I just tried to get on "The Pool Forum" and it didn't come up.
I was wondering if the site is down for good and if so what happened?
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I was wondering if the site is down for good and if so what happened?
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Pool Forum Gone ??
- Thread starter haze
- Start date
The Pool Forum, http://www.poolforum.com, is still around, though fewer and fewer people are able to access their web site over time. A couple of years ago they installed some software to prevent access by people who were not in the US. Over time, the method that software uses to determine who is in the US and who isn't has gotten less and less accurate. At this point, many people in the US are unable to access the site.
{EDIT}This was fixed spring 2009, access has been restored, at least in the US.{/EDIT}
{EDIT}This was fixed spring 2009, access has been restored, at least in the US.{/EDIT}
If you can't access The Pool Forum, then you can try accessing the site via a proxy server. This is what I use since I no longer have direct access to The Pool Forum from home.
Richard
Richard
One of Ben's security traps detected exploit attempts and blocked the attacking IP address at the firewall. So, once detected, that IP would never reach the server again. Over time, attackers and spyware/malware infected zombie computers on dynamic IPs have no doubt caused the locking out of many, many addresses. I suppose that Ben planned to unblock IPs case-by-case as folks requested, but... um... ah, well...
Thanks,
I did get to it through the proxy,
Odd that I was able to go direct a month or two ago, but no longer.
Not sure why they even continue it, no new registrations have been allowed for years and most people who have been on it that long have their pools in order.
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I did get to it through the proxy,
Odd that I was able to go direct a month or two ago, but no longer.
Not sure why they even continue it, no new registrations have been allowed for years and most people who have been on it that long have their pools in order.
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haze said:
We are sorry that no new people can register, but it is something, unfortunately, that we mods cannot change. Despite that, there is an awful lot of good information on Pool Forum. Even if someone is unable to register, I feel certain that many people are still helped by the wealth of information contained in the many posts that are there. It is still a community of pool owners and though it is not as active as it once was, there are still a lot of loyal readers (many who are also TFP members) who frequent the site. One day it most likely will be gone, but until that time, we'll be around!
Hello to all the TFP members. Think spring! I'm ready to open my pool. Won't be long.
Lisa/Watermom
Thanks for asking, Poolidiot! I am doing well. Finished the nastiest of my 6 months of chemo around Thanksgiving. Recently completed 6 weeks of daily radiation mid-February. Now, just have to have infusions of a drug called Herceptin every three weeks until September. The risk from that drug can be congestive heart failure, so they make me have an echocardiogram every three months to make sure my heart is tolerating the drug. Just had my third echo done last Friday. Will find out on Tuesday when I have my next oncologist appointment how it looked. So far, my other two echos looked fine. Hopefully this one will as well.
I sure do appreciate all the people who have been praying for me. In about 3 weeks, it will be have been a year since my diagnosis. By the time September gets here, I will have undergone 18 months of cancer treatments. Hopefully, at that point, that chapter of my life will be closed and I will remain cancer-free forever.
Thanks again.
Lisa
I sure do appreciate all the people who have been praying for me. In about 3 weeks, it will be have been a year since my diagnosis. By the time September gets here, I will have undergone 18 months of cancer treatments. Hopefully, at that point, that chapter of my life will be closed and I will remain cancer-free forever.
Thanks again.
Lisa
I just reread this thread and the newest posts and realized that some of the members here might not realize what's being discussed. The Pool Forum was created by Ben Powell as a spin off of Pool Solutions wherein he debunked a lot of pool industry BS (Barnyard Slush 
) and advocated a less expensive (BBB) way of caring for pools. Lisa (Watermom) is one of the 4 moderators he trusted to moderate the site following the guidelines he had set down. The synopsis of Lisa's cancer is given in her above post. Due to circumstances we don't fully understand, Ben disappeared a couple years ago, leaving new registrations locked and some orders for test kits unfulfilled 
and thereby a vacancy for pool owners who weren't already registered on his site and therefore unable to ask questions and participate there. This site was started to fill that void and has done incredibly well and has, in some ways, surpassed what was being done on Pool Forum. As an 'in the industry dude' I was pleasantly shocked and fully appreciative of what Pool Forum was doing to enable pool owners to take their pool care into their own hands and not be at the mercy of the pool stores and am grateful to be able to be a ~ respected member of this site which is continuing in that fine tradition!!! 8)
As Lisa said, there is a LOT of good info on PF and, while not as active as this site, still has folks posting questions and receiving answers, it has always been an excellent source of pool info and will continue to be as long as it's up and running (as Lisa also said there are many of us here that still have full access to PF and I, at least, will be more than happy to search their data base to help answer a question someone here has).
Lisa, it's wonderful to hear that all is going well!!!! :!: (Just to let y'all know what sort of good soul Watermom is - there was a thread on PF ~5 years ago wherein I took umbrage with something I felt was directed at me so responded with some off color terms (not curses) and Lisa, like a mother admonishing a wayward child, told me not to post like that again - no threats nor impending punishment - simply said that what I had typed was inappropriate and would not be tolerated :-D -- just like what her user name says waterMOM
) Over at PF we lovingly refer to her as "MOM".
As said, this is just to give a little background on what you're reading in this thread.
Luv & Luk 8)
) and advocated a less expensive (BBB) way of caring for pools. Lisa (Watermom) is one of the 4 moderators he trusted to moderate the site following the guidelines he had set down. The synopsis of Lisa's cancer is given in her above post. Due to circumstances we don't fully understand, Ben disappeared a couple years ago, leaving new registrations locked and some orders for test kits unfulfilled and thereby a vacancy for pool owners who weren't already registered on his site and therefore unable to ask questions and participate there. This site was started to fill that void and has done incredibly well and has, in some ways, surpassed what was being done on Pool Forum. As an 'in the industry dude' I was pleasantly shocked and fully appreciative of what Pool Forum was doing to enable pool owners to take their pool care into their own hands and not be at the mercy of the pool stores and am grateful to be able to be a ~ respected member of this site which is continuing in that fine tradition!!! 8) As Lisa said, there is a LOT of good info on PF and, while not as active as this site, still has folks posting questions and receiving answers, it has always been an excellent source of pool info and will continue to be as long as it's up and running (as Lisa also said there are many of us here that still have full access to PF and I, at least, will be more than happy to search their data base to help answer a question someone here has).
Lisa, it's wonderful to hear that all is going well!!!! :!: (Just to let y'all know what sort of good soul Watermom is - there was a thread on PF ~5 years ago wherein I took umbrage with something I felt was directed at me so responded with some off color terms (not curses) and Lisa, like a mother admonishing a wayward child, told me not to post like that again - no threats nor impending punishment - simply said that what I had typed was inappropriate and would not be tolerated :-D -- just like what her user name says waterMOM
) Over at PF we lovingly refer to her as "MOM".As said, this is just to give a little background on what you're reading in this thread.
Luv & Luk 8)
Very true! If it weren't for Pool Forum this site would not exist. I still am active over there (probably much to the dismay of the mods! 
just joking--not about the posting, about the PF mods reaction to me!)
just joking--not about the posting, about the PF mods reaction to me!)
Sallie
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No one has ever admitted to hearing from Ben. However, there have been some rumors. All we know for sure is that someone has done some server maintenance over the last several months, which hadn't been happing for a very long time before that. As far as we know only Ben has access to the server. The implication, impossible to verify at this point, is that he is around but isn't posting.
It was through reading the Pool Forum posts that I discovered TFP and this active forum. I am very grateful it exists, the posts on it were extremely helpful and led me to this site to continue my learning experiences.
I continue to read the past and recent posts of the people on the Pool Forum. I feel like they are old friends, even if I cannot post.
I have followed the "disappearance" of Ben which is a shame because he was very knowledgeable. I was pleasantly surprised to find the moderators of this site really know what they are doing and the other contributors to posts are great also.
Good people, good advice, good idea. Thanks!
I continue to read the past and recent posts of the people on the Pool Forum. I feel like they are old friends, even if I cannot post.
I have followed the "disappearance" of Ben which is a shame because he was very knowledgeable. I was pleasantly surprised to find the moderators of this site really know what they are doing and the other contributors to posts are great also.
Good people, good advice, good idea. Thanks!
Yes, it appears that Ben Powell is back at The PoolForum and that registrations are open again. You can read more about this in this post of his. However, there still seem to be issues with stability of the site given his hosting service that you can read about in this post from Ben. Also, the registration process does not seem to be as open as at TFP; an unhappy user experience on this is reported in this post.
I looked to register but the personel info was a bit much. They/he wants your real name, address, phone number, how you connect to the net, etc. Too much info to give someone I haven't a clue who they are. Seems a bit paranoid about "hackers? And wants to google search me to see if I have a pool? With my address, you can see my pool on google earth, but I dont give that info out unless know you! Or at least know who you are. I'll stick with TFP. I like the layout better as well.
I can't fault his goals, but his proactive methods are an excessively big hammer. As one example, somebody who wants help with planning a build will not be able to get it from PF, because of the requirement to already own a pool.chem geek said:
--paulr
That's all together strange. I think I'll stick to what I've done since 08. I come to TFP for my meat and I just browse info on PF to concur. I don't need to be a member at this time. I'm not trying to knock anyone, I'm just leary about handing out personal info to get on a forum and being googled to decide if it's ok for me to join. The mods are really good here about knowing if someone is getting on the "retail" wagon. Usually a post is deleted within minutes. Best of luck to PF. Hope it works out for them.
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