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  • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday April 10 2023, @06:42AM (10 children)

    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2023, @06:42AM (#1300726) Journal

    It disappeared because the system crashed several times in Oct/Nov and early Dec 2022. For some reason that statement had not been integrated into the master copy of the site. You would have to ask a maintainer why that had not been done.

    When the site was recovered the statement was missing. It will be returned but, although the site may appear to be working from the user's point of view, we are running at an estimated 60% of what we had before the site was updated and secured. It is not the most important task on NCommander's list, and I still do not know when he will be able to return to continue his update work.

    There has been no change in policy. We do not track anybody on this site. We have records of every account ever created because they have unique user id numbers. They only contain information provided by the creators of those accounts.

    One person is complaining that he is having difficulty creating new sock puppet accounts to add to his over 600 previous sock puppet accounts. I have told him that his security is abysmal. His attempts are often easily identified as his accounts frequently have unique characteristics. He ought to look at his own actions and software before accusing us of 'tracking' users. Nevertheless, he still has working accounts on this site which he can use providing he follows the behaviour expected of people in a public place. In essence: "Don't be a dick!"

    There are hundreds of new accounts being created every week. Unfortunately most of them are fake accounts or Spam. Regardless of their content, they are having no problem creating those accounts. We are also getting new members albeit at a much lower rate. They too seem not to have any problems.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2023, @04:46PM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2023, @04:46PM (#1300765)

    So many lies.

    Not aristarchus here, but frequently accused of it by you janrinok. Why do you always leave out the IP tracking like it doesn't matter? The excuses are lame and only show SN as laxy with respect to privacy.

    FYI: IP addresses are hashed, with the same hash since site launch, so rebuilding actual IPs is trivial. Suppisedly true AC comments not posted from a logged in account are stored forever. So every logged in user is tracked and IP history stored forever. Maybe that was the main reason so many users left, that info becoming public really showed how little care SN truly has for user privacy.

    Yes you need IP history to enforce some rules, but you could rotate the hash at the very least. Also, I've seen commentary guessing at the manufacturer of user devices and AC identity which reveals that staff are leaking privileged information and your public protests against admin abuse are totally hollow. Maybe it is not you precusely, but that just points to an even worse problem of bad management.

    The lack of technical staff to support the site is a real problem, but you're "community building" is beyond hopeless.

    • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday April 10 2023, @05:44PM (5 children)

      by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2023, @05:44PM (#1300771) Journal

      Not aristarchus here, but frequently accused of it by you janrinok

      No, you are AC, we can all see that. I haven't accused you of being aristarchus in this thread and you can claim whatever you wish. You cannot prove it nor can I disprove it.

      Why do you always leave out the IP tracking like it doesn't matter

      I don't mention it because we are not doing it. You are stupid if you think that we can crack both IPv4 and IPv6 hashes without an exceptional amount of storage - far more than we have access to. And if we did use it then I suspect that all it would give us in most cases is the IP of a VPN or TOR node. How would we 'track' you through them? We have hashes. We stopped using them several years ago for anything other linking comments and moderations to stories and accounts. I have said this before. If you don't believe me or you think that the staff are tracking you then your alternative option is quite obvious. However, demanding that we stop doing something that we are not doing is another sign that you do not know what you are talking about.

      but you could rotate the hash at the very least

      Look at the code, changes to the hashing is built in - it is part of slashd. Nevertheless, we have to ensure that we can link every story, comment and moderation going back to 2014 - otherwise we cannot refer to previous stories or quote material posted 9 years ago. So we have to keep the old hashing method in addition to each new one. As far as anyone here is concerned the hashes are merely random numbers allocated to a connection.

      but you're [sic] "community building" is beyond hopeless.

      Fine, we have already discussed the alternative options open to you. I hope you find a site that doesn't use IP addresses to maintain connections.

      Not only does blocking sock puppets not rely on IP addresses or hashes - we don't even use them. We don't need them. Idiots compromise themselves by what they say and how they behave.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2023, @05:52PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2023, @05:52PM (#1300774)

        Ruh roh, janrinok has entered the super-slyiang stage! Someone warn Vegeta Ble!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2023, @08:11PM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2023, @08:11PM (#1300799)

        We stopped using them several years ago for anything other linking comments and moderations to stories and accounts.

        Um, stopped? So SoylentNews was using them for "other" things, prior? So a rouge admin could easily do it again? We are to trust you? No, thanks.

        • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday April 11 2023, @06:12AM (2 children)

          by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday April 11 2023, @06:12AM (#1300887) Journal

          They were used to link lots of bits of data for which we no longer use them because they provide nothing of any value but require access to the Perl code more than is necessary.

          We stopped using them several years ago for anything other linking comments and moderations to stories and accounts.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 11 2023, @06:19AM (1 child)

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 11 2023, @06:19AM (#1300890)

            Lies.

            Proof of your lies [soylentnews.org].

            You use them to track people like aristarchus.

            • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 11 2023, @09:36AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 11 2023, @09:36AM (#1300931)

              FatPhil is an IT professional, used to work for Nokia, in Finnsland! He would never help janrinok dox a AC, because that would be wrong. As he has asserted many times to janrinok, who refused to listen.

    • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday April 10 2023, @07:00PM (2 children)

      by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2023, @07:00PM (#1300790) Journal

      So many lies.

      Not a single one.

      Not aristarchus here, but frequently accused of it by you janrinok.

      I haven't accused you of being aristarchus in this thread. What you claim may have occurred elsewhere you can neither prove was you nor can I disprove it. So that avenue is irrelevant.

      Why do you always leave out the IP tracking like it doesn't matter?

      I leave it out because we are not doing it. The IPs are converted to hashes. I never see an IP address. If you think that decrypting both IPv4 and IPv6 hashes is trivial go ahead and demonstrate how trivial it is. It would require far more storage than we have ever had available to us on this site. And what would the decrypted hash give us? Probably the IP address of a VPN or TOR node. How would we track anyone through that? Most hashes change frequently. If the hashing mechanism has not changed as you allege but your hashes do change, then you must be changing your IP address. So you have just demonstrated that even if we were to decrypt IP addresses it would be pointless. Well done, sir, you have just proven that your claim is impractical.

      But demanding that we stop doing something that we are not doing just demonstrates that you do not know what you are talking about. We do not track IP addresses or hashes. We use hashes for linking stories, comments, and moderations together. Effectively the hash is little more than a random number generated for a connection. IPv6 has changed lots of things. After the sock-puppet 'war' in 2021 everybody realised the vulnerability of fixed IP addresses and they changed to using ephemeral connections via VPNs and TOR.

      If you still believe that we are tracking you then I suggest that the only option left for you is quite obvious. I hope that you find a site more to your liking and one that does not use IP addresses to maintain connections.

      IP addresses are hashed, with the same hash since site launch

      How has IPv6 affected that? There are far more IP addresses now than there were a few years ago. And probably far more collisions. I haven't been allocated an IPv4 address by my ISP for over 3 years now. I no longer use hashes for anything - they are, as I have said, effectively random numbers.

      I've seen commentary guessing at the manufacturer of user devices and AC identity ...

      Where? I would appreciate a link because I haven't seen it on this site. Maybe I missed it. Or are you referring to a discussion somewhere else?

      ... which reveals that staff are leaking privileged information

      Where? Link please.

      but you're [sic] "community building" is beyond hopeless

      Definitely not aristarchus! I have already mentioned the obvious option open to you.

      Blocking sock-puppets does not use hashes at any stage of the processing. Idiots compromise themselves by their actions, comments and behaviour, and sometimes their spilling mistooks. ;¬)

      • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday April 10 2023, @07:02PM

        by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 10 2023, @07:02PM (#1300792) Journal

        Sorry - the first post didn't appear so I rewrote it from scratch and posted that - to discover that the original had eventually found its way through the pipes....

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2023, @07:22PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 10 2023, @07:22PM (#1300793)

        Lie if you want, your more recent responses now rely on adhoms and blatant lies. As for spelling mistooks why should anyone bother proof reading callouts of site abuse? Keep spinning your forever tracking of IPs and user targeted modbans as no big deals, guess it is up to users to determine if they want to trust you. All you give are evasions and condescension, the nirmal behavior of a fascist that can not defend their own actions. SN was alt-right from the start and you're salty people keep pointing it out. Hopefully gen z gives old farts like you the boot instead of having to fight ww3 against nazis 2.0

        Wut do you think mr boomboom?