[Dxspider-support] Spot with False Origin Nodes

[Lorenzo IU1NSA]

Good afternoon,

I am Lorenzo IU1NSA, and I am part of the HamAward team.
First of all, I would like to thank Niklas for informing us about this 
mailing list.

I am writing to express our deep concern regarding the recent ban of our 
node IU1NSA-6 and the IPs of HamAward, which we only became aware of 
thanks to reports from our users during an important event. Operators 
informed us that their spots were not appearing on many web clusters, 
forcing us to intervene promptly to ensure the proper execution of the 
event, in respect of both participants and sponsors involved.

We are unable to understand the reasons for this ban, especially since 
we never received any prior communication, neither directed to IU1NSA 
nor to HamAward. From the emails you exchanged, it is evident that some 
of you visited our website: I therefore wonder why none of our contacts, 
clearly visible on every page, were used to reach out to us and clarify 
any doubts. This total lack of communication has left us puzzled and 
concerned, considering the impact such decisions can have on the 
activities of thousands of operators.

Personally, I was particularly struck by the attitude of Luigi Carlotto 
IK5ZUK. I know Luigi IK5ZUK well, as we collaborated to organize the 
WRTC 2022 cluster node in Italy, and until recently, we exchanged advice 
on which servers to rent for managing our nodes.
Moreover, Luigi IK5ZUK has my direct phone number, and we have often 
communicated via WhatsApp. Therefore, I find it difficult to understand 
why he decided to ban my node without even contacting me, despite having 
the means to quickly resolve any issues. This behavior, combined with 
your arbitrary handling of the situation, forced us to reorganize 
independently to continue our activities, while also raising concerns 
about a potential unjustified bias against us.

I would like to emphasize that the HamAward platform complies with all 
the rules required for sending spots: every user is registered through a 
mandatory QRZ authentication procedure and can only spot under their own 
name, with a limit of once every 10 minutes. There has never been any 
flooding of the network, and no spot has been generated automatically. 
All spots were manually submitted by users. Your assumptions regarding 
automation do not reflect the reality of the situation.

We believe that banning nodes without first attempting to contact us for 
clarification is inconsistent with the Ham spirit, especially when all 
the necessary means to do so were readily available. This is even more 
serious considering that we have official agreements with A.R.I. Italia 
for the management of awards, and the HamAward node was banned even 
during one of these official events. I wonder what the Ham spirit 
represents when an activity linked to A.R.I. itself is blocked.

We feel it is important to open a direct dialogue with you to understand 
the reasons behind what happened and, above all, to prevent similar 
situations from occurring in the future. Transparency and communication 
are fundamental to the proper functioning of this community.

I take this opportunity to commend you for the excellent work you do in 
managing the network and Dirk G1TLH for the development of DXSpider 
software, which represents a benchmark for all of us.
We appreciate the work you do and recognize your technical expertise, 
and we hope that in the future we can establish a more transparent and 
direct dialogue, with mutual respect and for the benefit of the entire 
community.

I look forward to your response.

Kind regards,
Lorenzo IU1NSA