly getting "Banned by IP" messages?

[Seto Kaiba]

Got a bit of a surprise about 30 minutes ago when I switched off the WiFi on my tablet and MechaTalk switched from displaying the forums normally to informing me that a permanent ban had been issued on my IP address.

I was pretty sure I hadn't done anything to get in trouble, so I tried switching the WiFi back on and the site loaded up just fine. I tried my cell phone, and sure enough it loads fine until I turn off the WiFi and then I get a message from phpBB telling me my IP address is permanently banned. It seems like any device I have that's using Verizon's mobile network for data service is operating in an IP range that's been banned on these forums.

[Chris]

You didn't do anything, and you're not the first person today to report this. I'm looking into it.

[yazi88]

I had the same problem when I use my phone not on Wifi and I have Sprint... happened to me a number of times last week.

But I didn't have that problem today. Good to hear its being looked into.

[Chris]

Since multiple people have been affected by this issue and IP bans aren't really all that useful, I decided to simply clear the entire banned IP list.