Gholaforum

[Omphalos]

Is the Gholaforum dead? I have not been able to get there for two days now.

[Freakzilla]

Page not found. Let's hope they saved the original cells.

[Omphalos]

They had already lost like 60K posts. There really was not much there any longer, save some conversation.

[Freakzilla]

I must say I admire their attempt to save posts from DoD, but sometimes you just have to move on.

[Omphalos]

It lives!!!

[kangamouse]

nope, it's dead again

[Omphalos]

Oh well. I went there a few weeks ago, and there had not been one post in the entire month before. One of the most active users there just became a daddy, so I though it would become pretty barren. But that is the notice I saw when it went away last time. It may be back yet.

[kangamouse]

no i mean really dead, the codes been hacked... i have my suspicion who as well... the last few weeks has been a bit active there...

[inhuien]

no i mean really dead, the codes been hacked... .

You could be correct, Line 49 is der Borked.

[Omphalos]

Were you a regular there, kangamouse?

[Worm]

I for one will not miss it.

I’ve always thought of that board as a stolen box of jewelry that turned up later being promoted as “found”.

If it never comes back, then finally all our old posts can rest in peace and not have to go through the "Weekend at Bernie's" treatment.

[kangamouse]

all your old posts were deleted after you asked for them to be deleted.
did you know that Ivan who created DoD posted on theGhola how pleased he was to see what we had done with his site?

I seem to remember quite a few people who were there during the demise of DoD talking about how something should be done to save it, could it not be cloned... and then when somebody did, those same people shouting 'thief' and 'pirate' which brought a great round of laughter to many of us.

Really Worm, does it bother you that much that somebody did something nice on the periphery of your vision? that you have to throw nasty at it just to make yourself feel more comfortable with the worm you are?

[Freakzilla]

[SandChigger]

no i mean really dead, the codes been hacked... i have my suspicion who as well... the last few weeks has been a bit active there...

I'd like to hear more about this, actually.

You've also posted this on the "New Dune Forum Suggestions" thread:

and then after eighteen months have somebody from the american quango who don't actually own dune but think that they do, hack its code & sabotage it, screw over the community of other dune lovers using it, then start again with yet another new dune website that they are in control of

I love a bit of goss (and new words! Never ran across quango before that I can recall; cheers!), so don't be coy and spill it, already, why not?

Names, details, URLs? If you've just suspicions, lay them out with your evidence. We love puzzles!


(Not really interested in reading more of this between you and Worm, though, speaking as a non-moderator member here. )

[kangamouse]

im not really interested in arguing with anybody;
again I cite the Fremen creed of Ichwan Bedwine, the brotherhood of unity;
for we are all of one water.

I find it amusing that the shelf life for Dune websites is average of eighteen months, unless they are built and controlled by a certain friendship group, in which case they survive a bit longer.

Im not pointing the finger, its merely an observation.

An apology if my sense of humour is satirical enough to hit raw nerves. I'll try to tone it down for the good of community, but really when people push me, I stand my ground; and if they push me again, I push back. simple answer; honest debate is superior to grudge warfare.
resolve inter-tribal issues, all of us are going to be around Dune forums for a long while yet.

[Freakzilla]

I love a bit of goss (and new words! Never ran across quango before that I can recall; cheers!),...

I had to look that one up too.

[Omphalos]

GF lasted a helluva lot longer than 18 months, didnt it?

[Freakzilla]

GF lasted a helluva lot longer than 18 months, didnt it?

So did Arrakeen, but it was sabotaged by one of it's own administrators so I don't know if you can really count that.

[kangamouse]

Ive been living in a nullentropy capsule / no-globe... maybe 2 years?

Quango is a word synonymous with politics & business, especially in wales.
It means 'a group who answer only to themselves'.

[Freakzilla]

Ive been living in a nullentropy capsule / no-globe... maybe 2 years?

Quango is a word synonymous with politics & business, especially in wales.
It means 'a group who answer only to themselves'.

In other words, the United States?

[kangamouse]

lol

"Anyone who lays their hand upon me to govern me is a usurper, a tyrant and I declare them my enemy"

- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

[Freakzilla]

lol

"Anyone who lays their hand upon me to govern me is a usurper, a tyrant and I declare them my enemy"

- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Say what you will, I have sworn my life to defend our Constitution, this is only talk.

[SandChigger]

im not really interested in arguing with anybody;
again I cite the Fremen creed of Ichwan Bedwine, the brotherhood of unity;
for we are all of one water.

I find it amusing that the shelf life for Dune websites is average of eighteen months, unless they are built and controlled by a certain friendship group, in which case they survive a bit longer.

Im not pointing the finger, its merely an observation.

An apology if my sense of humour is satirical enough to hit raw nerves. I'll try to tone it down for the good of community, but really when people push me, I stand my ground; and if they push me again, I push back. simple answer; honest debate is superior to grudge warfare.
resolve inter-tribal issues, all of us are going to be around Dune forums for a long while yet.

Well, I'm sure that was all rather interesting, but none of it answered my questions.

You wrote that you had suspicions about who hacked GF and then pointed a finger vaguely at "somebody from the american quango".

If you've got something real, put it on the table. If all you've got is vague innuendo and are going to waffle away with a bunch of fluffy feel-good wank when called on something, I for one would prefer you just keep it to yourself.

I don't know you, at least under the name you're using here, and I'm not sure that anyone else does, either. (We'll see if Pardot replies on the Blazes thread, I suppose.) Telling how you've been banned repeatedly from other forums seems, to me, a rather strange way of introducing yourself on yet another new one however.

[inhuien]

Quango - QUasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation

[SandChigger]

Thank you.

[kangamouse]

If all you've got is vague innuendo and are going to waffle away with a bunch of fluffy feel-good wank when called on something, I for one would prefer you just keep it to yourself.

so why bring the subject up again by posting another reply? pmsl it was worth it tho, I for one put my water-rings down on the table to pre-order
the SandChigger book of spontaneous outbursts & inspiring insults.

I don't know you, at least under the name you're using here, and I'm not sure that anyone else does, either. (We'll see if Pardot replies on the Blazes thread, I suppose.) Telling how you've been banned repeatedly from other forums seems, to me, a rather strange way of introducing yourself on yet another new one however.

seeing as you got banned from the forum that we last shared verbal diarrhea on and I didn't, all I can do is stay honestly outspoken & tell you how grateful I am that you're still around.

In answer to your question, I'm not going to say who I think was responsible because I have since made friends with that person backstage, for the purposes of open politics we are pretending to remain enemies at this present time.

[Omphalos]

In answer to your question, I'm not going to say who I think was responsible because I have since made friends with that person backstage, for the purposes of open politics we are pretending to remain enemies at this present time.

Then please don't bring it up. I don't want half-assed discussions over here. If you arent prepared to finish talking or fill in the details, then please keep it to yourself. If its not worth it to you to tell the whole story, then its not worth it to us to get involved, and I certainly don't want it cluttering up my board.

[Freakzilla]

the SandChigger book of spontaneous outbursts & inspiring insults.

I'd like a copy of that too, please.

[SandChigger]

seeing as you got banned from the forum that we last shared verbal diarrhea on and I didn't, all I can do is stay honestly outspoken & tell you how grateful I am that you're still around.

Ah, that the feeling were mutual.

So, Nomad, is it really you? Come to spread more of your whacked out New Age wank?

Wonderful.

[chanilover]

lol

"Anyone who lays their hand upon me to govern me is a usurper, a tyrant and I declare them my enemy"

- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Say what you will, I have sworn my life to defend our Constitution, this is only talk.

What if they pushed through an Amendment making marijuana possession punishable by forced attendance at a recital of Sandworms of Dune by none other than Kev Comb-Over Anderson?

[Freakzilla]

lol

"Anyone who lays their hand upon me to govern me is a usurper, a tyrant and I declare them my enemy"

- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

Say what you will, I have sworn my life to defend our Constitution, this is only talk.

What if they pushed through an Amendment making marijuana possession punishable by forced attendance at a recital of Sandworms of Dune by none other than Kev Comb-Over Anderson?

Revolution

[SandChigger]

What, no further clever rodent retorts? No dipodomysal disparagement or even dyspepsia?

How disappointing.

(Could he have returned to his peaceful slumbers in the null-entropy burrow? Or could it be that The Man has once again emptied his bank accounts in an attempt at repression and he can't get online for now? I remember reading that something like that happened to him before, over on The Sietch. )

[Omphalos]

That tax-man sure can be a bitch!

[SandChigger]

I can't be bothered to try to remember more details, but I don't think that was the implication. It was more that the government had frozen his account for some reason...trying to shut him down proclaiming the truth, perhaps?

It's all very drole and a fun read...until you realize he's serious.

[Freakzilla]

The tax man is sending me money!

$2,400, party at my place! WOOHOO!

[Omphalos]

We filed electronically too, so our rebate should be depostied soon. This week in fact.

Bush is a bribery artist, I tell you.

[Tleilax Master B]

The tax man is sending me money!

$2,400, party at my place! WOOHOO!

Sweet! I'll bring beer; you supply the smoke.

[Freakzilla]

We filed electronically too, so our rebate should be depostied soon. This week in fact.

Bush is a bribery artist, I tell you.

I voted for him... TWICE!

[Robspierre]

We filed electronically too, so our rebate should be depostied soon. This week in fact.

Bush is a bribery artist, I tell you.

I voted for him... TWICE!

Only twice? You Republicans don't know how to properly rig a vote do you?

Rob

[Nekhrun]

We filed electronically too, so our rebate should be depostied soon. This week in fact.

Bush is a bribery artist, I tell you.

I voted for him... TWICE!

Only twice? You Republicans don't know how to properly rig a vote do you?

Rob

I don't know about that. It seems they've become quite adept at it.

[Freakzilla]

We filed electronically too, so our rebate should be depostied soon. This week in fact.

Bush is a bribery artist, I tell you.

I voted for him... TWICE!

Only twice? You Republicans don't know how to properly rig a vote do you?

Rob

I don't know about that. It seems they've become quite adept at it.

You don't have to if you've got the Supreme Court in your back pocket.

[Omphalos]

So, what does all that gobbledygook over at GF mean? Is the board hopelessly gone, or did someone just make an error when adding some code? Is there anyway to tell?

[SandChigger]

Anyone know what boardware they were using over there?

Notice: Undefined variable: sourcedir in /var/alternc/html/s/spada/dod/index.php on line 49

Warning: require_once() [function.require-once]: Unable to access /QueryString.php in /var/alternc/html/s/spada/dod/index.php on line 49

Warning: require_once(/QueryString.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: Permission denied in /var/alternc/html/s/spada/dod/index.php on line 49

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required '/QueryString.php' (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') in /var/alternc/html/s/spada/dod/index.php on line 49

Basically what that all means is that the main page (index.php) of the board has processed down to its 49th line and is looking for a file (QueryString.php) that has either been renamed or deleted.

I don't understand why the person managing the server or adminining the site doesn't just reupload the files. If the database hasn't been deleted or corrupted, the site should still be there.

When Irulan showed up moaning about DoD getting hacked I felt bad for her and all but wondered why they just didn't restore from a backup copy. I'm sorry, but not keeping backups at all is just stupid. Sure, it's a pain in the ass to keep up with and no matter how diligent you are when something bad happens you're going to lose the most recent content since the last back-up was made, but it beats losing the site altogether, no? I just don't get it. With all due respect, I have to agree with Leto I.

"Damn sloppy way to operate," the Duke muttered.

[Omphalos]

Anyone know what boardware they were using over there?

I think it was a skinned version of PHPbb 2.02

I'm sorry, but not keeping backups at all is just stupid.

Exactly what I thought. I back this place up every week on Sunday, and I have the software for the book review site on my personal computer, and all the reviews in .rtf format, just in case something stupid happens. I think Ill start backing up Jacurutu every week too. I have not backed that one up for quite some time now.

[Freakzilla]

I have not backed that one up for quite some time now.

I did it a couple of weeks ago, was planning on doing it this weekend. Won't hurt to have a backup in two places though.

[Omphalos]

Exactly. Ill just make a point of doing it every time I back this place up.

[Worm]

Really Worm, does it bother you that much that somebody did something nice on the periphery of your vision? that you have to throw nasty at it just to make yourself feel more comfortable with the worm you are?

I really got to come around more often so I don’t miss gems like this.

I don't have a problem with "nice". I do on the other hand have a problem with someone trying to make it into something it's not. Thus a ghola... even less than a ghola, as it was not and can never be like the original. But the person involved in making it robbed most of the database without Ivan or anyone else's permission, then proceeded to take on an attitude of being the savior of DoD.

I don't throw nasty, I express my opinion, just like you did. And I am very comfortable being the Worm I am. Tho, if you were to ask my wife, she would venture another opinion.

Like Chig said, it really isn’t worth bickering over anyway.

[orald]

Eh, fuck that pussyfest(oh, sorry, pacifist?) Dario and fuck Irulan for bitching about lack of community support all day, and fuck them both for leaving their wonderful under-visited copy of a site under-moderated and letting dope-heads troll around unhindered.

And then fuck Irulan again for thanking Dario for locking certain offensive threads way too late.

Yea, bitch, when the insulted party asks you then it's the bloody time to do it, not when the dope head finally realizes what a prick he showed himself to be.


Oh, and nice thread we got here...is this mousy boy by any chance RHN? Hey, Nomad, how've you been? All worked out with you and your imaginary Dutch GF whom you've just met but already lives with you, sharing the same IP? Gotta get 'em 'shrooms, maaaaan!

[Mandy]

lol.. it is your good buddy RHN. He seems to have vanished though.

[SandChigger]

Yeah, funny how he always seems to fade away when you challenge him, huh?

I've noticed that he showed up and commented on the "I was a friend of" thread they did for me over on DN. He's real brave when he knows you can't answer back.

[GamePlayer]

If the events at chigga's blog or over at DN left me scratching my head, this is leaving me completely without an idea of what is being discussed.

Is there a executive summary of all this?

[Omphalos]

If the events at chigga's blog or over at DN left me scratching my head, this is leaving me completely without an idea of what is being discussed.

Is there a executive summary of all this?

Kangamouse here was Rakis Holy Nomad over on the now defunct Gholaforum, and is New Face Dancer on DN. He is a total wack job. Read the canoptic jars posts here in the mythology fourm, or just look at NFD's posts on DN. He and Chigger got into it at DN a while ago, and it spilled over into another dead sietch called, oddly enough, The Sietch.

Not only is he nuts, but hes so crazy that most sane admins want his ass gone. But I think he was an admin at gholaforum. That forum was set up to copy all the old posts of Dreamers of Dune, and they copied like, 50K posts, then their server crashed and the lost it all because some idiot forgot to back the fourm up. Worm thought it was not the best idea to copy those posts from DoD. That is what this is about, IIRC.

[orald]

Worm didn't like them copying and trying to revive DoD's "essence" without real permission from the AWOL owners and the multitude of members.

I didn't really object, as it was another Dune forum after all, but Irulan and her gang pissed me off whining about the lack of community support, like we all had to share the load and didn't already have other, new boards of our own(like Heaven and 'Keen).

And for the record- RHN pissed me off way before he ever met Chig.
The godamn troll was causing trouble at 'Keen almost from his first day with his paranoia and "limit-testing", as I call it.

I finally banned his ass when he started a religion thread after I specifically told him we were against it, not to mention making up a "puppet" account and trying to fuck with us from both directions.
Then he made up several more just to curse us until I banned his IP too, so he went howling elsewhere(like in GF, see above post regarding Irulan and Pussy Dario and their reactions).

[Phaedrus]

Fascinating!

I do love lessons in ancient history.

[GamePlayer]

I was just curious; my thanks Omphalos.

Sounds to me like just one of those things. Why back up someone else's website? I can tell you I wouldn't want someone cloning my website. But who was to know the place would go boom? If this were our current, already-horribly-obese government, they'd probably form yet another committee at the behest of a loud minority group and spend another billion dollars of our tax money determining why shit happens in life

So what exactly was lost? I mean, if our forums crashed here at AU and Jac, is there anything here that somehow couldn't be discussed again elsewhere? I don't mean to belittle the loss of a fan forum, but I've lived through many crashes/closures/hacks/slides-into-the-dark-side, so beyond the loss itself, I'm not getting it. Weren't DoD and Gholaforums just internet forums like any other Dune site? I think this Dune community has done just fine and I never set foot in DoD or Ghola.

[orald]

You've never seen DoD in its days of glory, so you wouldn't understand...

Well, neither did I, I only joined like 3 months before it went dead for the last time, and I hear it was half dead by then.

[Omphalos]

You've never seen DoD in its days of glory, so you wouldn't understand...

Well, neither did I, I only joined like 3 months before it went dead for the last time, and I hear it was half dead by then.

I can get to it occasionally in web caches, but there is not too much there to see.

[orald]

I think that's was GF's problem...the data-base has been corrupted and only a tiny fraction remained. That's why they couldn't even ressurect it fully.

[GamePlayer]

You've never seen DoD in its days of glory, so you wouldn't understand...

Well, neither did I, I only joined like 3 months before it went dead for the last time, and I hear it was half dead by then.

Ah, so that's it. Well, that's a different issue entirely. Lament for a board's golden years isn't really the point, but at least I see now why this particular debate has become a sore spot for some.

[Worm]

Worm didn't like them copying and trying to revive DoD's "essence" without real permission from the AWOL owners and the multitude of members.

You said it very correctly, thanks Orald.. it's kinda the nicest thing you've ever said about me.

And for the record- RHN pissed me off way before he ever met Chig.
The godamn troll was causing trouble at 'Keen almost from his first day with his paranoia and "limit-testing", as I call it.

Kangamouse here was Rakis Holy Nomad over on the now defunct Gholaforum, and is New Face Dancer on DN. He is a total wack job. Read the canoptic jars posts here in the mythology fourm, or just look at NFD's posts on DN. He and Chigger got into it at DN a while ago, and it spilled over into another dead sietch called, oddly enough, The Sietch.

Not only is he nuts, but hes so crazy that most sane admins want his ass gone. But I think he was an admin at gholaforum.

He drove me nuts as well. He actually had a long stretch of behaving. Then it went south real quick; in just a few days before I was forced to ban him. Whatever 'shrooms' he's on, keep it far away from me.

[Worm]

You've never seen DoD in its days of glory, so you wouldn't understand...

Well, neither did I, I only joined like 3 months before it went dead for the last time, and I hear it was half dead by then.

Ah, so that's it. Well, that's a different issue entirely. Lament for a board's golden years isn't really the point, but at least I see now why this particular debate has become a sore spot for some.

It was the quintessential Dune forum. Most everyone that has a sci-fi or Dune board has members from that old site; we call it the great scattering of course.

It wasn’t all that much to look at, BUT what it lacked in looks, it made up for in Dune knowledge. We had some of the smartest people in regards to Dune there. And everyone was a friend with everyone else. I cut my forum teeth there.

Oddly enough, the end resulted from two bickering females and an incident about pictures of people in their underwear. Finally, Ivan had enough and gave/sold/made responsible someone that never showed up. The Mods there (DLA and Duncan) quit, so without a Mod or Admin presence the place went to shit. Data started corrupting, as no one was there to do maintenance on the site. Then people stopped coming and then the board locked up in a software glitch that was never fixed.

It was like watching your best friend slowly die of cancer and you were powerless to stop it. After dealing with the sorrow of loss and burying your friend, a few months later someone digs your friend up, pokes a stick up its ass, dust off the clothes and sprays some deodorizer and says, “Look, your friend liveth again!”

There was nothing but a corpse. The flesh, blood and guts were still there, but only in a rotting state, non-functioning. I wouldn’t even dignify those necromancers with the pleasure of me logging on just to tell them to delete my posts and profile.

Sore spot.. yeah. Hope it helps people to understand where I’m coming from. It may not be in agreement with other’s thinking, but I’m not them and they’re not me.

[Omphalos]

Whatever happened to Ivan? I think I saw him on the Sietch once, and on GF once or twice. Is he still around?

[GamePlayer]

But it's only an internet forum. At most I'd say it was a bar or school that burned down. Still, the Romero-esque zombification analogy was entertaining

[Worm]

Whatever happened to Ivan? I think I saw him on the Sietch once, and on GF once or twice. Is he still around?

He came by Haven once and joined it, but never responded to any email I sent him. Probably feeling a bit guilty, I guess (I hope).

He has another board now, I thought it was The Sietch, but I could be wrong, and I can't pull the site up right now.

edit:


Here's a PM that was sent to someone at 'keen, and Pardot so graciously posted for us a while back at Haven:

It was Dreamers of Dune. I regrettably gave its care over to someone who destroyed it when I had no more time to manage it.

I did have my archives of data, and have managed to resurrect at least parts of old Dreamers.

I am not going to go advertise that I'm the creator of DoD - but if it matters, sure, let people know. I'm embarassed what happened to DoD - I got too busy with my career to maintain it, I trusted someone I shouldn't have, and he destroyed it. I am going to get the domain back when it expires - I can't get hold of the guy who bought it (the fellow I trusted wasn't this Jerry Shields) - but I prefer the this site to remain The Sietch.

It's good to be back.

I've put together what I can from the old site - I had an old hard drive with all of the old avatars, which are here now...I've grabbed some articles and the Lexicon from the old databases. Unfortunately I'm not going to be able to restore all the posts in the old Forum. I may be able to piece together threads that people liked.

I also re-published my old articles from the site, put up a couple of new ones, and put the biographies and the Lexicon back up on here.

So yes, Dreamers is back...in a way.

[SandChigger]

But The Sietch has been down for well over a year now, right?

(Or was it resurrected somewhere else?)

[Worm]

that PM is over a year old as well. The site is still down.