276 replies to this topic

[fenderjazz]

Hi All,

 

This is just an update to tell you what is going on and my version of events that transpired.  For the past few months a few of our members have chosen get behind proxies, change their user names and create some havoc, some of it well-intentioned and funny, but some of it really annoying a lot of our regular members.  We were also hacked by an outside hacker, who went into our admin tool and created admin users.  Last week while I was on vacation, with only my phone to access the site (the mobile version of the site is very primitive) I was alerted by another admin to a picture that was posted, of a child.  It looked slightly racy to me, and given the member who posted it had his member name "spoofed" by some of these other people,   Naturally, given the events of the past few weeks, I was concerned.  I spoke to another admin, and requested they temporarily ban all of these people.  Not knowing where this was coming from, fearing this was the tip of the iceberg, and seeing my own career and livelihood go down the toilet, over a Rush messageboard, this was my rash, harsh action.

 

I discovered the picture was an innocent picture posted by a long-time member of his child.  Unfortunately, given the circumstances, I can't take back my actions.  All I can say is I consulted 5-6 people, all while running around the Disney parks of Orlando in 90 degree heat in the sun on my phone to my family's dismay and did my due diligence before I acted.  We all agreed then.  Regardless I apologize to JARG or 200022200 (whatever number you are today) for acting so quickly, but I think all of you can see where I am coming from.

 

I may have said some things to all of you that I regretted, and frankly I may have not behaved admirably during this time.  Again, this board is something I have up out of the goodness of my heart, nothing more.  I'm probably just continuing something that already should have been dead long ago.

 

The bannings are being lifted, slowly.  I will keep this board going a little while to allow you all to comment, but likely it will go away, or go to whomever wants to keep it running.  I did accuse Mike/smoog/whatever other name he goes by here of posting that photo and abusing the board in the past with posting pics of cut up dead people, but I take that back too.  There is no evidence of that

 

Regardless, this board will not be around much longer.  What these events show me is I don't have the time, nor the appetite to handle such a thing.  I'll leave this thread around so people can comment and seriously, if someone wants to take this over, they can.  This board's fate is similar to just about every other messageboard I've visited that now no longer exists.  Someone has to own it, someone has to take responsibility for it.  That's the reason why third party sites like reddit, facebook, etc exist.  Let some big corporation own it.

[Slim]

Hi Joe,

 

Good of you to take the time to express your thoughts; my own opinion is that you acted properly throughout and your caution over the photo was understandable. Nonetheless I'm glad that that's cleared up now.

 

I can understand the ongoing irritation and consumption of time that running a board like this invokes, too. I hope the board will continue in some form.

[Always the Winner]

I too enjoy my time here. I took two months away and life went on just fine, so if you need it to end, that'd be ok too. I'd just hate for the board to end simply because some idiot with attention issues decided to make this place his own personal playground. I'd offer to help, but my IT skills are non-existent and I work 50-hour weeks as it is.

I've always supported at membership fee system, which would help control the trolls, but may not be realistic in the big picture. Either way I'm fine with your decision FJ.

[OldRUSHfan]

I understand, Joe, and this should in NO WAY harm your RL happenings.  Bless you for what we've had since Ken left.  I now understand (in part) what 'Alfred' said to 'Bruce Wayne' in the one movie....."Some people just want to see the World BURN."  It's unfortunate that this comes to our board, but there it is.

  I hope alla you fucktards are happy now.  KARMA does exist, however, and I think you're all going to get what you deserve. 'nough said. 

[Xanadu590]

i think i like your version, Joe.

i came here because i wanted to see what the hell was causing bitterness that was born here to spread to my little corner of the internet.

i had to see it for myself and i'm still confused.

that in mind, i totally get why you acted the way you did.

that remark is going to piss someone off a little, but i do not care, not one bit.

what i don't get is why any of this is cause to shut the place down.

CP has been through way worse than this and the way it is now, confusing little SNAFUs aside, it should be relatively set-and-forget.

but you know i'm of a different mind when it comes to administrating message boards and hosting -- having set up a few servers myself and maintained several 'ghost town' boards over the years.

and while it's been ages since i've even looked at this place, i know it has its place and i'd hate to see it die over this nonsense.

though i can kinda understand the 'it's not worth it' vibe.

 

[chemistry1973]

I get it Joe. You acted as any rational person would.

[fenderjazz]

i think i like your version, Joe.

i came here because i wanted to see what the hell was causing bitterness that was born here to spread to my little corner of the internet.

i had to see it for myself and i'm still confused.

that in mind, i totally get why you acted the way you did.

that remark is going to piss someone off a little, but i do not care, not one bit.

what i don't get is why any of this is cause to shut the place down.

CP has been through way worse than this and the way it is now, confusing little SNAFUs aside, it should be relatively set-and-forget.

but you know i'm of a different mind when it comes to administrating message boards and hosting -- having set up a few servers myself and maintained several 'ghost town' boards over the years.

and while it's been ages since i've even looked at this place, i know it has its place and i'd hate to see it die over this nonsense.

though i can kinda understand the 'it's not worth it' vibe.

It's because you don't care. Not saying that's a bad thing, but legally you own a site, you own its content. People post things but they don't technically own it. So if you don't care, you don't think of this tremendous legal burden. Eventually something happens that makes you realize that and then you suddenly "care".

Anyway appreciate yours and others comments. I just feel I owe you all a reason for why I feel the way that I do. It's not that I want to go all Rudy on you. It's just that there is a certain reasonable expectation that it doesn't look like CBGB's bathroom as someone said earlier

[grep]

FJ, I think you know this already - I completely back your actions and your thought process for doing so.  I'd have done the same, in similar circumstance.

 

You have to make your choices. I get it.

 

I really wanted to take this over when the time came for you move on. But under the circumstances, as I said in the other thread, I don't want the hassles you are handling so well at the moment.  At one time I thought I could, with an optimistic kind of view that members here could play nice mostly, and anything that came up I'd be able to keep a lid on.

 

What the last couple of weeks has shown me is that things can go south.  Like, what if some jerk really did post illegal material, and I or admins couldn't get it down quickly?  I'd be fucked.  I don't have a lawyer to handle same for me, nor am I inclined to pay for one.

The rest of you guys should really be thankful to Ken and FJ for keeping this going as long as they have. It's a shame that it may be over soon....

 

Those of you who were partly responsible for this. Fuck you. Fuck you all . 

What the trolls don't realize is that it's just regular people running this place. There's no professional team, no professional support. It's just a couple of nice folks taking their time to make a nice place for everyone else.   And you just had to come in here and fuck it up, and piss off these generous people. (Or perhaps you bastards DO realize...no matter).

 

Scumbags. Really.  Now you can get back to your miserable shitty lives, and go find something else to direct your anger at for a time. That will be your legacy, taking from life, taking from people's goodness and decency, and giving nothing back but misery and bullshit. Rather than contribute and build something that makes people happy.

I have to laugh that anyone could live like that. But there you have it... So again. Fuck you...you went too far, and you were told.

I don't want to hear a fucking thing about being thin skinned, or pussified, or whatever fucking variation. This was a nice place, until the shit moved in. Now the nice people are moving out.   Go paint your graffiti scrawl elsewhere. Assholes.

[DarthLen]

If I can help keep the heartbeat of CP going, Joe, let me know...

[smoog]

See, the funny thing is that there are people here who truly shit on everything.

Slim, who shits on everything in his own SPECIAL way, along with the whole brigade of assholes who shit on anyone who disagrees with them.

The problem is (sorry Grep, you're wrong) that many of you are pussies, thin-skinned people who can't handle someone who knows how to dig into your skin, even though you do it to others constantly. I just did it with no subtlety. For example, Len, can post lesbian fight shit with a couple of women shoving their fists into each other but I can't make fun of a racist and figuratively fist his ass over and over (wrist watch....crisco).

Gimme a fucking break. And I know, here come the Hemi defenders. Look, if any of you had the high-minded ideals you have claimed to hold (since you know, the evil Smoog ruined the board) you would have gone beyond what I did in running Pesch off the fucking board. You didn't, so now it looks like FJ must have some kind of hard-on for him. Casey- don't even try to say Hemi adds fuck-all to any political discussion. If you believe that, you're the one who needs to step out of the meth lab.


We have people here who can't even figure out how to use the name-change history (Skep, I'm looking at you) yet they look to themselves as some kind of experts on ethicd

Don't fucking threaten me when I have done nothing illegal and then lie about content I and another person never posted. I don't give a fuk if it was hasty.

This apology should have come as soon as you got back from America's Wang.

And that bullshit about inferring myself and another were aroused by pictures of a child?

Grep, you think us being LIBELED is okay because we made some middle-aged pussies angry?

Please clarify. As far as I am concerned you should all be mutinying because your admin made up shit to demonize board members. It's okay though....BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (that's a sheep sound).

FJ crossed a line I never crossed.

But who gives a fuk

u can all get bak to talkin about how cooool u are because....well msot of u arent cool

soon hemi can come bak and u can all suck his cock

who gives a fuk

[smoog]

so fuk it all and fukkin no regrets. in closing. im glad i scaved those screenshots

[grep]

<Snip> Fuck it.

[RushDoggie]

It takes cajones to admit you were wrong, esp in a public forum. Joe, you have class.

 

I hope CP stays, it is sentimental to me.

[fenderjazz]

It takes cajones to admit you were wrong, esp in a public forum. Joe, you have class.

I hope CP stays, it is sentimental to me.

Me too and that's what makes this very difficult.

[Tony]

There's a cadre of people related to this board who see themselves as heroes, noble warriors in an online battle of yesteryear, who are owed an everlasting debt for their service. 10 years have gone by and as is often the case those great in a time of war are a liability in a time of peace. The urge to recreate past glories starts to get old and those heroes become arseholes very quickly because it was never real. The Brit Troll Brigade are real as mostly it's just British blokes acting like they do in real life, nerds and computer geeks aren't real because what makes them "big" is worthless in the real world. Frankly it's boring and a bit embarrassing when a site like this gets a certain reputation and people come here to flex their internet muscles or see what all the fuss is about. If it is scripted it ain't funny.

I'd rather have a thousand Hemis spouting racist bollocks than just one pillock showing off how great he is at the Internet. This site should be about tap room banter and wit not about being a snotty nerd in a basement bedroom.

[Three Eyes]

It was a nice run, Joe. Thank you for everything.

[Tony]

So long and thanks for all the fish.

[Xanadu590]

It's because you don't care. Not saying that's a bad thing, but legally you own a site, you own its content. People post things but they don't technically own it. So if you don't care, you don't think of this tremendous legal burden. Eventually something happens that makes you realize that and then you suddenly "care".

 

technically yes, but that's what disclaimers are for.

under no circumstances whatsoever should an administrator of any given board feel legally responsible for the content their users post.

after all, you're a webmaster, not a lawyer or a cop.

if somebody says or does something that's over the line, you should do something adminly or let a disclaimer do the work for you.

the law can take it up with the offender who is using the service to offend rather than the provider of the service.

i can get not wanting the place to look like a total sewer on the surface but when someone breaks the law on them thar internets, the cops and feds don't go after their ISP, they go after the offender.

something to be said about taking too much responsibility and referring to it as 'caring'.

if ISP's took full responsibility for the content that passes through them, the internet would've died off long before LiveJournal and MySpace were things.

just sayin' -- 4chan survives somehow and it IS a sewer.. not just on the surface.

(edit: i no right sentence with words write order)

[Slim]

See, the funny thing is that there are people here who truly shit on everything. Slim, who shits on everything in his own SPECIAL way,

 

I honestly have never aspired to "shit on" anything here, let alone "everything". To me what you've typed here (and later) just looks like more attention-seeking trouble-making, which given the subject of the thread really is a shame.

[fenderjazz]

^^^

The problem is that's not the way the case law goes for these sorts of things. You can't prove it's not yours because courts don't do tech well. I've studied chain of custody issues and have been involved in several cases where the court did not want to examine chain of custody in a civil case where that was the very heart of the case. I work for a company that spends a lot of time in court. Possession is always 9/10s of the law and that goes for and against you.