Just to keep you all up to date:

• ModEnc's files were all back a day later, it works without problems
  
• We added our NavBar to the top, giving quick access not only to our projects/hostees, but also to many, many forum functions.
  
• RenegadeProjects.com finally got a template! (And a new CMS...TikiWiki was annoying...)
  
• This is the important one: After fighting some initial bugs, the alternative reputation system we installed is now ready. Most obviously, it displayes reputation as a number in posts, giving you a clear indicator of how trustworthy a person's replies are. It also has an extensive reputation moderation part, so there's no use repping someone down just 'cause you dislike him - will all just end up with you in negative rep and no change for your target.
  
  This mod also adds reputation-controls on profile pages, and reputation details for users that can be accessed through clicking "Reputation" in a user's data on his post. Click the number to add/substract reputation.
  

I am posting this thread on behalf of DCoder, as he had no time to do it himself.

Yesterday, I was informed by him about a Lithuanian website offering a wide range of mod and tool downloads from the community. These downloads are

• unauthorized
  
• outdated
  
• and mostly virus-infected.
  

Renegade Wrote:Dear executives at meka.lt,

while I do support the distribution of my work outside my personal webspace, the version downloadable at http://www.jaguar.meka.lt/redalert2/ is not only vastly outdated and obsolete, but also labeled wrong - this provides a twofold attack on my personal honor and my intellectual property, as the version downloadable is either
a) _not_ recognized as mine, due to the wrong name, making it essentially a plagiarism, or
b) it _is_ recognized as mine, but, through the fact that it's old and obsolete, creates an image of bad quality in my work, turning this into a case of libel against me.
Neither is acceptable.

In addition, even though I, personally, would have had no problem with the user responsible distributing a correctly labeled, current version of the mod, I nevertheless doubt other Mod Leaders have taken a similar stance toward their distribution channels. As such, the actions of this user can only be seen as large-scale software piracy and violation of intellectual property rights.

I hereby firmly request the immediate suspension of the account in question, until I and the other rights holders have reached an agreement with the webmaster about the terms of further distribution of our software.

Sincerly,
Charly "Renegade" Kiendl
Creator of Total Destruction
Renegade@DestructionMod.com

DCoder Wrote:DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: aaaaaaah
DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: AVG bitching babout viruses in their mirror of Allied General's Mod 2004
Renegade - Scientists Search Deep Sea Reefs for Wonder Drugs: e-heh
DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: Virus identified: Win32/Hidrag.A

DCoder Wrote:DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: same shit in their "YURI-1001-English.exe"

DCoder Wrote:Renegade - Scientists Search Deep Sea Reefs for Wonder Drugs: Well, then the mirror should be taken down, if only to protect the downloadees
DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: yeah, last time people compained about viruses, that guy replied "your own damn fault for not scanning them"

DCoder Wrote:Renegade - Scientists Search Deep Sea Reefs for Wonder Drugs: there's a whole lot more known mods on there
DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: I know
DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: I just thought I would ask the webmaster himself nicely first. Since he has told me to basically "shoe it up my ass", I guess I should tell the others now.
DCoder - Certified HTML/CSS/PHP/JS Master! http://www.brainbench.com/xml/default/tr...id=4284069: shove*

Lion, webmaster of CNCDEN, was involved in a serious accident yesterday:

Lion Wrote:Today at about 10:30 A.M. I was involved in a serious accident. A tractor-trailer pulled in front of me, and I hit him head on at about 45 miles per hour. I was pinned in and had to be cut out of my Dodge pickup truck. I'm very fortunate to be alive. My airbag deployed and saved my life. And I do believe God (no offense if ya don't believe) had a hand in it as well. I was rushed to the hospital, given the usual routine of tests including an MRI and several x-rays. I had some bad cuts, and they stitched them up. No broken bones or internal bleeding. My face is black n blue. And I have lots of tiny pieces of glass imbedded in my body. After six hours in the hospital they released me. I'm home now...very sore of course and will be for the next week or so. The fire dept. folks who cut me out came to see me in the hospital. They showed me pics of my truck via their cell phones. The one dude said they couldn't believe I was still alive. And after seeing the condition of my truck, neither could I.

Depending on how I feel, updates could be on the thin side for the next few days or so. I just didn't want anyone to think I deserted the site. I have a friend that is going to take some pics of my now crushed truck, and I'll post em up when I get em.

Okay, after a few days of tweaking, everything is back in order. Missing admin language-folders were restored, ModEnc's uploads were fixed, and we installed an all-new bugtracker. Boy, that one is exciting. In addition, we got rid of Typo3 on the main sites, making them a little "temp" atm, but we've got a big announcement for STX to make, and some further plans for ModEnc as well.

In addition, thanks to the fact that we're on a new server now, we should have a much more downtime-free ride than at X1.



Oh, and I wrote a little introduction to our services...
  renegade_projects_services_101.pdf (Size: 177.63 KB / Downloads: 669) (will be stickified at STX main as well.)

Once again, some lame skriptkiddie needed to get off, but at least this time it left behind proof of his inability to hack himself...look how the site would have sported the following text:

lame skriptkiddie Wrote:.: [ ReDSKulL Owned Your Site ] :.

lame skriptkiddie Wrote:ThiS SiTe HaCkEd By ReDSKulL HaCkEr

sourcecode Wrote:<!-- Original: Eric Stremming <estremming@hotmail.com> -->
<!-- Web Site: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/5970 -->

<!-- This script and many more are available free online at -->
<!-- The JavaScript Source!! http://javascript.internet.com -->

• Most actual content is still there, since it was stored in the database
  
• The hostee-accounts as well as ModEnc, QDB etc were not touched
  
• All files from File Fortress, the gallery, forum attachments as well as avatars are gone and need to be re-uploaded.
  
• We used this opportunity to switch forum softwares. We replaced our outdated IPB trial-version with MyBB. This will, of course, lead to a short transition period, as we need to adjust settings, but thanks to our Level 20 DCoder, all posts and users are still there

I just did some organizational changes to the forums:
1. Battle of the Brains is now a subforum of The Renegade Inn
2. Re-read and corrected all groups and permission masks, this could lead to some people missing features they had before
3. Created "The Basement" for STX Tech support
4. Created "Arkham Asylum" to deal with evil members, everybody read this

This is Version II of this post, updated on March 5th, 9:24 PM.

Interesting for STX Hostees and Rock Patch-users, I have added four new services to the network:

File Fortress
A central download-site for all files downloadable from anywhere on the network. pd's Rock Patch, for example, is already there.

Operation Bughouse
Named after the Mobile Infantry's assault on Klendathu, home planet of the Bugs, this is the place where we, the civilians fight our own, personal bugs - a bugtracker, similar to systems like BugZilla. As with the File Fortress, pd is already there.

Visual Propaganda
Since I'll need a new gallery for TD anyway and was sick of using ModDB's, I installed a Coppermine one. All of you can register and upload images, and, once again, pd is already there.

DcNS
Long promised, now finally here - DCoder's News System allows all hostees (and other network sites) to gather their news directly from the forums, rendering external, third-party news-scripts obsolete and integrating the site directly into the community. News distribution and webbing as follows:
Renegade Projects - Broadcasts all network news from all sources (That is, RenProj Main, STX Main, STX All Hostee, TD, ModEnc, Community Announcements and my personal site's news)
Strategy X - Broadcasts RenProj Main News, STX Main News, All Hostee News
STX Hostees - Broadcast STX Main News, Hostee News
Total Destruction - Broadcasts RenProj Main News, TD News
As usual, pd is already there.

All hostees (the few left), contact me to talk about your downloading, bugreporting, gallery and news-integration needs ASAP.


The rest of you, note that all bugs, especially TD and Rock Patch-related, are to be reported through the Bughouse from now on.

Just realized that half of our registered users are zero-post-corpses.
Friday the 24th I'll purge all 0-posters from the database.
Just so you know.

After recent close encounters of the n00b kind, I finally compiled a set of forum rules to be adhered by everyone.

Know them. Live by them. At best, pray them before you go to bed.

No, seriously now: I'm usually not that much of a rules person, and as such you'll find them not as restrictive as, for example, the DGNF rules. They're just there so if we have to discipline someone, he can't say nobody told him X was forbidden.

The rules can be accessed globally through the link in the upper left corner.

As I am away from monday to friday, I have made it a habit over the last few months to at least browse Planet CnC and PPM once at weekends, to stay more or less up to date with what happens in the community.

Half an hour ago, through PPM's news, I was directed to several EA-related articles and Aaron Kaufman's consecutive reply to them. To cut it short, the crap I had to read of him installed an undefeatable urge to voice my opinion in me, and since I have the right tools at hand, why not do it? (The issue I am relating to is pretty well summed up in the first two posts here.)



Basically, what ticked me off was Aaron's hypocritical attitude along the lines of "Don't you see how much we do for the community. You're really not helping here!"

Hey Kaufman. FUCK YOU.

Let's take a look at one of the paragraphs:

EA Apoc Wrote:I've spent the past year working relentlessly on both communities. I got this community two Zero Hour patches, an exclusive portal thru XWIS to have a community safe haven to play the old Westwood games online, community leader support to celebrate the 10th anniversay, and overall, as much interaction with the C&C community leaders as possible. It is not an easy task and managing my e-mail box is an even bigger challenge.