SourceCBL RSS Feed

The end has come for SourceCBL

Yimura — Sun, 25 Mar 2018 17:43:27 +0000

Hi all,

I am sure some of you might have noticed but our server has been down for the past 2 to 3 weeks.
Due to high CPU usage our server got suspended.
This most lightly happened because of the enormous amounts of API calls we get every day, each minute...
Also having no income from donations and furthermore no people who report hackers I have decided to stop the service SourceCBL has be providing for the past year.
It has been a bumpy ride but I enjoyed the ride.

~ Yimura
Have a nice day further

SourceCBL is changing owner

CAT — Sun, 21 Jan 2018 23:55:50 +0000

It's been nearly a year since we started making the idea of a global community ban list into an actual thing. It has been a long but fun ride for me to be a part of it, to develop it and see it grow. We were three people in the beginning, myself, Dragonisser and AlexFlipnote. During our time alive some amazing people have joined and left us, and now it's unfortunately my turn to leave.

Due to real life complications I'm no longer capable of maintaining or running SourceCBL. It makes me sad because this project means a lot to me, and I've put a lot of time into it.

But it doesn't mean SourceCBL dies, rather the opposite. Yimura is going to take the place as the new owner from now on. I'm most likely never coming back to the same position, but you'll see me around in the Discord and the Steam group still.

Thanks for the ride,
SomePanns.

Version 2 released, finaaaally!

CAT — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 19:12:36 +0000

Hello and happy new year everyone,

The team at SourceCBL hope you've set your expectations high for 2018, as we sure have, because now is where things change around here!

We've been working hard the past months to both find errors and flaws, as well as fixing them and improving our services. This year we've been planning to use a completely new design for SourceCBL, which is much more appropriate and easier to navigate than our previous one. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg as we're very proud to, today, announce AWESOME new features and improvements to you guys, our loyal followers!

What's being removed?
We're not removing anything this time, just improving everything we currently have as well as adding completely new features!

Changes to the caching
We previously used a file-based cache system and it was going just fine, however for this update we can no longer rely on it as it's both slow and taking up our storage.

We're running on a very powerful server that is made to specificly handle a lot of connections at once, and this is why we've decided to move over to Redis instead. Redis is basically a memory based caching system, which works much better for us as the new updates will require more frequent requests.

Steams' API is slow, yes we know.
We're aware of that Steams' web API is very slow, and there is not much that can be done about that. But this doesn't mean we haven't tried. We've decided to cache more of the data that is retrieved from Steam, and when the data is not available you'll be seeing basic placeholders instead.

This way page loading will be both more efficient and faster, allowing you to do and access more from our services.

See where the cheaters got caught!
New to this version is that we have added the option to specify what game the marked cheater was caught on, using app ids. This can be see easiest in the API, by the new "app_id" paramater.

Improved wiki/docs
Yes, we have taken the time to make a more detailed, and better documentation/wiki of ourself and our services. You can reach the new wiki here[sourcecbl.com]

A full list of protected server
We're providing a simple list of servers we're currently protecting. However, this is not always an accurate list as it can only display servers that have been active the past 24 hours. There is no way for us to tell exactly how many servers we protect.

Partnership requirements
We have significantly lowered the requirements for your community to become a partner to us. This is because the previous set of requirements were set extremely high. See them here.[sourcecbl.com]

Request limits
We've put a request limit on our API. If you were to exceed 3000 requests in 10 minutes, you will be locked out for a short while. If your community requires more than this, please contact us so we can arrange an exception for you.

Plugin improvements
We have removed the so called "spectator panel" after receiving complaints about it always being in the way. When recording demos, you can instead type "status" into console.

We also know how frustrating it is when we ban someone that is currently playing on a server and you have to wait until next map for our plugin to deal with them. This is why we implemented various features, such as a sm_scbl command that instantly reloads the database, as well as making the plugin reload the database automatically every 15 minutes.

There is also a new cvar available to server operators - sm_scbl_current_game_only. Setting this to 0 (default) will block hackers banned on any games. Setting this to 1 will block hackers on the game the server is running only.

But yet, the biggest new feature of them all...

Alternate accounts are now automatically detected and blocked
Thanks to our friend, Nilo, we can now offer your servers a decent protection against cheaters that always come back with alternate accounts. If you connect with a banned account, you can not connect to that server with any other accounts as long as the account you got banned with is banned. When accounts are unbanned, all alternate account bans are instantly removed as well.

We can not guarantee that this feature works to 100% at all times.

We welcome you to version 2 of SourceCBL!

https://sourcecbl.com

Hiring Front-End development team

CAT — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 18:55:39 +0000

Starting now, we're looking to hire either one or a whole bunch of people for the upcoming front-end development team.

It's a volunteer job, meaning that you will not get paid in physical or virtual value of any kind. We don't require you to spend your entire day, just an hour or two every day to work on SourceCBL.

Requirements

Full knowledge of HTML and CSS.
Must know (or be willing to learn by yourself) how GitHub works.
(optional) Have experience with Blade (a template framework).
Must be 18 years old or older (or really close to being 18).
Must be able to work under discretion.
Must be able to provide example of your previous projects. This can be either old ones, or you can code something new to show us. We just want to know what you're capable of.
Discord for easy communication with the rest of the team.

This is not a one-time project, if you get hired you're expected to work with us for an uncertain amount of time (you could say until you decide to resign yourself.)

What you'd do if you got hired

Work on the front-end UI/design (this is the main task); this includes but it is not limited to structuring elements, planning, designing, coding, improvement of existing content.
Communicate with the rest of the team through Discord to discuss future and upcoming updates and other UI-related issues.
Work locally and then push updates to a GitHub repo.
Collect critique and feedback from the userbase.

If you're interested, add SomePanns#8993 on Discord or add the author of this announcement on Steam.

Promotions & New Features

CAT — Wed, 25 Oct 2017 18:12:44 +0000

Hello everyone!

We've come further than we ever expected in the beginning, and although things might seem to go a bit slow around here, we are planning on updating everything in about a months time (or less!) and I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who believed in us.

Today I'm glad to present Yimura as one of our new Site Administrators! He has been working hard and dedicated a lot of time to this project and is well deserving of his new title. If you have any inquries then you now have yet another person to reach out to.

New Features

As we're working on the coming version I'd like to ask you guys if you have any suggestions for us. This could be anything from policy improvements to site features or from discord to our Steam group and everything in between. Anything that would improve our service in any way is highly appreciated.

Just join our Discord[discord.gg]contact me personally or leave a comment below.

We're also going to start reaching out to more communities out there, but it's not our priority right now so that'll come within time.

Discord bot available!

CAT — Sat, 09 Sep 2017 16:05:14 +0000

We've taken the time to develop a bot for Discord that will help you find banned cheaters.

If you're a server owner, simply click this link[discordapp.com] to install it.

Once installed, you can type $scbl to get further help.

Performance issues resolved + Version 1.2.1 released

CAT — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 12:37:41 +0000

We've released a minor bug fix for SourceCBL.

If you have updater the plugin will automatically update to the latest version.

Changelog:
- Remove unused variables
- Fixed the spectator panel printing wrong prefix in the chat
- (hopefully) made the sm_scbl_enabled a public cvar by adding flag FCVAR_NOTIFY.

We have also managed to fix the performance issues that have been causing the website to become unavailable from time to time and be very slow recently.

Version 1.2 released

CAT — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 10:47:33 +0000

Today is an exciting day, as we're release version 1.2 of SourceCBL.

First of all, we are now using GitHub[github.com], which supports auto updater.

Second, we are changing the policy and Terms of Service a bit to ensure the quality and security are top notch.

Changelogs:
Plugin:
• The plugin now keep track of banned users that are connecting to a protected server and controlling whether they're allowed access (whitelisted) or blocked from connecting (which can be seen in the ban UI on the wesite)
• Replaced SteamTools with SteamWorks
• Rewrote most of the API request code
• Now uses auto updater
• You'll now see data of the target you're spectating, good for recording demos and submitting them as proof to us
• Added a sm_scbl_enabled cvar.
• Admins in-game are now notified in chat if a marked cheater is connecting to the server
• If the plugin fails to collect the clients Steam ID when they connect, they will be granted access and the plugin will automatically re-run the process and check if the client is banned after a couple of minutes.

Website/General:
• SourceCBL soul purpose is now to only deal with reports from servers running SourceCBL, meaning that we'll stand together as a community more (exceptions can be made if you follow the new updated policy)
• Policy has been updated (be sure to read it)
• Reworked the website template completely
• Added an improved documentation about SourceCBL services
• Added a help page with F.A.Q etc
• The home page now has more detailed information about SourceCBL
• Unban requests renamed to unban appeals (or just appeals)
• Removed the forums altogether
• Introducing a new, more detailed report system
• Introducing a new easier and more efficient appeal system
• Implemented a ticket system: this will serve as a system where you submit bug reports, send in complaints or just ask for help related to SourceCBL
• Added a staff page where all SourceCBL staff and community admins are listed
• The database overview has been reworked and it is now possible to search for a ban anywhere on the site
• Added a possibility to upload a demo directly to reports instead of having to provide a link (these are stored in /cdn/reports/)
• It is no longer possible to create a report if there already is a pending report of the same person available
• Updated accepted demo proof path (/cdn/demos/)
• Updated the name generation of all demo files to be equal to [64-bit steam id.timestamp of report] (for example: 76561198082943320.1498797626)
• Removed user profiles (for now) - all usernames now redirect you to the relative steam profile
• Removed news articles. We are instead focusing on using group announcements, which are displayed on the home page.
• Partners are now displayed directly on the home page
• Improved the ban listing UI
• Fixed a bug where the ban wouldn't display what partner community issued the ban if that was the case
• Updated the bans API with more data
• Improved the website performance
• Added an advanced search in the ban list that allows you to search by name as well as Steam ID
• Added a newsletter feature where we'll send patch notes before they're released (as previews) etc
• A banned user can now be marked as an alt account with a link to their banned main account (proof will not be available for an alt account, check their main account for that)
• Bans will now contain info about what kind of cheat that was used
• Bans now have an "additional notes" field

Our new documentation/help page can be reached here[help.sourcecbl.com].
I've also updated the OP with links to the required extensions.

Be prepared for the big policy changes that are coming soon

CAT — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 20:00:37 +0000

Hello everyone,

As we're launching the big update in a week or two, the policy among many other things are going to get some major changes. We're choosing to inform you about the policy changes before the update just to make sure that it doesn't come as a shock and that you're well prepared.

At its current state we allow proof (.dem files) from anywhere that basically only has a tick requirement. The problem with demos is that there is no built-in feature to allow us to identify the target, meaning that the demo files can be fabricated just like anything else. That is a major issue that we are working on improving for the coming update.

With the update we are adding the following requirements when it comes to proof of cheaters (.dem files):
- All demo files must contain the spectator information panel.

The spectator information panel is a box that appears when you're spectating someone, that contains the targets steam id, name, server ip, your name and so on. This is visible in the demo and it makes the proof that we collect up to 99% more valid than they are right now. Demo files without the spectator information panel will be marked as invalid.

This also means that from the update and on, we are only going to accept reports and demos that are made on SourceCBL protected community servers. With an exception of servers running the SpecWho plugin which also provides that feature. Although it does limit us in some areas, if expands our possibilities in others. Our soul purpose is to protect servers running us and work together as one big community, cooperating to ban cheaters. Meaning if an admin bans someone for cheating, it is highly recommended that you encourage your admins to file a report to us so we can add it into our database.

We are not going to mention any other policy changes as they're not as big and important as this one, as well as the terms of service changes.

For more information or if you just want to hang out with us, feel free to join our Discord server. https://discord.gg/cWGYHwr

[Changelogs June 30th] Server migration + SourceCBL version 1.1

CAT — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 18:06:18 +0000

Today we've been migrating to new servers to ensure the quality of our services, and with this we can finally provide a solid CDN for all of our demos and other content. And now the transfer is complete!
We apologise for the extra downtime, but it had to be done to ensure that everything went on as it should have.

Together with this migration we're also releasing version 1.1 of SourceCBL. Important note: Older version do no longer work, so you have to update to 1.1!!

This includes updates and fixes such as:
- Added a new cvar requested by teamworktf: sm_scbl_enabled - (1 to enable to plugin [default], 0 to disable it). This cvar also allows services such as teamworktf to detect what servers are running SourceCBL.
- Added a whitelisting function to the SourceCBL plugin. Use sourcecbl_whitelist.txt in /addons/sourcemod/configs to force the plugin to make exceptions for specific steam ids, which means that they will still be able to connect to your server even if they're banned (this does only affect your server and not everyone elses).
- Fixed a CloudFlare cache bug that would cause the plugin to fail its API requests.
- (Website): Updated the installation instructions.
- (Database): Removed all pre-bans without proof.

We hope this update will bring more use of SourceCBL and encourage more people to use our plugin!

Kind regards,
The SourceCBL Team