Animation Source Forums

As some may be aware, I rarely chime into topics on this forum. If I have a strong opinion on something, then I may. Other than that though, I observe events and the actions of others. I stopped for some time, but then I started to observe the actions of others again. And I have several observations with which I'd like to share with the forum on a more recent event, which is the hacking of this site.

Now, to be blunt, it does not surprise that this site got hacked. I will of course explain why I think so.

First of all, there are those on this site who disrespect others. Sometimes appearing to even lower themselves to the level of someone is causing trouble. Though it may not appear as such at first, if one considers several aspects, it's possible they'd come to the conclusion that bystanders can be just as much of a problem. Now, most of the time, people can get away with mouthing off to a troublemaker with little problems....but there are those times when it can get out of hand, and someone is pushed over the edge.

More specifically, I'd like to take a moment and talk about several of the moderators for a moment, though as to stick by the rules I shall not name them. And the following does not necessarily pertain to recently, but of the past as well. Most of the mods do their job well on the forum. However, some of those who do their jobs tend to add a certain impurity to the process of forum justice. That impurity, so to speak, is the attitude by which some enforce the rules of the forum. Though appearing as egotistical, it would be unfair to leave it at such an unexplored conclusion. Perhaps some of it may be ego, but it might not be the majority of it. Perhaps it is certain thresholds that allow some of them more leeway to perhaps enforce some sort of position-influenced superiority over another. An example of this would be those "not in the mood", "don't have time/don't want to deal with this" attitudes that some ensure to insert into their acts of justice in the process of carrying them out. I believe this to be a dangerous and unwise approach. For one, because they ought to have time to deal with problems, or else they shouldn't/wouldn't have been selected for their job in the first place. I believe the use of such comments is unnecessary because it does little to encourage the troublemaker to stop what they are doing. If anything, such comments will anger them, and encourage them to continue. While it is the job of moderators to suppress troublemakers, it is not the duty of the moderator to antagonize and further irritate the person in question, only to strike them down further with another warning. That would be overtime, and some already have commented that they do not wish to waste time on certain individuals anyway.

I believe the actions(both by commoners and moderators) of others stated above is detrimental to the forum, and could encourage retribution by an individual who is being punished. This is not to say that this was the reason that the forum got hacked. If nothing more, the above stands as some suggestions of changing the way actions are carried out now that it has been hacked.

I agree. People get away with too much, and half the time we let them.

I think it's because we always assume that somebody else will do it so we don't take action when it's needed.

@Ghost: I was thinking when the hacking was happening that it could have been a disgruntled member or ex-member. Sometimes members(and even mods) do take things too far, but unfortunately we can't always stop that from happening.

With all of this, I have to concur. But you have to keep in mind that we mods are here to help keep the site safe; if we're to make a single person mad at the rules (which, mind you -- we didn't create, we enforce), than so be it. The rules, all of them, are there for a reason. Being such an international site, having someone disagree should be expected.

As for predicting that the site "would be hacked sooner or later," I also agree. I saw this coming with the minor hacks we've had before (e.g., someone only getting as far as banning everyone), and idle threats from "oh-so-great hackers." It is, however, unfortunate that these people think that hacking and messing with the site is the "only way." Instead, they could petition Steet (with solid proof of their alligations against whichever mod or member did them wrong) to have a stipulated action taken (e.x., demodding, banned, etc.). But if it's just a member, there's always a "Report" button.

I'd like to point this out, though, and stress it. If a member feels a moderator is abusing their powers, report them DIRECTLY to Steet and/or Togo. Those two will then decide the appropriate action. However, a disgruntled member can't merely say, ".... told me I would be banned if I did ... again." They have to have solid, reliable proof that the moderator(s) in question have been abusing their powers.

I just wish that people would see that hacking the site won't do any good. It'll only make things for them worse (e.x., a perma-ban or something). Petitioning or reporting is the much wiser solution. (Hopefully I didn't get off-topic? O-o')

@Kiarda:(I know this is kinda off-topic). I didn't know ya were a mod. No offense, but your not the only mod I've seen who wasn't listed as a mod or it wasn't really obvious. Why don't y'all just like, join that mod group or do something so we know?

Kirada --> Well said.

That's because the mod's group on the forum is meant for forum mods.
Kirada is a forum section mod (comissions section) but as far as I remember there's never been a group for section mods though her name is there on the Comissions section board where it says "Mods: Kirada, mods".

The whole staff list is on the main site where it lists every single mod on the whole site and what they do.
Surely it's not so hard to figure out? :/

As for on topic: I have nothing to add, Kirada said it all.

Sorry. I was just curious as I rarely go on the main site because it takes so long to load.

Back on topic:

Yeah, she pretty much said everything that needed to be said.

I see what you are saying Rowen - er - Ghost Unit. It is true. And I would like to say SOME people on Balto Source actually looked up to the hacker. But why? What on Earth is the point of hacking a website- especially Balto Source. And since it's already been done, we won't freak out as much so seriously, why do it again?

I can understand this viewpoint...but even now we're still not truly sure if that was the intention that the "Cracker" had when it was messing with the site. Unfortunately, we won't know for at least a little while longer. But, the problem with hacking a site and taking its moderators out of commission (like it did to us, when it went through and deleted all but four moderator accounts, and those four really didn't have any connection with the site anymore) is that, yes, it removed the people it had a vendetta against, or thought were lazy/incompetent, but it also removed the ones that were doing their jobs. And, in turn, it hurt you guys too. For example, while fanfic and fanart mods were out of commission, nothing could be added to the site. And people in the shout box couldn't be warned/banned for misbehavior. Even when it wasn't deleting our accounts, it let out known trolls and other accounts that had been posting inappropriate material.

In short, I'm sorry that the "Cracker" resorted to such means to try and tell us that there was corruption, if even that was the message that it was trying to send. Perhaps it felt this was the only way to get attention - perhaps not. Like I said before, we just don't have that information yet. But, to everyone else who feels frustrated to this point, we are listening, if not before, then we definitely are now. You don't have to go to extremes to get our attention and possibly hurt other members in the process.

While we're on the subject of the cracker.

Whatever message the cracker tried to send, it will be ignored by the moderators because 1) deleting mod accounts does not prove that the deleted mod is incompetent/not doing his/her job - that's just immobilizing us for two-three hours, tops, and 2) cracking BaltoSource will not yield any results. You only make it worse for those you unban (I am certain you are reading this, because I do NOT believe we have gotten the 'real' cracker) since the system is automated, and when we re-ban, their bantime resets. Also, we will happily work extra to undo what you (the cracker) do to the website, and even moreso just correct it and be on our merry way without caring about your endeavours.

If you (the cracker) want to get a message across, send us a PM using a REAL BaltoSource account explaining your issues in as much detail as possible.


That said, I encourage everyone on these forums to please notify me if you have info about the cracker that we could use.



I am also going to dismiss the rumours about corruption right away too. It is a common conspiracy theory used to sow doubt aimed toward the moderators. There is no corruption.

However, I acknowledge that there are moderators that are not doing their jobs (at all, or doing it, but improperly), or misbehaving. Rest assured we are working on cleaning up the mess this has created.

There is currently no ETA on this process.

You (the members) may speed up this process by submitting constructive (and anonymous) feedback to me. Your usernames will not be shown to the rest of the staff, and I will submit all feedback to our private forums.

There will Soon™ be made a moderator feedback submission account to ensure anonymity, so if you don't trust me, you will need to wait before submitting your feedback. As soon as this has been approved by the system, admin and/or lead moderator. Soon™.