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Hello,
The forum was hacked by some f*ckers that wanted to use us as a spambot. We had a couple of security holes (my fault) that they exploited. There's no reason to believe any personal data was taken, especially since y'all barely provide any. Posts between 10/13 and yesterday were lost as my most recent backup was that date. I try and do 7 day backups but frankly, I just haven't had much time lately. I appreciate your patience and understanding.
We're about 95% up and running right now. Smileys have to be fixed as well as avatars and probably a few other things. I won't be bringing back the arcade as it never worked properly after our software upgrade and those developers don't support it anymore.
I'm also exploring a move to Xenforo forum software from vBulletin. Most developers have moved away from vBulletin as their newer versions (vBulletin 5) kinda sucks. We're on vBulletin 4, with all of the latest patches. It's undecided as to whether we make that move, but it will cause changes to the forum and likely downtime for a day or so to prevent further loss of posts.
It's a lot quieter in here than previously and that's a bummer. Many users have moved to posting on Facebook vs. here. I considered shutting down this forum after the hack because forums are less relevant than they were just a few years ago. However, there's a treasure trove of information on H4O. This isn't about money. Heck, the forum has not accepted sponsor money in two years or more, and donations were turned off a long time ago as well. It's a minor investment to get this back up and running and I can't let this knowledge disappear.
I hope you each will continue to read and participate in the forum whether ten times each day or once a year. I'm glad each of you has taken the time to participate and contribute, whether it's the experience of grizzled veterans or the everpresent newbie questions. It's all good.
Thank you,
Alex
The forum was hacked by some f*ckers that wanted to use us as a spambot. We had a couple of security holes (my fault) that they exploited. There's no reason to believe any personal data was taken, especially since y'all barely provide any. Posts between 10/13 and yesterday were lost as my most recent backup was that date. I try and do 7 day backups but frankly, I just haven't had much time lately. I appreciate your patience and understanding.
We're about 95% up and running right now. Smileys have to be fixed as well as avatars and probably a few other things. I won't be bringing back the arcade as it never worked properly after our software upgrade and those developers don't support it anymore.
I'm also exploring a move to Xenforo forum software from vBulletin. Most developers have moved away from vBulletin as their newer versions (vBulletin 5) kinda sucks. We're on vBulletin 4, with all of the latest patches. It's undecided as to whether we make that move, but it will cause changes to the forum and likely downtime for a day or so to prevent further loss of posts.
It's a lot quieter in here than previously and that's a bummer. Many users have moved to posting on Facebook vs. here. I considered shutting down this forum after the hack because forums are less relevant than they were just a few years ago. However, there's a treasure trove of information on H4O. This isn't about money. Heck, the forum has not accepted sponsor money in two years or more, and donations were turned off a long time ago as well. It's a minor investment to get this back up and running and I can't let this knowledge disappear.
I hope you each will continue to read and participate in the forum whether ten times each day or once a year. I'm glad each of you has taken the time to participate and contribute, whether it's the experience of grizzled veterans or the everpresent newbie questions. It's all good.
Thank you,
Alex
