i think that he needs to learn some manners !

Although his manners have always been poor, that's got nothing to do with the ban.

Agreed Tony. You were also telling EVERYONE how to attach an icon and no one else abused it. I was SO tempted to show how to use profanity... (someone else revealed it) because I knew he'd abuse it... I think he just gave up?

I'm surprised at the amount of defense popping up in favor of our "Deezy" friend.

Er, well of course you are! I hope you wouldn't have banned him in the first place if you'd thought he might get defended...

the fact is, he used a scripted exploit against the BBS

No, he didn't. If he had been using it "against" the BBS, he would have set the post count to 3,000 from day one. He held the power to destroy this board in his hand, and declined to use it. That makes him a "white hat". Indeed, as the BBS software at no point behaved other than as designed, it arguably doesn't even count as an exploit.

Peter

Just because I tell someone a piece of public knowledge (especially blindingly obvious public knowledge), doesn't mean that I can be blamed when they use that knowledge for evil.

"Evil", Tony?

Peter

Incidentally I hijacked the "Satan" account a while back (the password was, cleverly, "Satan") just to keep whoever the original owner was from trolling the BBS with it. But sadly I forgot the password, unless PaulH revives him, Satan will never again torment this BBS.

Indeed, as the BBS software at no point behaved other than as designed, it arguably doesn't even count as an exploit.

Semantics. I don't think he should be using this BBS as his own personal script-testing playground.

That makes him a "white hat".

No, it makes him a budding script kiddie. If he were a White Hat, he would have apologized to this BBS and then sent the information to the UBBThreads people. Instead, he left the script to auto-execute, thinking it was clever and fun.

Say, does anyone remember, once upon a time, when this BBS hosted lively and intelligent discussions about in-car MP3 players? Back in the old days, when everyone here was focused on the topic(s) at hand, before we had people trying to script exploits?

yn0t_, way to go!

Not that I get a vote here, but I'm with Fabris on this one. I personally don't find even Peter's examples of "funny" posts all that interesting or funny, and whatever good his posts might have are far outweighed by his teenager-like instincts for trolling and testing out goofy script-kiddie crap on the BBS. I live by the motto "don't shit where you eat" and this guy claims to want to be a good citizen of the BBS, yet takes every possible opportunity to either say or do something stupid and childish. If he really wanted to stay here, he would have heeded one of the dozen or so warnings he's had.

This BBS has always had a great balance of on-topic empeg discussion and off-topic discussion of whatever issues we bring up. We all have similarities (our love for our music and our toys) yet we also all have our differences, and those make for good discussion. Yz33d never seemed to add much on the thought-provoking discussions, he just seemed to spew uninformed opinions that his mom and dad probably indoctrinated him with, and could never logically defend anything he said.

So I am rather happy he's gone, though I'm sure he'll figure out how to use an anonymous proxy and log in soon enough. I commend Tony for taking the initiative to maintain the quality of this BBS, and make sure that we don't lose valuable members who get fed up with the BS on the BBS, a great portion of which came out of the asshole/mouth of Yz33d. However, I also value the opinions of his supporters, so maybe there can be some kind of compromise like a one month ban or something. Something to get the message across, but maybe keep him around if he can play by the very simple and fair (but, as mentioned, unwritten) rules of the BBS.

just to keep whoever the original owner was from trolling the BBS with it

I know who Satan was. He is currently an upstanding member of this board. I didn't think any of Satan's posts were out of line. "Satan" was wondering why he couldn't log into his account anymore. The last thing you want to do is mess with Satan.

I am sure he's an upstanding member of the BBS, and that's all well and good... The posts weren't "out of line," but they were pointless and, in my opinion, not very funny. If he wanted to keep his account secure, he shoulda used a smarter password. Satan never was the smartest guy in the world, though.

"Dude! Do you realize we just melvined Death?"

The idea that rules must be posted seems out of place. This isn't a company with policy concerns. Its more like a conversation between friends. Nobody has to tell me not be confrontational to an extreme or rude without reason. I know to be polite because I want people to be polite to me. If you aren't I probably won't have a conversation with you again unless I have to.

In my eyes this is all Tony has done. He's saved us all from having to deal with an individual that doesn't want to play by obvious rules (obvious because you wouldn't want them done to you). IF Tony wants to let him back then hurray for mercy. If not then hurray for justice.

Thanks for your support, other Tony.

I would like to suggest that this thread doesn't turn into a Yz33d-bashing thread, though. Despite any disagreements we may have had with his opinions, he was always entitled to them. As I stated earlier in this thread, I am among those who sometimes found his contributions amusing. And he was genuinely helpful to me once, by coming up with a Javascript code example that was very useful to me.

And whether or not "don't write scripted exploits against this BBS" was a written rule is irrelevant. You just don't do stuff like that. There's just some stuff in this world you don't do. I don't go digging up my neighbor's flower beds expecting nothing to happen in retaliation. I don't allow my dogs to wander onto my neighbor's property and bark all night.

Whether or not this kid has the potential to be a valued member of this BBS, by loosing a scripted exploit, he has demonstrated his propensity to do precisely the opposite. Because he has already made clear his antisocial world-view, I don't see how he could be expected to stop doing this sort of thing in the future. Hence the ban.

I would like to suggest that this thread doesn't turn into a Yz33d-bashing thread

But it's SOOOOOOOO fun! Blame my corporate proxy, if they weren't blocking that golf game from the "Link o' the Day" then I'd be playing that instead of posting here.

In reply to:

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... by loosing a scripted exploit...

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I do hope Bitt's reading this! It's heartwarming to see the verb "to loose" used correctly on the Net for a change.

I do hope Bitt's reading this! It's heartwarming to see the verb "to loose" used correctly on the Net for a change.

Well, I can't speak for Bitt, but I can tell you that it warms my cold, cold heart!

Support the fight for the billion-hour work week!

maybe there can be some kind of compromise like a one month ban or something. Something to get the message across, but maybe keep him around if he can play by the very simple and fair (but, as mentioned, unwritten) rules of the BBS.

That could work, yes.

Peter

Make him type the rules 100 times on the chalk board.

Well since Tony asked me in IM, I'll post about it here as well.

I agree that the ban should be there. While it was a trivial thing, it still ewas an annoynance and he had been warned before. While it wasn't a true exploit (just some simple code that he still had to run manually), it was still not acceptable. While I woun't outright ban that IP range on riocar.org, I will be watching carefully what happens.

He'd just write a script to do it for him.

He'd just write a script to do it for him.

Bart Simpson would be proud, indeed.

Man, I've gotta read the General forum more often! I'd fallen so far behind that I could only keep up with the Off Topic forum now.

I'm with the ban, but it's unfortunate we can't see what his reaction is. He sure covered his ass with that HTML thing, and I think he should have gotten the freakin HINT that we didn't like that sort of thing.

I'd like to see his excuse for this one.

I would chalk this up to inexperience. If I was a lot younger and still in high school I might have even tried something silly like this. I hate to say this, but can this ban on yz33d be temporary?

Calvin

I've been wondering, where did he say how young he is? Everyone keeps saying "oh he's just a kid". I was just wondering.

but can this ban on yz33d be temporary?

Well, since I'm just an acting admin because PaulH doesn't read the BBS very often, the actual final say in this matter is all Paul's.

My opinion is that even if he begs for mercy and promises never to do that sort of thing again, he's already got two strikes against him going into it. And as I've said already, he's been vocal about his world-view and his attitude, which doesn't bode well for the idea of someone who can be reformed.

good call, good riddance.

I've been wondering, where did he say how young he is?

I don't recall exactly, but he's either 17 or 18 at the moment if I remember right.

Thanks Tony. I agree with these actions, we don't want to tolerate such abuse to the BBS. I have been lucky enough until today to be able to host this server free of charge.

Unfortunatly that is likely to change now my provider wants to charge me to host the server. I am currently looking into options on what to do with this BBS.

In the meantime I'd like to thank Tony and othe other moderators, as well as all of the users contrbutions that make this such a great bbs.

Cheers

Paul

I do hope Bitt's reading this!

I feel that I should have some sort of erudite and/or funny rejoinder to this, but I guess I'm just a little slow today. Oh, well.

Unfortunatly that is likely to change now my provider wants to charge me to host the server. I am currently looking into options on what to do with this BBS.

Wow. That's sad news that they want to charge now. I hope you can work out some way to continue to have the BBS free of charge. If not, I think the options would be:

1) If the charges are reasonable, try to solicit donations from the BBS community. The people here have shown a willingness to support good projects with their hard-earned dollars (Mark Lord has received some donations, among many others who've sold empeg-related goods and services.) I am sure there would be a lot of support for a donation campaign if the costs were reasonable and we could be guaranteed the BBS would stay around.

2) Move the BBS to another server. RioCar.org would be the obvious first candidate, but I'll let Tom comment on how feasable that would be.

3) Transfer ownership of the BBS to someone else who has their own free hosting arrangements (or doesn't mind footing the bill.) That's the least preferable option if you ask me.

In any event I look forward to updates on this, and I hope you can find a way to keep the BBS as it is right now.

Anyone else interested in a poll? I really think the "ban" vote will heavily outweigh the "stay" vote.