The Barista goes sailing for the day...

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crfriend
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The Barista goes sailing for the day...

Post by crfriend »

... and all Hell breaks loose whilst he's incommunicado.

Specifically, we've had "Alf Huckham Round 2". I recognise the writing style, and I recognise the patterns used, so the "fingerprint matches pretty closely".

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Uncle Al, one of the moderators, for identifying the problem and doing everything within his power to stem the flow in inbound off-topic vitriol, for summarily deactivating the accounts in question (and there are another couple that are being eyed warily), and mopping up the worst of the mess. Al -- any time you're in the New England area please give advance notice as I owe you a round of your favourite tipple.

The IP addresses and times of abuse have been taken down in writing, and I shall be composing a formal complaint to the perpetrators' ISPs when I awake later this morning (it's been a very long day, and it's way past my bedtime) and can properly compose such a thing.

To those who were ticked off by the event, please understand that SkirtCafe is an "open society", and whilst it has some safeguards in place it is vulnerable to acts of vandalism. The moderation staff are unwilling to ratchet the "security level" up to the point where each and every post needs individual approval, so we always run the risk of incursions like this. So, please bear with us whilst we clean the floor where an unruly bunch of antisocial drunks barfed on it. We promise that the place will smell better tomorrow.
Last edited by crfriend on Sat May 28, 2011 1:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: fixed some grammatical blunders
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Big and Bashful
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Re: The Barista goes sailing for the day...

Post by Big and Bashful »

No long term harm done, must admit I was not surprised when "Glasgow Jimmmy" detonated, I suspected him from the first post. Erik was more of a surprise though. I think the security level is set about right, you will always be caught once in a while, as long as it doesn't become a frequent occurence I don't think any change is needed.
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crfriend
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Re: The Barista goes sailing for the day...

Post by crfriend »

Thanks for the "vote of confidence" B&B. As things stand, the forum is pretty much locked down as tight as I want to take it; we've got good anti-spam registration controls in place, so that's not much of a problem, but overt acts of wanton abuse can still get under the RADAR before, as you put it, "detonating".

I've contacted the abuse desk at BT Central (the ISP for the two IP addresses involved) but have not heard anything back as yet, nor do I particularly anticipate hearing anything other than a "thank you for your concern" autoresponse.

The fact that the IP addresses in use are in BT Central's IP space (and at least one ancillary one in Sky Broadband's) bothers me because I can't blackhole the netblock to prevent this from recurring as I'd likely step on a large number of very decent folks. That, as one can imagine, is not something I want to do.

I'd say that there's a medium to high probability that this will happen again, and may continue until the perpetrators outgrow the behaviour or their parents take their Internet access away. I am guessing that we're dealing with 14-16 year old characters, so it may be another couple of years before they mature. I forget when the last incident was, but it was over a year ago, so that works in favour of the "growing up" notion. BT Central, based on the times and IP addresses provided, will be able to trivially identify the subscriber, and I politely asked that the subscribers be warned about their action because if they're disrupting this quiet little Web Cafe they're in all probability disrupting others as well. The hopes are that Mummy and Daddy will receive the warning and "impart some behaviour modification" unto the kiddies.
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ethelthefrog
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Re: The Barista goes sailing for the day...

Post by ethelthefrog »

I turn my back for a few days and I miss all the fun.

A big thank you to Carl and Uncle Al for watching our backs and keeping the site the enjoyable place it is for the respectful and frank exchange of skirty views.


Paul.
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