Knives*

It is convenient that it is available to everyone, however... - For the short-term, it helps out all server admins because they can keep their ban list somewhat up to date. It is something that must be manually done by them, and therefore is a proactive approach. It does not help out the Streaming Admins here, however. - For the long-run, I think that if people want to see it, they should become a Streaming Admin here like everyone else, which will help us all out by increasing the MBi banlist, just as all Streaming Admins presently do. No freeloaders means more cheaters will be actively detected and banned thanks to the extra Streaming Admins.

I see it now.

You guys should really post advertisements on your site to help out with the costs.

Thanks everyone.

Looks good, and is responsive too.

Hey, The opinions on these forums may be biased to an extent so please try to keep an open mind if you reply. Based on experience, which would you all say is a better solution to purchase and use? From my understanding, ip.Board is very well coded while vBulletin still has quite a few bugs to work out. Security is #1 me. The one feature I'd like to have is a thumbs up and thumbs down option for topics/posts to give user ratings based on the quality of their content. A thanks system would be nice to have too. ip.Board seems expensive at $150 for just 6 months of updates and support while vBulletin is cheaper at $195 and is supported until the end of the current version's life. Thoughts and opinions?

Two minutes is a joke. I thought PB would be better than that. To those that don't use a service such as this are kicking themselves in the ass. Thanks for clearing this up.

1) After speaking with MaydaX a few days ago, he told me that the detection of PBBans is only as good as PunkBuster. In other words, if cheaters know how to bypass getting banned by PB, then PBBans cannot and will not ban them. And anyone who gets picked up by PB will mean that they get banned by PBBans in the MDI. I've been thinking... if that is the case, why use PBBans? Why not just rely on PB? Does PB not also do permanent bans? What makes PBBans better than using just PB alone? 2) I recall reading that the Valve crew that works on VAC offered to help PB improve their outdated system but PB refused their assistance. Both VAC and PB have flaws. I was thinking that based on the knowledge that the people here have on banning and the techniques used by cheaters, couldn't PBBans create an anti-cheating system of their own that can and would surpass VAC and PB? Create a hybrid of the anti-cheating systems of PB and VAC but with a far better detection rate that stays up to date automatically and can evolve as new cheating techniques are developed. This way you would have the best anti-cheat protected system on the market. Is it possible? Thoughts?

Unfortunately it did not work.

Good info. I'll give it a try later. Thank you.

Feel free to visit my server and friend me in Origin. I go by the name mrdarkgod. *Flaw | flawclan.com | PBBans | New York, USA http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf3/servers/show/3193ef20-0a1f-41b5-9112-6fb2e6c122cc/Flaw-flawclan-com-PBBans-New-York-USA/ If you do a keyword filter search of "PBBans" (without the quotes) in BF3, mine should be one of the first on the list. I'll look up your PB GUID and inform you what it is if still need it. Cheers, Knives*

It would be nice to have several additional message options for to displayed to the players in game. For example, advertise yourselves! Make an advertisement be displayed giving your link. PBBans should decide on what it says, but allow the streaming server admins to decide if it should be displayed and how often (in minutes) it shows up to everyone. Server: This server is protected from cheaters by PBBans.com. This message alone gives instant peace of mind and relief! One of my members ONLY plays on our server because he knows it is running PBBans Hub live banning. The second message should be an automated message, similar to the greeting presently in place and similar to the one above, only editable. Make it be displayed in the server to everyone informing them of the server provider's clan name, URL, etc. For example: Server: Please visit *Flaw's at www.flawclan.com. We are recruiting! By the way, several people have complained to me that the automated message in place now when players connect is annoying and "spam". I've disabled it for now yet I still would like my server to advertise my clan's URL, just not each time someone connects. Thank you in advance for your consideration. Cheers, Knives*

I think you two missed my point. There's an old saying: You have to spend money to make money. In this case, giving them some money means they lose much more in the long run for the reasons I've already stated in my topic. The concept of my suggestion is to basically put them out of business by crippling their reputation and foundation from the inside, not outside, which is what PBBans is presently doing. Why do I say outside? Because those that pay for these hacks are basically doing it for their own self-interests. Simply put: They want to cheat. They don't get paid subscriptions to have their new hacks get instantly blocked, in turn, banned. I understand the conservative thinking in investing any donations back into the costs of this site. Perhaps there could be a separate donation option that will allow people visiting this site to donate towards trusted spies to do what I have suggested. Regular updates of the progress would be comforting to the community here knowing that the money going into this project is being put to good use. Something else that may be considered is bounty awards to those that offer the latest and greatest hacks from popular sites, as opposed to spies. The downside to the bounty is that it may be abused and actually encourage hack authors to make cheats, which is why I think spies would be better - they would be trusted and hand-picked by the staff here.

This idea may have been thought of before. The concept would be financial taxing but with a big pay-off in the end. Making hacks for cheaters is a lucrative business. My idea is to not take a reactive approach to cheaters, but to take a proactive one instead by targeting the authors of hacks at the source - their reputation and profit margins. What does PBBans think of having inside spies and volunteers that actually register on popular cheating website to purchase monthly/yearly subscriptions of cheats for the purpose of instantly submitting the latest and greatest hacks to PBBans and Even Balance? For example, "Joe Blow" at PBBans is a Streaming Admin or Staff member. He or she registers at F.P.S.Cheats with the name "Karl" to purchase their full cheat package to have access to all of their hacks/cheats for a year. As each hack gets updated by F.P.S.Cheats to avoid detection by PunkBuster, "Joe Blow" will continue to submit the latest releases to PBBans and Even Balance to take a proactive approach at preventing cheaters from continuing to use their services. In essence, a small amount of money would go to the cheating community for the sake of instantly disabling and discouraging cheaters from using their services, giving them a poor reputation, cutting into their profits and keeping the hack authors very busy. All spies would be anonymous from everyone except the PBBans Staff members and Even Balance Inc.. Funding would need to be raised for the trustworthy voluntary spies to aid in the costs of purchasing hack subscriptions. Proactive is better than reactive. If you can't beat them, join them then back-stab. I would very much like to see F.P.S.Cheats' topic ( /topic110300.htm ) all turn red with "Detected" and stay that way, along with any other hack sites that claim their hacks are undetectable by PunkBuster.

Hello PBBans Staff, I just finished setting up my server with PBBans. After restarting it and inviting a friend to join me in populating it, we waited patiently over an hour for others to connect. Several did with most of them leaving due to boredom. Over that hour, six (6) cheaters had TRIED to connect but were blocked with the reasons displayed in the chat log. Once the server started to get populated, I could instantly feel the difference. I knew the people I was playing with were legit because, for the first time, my stats were positive (12 kills, 9 deaths). It made me feel so good to finally start playing against real legit gamers! Thank you so much for your awesome service and support, PBBans! :) I have donated $20 to your cause. Cheers, Knives* http://www.flawclan.com/

Hey Lluuu, I got it. Thanks!

Hi all, I'm new to this site and to Battlefield. I run my own server and would like to use PBBans's services. On the beginner's guide here, I am stuck on Step 3. My "PB GUID" is required yet I can't find out what mine is in game. I've Googled but nothing helpful shows up. How do I find out my PB GUID while playing Battlefield 3 so I can signup for a Team Account here? Thanks in advance.