What happened, what we know, what we don't know

originally posted by: ashisnotanidiot

originally posted by: randomuser2034

originally posted by: Another_Nut
a reply to: ashisnotanidiot

wouldnt call it a "team" lol but there was outside help, as djarum stated, to regain access.

You dont have to believe but i will vouch for the truthfulness of what happened ... Many of us were on discord as it unfolded.

He has a point to a certain extent. The username MrsDarko said that there were posts that had been removed they were trying to recover and when looking at her profile page it linked to a thread that had been 404d (a thread that was authored in April long before her account became active). I look at thread numbers before it and after it, and after that thread number a whole swath of threads had been "removed." But later some of these were showing. And also that username had an applause on it. So the user had inside information about what was going on. And someone had access to give it an applause. So there is more to the story than what was said in the OP. Someone is active with information behind the scenes. Also my U2Us were hacked on the new account I made. So there was someone active with that ability as well.

I'm reminded of a thread with someone claiming to be from the future, them slipping up getting caught using multiple accounts, and then the thread magically disappearing.

Lou Troglodyte, is that you?

Oh I should add, since I was on when all of this was happening I got a screenshot of all the usernames that were still logged in after everyone had been logged out. And the user names DontTreadOnMe, darkblade, and A along with 6 others were still logged in. And a day later those three were still logged in. And the DontTreadOnMe logged in and out on and off I was keeping an eye on it, throughout the entire time, along next to the DontTreadOnMe24 (I think). And DontTreadOnMe24 said that the DontTreadOnMe, the original mod user name that was still active, was not her.

So there is that too.

a reply to: Djarums

Question - How do I Completely Delete the New Account I Created ? It is no longer Needed

a reply to: Zanti Misfit

No worries about that. There are tons of them.

Just don't use it anymore. I mean I can't stop you but it would be rude

a reply to: Djarums

No , I do not plan on using it , but what is the Process to Delete it ? Are there Links ?

We've never had a process to delete accounts. People who wanted to leave just logged off.

If an account HAD to be disabled we'd ban it.

a reply to: ashisnotanidiot

This friend of theirs has god-like skills. According to legend, passwords are optional for him. Spooky, if you ask me. Like a ghost that doesn't care about locked doors because he can just pass through walls.

a reply to: Djarums
Thank you for sharing and all the support on Discord. Same goes to DTOM. When you and DTOM got their powers back I was watching live and I really enjoyed that. Seeing her empowered again and go for the troublemakers.

The benevolent actor that helped us seems genuine, the actions speak for that person. I had a bit conversation with our savior (not the pastor dickhead) before the wave of requests to restore hit in full force on the channel. Everything he did was for the community, we owe him that. So by all chances if our white floaty helper reads this, thank you very much.

Now the good side of all this:

It fused the core members together even more as a community. I loved to see all the long time posters come to your Discord. It showed that indeed this is a special place with a strong sense of community, despite all the arguments and fights before.

Now we are even more connected and came out stronger, in terms of armoring against loosing contact and get scattered in all directions once ATS really goes down forever.

a reply to: Djarums

I have asked this before, but could we open source the site (or something like it)?

That doesn't mean just handing out the keys, but having the code exposed so that it can be modified, tested in a sandbox, and then promoted to production, via a rigorous procedure.

Also, security on databases is way better now than what it used to be, and if the database schema was old, you can bet that known security exploits were never patched. So it makes sense to silo and back-up data and schema in some sort of secure encrypted distributed fashion.

I don't know if the code was originally based upon some CMS, or if it was hand-coded from scratch, but I do know that the site admin (Darko) did seem to be fixing some degenerative issues like lag and broken image libraries/uploads, before he went AWOL.

@Chronaut

That doesn't mean just handing out the keys, but having the code exposed so that it can be modified, tested in a sandbox, and then promoted to production, via a rigorous procedure.

The websites code is probably IP of the new owner. Besides that, at this point, making the source code available would be a disaster, this is a real bad idea. Extreme bad idea!!! This is what a hacker would do right away. You literally give them the keys to ATS doing that.

The only reason why open source works in terms of finding and eliminating vulnerable code, is when it is open source from the beginning. Opening up now, with the current situation would lead to the hateful people developing exploits.

Almost like if you want to have bad things happen. Even I with mediocre c# skills know this! And you seem knowledgeable, so I wonder what you thought when you requested this. And now you request again. It has a certain taste, either you don't think about your demands or you want ATS to be gone.

Pick your shoe.

originally posted by: ThatDamnDuckAgain
@Chronaut

That doesn't mean just handing out the keys, but having the code exposed so that it can be modified, tested in a sandbox, and then promoted to production, via a rigorous procedure.

The websites code is probably IP of the new owner. Besides that, at this point, making the source code available would be a disaster, this is a real bad idea. Extreme bad idea!!! This is what a hacker would do right away. You literally give them the keys to ATS doing that.

The only reason why open source works in terms of finding and eliminating vulnerable code, is when it is open source from the beginning. Opening up now, with the current situation would lead to the hateful people developing exploits.

Almost like if you want to have bad things happen. Even I with mediocre c# skills know this! And you seem knowledgeable, so I wonder what you thought when you requested this. And now you request again. It has a certain taste, either you don't think about your demands or you want ATS to be gone.

Pick your shoe.

Yes, this exactly. Very well spoken. I am just writing a thread about Cornish Witches that you may be interested in. It will take a while.

a reply to: ashisnotanidiot

Yep, and it still is. However don't trust that as ultimate end all be all security. Please do not use anything on ATS that you might use anywhere else.

a reply to: some_stupid_name

And you are correct with that.

ATS is not more secure than before, quiet the contrary. At least we have someone watching over us (in epic ways just demonstrated) but that does not grant security 24/7 and should not be expected.

a reply to: Djarums

I've been very outspoken, short of Screenshoting everything on discord, if I went over the line with what I shared please redact as you deem fit...

Question - Are any of the moderators in contact with the site owners and do the site owners know what has happened?

Thanks for the update and the good work from all involved to keep this site running.

a reply to: Terpene
In the meantime I saw the thread but we're now going feeding the fish (and ducks when they finally trust us) so I will put my thoughts down about that in a few hours.

Looks like you got footage of someone doing blessing rituals, interesting...

a reply to: randomuser2034

My account was logged in on mobile for about a day after all this started. I had no access to do anything, but was still logged in, and was most likely showing as logged in.

a reply to: Djarums


You're a real MVP for doing all those resets thus far Djarums and thanks to all mods for the work you guys are doing.
It's nuts how much chaos it caused, whatever it was, but it's also pretty heartwarming to see people
caring so much and working to preserve this thing.
Cheers.

a reply to: Djarums

I can picture you, DTOM and a talking dog with a culprit in ropes and tearing off his mask he says, "And I would have gotten away with it if you meddling kids hadn't gotten involved!"

thanks to all for the repair / rebuild

DBC sorry you had to deal with so much garbage.