The datacenter in which the dedicated server hosting POV-Ray recently changed. As we
have our own class C (/24) subnet, this (in theory) should not have affected us
(outside of a few hours of downtime as the machine was physically transported) as no
IP addresses needed to change: our host only had to alter the appropriate BGP
announcement to indicate the new route to/from our network.

However it has since come to our attention that many parts of the internet are unable
to access resources on our server. Sites such as wiki.povray.org and www.irtc.org
continue to work as they are cached by Cloudflare, and Cloudflare can still talk to
our server. The problem lies in the fact that whilst we are receiving the incoming
traffic sent our way, outgoing traffic that needs to pass through Comcast is
black-holed only four hops from our server. This means anyone who is behind Comcast
addresses are unable to access anything on our server.

We have used our class C network for more than a quarter of a century with no real
issues; this is the first time we've been black-holed by a major transit point in the
US and we have no explanation for it. A request has been lodged with the Comcast NOC
to fix this but as of the time of writing it remains in place.

We're posting this message right now primarily to raise awareness amongst those who
are not affected but are in communication with those who are (via means outside this
site) to let them know why they can't connect, since of course affected users aren't
able to read this message right now.

Additionally once the issue is resolved, this will serve as an explanation as to why
we were "down" for so long.

regards,

-- Chris

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Wow. Thanks Chris.
One of the problems of modern times, juggling websites.

Cheers
Ton

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On 2026-03-14 14:44 (-4), Chris Cason wrote:
> 
> We're posting this message right now primarily to raise awareness
> amongst those who are not affected but are in communication with those
> who are (via means outside this site) to let them know why they can't
> connect, since of course affected users aren't able to read this message
> right now.

I have relayed your message to two POV-Ray-related Facebook groups.

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Chris Cason <del### [at] deletethistoopovrayorg> wrote:
> no IP addresses needed to change: our host only had to alter the appropriate BGP
announcement to indicate the new rou
te to/from our network.

No idea how this actually all works.
Is there some sort of BGP / website proxy thing that can serve as a functional
workaround?

> outgoing traffic that needs to pass through Comcast is black-holed only four hops
from our server. This means anyone 
who is behind Comcast addresses are unable to access anything on our server.
>
> We have used our class C network for more than a quarter of a century

1. I can (usually) use the website without issue from my primary desk at work.
However; when I move to the desk on the other side of the office (literally in
the same tiny room, maybe 6 feet away) I get the infinite spinny thing and no
connection.

2. Does the newsreader still work for everyone?  Thunderbird?

3. I have noticed that a lot of services are causing problems for people who use
older browsers.  When I am trying to read email or do other things outside of
home, the service "flags" my connection as suspicious, since it can't identify
my browser, or when it does, it associates "older browser" with some sort of
potential bot attack.

- BE

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On 16/03/2026 00:56, Bald Eagle wrote:
> Is there some sort of BGP / website proxy thing that can serve as a functional
> workaround?

Yes: for the same reason as wiki.povray.org is still accessible. It is cached through
Cloudflare, and the same would work for www. The only reason it's not already in place
long ago is that there is a bug in the interaction between news.povray.org and
www.povray.org when the former sends a user to the latter to log in (e.g. they clicked
on "reply" to a post when not logged in). This is within the PHP code that handles the
website accounts. I did look at it before and thought I had fixed it, but when I
turned Cloudflare on for the site I found the login still broken.

I might have another look at this if we don't get progress in the next 24 hours.

Note that even if I fixed that and CF was turned on for the site, this only affects
web accesses. The NNTP, mail, DNS, ssh and other related servers will remain
inaccessible for those affected by Comcast.

> 2. Does the newsreader still work for everyone?  Thunderbird?

I use Thunderbird. It works, but only because I'm not affected by the routing issue.

> 3. I have noticed that a lot of services are causing problems for people who use
> older browsers.  When I am trying to read email or do other things outside of
> home, the service "flags" my connection as suspicious, since it can't identify
> my browser, or when it does, it associates "older browser" with some sort of
> potential bot attack.

How old is "older"?

-- Chris

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