3/20/2019 DDoS attacks

More DDoS attacks again tonight, again expected that Twitch user iBreezyy is behind them (specifically because I recently spotted another Comcast IP from the city & state that he lives in on the page written about his organized abuse, that new IP address getting blocked from the site earlier, along with the first one a few months ago).  When I checked my incoming IP logs after rebooting the modem when I got disconnected from the first attempt to stream, there was literally close to 70 connecting coming into it (those logs have been logged & will be listed on my personal site's DDoS IP blacklist later).  Videos of tonight's attacks will also be listed as they become available (Twitch versions will become available much quicker than YouTube version, YouTube versions are only provided to show how I see it on my side without upload interference as you will see in Twitch's versions & to serve as permanent reminders of what continues to happen as Twitch continues to ignore the reports filed about this malicious activity, it will only be a matter of time before subpoenas are issued).

YouTube version

Current status on frequency of streams

Current update on when I'll be able to get back to normal on Twitch streams:

• For a while, getting notices from Medicaid roughly every 3 days kept me busy for roughly 4 months straight (having to do roughly 5 reviews during that time & getting 34 notices over a 4 month period) while they searched for a reason to be able to strip that medical coverage from me.  I got somewhat of a break from that during the first couple months of 2019, however they've lowered the Medicaid spendown in March of 2019 (at $220 per month at the end of 2018, raised to $255 the first 2 months of 2019, now lowered to $226 in March of 2019).  This spendown is why I have to go without a number of things to be able to even afford my living expenses alone (nothing extra), meaning I have to lower my living expenses by going without just to make them affordable & can't have anything nice as a result of it, gaining additional debt each month...
  
  With the lowered spendown, this will mean a lower monthly amount in Food Stamps as well & likely another Medicaid review that will need to be completed (how long this will take before it finally winds down is still to be seen, could drag on for several months like it did in 2018 after I started receiving as a dependent off of my father's retirement, something Medicaid apparently didn't feel I was entitled to & decided to get that back by increasing my Medicaid spendowns & lowering Food Stamps, taking the last 4 months of 2018 to even get it partially resolved & out of the threat of losing those benefits entirely)...


• The second thing that has been preventing me from doing normal streams has been the friend that has been staying with me.  Originally this was only supposed to be for "a few days", it looks like it's going to be at least a few months before he's finally out...  He's been given a deadline that he needs to be out by the end of the month, it appears he should be out by the 25th (supposedly he has a place lined up, but I wouldn't be surprised if it fell through like the last place he attempted to get in January, but he still needs to be out by the set deadline, even if he doesn't have a place to go to; the first night he spent here was roughly Dec. 23rd, 2018).  A lot of my time has been spent cleaning up after his due to his lacking of doing what he's been asked to do while he's here, not to mention he comes back at late hours & isn't allowed to have a key to the house, so I haven't been getting much sleep because I have to let him in (it's been discussed with my landlord that I should set a curfew with him, meaning he needs to be back by a certain hour, but he hasn't been obeying the other rules, I don't expect he would abide by this curfew when he did come back too late to get back in the house & I would go without sleep regardless).


• Around the same time that friend got here, I was getting hit with fairly regular DDoS attacks (expected to be organized by Twitch user iBreezyy), which resulted in a number of videos being uploaded (using the embedded local time display & OBS upload stats to keep records & provide evidence of each of those attacks), this caused technical issues with being able to continue doing regular streams, being able to view those streams without it turning into a slideshow with audio (or full-out disconnecting while in the stream, one of the reasons why YouTube versions of those disrupted streams were uploaded & embedded into the updates regarding those DDoS attacks, keeping backups of those videos on my PC for republication if necessary) & regular resets.
  
  While the report to Twitch seems to have gotten those attacks to somewhat) stop from iBreezyy, the situation continues after that friend decided to try & get another torrent past me.  One of the main rules I gave him when he got here was absolutely no torrents (knowing what he liked to spend his time doing on the internet) & he kept breaking that rule, resulting in my blocking his computer from the internet multiple times.  The last time I blocked his computer, I stated the only way I was going to unblock it was going to be if he installed a software firewall to block the program from the internet, he agreed, however I received an email of a DMCA complaint filed against my ISP the day after I got him to agree to the firewall, his primary computer is now permanently blocked from being able to access the internet.
  
  Aside from the fact I've already taken care of the torrent situation by permanently blocking his main computer from the internet, my modem is continuing to get hit by DDoS attacks & stalking from companies looking to file further DMCA complaints against my account with my ISP (incoming connections have continued for about a week now even after I cut off his computer from the internet, it's possible my IP address is still being held by the trackers for the torrents he was attempting to get past me) & this has lead me to pulling those incoming connections from my router to add them to my DDoS IP blacklist on my personal site (all the ones without linked logs are new from this situation alone), causing that list to triple in a matter of hours from when I started to do it.  Originally I was attempting to get comments about this on WhatIsMyIPAddress.com (a site I use regulardly for IP tracking purposes, especially when it comes to hacking attempts on my personal site), but seeing as they weren't allowing those comments to go public, I started publishing those IP addresses to my personal site instead.  These attacks are effecting my download rate, which also effect my streams on Twitch, my uploads to YouTube (one of the reasons I've take a break from uploading the KickBeat cutscene series I was intending on uploading 1 video per day, along with all the other life issues that I started getting hit with after only a few videos), ability to publish updates to my personal site, as well as confirming validity of game giveaways (currently only available to subscribers on Patreon at $5 or more per month).


• The new issue at this point is related to Case Managers through the Independent Living Program run through Valley Behavioral Health (previously Valley Mental Health).  At this point I'm having to spend business hours of each day trying to sort out the mess with my previous (soon to be former) Case Manager not keeping the appointments he's been making with me for home visits.  I've gotten this partially resolved, but am still having to jump through hoops to get things done & I'll have to wait until after business hours (or weekends) to be able to do any streaming on Twitch (it might come down to me having to file another public complaint against the Independent Living Program just to get it resolved, the only other alternative being I drop them completely because there is no follow-through on scheduled appointments).

So this currently details what is going on & why streams haven't been regular over the past several months.  I'm hoping I can get these issues resolved & I can go back to becoming a normal streamer again, however in the mean time, the only regular streaming frequency I can give is roughly every 1 to 3 days (when my Fortnite dailies fill up); sometimes I may have a more severe issue (like a funeral or family in the hospital, possibly even a surgery I have to personally be in the hospital for) that may prevent me from even streaming that often...  For those who have stuck around & continued to follow (especially those who have contributed to the channel through subs, cheers, raids & hosts), it is appreciated & I wish there was more that could be done to get back to having a normal presence among gamers & streamers alike, however life issues comes first, I can't really ignore them & expect them to just go away, I have to deal with the important stuff before I worry about something that really isn't gaining me any income to begin with (there are some subs & cheers that are currently being held in Twitch's affiliate program, however they aren't obligated to pay anything until that value reaches at least $100; it's currently only got a total of roughly $16.59 on it, according to my records in a local spreadsheet on my PC, started when 3 larger Fortnite streamers helped me get affiliate status through their raids on my channel).

I'm hoping that sooner or later, Twitch streaming will become profitable enough that I will be able to make a living from it & be able to get away from having to live off of Disability benefits, allowing me to get away from the ludicrously-high spendowns to be able to continue receiving Medicaid & Medicare.  Disability discrimination unfortunately nets those with disabilities about the same treatment as those with criminal histories, one of the reasons why I usually fail in being able to keep a job with a company, if I'm even lucky enough to be able to gain one in the first place (I know from experience that hiding this from a company you are applying for doesn't help you after you get the job, you're better off making it known up front so the company can work with you on them if they are equal-opportunity, however that's usually the nail in the coffin that prevents you from getting it)...  Until I have a means to be able to support myself, I have to continue playing this game by their rules to be able to continuing living (even if that means going without certain necessities that I can't afford because Medicaid believes I need to pay overpriced expenses with money I don't have)...

Follower-only chat enabled due to organized trolling

Got hit by a number of trolls in my stream a few days ago, 2 users banned as a result of their actions.  In order to stop the attacks on the channel, I ended up having to enable follower-only chat again; I don't like making users feel obligated to follow to be able to chat, but in cases where it's obvious the privilege to be able to chat in the channel is going to be abused, I have to put measures in place to stop it from happening...  Follower-only chat will eventually fall off provided the attacks have stopped.  There were 2 bans in the last stream due to trolling, so I set the follow minimum at 30 minutes.  It will drop to 10 minutes in the next stream (later today), then down to nothing provided there isn't any more situations during today's stream, being fully removed by the 3rd stream if no more situations present themselves by individuals looking to cause problems.