cannot access some popular websites from Linode, geolocation is wrong, ARIN is to blame?

Sun Mar 3 12:25:55 UTC 2013

I'll leave the rest of your comments/questions to others, but on this:

On Sat, Mar 02, 2013 at 01:58:09PM -0800, Constantine A. Murenin wrote:
> And in regards to yelp and retailmenot; why are they blocking Linode
> customers in 173.230.144.0/20?  I've tried contacting both on multiple
> occasions, and have never received any replies from yelp, but
> retailmenot has replied several times with a blanket "someone may have
> tried to scrap, spam or proxy our site from this network". 

Only yelp and retailmenot can answer that question precisely, but:
I've seen MANY instances of Linode-originated spam.  Attempts to get
Linode to exercise a modicum of professionalism and make it stop on
their side have not been successful, therefore I've taken steps to make
it stop on my side.  If it continues and escalates (both of which seem
very likely) then eventually I'll upgrade those steps to "firewall rules".

So I suggest that your complaints about yelp and retailmenot blocking you
should be directed not to them, but to Linode: you should ask Linode
why they made it *necessary* for yelp and retailmenot to defend themselves
in that fashion.  You should ask them what remedial action they're currently
taken to no longer make it necessary.  And you should ask them when they
will be contacting yelp/retailmenot in order to (a) apologize and (b) request
their access privileges back.

---rsk