How are changes decided upon?
I get kicked back out when trying the secure login
How do I use server #SG secure login?
I get a security notice when using secure login?
Why isn't my Ops account update registering?
What is being done to prevent abuse?
How long do suspensions last?
Sometimes I can't type in message box

Valid Kick and Ban Reasons
Credit Card Billing Enquiry?
How do the Operator levels work?
Does Alamak restrict the right to free speech?
Does Alamak monitor private messages and rooms?

Some new services and improvements are developed by Alamak staff in response to requests by users. Others are developed in-house by Alamak.

Policy changes are almost always discussed with a randomly selected group of users and Ops before they are introduced. The final decision balances the chat's needs and the user and Ops response to the proposed changes.

You may have this problem if you use proxy with secure login. The chat server prevents IP switching and will kick you out if your IP address changes during the switch from the secure to the non-secure server.

You need to have the same proxy setting for http as for https or secure proxy setting.

In most cases, people have put in a http proxy setting but have left the https or secure field blank. The solution is to set your https or secure proxy setting the same as your http proxy setting. Don't forget to fill in the port number too.

Server SG issues a self-signed certificate when you ask for a secure login. You must accept this certificate to use the secure pages on alamak.com.sg.

If you only use SG to change your password, it is best to accept the certificate for the session only. Click "for this session only".

If you wish to use the secure login regularly, click on "until it expires". It will then be valid for one month. When it expires, you may get a connection error when you try to access the secure server.

The solution is to go into your web browser security section, look for web site certificates, find any that say alamak and delete them. Then try again to access the secure server, and accept the new certificate.

This is normal. When you are on a secure page and leave to a non-secure page you get a popup warning. Just click okay. The secure login is set up to use the secure server for transmitting password information. After the first page, it switches to the non-secure un-encrypted page to save processing time.

Secure servers use alot of cpu time and the chat would be incredibly slow if we ran the whole chat through a secure encryption.

The master database is currently held on the Singpore Server. When we update passwords or any account information it happens there first, then the file is encrypted and sent to the US and Malaysian servers and un-encrypted. So changes on SG may take a while to register on the other chat servers, but it is usually less than 24 hours.

If your account is still not updated after this time, you should TRY LOGGING IN WITH THE WRONG PASSWORD. It is cpu intensive to open and re-read the password file everytime an Op logs in, so the server stores the accounting and password information in memory. If you try to login with the wrong password, it will cause the chat server to re-load the password file. This reload will now include the changed account expiration date and password. Now try logging in with the correct password. If the information has been changed, your problem will be fixed.

We have installed a number of features to reduce abuse.

There is now a log that records kicks, bans, and unbans as well as the reason.

Some rudimentary flood control has been added to the server.

A list of open proxy IPs to be blocked has been added to the server.

IP switching is disallowed to prevent session ID hacking.

A secure login has been added to the chat to prevent password detection by packet sniffing.

A double password system for Ops has been added. Ops use their regular password to login. If this gets hacked, Ops can use the secure change password page or the change password page and their permanent password to change their login password. The only place the permanent password is used is to change the login password.

Office administration forms for Operator accounts have had several layers of security added to prevent access by unauthorized persons. These forms no longer display passwords of accounts in the account modification fields. Passwords can be changed by the office but not viewed by this method.

Note: Alamak has a committee system to report abusive Ops and users to administration. The committee members read the complaint emails and investigate before taking action. These people are volunteers and being on the committee is not an easy task. They frequently feel unrewarded so users and administration alike should always be thankful for the committee's help in any situation.

Most cases are 1 or 2 weeks; a few would go for a month. In severe cases, accounts will be removed.

Noone has the right to come in and abuse other chatters. Nor does anyone have the right to come in and repeatedly use our resources to promote competing sevices. If someone persists with these forms of abuse, we may exercise our option to remove the account, as per the Alamak Policy Pages.

We are fair. In all cases, we look at the evidence and make a decision as to what is best for the chat.

This doesn't happen often, but in some browsers it does if you hold down the mouse button at the same time as the page autorefreshes. Just put your mouse over the lower frame and hit any mouse button until some kind of dialog pops up, then release. Problem solved.