Who Is In Charge of ATS And Why Were We Hacked?

originally posted by: UpIsNowDown2
is this latest hack to brain wash us into wishing for control and moderation, as some of the new threads are just utter drivel

perhaps its a psy op to convince us moderation is a good thing, as ATS at the moment is basically reddit/4chan/twitter as fas as i can tell

I've always thought the mods did a decent job here, and seeing what happens within hours of them losing mod permissions, I can absolutely see their use.
...I love rugby, but without referees it's just 30 people violently fighting each other!🤣

originally posted by: sookiechachazback

Xtrozero1? Really?
Shouldn't it be xtrazerozero? Or even xtrazeroZORO!

It's not to late to change it!

Who are you? I never met you before...

I think Sookums would be better for you.

I been told if I can get 1000 stars the site goes back to normal...

a reply to: xtrozero1

You can have mine.

and theirs.

a reply to: andy06shake23

Monitoring the thread...

a reply to: FormerlyRigel4

Guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I thought Phage was all right.

He just did not suffer fools gladly.

And could come across as somewhat glib.

But he was not far wrong, and generally on the ball by my guess more often than not.

ATS got nuked. Darko has gone full throttle. He says expect 3 days of darkness or was it 10?

a reply to: AdultMaleHumanUK

That's a good point and aptly illustrates the current predicament in which we find ourselves.

Look at what happened last time the place went offline.

And the majority of ATS members matriculated to rogue-nation3.com.

Where there was very little to no moderation that could be seen.

To me it was somewhat reminiscent of the Wild West or Royal Rumble.

We might not all like the mods, and sometimes downright disagree with their antics and/or simplistic explanations they choose to provide for some of the actions they implement.

But without a modicum of rules, and semblance or order, the place just degenerates into a total anarchy and a free-for-all.

Which in my humble opinion is the reason so many members choose to return to ATS from rogue-nation3 when they paid their credit card bill last time around.

a reply to: andy06shake23

I don't totally agree with the thesis people need be ruled (moderated). Any site easily becomes the wild West for just one reason: anonymity. Once anonymity is removed, few are those who dare to engage in verminous behavior. In any case, I believe that a system regulates itself and reaches a balance in which the common interest prevails. If that common interest is to insult each other, the system will reach equilibrium at that point and become any of the Internet dumps we already know.

Fortunately, for crimes defined in the criminal code, there are already ways to identify the offender (IP identification serves for that and only for that). And let's not forget that the ultimate responsible for the content of a website is always the owner. Always. Moderating a forum consists of reminding users of the terms under which they can use the service and, in an extreme case, banning them from using it. To be a forum moderator it is necessary to respect freedom of speech, which implies knowing exactly the boundaries between an opinion and a pig's grunt.

a reply to: Direnei

I don't totally agree with the thesis people need be ruled (moderated).

Humans require rules to interact with one another in groups Direnei otherwise anarchy prevails and survival of the fittest becomes the colour of the day.

To be a forum moderator it is necessary to implement the TnC of the site which has rules.

ATS is not a democracy and never has been and there is nothing new on that score.

Again without mods to implement a modicum of rule and decorum, the place simply degenerates into anarchy and mob rule.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion all the same as long as said opinion does not go against the TnC which when you join up you agree to follow.

As to the owner, well unless they are complicit in the act of sabotage, im inclined to believe they must be aware of the current predicament.

I think we are all sitting here wondering when Darko is going to chime up and let us know what's going on and/or if our previous accounts are retrievable or now simply defunct.

a reply to: andy06shake23

Well, barbarism always went hand in hand with chaos, but also strict order is the twin brother of chaos.

But, apart from the issue of passwords, how do you know that this site is not moderated? I mean, what difference does it make? If I have to judge, I really have a hard time accepting that reddit, or 4Chan, are moderated sites....

And yet they do their service: channeling anger and hatred through chats, instead of having people in the streets throwing Molotov cocktails. Social networks, after all, were invented for that: so that people are not in the streets confronting totalitarianism. Well, that's my opinion, of course.

a reply to: Direnei

But, apart from the issue of passwords, how do you know that this site is not moderated? I mean, what difference does it make?

Have you seen anyones posts be removed in the past day, or has anyone been post-banned?

No?

me nether.

Mods are apparently in the same boat we are Direnei.

They got locked out same as the rest of us by all accounts thus far.

There is even one in this thread that will confirm that i think.

As to the difference it will make, without moderation buddy wait till you see the racism, threats, profanity, and hatred materialise in spades.

I don't do "reddit", or "4Chan" so cannot really comment as to the level of moderation in place on those sites.

As to having to judge, well again that's the job of a mod, to within the terms and conditions of the site.

a reply to: andy06shake23

Yes, the nude got banned quick.

ATS admin and Shadowblade are on the case, admin and mod. In my head that's the Alchemist and Earl Sweatshirt, obviously.

a reply to: PepperOnion

I did not even see a nude. LoL

Only up a few hours all the same.

Do you mean like a post or thread removed?

Link the page eh so i can see what happened if it's still up and not 404ed?

Ive not even seen anyone with a MOD title post nevermind remove stuff in the past day.

Not that i could not be wrong on that score but it still might be nice to know what's going on.

Im going to try contacting "Shadowblade" see if he can help shine some light on the issue if they are active.

Cheers for letting us know somebody still is.

Edit: in the list of ATS members in good standing there is nobody, including a mod, with the title "Shadowblade".

Displaying 0 members that contain "Shadowblade" in their ATS usernames.

Are you sure you have the correct title?

a reply to: andy06shake23

Sure, mods are on the same boat. But not for the admin. The Admin has, I guess, access to the backups of the user database (which remains intact, otherwise the system wouldn't reply with the Sorry, that user name is already taken message. It is the password database that has been removed.

But any system has means for such situations. The forums are all there, too. And the EPP key, I assume, has not been compromised (otherwise the ICANN will show a new owner, and it doesn't). So getting ATS back to nominal shouldn't be hard. As for the passwords database, I assume is encrypted or showing hashes, which you cannot decode back to plain text. And even having all of the email addresses of users means nothing. A different thing would be to also have credit cards numbers, but this does not apply to this site.

originally posted by: Direnei
a reply to: andy06shake23

Sure, mods are on the same boat. But not for the admin. The Admin has, I guess, access to the backups of the user database (which remains intact, otherwise the system wouldn't reply with the Sorry, that user name is already taken message. It is the password database that has been removed.

But any system has means for such situations. The forums are all there, too. And the EPP key, I assume, has not been compromised (otherwise the ICANN will show a new owner, and it doesn't). So getting ATS back to nominal shouldn't be hard. As for the passwords database, I assume is encrypted or showing hashes, which you cannot decode back to plain text. And even having all of the email addresses of users means nothing. A different thing would be to also have credit cards numbers, but this does not apply to this site.

Your assessment seems reasonable to me.

a reply to: andy06shake23

User got banned, and that was that. Thread is still there.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Are you sure you have the correct title?

No, but I saw the A and one supermod being online. Other mods have been online as well, but they couldn't do jack after the purge. No post, nothing.
Might be A running the show alone now, no clue.

Was getting "site not secure" Certificate invalid alarms from avast security yesterday with every page refresh or load, but it seems to have been fixed.

So someone appears to be working on this in some capacity.

a reply to: Direnei



This begs the question why not simply restore the site to a previous date thus mitigating the debacle?

If the Admin still has the keys to the kingdom that is it should not be that hard a task.

a reply to: PepperOnion

Cheers for the link PepperOnion.

So by the looks of things, we are down to an admin and a supermod.

Who was the supermod online? and who is the admin, do you know?

Just looking for someone who may be able to shine some light on the present situation and if it can be rectified.

As to other mods being online well the ones i have come across have made new accounts the same as ourselves, what other mods have been on line with an intact title(old account)?