Member #150 - Zavia aka Chilled.

[Zavia]

Hi All,

I was Chilled. in the previous site and have been away the last few months... being very busy.

Chilled.
Member
Joined: 27-06-14
Location: Jakarta
Posts: 314

I was intrigued by a suspicious PM from some unknown new member about some spliter forum of former moderators.
"HA, some sad competitor wanting to trick us into either visiting their forum or it hides a malicious redirect. I shall not be fooled easily."
I head over to General... and things look changed but the numbers n dates are totally off....
"O shit is the site hacked?"
I checked out a few of my fav posters.... 3 weeks ago login all of them. Odd.... I happen to come back online cos I wanted Atlantises (or Mr Admin Atlantis as he apparent is now) input on a legal matter and his account said BANNED....
"O shit, its a failed mod coup?" <<its a long story but such things has happen, ive been to many forums
After poking around and reading about things, I left a message at the hiccup closed thread asking for clarity and here I am!

Soooo why change of name, well basically unknown sites(i didnt really know it then) dont generally get my main names and emails n stuff.

I'm more commonly known as Zavia and am pleased to meet you all again!

 

[dafluff]

Haha...I liked your story, especially the fact that it is illustrated with smileys. Welcome Chilled/Zavia! Glad you found us!

 

[Bad_azz]

Welcome to the coop Chilled/Zavia.
It wasn't a coup... as you figured out, just a lot of preventable silliness by the Admin over there.

 

[William King]

A coup! Damnit, I always miss them!

 

[Zavia]

hello hello, thanks.

Hmm my profile pic isnt turning up....

Anyway good to see so much activity over a short period

 

[Bad_azz]

hello hello, thanks.

Hmm my profile pic isnt turning up....

Anyway good to see so much activity over a short period

I had the same issue- you need to set it as your avatar pic, not profile pic

 

[El_Goretto]

hello hello, thanks.

Hmm my profile pic isnt turning up....

Anyway good to see so much activity over a short period

Welcome to the forum!

You can find more info about what happened on the other forum in this thread.

With an average of 230 posts posted per day since the 16th of July (which doesn't even count what we post in the moderation channel), it is difficult to keep track of what's been posted or not. Does anyone feel we need a clear and concise summary post detailing the events of the so called Lexit™ that we can simply link to for users needing a refresher?

 

[Puspawarna]

Does anyone feel we need a clear and concise summary post detailing the events of the so called Lexit™ that we can simply link to for users needing a refresher?

I've been directing people to this post

 

[El_Goretto]

I've been directing people to this post

Ah thanks! I knew there was something already written!

 

[Zavia]

Welcome to the forum!

You can find more info about what happened on the other forum in this thread.

With an average of 230 posts posted per day since the 16th of July (which doesn't even count what we post in the moderation channel), it is difficult to keep track of what's been posted or not. Does anyone feel we need a clear and concise summary post detailing the events of the so called Lexit™ that we can simply link to for users needing a refresher?

More midnight reading material, yay. Will slowly sift thru it over the weekend then if i can.

I've been directing people to this post

Can you elaborate more on

the mods (plus me - at that time I was not actively modding the old forum, but I was still "one of the gang", so to speak) resigned and our accounts were hijacked.

Like why or how did you guys come to the decision to resign? And who/how was your accounts hijacked?
#theplotthickens

Id have assume that someone had gained admin access rights and was hacking the website.
Basically "upgrade" it to a known vulnerable version number, deploy the exploit then harvest the info.

 

[El_Goretto]

More midnight reading material, yay. Will slowly sift thru it over the weekend then if i can.


Can you elaborate more on

Like why or how did you guys come to the decision to resign? And who/how was your accounts hijacked?
#theplotthickens

Id have assume that someone had gained admin access rights and was hacking the website.
Basically "upgrade" it to a known vulnerable version number, deploy the exploit then harvest the info.

Allow me to chime in eventhough the question wasn't direct at me.

No hack at all. The admin (Paman) upgraded the forum without consulting with anyone on the 5th of July and botched the update.

We (the mods) decided collectively to go on "strike" until the matter is resolved. We thought it would be only a matter of a couple days at most, that it would be fixed and we would get a private apology.

Days went by and no sign of Paman or wm since the update. Some users started wondering where to go next since the forum was unusable. That's when we decided to step in and setup a new forum and the regular members jumped ship.

Some people like to spread the rumors that we had planned this all along. A quick look at the WHOIS on this domain name shows that we registered on the 12th of July, so 7 days AFTER the botched update:

Once word got out that a new forum was around, we knew our days as moderators at LIIF were numbered. So that's how we came to the decision to resign. Little did we know that the admin would actually not just remove our moderator privilege or ban us, he actually changed our registered email address and reset our passwords, effectively taking over our accounts, getting access to our PMs and giving himself the ability to post/send messages "on our behalf".

The hiccup thread in which you have been posting has been completely sanitized by wm/paman. All our posts have disappeared. So it is difficult to read the situation properly. But it's ok, you don't have to take our words for it, all the most active users on this forum saw it happening "live" for 12 days which is the length of time it took paman to act on his botched update.

 

[El_Goretto]

Our resignation became "official" when we received messages from wm/paman that were scolding us for our reaction and asking us if we still wanted to remain mods. No apology whatsoever. We did not reply, so I guess the message was clear at this point. Days later our accounts were hijacked.

 

[Zavia]

She still asked? Surprising.

If one or two years down she closes the forum.... it would be a total lost of great information.

 

[El_Goretto]

She still asked? Surprising.

If one or two years down she closes the forum.... it would be a total lost of great information.

There is no need to close the other forum if it's properly managed and both can coexist.

We're hoping to provide better and more organized information but obviously it will take time.

 

[atlantis]

She still asked? Surprising.

If one or two years down she closes the forum.... it would be a total lost of great information.

Hi Chilled/Zavia,
First, I don't think she will close the forum. It brings traffic, and traffic means sponsor and money. LIIF has a pretty interesting rating on google and it is not going to change overnight or even in 1 or 2 years.

Also, as you know, laws and regulations get passed every day and, without a continuous and thorough update, most information included in LIIF may be outdated in just a few years. I wish them to be able to attract this crowd of knowledgeable users able to answer questions of new registrant and keep the confidence people had in LIIF as high as it was. I have spent 8 years posting there and would be one of the first one feeling sad should it dies.

However, if they aren't able to do that I am confident that other platforms may emerge and provide what the community needs: a reliable source of information. One of our goal is obviously to be one of these platforms.

Anyway, warm welcome to our forum. Glad to have you joining us.

 

[William King]

money.

keyword right there.

 

[macvert]

I don't think she will close the forum.

she'll probably just attach another string to the puppet ( digital joke ) .... haha

 

[Bad_azz]

she'll probably just attach another string to the puppet ( digital joke ) .... haha

I think that puppet has many strings already. Play spot the puppet- see who is liking whose posts.

 

[Zavia]

Hi Chilled/Zavia,
First, I don't think she will close the forum. It brings traffic, and traffic means sponsor and money. LIIF has a pretty interesting rating on google and it is not going to change overnight or even in 1 or 2 years.

Also, as you know, laws and regulations get passed every day and, without a continuous and thorough update, most information included in LIIF may be outdated in just a few years. I wish them to be able to attract this crowd of knowledgeable users able to answer questions of new registrant and keep the confidence people had in LIIF as high as it was. I have spent 8 years posting there and would be one of the first one feeling sad should it dies.

However, if they aren't able to do that I am confident that other platforms may emerge and provide what the community needs: a reliable source of information. One of our goal is obviously to be one of these platforms.

Anyway, warm welcome to our forum. Glad to have you joining us.

Thanks.

Theres only so many people wanting to share info in such a manner in the world. I'm not fully sure theres space for 2 forums to be frank.
Sure people will keep going to the other one for a while, but if answers here are more consistent and higher quality and somehow they are made aware of this other forum... they will migrate.
Like social media, ICQ, myspace, mIRC, MSN, and friendster all were giants once which lost to new iterations of other social media.... cos things like this tend to enable only 1 main provider that provides 70-90% of the service.
I could be wrong... but yea.

keyword right there. [/COLOR]

If traffic changes... it may be a very different site. The main info site doesnt require as much "work" as managing a forum does.

Achievement unlocked: "Chartered Member Status." 10th post!

Bonus Achievement: "I don't go to them, they come to me." Half the posts was in my own thread.