Dear MessengerGeek users,
MessengerGeek was completely down for almost eight hours yesterday, after a coordinated attack by some users. As a reminder, denial-of-service attacks against servers is a punishable crime in almost all countries. The investigation is continuing and there are several leads.
This has led to the following changes made to the category system:
- Uncategorized posts are no longer allowed.
- There is a new category, More. New topics in More are moderated and will not immediately appear. I would recommend not making new topics here at this time. There are several More subcategories to check out and find some good topics.
- Connecting and Contacts has been renamed to just Contacts, as part of an existing contact cleanup plan I have been working on.
- Raw and Random has been set to read-only and is hidden from view by default, but some of the popular threads from R&R have moved to the new More categories and are not restricted.
- Posts under Meta now require approval. Legitimate questions, comments and critique only.
- New Polls will need to be approved
Some of these changes are temporary as we move forward. Please bring to attention any posts you think need to be moved.
As I have your attention, I would like to address a group of you. In addition to yesterday’s event, all through this week I have been sent disturbing and threatening messages (admittedly the raping 9000 penises thing early this morning was certainly creative). This in addition to the name calling, bullying, belittling, and lack of human dignity and respect that I have received from many of you for most of this year. This is unacceptable behavour.
Some of you have joined this “war” because of certain “infractions” you believe I have done. So let’s address those, one by one.
- A certain user asked for a way to run a Windows server, asked for Windows Server product keys, asked for fixing his software, time and time again, and in kindness, I offered it. This is a value of hundreds of dollars, for free, with absolutely nothing given in return.This same user, one day decided he wasn’t going to be on this forum anymore, so he left a “I’m leaving this failing forum” message, and redirected his content through to his own link – the very one that I’m paying for. I informed him that was not acceptable, that if he’s leaving, he’ll have to find another provider. He wasn’t happy about that, so a compromise was offered (not blackmail, go look up the definition of that word) wherein as in return for services, he wouldn’t be, in public, talking badly about the forum. He declined, so after leaving everything running for many weeks, he said he had completed transferring everything he needed and it was shut down. All of it by his choice.Suppose you asked a friend for some candy, and he gives it to you, then you ask for candy the next day, then the next, and then he continues to shares his candy each and every day with you, even without being asked. Then one day you go around to your friends, saying, “wow, that guy smells, he’s really going downhill.” Then you return to your “friend” and ask for more candy. Is he going to give it to you? And if he says, “well okay, can you at least stop going around saying that I smell and then I’ll give you candy”, is that blackmail? Did he ever had any obligation to give you that candy in the first place? If you had a job, do you expect to be able to go around saying the company sucks and not get fired if they hear about it? Or at least make a compromise?
- “Censorship”. This is a privately owned forum. Some of you think that you have the “right” to say whatever you wish here. This is an incorrect assumption.If you were unhappy with your purchase at a shop, and posted signs saying, “I’m never shopping here again, this shop sucks!” all over the building, would you expect them to leave the signs up? And if the owner sees you posting the signs, do you think they will continue to talk to you in a friendly manner, when you see them elsewhere?Unlike in this store example, in most cases, you can see the edits and moderation here. Words that have been changed are usually left for review.Feel free to point me in the direction of another forum or social media, where moderators would not remove such material from public view. The fact a lot of it has been left here, is a testament to wanting to be at least somewhat transparent.
I’m sure some of you would like to argue these points, and you can try justifying this if you like, but there is no justification for harassment, threats and taking down websites.
“It wasn’t us!”, “It wasn’t me!” Even where this is true, you probably know someone who is responsible. Or you went along with it, or you actively encouraged it.
Some of you are now accomplices in criminal activity. Some of you joined an angry hate mob, took your pitchfork and burnt the place down to the ground. And for what?
Please show me the logs of where I threaten you, where I bully you, where I stop your internet from working. You can’t because that’s what you did to me, not what I did to you.
Some of you returned kindness with hate, understanding with intolerance, generosity with selfishness. Is this really who you want to be?
I think it is time to think about that. Get up, go get a drink, go take a bathroom break. I’ll wait.
Oh, you’re back now? Good.
Now. In this part of the world, next week is the beginning of school. One aspect of a new school year that I always liked, was that it was a totally clean slate, new grade, new teachers, new students, and sometimes new schools. In that spirit, I going to offer anyone a clean slate with me going forward. No apologies required. I will not, however, be discussing or debating the issues here with you. And yes, you do have to act like a decent civilized human being. That is the best I can do.
Lastly, I would note that the above does not apply to the majority of you. I would like you to know that I appreciate and respect so many of you. I would make a list, but it would be quite long and this is already, quite literally, war and peace.
Thank you for reading.
Jonathan Kay
TReKiE