Where did all my posts go?
So I went to go sign in today and it gave me either 1 of 2 errors(see below). I dumped my cookies and tried a different browser and PC and still the same. Waited about 20mins and now I can login norm...
Forum Discussion
We may have fixated on posts marked as spam being the cause of this issue and ignored all other possibilities. When I read your original post, that's what I did. But...
As far as I can tell, your user profile has not been marked flagged for abuse.
@Bruce, has anything been posted that confirms or even indicates WiderMouthOpen is being reviewed for spam or abuse? If there was, I missed it. If he didn't get the same type of red-circle notifications you received when you were flagged, that would be another reason to believe he isn't being reviewed.
So far the only reasons seems to be "we have been made aware of some concerns regarding our forums platform".
@WiderMouthOpen, what was the source of that quote? Could it have referred to a website or database issue that had nothing to do with you?
Were all of your posts available before the error signing in? The aforementioned "concerns regarding our forums platform" could have been the cause of your sign in error which may have caused your lost posts. You may have just had the bad luck to sign in at the wrong time.
anything been posted that confirms or even indicates WiderMouthOpen is being reviewed for spam or abuse?
Only Mouth and Cox would know if Mouth's account is flagged. I logged in one day and had about seven red-circle notifications. Wow...lots of replies! However, the red-circles were for various posts having been flagged by...I assume...another user.
I started going to each conversation to review what I had written but my posts were removed. (What did I write?) All the red-circles were like this: go to convo, my post removed, should I submit an appeal because I can't appeal what I don't know what I had written? All these red-circles were the same albeit a different title, which is the specific name of the conversation.
The last red-circle I clicked...the one at the top or the latest...looked the same but was different. It was simply titled "Your Account has been Flagged for Review" (as best as I can remember).
I went into my profile to see what a flagged account looks like, but I hadn't seen anything different. Everything looked the same. However, I noticed the points were in the single-digit thousands.
I don't track points or watch my points because I don't know what points do. However, I remember when Mouth first joined we were chatting about points and I think he cited I had ~8K points. This chat was years prior but at the time of my review, I was less than 8K. I had lost a bunch of points during this review process. The point loss seemed almost immediate.
Finally, just as a reference to the extent of Mouth's history, I tried to find our long-forgotten chat because I specifically remember writing, "...and Kudos to you [Mouth]..." but the search for "kudos" returned no results for said chat.
My answer to your question is Mouth would have received a red-circle notification about an account review; however, being mixed with all the other red-circles about each flagged comment...Mouth may have missed it.
what was the source of that quote?
From a email I got from Cox. Not sure what it referred to.
Were all of your posts available before the error signing in?
I believe so but I can't remember specifically checking.
You may have just had the bad luck to sign in at the wrong time.
Nahh, I don't think so. Too many things line up to make me feel someone is messing with me. First the email from Cox about the change to the email on my profile. Then the notifications in forum about being marked for spam (my profile) and finally being unable to login and having my posts deleted.
BTW, here is the email I got about a month ago. Looks legit to me but Cox said it was a scam but I don't think they researched it that well. Keep in mind I don't actually have a active Cox account so I don't know how someone changed the email notification on a inactive account. The reason it looks legit to me is the spelling and grammar look good and it tells you to check your bill for a number. A scammer would tell you to go to a website or call a certain phone number I would think. I have modified the account holders name and email address for privacy reasons.
Subject: Important account information from Cox Communications From: COX COMMUNICATIONS <COXCOM.SERVICE@COX.COM> To: XXXXXXXXXXXX
DEAR <Account holder>;
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL AS IT IS AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED
This is a courtesy notification to you that the following information for your Cox Communications
account was changed through our online system:
*A change occurred to the email address you have selected for these
notifications.
If you did not authorize the change(s) to your account, please contact your local Cox Communications
office immediately. A phone number can be obtained from your bill.
Please have your four-digit Cox Personal Identification Number (PIN) ready to discuss questions
regarding your account with a Customer Service Representative. Your personal identification number
can be found on the first page of your monthly Cox billing statement above the "Account Summary"
section.
If this is correct, please maintain this correspondence for your records.
Thank you,
Cox CommunicationsLooks legit to me
A moderator had previously confirmed the email is legit.
https://forums.cox.com/forum_home/internet_forum/f/internet-forum/17516/phishing-email
What's weird about the email to you is...other than your Forum account...you don't have a Cox account.
As I was researching the SMTP in the Forum, I came across a similar situation. The OP suggested...for security reasons...any change to any database (account, Forum, perhaps webmail) prompts a generic notification to the user, such as, "If you didn't make these changes, contact...blah, blah, blah."
i wouldn't suspect you made any changes to your Forum account. Besides, there is no where in the Forum to change or even view your SMTP. Did you call or email Cox or any reason prior to receiving the above email?
If so, somebody added your SMTP into something...perhaps a marketing database.
If not, Cox changed something somewhere to have affected your Forum account. For the OP, everything resolved within 24 hours. However, OP had a Cox subscription. You don't so something is in limbo.
It's hard to discern if you were actually flagged by a user or not.
