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    Bandwith exceeded

    well, I'll be damned...

    apparently I have downloaded too much ("way more than the entire amount content of the site") and my account has been frozen. They dont like me anymore...

    I've already written the support and asked for clarification as well as tried to offer a solution.

    Still, I feel I should get the ball rolling in here as well.
    But, and this is important to me as well, if this post is unwanted by management, by all means remove it. Or tell me, I will edit the content away until such a time that someone with the right to delete posts deals with it.

    This shall not be a rant nor shall it be negative review in any kind.
    I am trying to tell my story and hope this issue can be resolved.

    First of all, I did not download more then the entire amount content of the site. I DID NOT!
    Also, I did not read anything about limits in the agreement (which would have been nice!)
    And I did not use illegal software like robots and I did not mirror the site.
    Oh and just to make sure. I also did not share my password/account info with someone else (not even my spouse has it) - though this goes without saying!

    And one of the first things after signup was looking in the forum for collectors and if there is a problem with downloading lots of the content. And after I read that sometimes content gets removed I also had a reason. There are people out there that admit to having downloaded all the content. They are still around and active.
    Why cant I be one of them?

    if you want you can judge me. I am not ashamed of being a porn collector. I started a long long time ago (maybe at an age where I should not have been allowed to...). I went throught the usual "I want a gf" or "I feel dirty" - delete ALL the porn - phases. But I always came back and collected more, mostly free stuff. With the advent of youporn this got a lot easier, but to be blunt, the content I like is rarely found there and it gets harder and harder to find something I would want to keep. Now I dont feel ashamed anymore and dont get-rid-of-collection anymore.

    I also have a wife and 2 kids and we (as in my wife and I, obviously not the kids! ew!) enjoy watching some porn together now and then.
    I remember the first time I was exposed to AW content. I dont know the year but I remember the video someone showed me (it was certainly pirated ) of ally and charly. Its not even available here anymore. But I knew that some day I will sign up and collect all the AW stuff. Because your content is just plain awesome. it took a long time but now I have the cash and time to actually do just that. And I dont want to and wont download illegal files from filehosters or torrents. I am willing to pay. Please let me!


    I initially did not plan to stay here forever. I will admit that. And I will admit that I can see AW business reasons. If I cause more costs than I pay for, I am not a customer worth keeping.
    Then again, isnt there some wiggle room? Others obviously got it (or I misunderstood the information in the forum). A common ground to meet? I sincerely hope so. I dont neccesarily have hundreds of dollars lying around not knowing what to do with them to become a lifetime subscriber, but I will say it again. I am willing to pay for the content that is offered and I only download it once.
    Especially do I not want to be forced to cancel the subscription and one day come back to "finnish" the job when I am not welcome anymore.

    Also, I hope in the short time I have been here and started to join the community I tried to be friendly and helpfull (I listed a few problems so they can be fixed) and that was appreciated.

    Please do not misunderstand. Although I am not happy at all, I also do not resent AW and are willing and hopefull that a solution benefitial for all parties involved can be found.

    Thank you for listening
    FD

    PS: franklydifficult has nothing to do with my personallity or me. it is a comment on my usual usernames usually already been taken everywhere I go so I started to use FD as in frankly difficult to find something to call me that i can live with...

    #2
    You must have downloaded A LOT!!!!!
    I have heard this happen once before and I think the limit is set really really high to stop hackers or bots or something....

    Happy viewing until your next download spree....

    Comment


      #3
      I agree with pinkie, you really must have downloaded a lot to get this message, or there's a problem somewhere, like your account hacked, but I don't believe that.
      You can always have a look at your account on the main site and check if there are suspicious log-ins.

      I've sent a mail to CS to get more information and I guess CS manager Leprechaun will contact you.

      Lxm

      Comment


        #4
        Frank, what is your internet-connection speed ?

        This download 'limit' is not a limit regular members like yourself are ever supposed to reach, certainly not in their first month It is very very high. You can see how much the site thinks you have downloaded under 'My Account' the subscriptions tab. That also lists your recent logins, if there's anything suspicious there do report it to customer support and change your site password.

        Do you know what you have downloaded? Don't list it here, but tech people might be interested in such a list to determine how you ended up with 'bandwidth exceeded' this quickly.

        Comment


          #5
          you guys give me hope.

          pinkeyes:
          yes, ive downloaded a lot. now, let us discuss the words "a lot". what is a lot? 1gb? 1tb? 1pb?
          and i dont know how a limit would stop hackers. bots maybe. then again, there should be better ways to deal with both (like monitor the logins and the "movements" not the bandwidth.)
          but i digress, i dont want to discuss the methods by which AW tries to protect themselfs unless I was unrightfully punished by said methods...

          luxman:
          same. what is a lot? i might have a pretty good idea at what "magic number" this bandwith exceeded hammer will be smashed down. it IS a big number when we are talking downloads. it is not a big number when we are talking single harddrive capacity or HD video collections... I wont disclose it because "management" diddnt and they would propably not react well if I would do it "for them"
          I can not imagine in what way I could have been hacked. No one has access to my emails or computer and the accountname/password is not written down anywhere accesible.
          I know I could have been hacked with an keylogger or such and not know it. But I seriously doubt that as well.
          Let me finnish that off with only my ip showing in the last 5 logins and a downloads number that is "only" off with what is on my hdd by 14% (actually, this is indeed a bit too much for browsing the website, maybe download a few files double because they abort at 80% or i am stupid and took them twice but still plausible)

          frans:
          actually I apparently hit the limit within 7 days! granted, the first 3 days I was still on holiday and diddnt do much more than surf the site and download stuff. still, 7 days not months.
          also, i do have quite a high internet connection speed. AW did not max it out. no one does (except maybe steam) When maxing out my line 24/7 I can easily download 30+ tb in a month. only there would be no place to put 30tb

          I know pretty well what i downloaded and how much it is. I am fully willing to cooperate with tech support and if it is justified take the blame.
          But I would prefer to talk about solutions for all parties concerned (AW and myself) instead of termination of my subscription and a lifetime ban (or me sneaking around the ban)

          still, if some people here did collect all the content and the limit is not ever supposed to reach, especially not in 1 month there is still hope.
          maybe the limit is not absolute. maybe it takes time into account as well. like first month its at x, each following month adds y and i would have been fine with downloading slower. i dont know.
          and frankly, we do not need to discuss and "backwards engineer"/deduct any alghorythms that help AW protect themselfes.

          If it is indeed a mistake I will gladly take a "sorry" (and a lifted ban). If it is not a mistake I will gladly take a reasonable offer to subscribe for at least x months if I "caused so much bandwith costs that AW lost a lot of money with my subscription" to reinstate my "good standing" again. Management should be aware though that they should calculate with further downloads. If I had to guess how much I would say +30-40%

          And if I just overdid it and there is no forgiving, no common ground and no reason then I will leave and be sad -that I could not get all I wanted and that AW lost money even if it was not my intention and that we could not find a solution that made everybody happy...

          Comment


            #6
            You can see how much you have downloaded by going on http://www.abbywinters.com/myaccount.

            Comment


              #7
              G'day! We're looking into this over the weekend, I'll get back to you in greater detail directly on Monday.

              To explain in broad strokes; bandwidth is a large ongoing cost of our operation, and to keep our prices down we need to control these costs. If a member starts consistently downloading loads of content, it's not long before they've cost us more than the price of their membership. Another concern is piracy of our content; this adds to our financial losses, sure, but it also hurts our models. The vast majority of these girls are amateurs. They're cool with having their shoots seen by the site's paying members, but they can be damaged by having that stuff plastered all over the net, and they count on us to do whatever we can to prevent it from happening.

              This doesn't happen very often, which is why there is no hard and fast 'limit'- it's only truly exception downloads that trigger the system like this, and almost every time it's due to a hacked account or some kind of bot.

              Anyhow, as I said, we'll get back to you on Monday.

              Cheerio.

              Comment


                #8
                Not trying to be argumentative... but...

                We are constantly told that all the models are told about the fact that their images and shoots could or are going to turn up all over the web... (with the majority of these being created, promoted or authorised by AW itself...) So saying "They're cool with having their shoots seen by the site's paying members, but they can be damaged by having that stuff plastered all over the net" is a tad misleading...
                However full makes to AW.... The number of links in Google that show "In response to a complaint we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at ChillingEffects.org." Seems to be much higher than other sites. So AW is going someway to protect the models and themselves.

                Also... no one has ever mentioned that the limit could effect a "true AW" member just catching up on there back catalog... and more importantly the cost of the bandwidth used being a factor it's always been about hackers and piracy. Surely that is all part of business with the swings and roundabouts... I for one have only downloaded 68.8GB since Feb 2011 which I would imagine is very low.

                Anyway.... little sidetrack now over.... keep up the good work.

                Comment


                  #9
                  oh thank you for coming back to me by email and here.
                  I will be looking forward to your reply next week.

                  I just want to add that I did get all the AW mails with the bandwidth warning, its just a mail account I usually dont look into (this definately is MY fault though) but I can not have AW subscription or other stuff show up at my other email suddenly when there are people able to see "my connection" with you guys when they have no business in knowing what I do and like...

                  Anyway. Regarding your concerns. I realise all you have is my word but...
                  - I act on my own, I do not employ any bots or other methods for automatically downloading any of your content. All my downloads were clicked by me, by hand, with this computer, on firefox 17.0.1 with downthemall download manager (not even single click mode)
                  - I do not and will not share your content with torrent stuff, filehosters or any other known methods past, present and future to (illegally) distribute your content. It is for me and my own personal viewing pleasure (and collection). I wont allow people access to the files/harddrive and I will not copy it for them/onto their machines.
                  - I am not a hacker or anything like that.
                  - There is absolutely no reason to believe I got hacked and/or my account was compromized. All the logins (ips) check out. I also dont have any other trouble. And as I said before, I can see how much I downloaded on my harddrive and what the website says. The numbers are close, even if they are not the same.
                  The number on the website is 14% higher than that of the harddrive folder. This may have been due to aborted and resumed (at 0%) downloads and or me fetching some (a handfull!) files twice, as well as the traffic that is caused when surfing the website. The discrepancy itself did give me pause to think about, because even if it is just 14%, it still is a lot of videos. But it is also no proof of any hackers activity.
                  - I am no bot. I do not employ any (special) software with bot/spider/automatication features. There is no automatication of the file list of any kind. Each and every download I did, I did myself. With my mouse, by clicking. With firefox 17.0.1 and downthemall download manager (not even single click download) and this one was explicit allowed, if not advertised, in the faq. And I just use it for queuing downloads better than firefox can and because I thought it would support resume.

                  - All of AW concerns about protecting their business, models and content do make sense to me. I am not against them!

                  And the more I hear and read, the more it does seem like I got somehow tagged without malicious intent indeed, and, for the lack of a better word, by "accident". It might not even have happened if I did not use my first 3 days during my holiday with nothing else to do and/or diddnt have such a fast connection speed...

                  But I can not and will not hide behind all that. Fact is, I indeed did download a considerable amout of data and would like to continue doing so. If that is a problem, I already did talk about possible solutions and my openness to discuss solutions or my understanding for enforcing this bandwith exceeded ban to the letter before.
                  It should not be a surprise to anyone that some consequences would make me more happy than others but that does not mean that I wont appreciate or understand what final decision will be made. I trust you guys to do the right thing!

                  And I will add my thanks for all the good work as well
                  FD

                  Comment


                    #10
                    brent, did i get a message already? ive looked in both my email accounts (also spam filter) but somehow i dont see nothing?

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I've been in the bowels of the beast looking at the bandwidth drive; and have sent you a response just now.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        thanks, got it, reply incoming.

                        for anyone else interested...

                        the very nice support did hear my case but nothing could be done after the fact.
                        that means franklydifficult will leave this forum in 19 days.
                        [edit: sooner...]

                        however, there is no bad blood between us and I was invited to come back if I dont go downloading like crazy again.
                        that being said. i will be back, just not as franklydifficult

                        for now, let me say, thank you all for your kind words, help and the nice environment that i did not expect but none the less found here
                        Last edited by franklydifficult; 16 January 2013, 05:39 PM.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          I was also warned about exceeding bandwidth a few days ago, and then I checked more thoroughly what was going on at my account info page and then I saw that in 3 days more than 300 GB got downloaded! But then I also discovered that somehow my username and password obviously got hacked - presumably because I used them a few times at my work and stupidly on a shared computer.
                          But after changing my e-mail and password everything is back to normal now.
                          And even if I wanted I couldn't download more than 10 GB in few days with my internet speed. Although I've noticed that download speed got lower at the site recently. Anyway, Brent from the Custommer Support gave me a good warning, cause otherwise my account would probably become frozen too.
                          PS. hope to still see you around here Franklydifficult

                          Comment


                            #14
                            guess whos back?!

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by manyconsiderations View Post
                              guess whos back?!
                              Got a year subscription this time? That's what I do, easier to keep track of spendings that way. Happy viewing, and do post in the Shoots/Model's threads as well, it's fun!

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Originally posted by Frans View Post
                                Got a year subscription this time? That's what I do, easier to keep track of spendings that way. Happy viewing, and do post in the Shoots/Model's threads as well, it's fun!
                                Surely not Frans.... with the amount of work you do around here I would have thought you would have been given a lifetime free membership already... very surprised....

                                I had wanted to and asked about getting an annual subscription... The last couple of times my subs were due to expire But there is no saving over my reoccurring monthly subscription... So couldn't see a reason.

                                welcome back manyconsiderations... aka... franklydifficult ?? I gather... haha

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by mrpinkeyes View Post
                                  Surely not Frans.... with the amount of work you do around here I would have thought you would have been given a lifetime free membership already... very surprised....

                                  I had wanted to and asked about getting an annual subscription... The last couple of times my subs were due to expire But there is no saving over my reoccurring monthly subscription... So couldn't see a reason.
                                  Not for this site no, but for other subscriptions I tend to go with yearly because I then have better control of when money leaves my bank-account :P

                                  Comment

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