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Normally, when I make a post on SoylentNews, it's to talk about some exciting new feature, our future, or something similar.
Unfortunately though, on rare occasions, I have to make announcements like this one. Sometime between May 12-13th, one of our email accounts was breached. The account ("test1") was left over from go live, over a year and half ago, and had a very weak password protecting it. We believe that an automated password guesser was able to find and access the account. Once breached, the account was used to send a significant amount of spam until we deleted the affected account on the 14th May 2015.
As a result of the compromise, several spam services have blacklisted our mail server; we're currently working to try and get ourselves cleared whenever we become aware of one of these blocks. We do not believe any user information or sensitive data was compromised; the account in question was simply a virtual dovecot account with no corresponding UNIX account attached to it.
mechanicjay was primarily responsible for handling this and cleaning up the mess, and I wish to personally thank him and the rest of the sysops team for their handling of this issue. We are looking at taking steps to prevent a reoccurence such as using fail2ban and the like. Unfortunately, most IDS systems like fail2ban are incompatible with IPv6 which we use extensively internally within our network.
A sysops meeting is being scheduled to discuss this and other changes we're making to the infrastructure.
I will update this article (or post a new one) with additional information should it become available,
NCommander
(Score: 4, Informative) by NCommander on Monday May 18 2015, @02:05PM
Examples required. We do ban moderation abuse, but apparently shit is falling through the cracks. I rather not go charging into this without getting a full set of opinions across the board, and moderation is off topic for this post. We do take shit like this seriously, and if we're going to revamp the system *again*, I rather have a plan than just throw something at the wall and see if it sticks.
Still always moving
(Score: 5, Informative) by Tork on Monday May 18 2015, @05:25PM
I'm usually the loudest to complain about bad moderation but honestly, around here, I rarely see it. If you'd like proof of that please feel free to look at my comments page. [soylentnews.org] I'm not everybody's favorite person here, in fact you personally have seen me in action and I've definitely butted heads with the Mighty Buzzard. But you can see here virtually all the moderations I've received have been positive.
I have no problem at all with you constantly evaluating the moderation system, it only serves to benefit me and the people that comment here. But I do want to say I really appreciate you asking that AC for proof because he has been challenged on that before and he's never provided it. From where I sit there's just a crying baby demanding a second bottle.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @06:02PM
It's not just one AC pointing out the bad modding.
engblom is a registered user who also sees that there's a problem, for example.
Others have acknowledged the problems in the past, too.
Maybe you don't want to admit there's a problem, Tork, because you are one of the users who is perpetrating this harmful downmodding.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Tork on Monday May 18 2015, @06:11PM
It's not just one AC pointing out the bad modding. engblom is a registered user who also sees that there's a problem, for example. Others have acknowledged the problems in the past, too.
So one person, probably you, has seen this problem. Great. There's something very obvious missing here, do you know what that is?
Maybe you don't want to admit there's a problem, Tork, because you are one of the users who is perpetrating this harmful downmodding.
If you really truly do believe what you're preaching, you should know this is exactly the wrong path to go down. You've already been told what you need to do. It's time to man up.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @06:28PM
Tork, there is a problem with bad moderating here.
It exists even if you don't want to admit it.
If you're part of the problem, as you very well may be, then of course you won't want to admit it.
But you should still admit it anyway.
Because there is a problem with bad moderating here.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Monday May 18 2015, @06:39PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @09:26PM
Hello, fallacy! [logicallyfallacious.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2015, @12:27AM
That fallacy doesn't apply when there is in fact a problem, like there is in this case.
Repeatedly insisting that Obama is a Muslim is an example of that fallacy in action, because Obama is not a Muslim.
Repeatedly pointing out that there is a severe mismoderation problem here at SoylentNews is not an example of that fallacy in action, because there is in fact a severe mismoderation problem here at SoylentNews.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday May 19 2015, @08:09AM
Wow, I just accused Tork of being _the_ whiner (in not so many words) like, yesterday. And now here he is, a full blown reasonable Soylentil! I may have misjudged you, Tork. I concur with everything you said.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @05:59PM
Here are just two examples from one story from earlier today:
https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=7499&cid=184571 [soylentnews.org]: 2, Troll
https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=7499&cid=184583 [soylentnews.org]: 0, Troll
Perfectly fine comments like those are getting wrongly modded down way too often here.
Tork wrongly says it's just some AC who's complaining, but both of those comments are from registered users.
Everyone is falling victim to this bad modding, AC or not.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Tork on Monday May 18 2015, @08:32PM
Tork wrongly says it's just some AC who's complaining, but both of those comments are from registered users.
I don't see their complaint. I also don't understand why you can't just post the specific comments that got you mouthing off in the first place instead of glancing around for modded down posts and going "See, I'm right!" I mean, seriously, with all the noise you've generated I expected something a lot more substantial. But I think we both know if you point in that direction you'll reveal that you actually did deserve your moderation.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 18 2015, @08:37PM
Even a single incorrectly moderated comment is a huge deal.
It doesn't matter who the victim is.
The fact that one person was victimized is more than enough for this to become a big deal around here.
There have been many examples given, affecting many victims.
That makes this a big deal.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Tork on Monday May 18 2015, @08:42PM
Even a single incorrectly moderated comment is a huge deal.
If the moderators were all staff of the site I'd agree with you. Randomly dispersed around the readership and the usage is based on opinion? No.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday May 19 2015, @08:25AM
The fact that one person was victimized is more than enough for this to become a big deal around here.
Gawd, you are dense. Yes, if this was a matter of some human right laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but this is only a matter of an idiot being told that they are an idiot, which while possibly rude, is no violation of rights and certainly not a big deal.
Wait, are you using "victims" in the "Indiana" sense? Or are you using "victim" in the Gamergate sense? Is it just the refusal of normal people to agree with your insane world view that is unjust and oppressive? Gentlepersons, I believe we have discovered the violence inherent in the system. I recommend a new mod, "Crazy, but that's OK", we will probably have to give it a +1, the whole "disagree" ruse is not going to work again. Or perhaps the Seinfeld version: "Not that there's anything wrong with that". This we might be able to get away with the +0 on. And finally, maybe just an "anti_gewg_" mod, at a suggested -2, just for emphasis. As a prior victim of a spam modding, it is difficult for me to suggest harsher measures for our serial disrupters, but it is even more clear now what must be done. (Hey, wasn't that the title of one of Lenin's pamphlets? Have we been infested by Trotksyists pretending to be Republicans? )
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday May 19 2015, @08:06AM
I rather not go charging into this without getting a full set of opinions across the board, and moderation is off topic for this post.
Exactly, and this is precisely why you are our N Commander. Carry on, Sir!