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It seems the plot thickens. Whoever is in control of the tbz domain has got the old place.bz site up and working during the last hours. So now we have two separate sites being up (place.click and place.bz) but running on different sets of data (Absolutely insane!!!).
Read the announcement from the place.bz site here.
OMG... what's this??
seems like bullcr@p to me :PQuote:
Originally Posted by jimmy7
Posted by the admin
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Interesting! The coup has worked well. Very well, indeed! The real picture will be out soon enough, but in the meanwhile I am surprised to see how some people have managed to scam thousands of people in one fell swoop. Come'on people, use some brains. How is it that the person who owns the BZ domains, controls access to sites of all other admins/mods/sysops, and controls the backups to the site happens to be the scammer and the ones who launched a new site with old backups become legitimate? As I said, the details will be out soon enough but here's a quick summary of what has happened so far:
A couple of admins, unhappy over not being party to the donations (from LBIs and stuff) plotted to take over the control of BZ sites.
The only problem: they only had access to one set of backups from last Jan, since that's when I had provided them with a backup copy when there were some issues after a server upgrade.
So they went ahead with the last backup, using freedns to redirect to the new site while messing up the existing site via a malicious script mess up the existing sites.
Bottomline: These rougue admins think they control the new site, but remember, there is only one BZ group and it will be back.
Am looking for help with some others who can help bring up the BZ domains back up to speed: a week/10 days at best.
In the meanwhile, if I were you, I would be careful about saving any private info with them: emails/paypal addresses etc. As I said, I will be back with the sites and the full story with details soon.
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Let me give you some numbers closer to the actual figures. Although the monthly inflow is not consistent, all the Bz sites combined used to make north of (roughly) $17,50,000 an year. The main sources being monthly donations, GBs, mass LBIs and by selling BZ accounts (yes, that used to be a thing, how else do you see invites for see or trading on other sites). Yes, the sites were monetized very very well, and that is EXACTLY the reason these rougue ones are trying to wrest control. But rest assured, all the BZ sites will be back to their glory with or without you. I have cleaned up the mess you created on TP and it's up and running. The rest of the BZ sites will follow suit soon enough. I also need some new people to help out on the forums. So let me know who wants to chip in. There will be a rigorous interview for the same though. Together we'll rstore the lost glory.
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A couple of admins, unhappy over not being party to the donations (from LBIs and stuff) plotted to take over the control of BZ sites.
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The only problem: they only had access to one set of backups from last Jan, since that's when I had provided them with a backup copy when there were some issues after a server upgrade.
His story doesn't make sense.Quote:
Am looking for help with some others who can help bring up the BZ domains back up to speed:
If its just a couple of rogue admins how come he needs help to bring up the BZ domains?
ALL the sites on .click domain are up and running.
He provided just a backup copy from Jan after some issues with a server upgrade. Yeah right.....
He disclosed that on a announcement? :ridinghorse:Quote:
Let me give you some numbers closer to the actual figures. Although the monthly inflow is not consistent, all the Bz sites combined used to make north of (roughly) $17,50,000 an year.
The only thing that bothers me with .click domains is why they opened free sign up for trackers like TV, TheOccult. :hmmmm2:
Idk if this is true or not but this is what he posted in a thread on a discussion site. They created the other sites using the backup that was given to them since they were not happy with the donations. They wanted more money.Quote:
Originally Posted by ciganus
The only ones that knows the truth are those directly involved.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronin21
As far as I am concerned I joined TV and TheOccult and I am happy with that.
If .click domain and .bz domain trackers can provide the same quality of content it would be great for the BitTorrent community.
Only time will tell.
We will see about the future. Right now, not a very good configuration:
Attachment 5355
Code:http://theplace.click/forums.php?action=viewtopic&topicid=25000073
I think @jimmy7, your post is a little bit old :)Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmy7
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Welcome to Our New Home -- What Happened and Why
UPDATE 2017-04-22 - The staffer in question has now started redirecting the domains he still controls to the old box. At this point it's pretty much certain that this is a deliberate and hostile act by someone attempting a hostile takeover. Stay safe people and change your passwords; someone willing to betray partners of 10+ years is probably not the best curator of your data.
TL/DR - Senior staff member went rogue, shut off the servers and locked everyone out. New server on new domains, drawn from backups. Change your passwords (especially any pw's shared across sites) and bookmarks.
~ We're Back!
It's been a while, but we're finally (mostly) back. The first thing you'll notice is that we're now at .click, so please adjust your bookmarks. For now the .bz domains are forwarding here, but that may not continue. See below for why.
~ Wait... something seems wrong. I'm missing ratio, and there's fewer torrents, and some conversations I was having are gone, and the torrents are all reporting errors! What gives?
Unfortunately we've had to restore from offsite backups, the latest of which was from late January. Due to the domain migration you'll also need to redownload your torrents. You can get those here.
~ Okay, so what happened?
A little over two weeks ago, our machines were mysteriously suspended. A trouble ticket was immediately launched to get things back online, but their reply was unexpected: suspected identity theft, servers offline for our protection. Most of us complied with all requests, but one senior staff was missing and unavailable. For days we tried unsuccessfully to reach him. Then the email contact at the provider changed to his gmail.com account and shortly after our access to admin was cut off.
This was alarming; was it our missing man working on the problem? We repeated attempts to contact him, and eventually he got back to us, but his answers were evasive and... weird. Still, he gave the impression that the downtime was temporary. This was about a week ago.
~ That doesn't sound entirely reassuring.
It all seemed very sketchy to us, as changing passwords and locking teammates out of administrative panels etc didn't look like a 'mistake', it looked like someone either deliberately trying to destroy the sites or to lock us out so he could do something nefarious. Given the situation, the shuttering of access, his lack of communication or enthusiasm in getting the servers online, and the duration of downtime, it forced us to assume that it wasn't a mistake, but a deliberate measure and to react accordingly.
At that point we moved to acquire new hosting, got IRC back online so there was a line of communication open, acquired a new and safe set of domains that he has no control over or access to, and set about restoring the site from the latest offsite backups. You're seeing the results of that labor.
We may or may not get access to that old server. If we do, we can fill in the gaps the restoration from backups left. However, given the situation, we are forced to presume that this isn't a mistake and that the old servers, and the data on them, are no longer available to us.
~ That's not good. So now what?
At this point, for your protection, we strongly recommend that everyone change their passwords, both on our sites and any others that use the same password. The data is encrypted so it's not an immediate danger, but better safe than sorry.
~ I donated, and my ratio is gone!
Unfortunately, being locked out of the machines and pulling from backups means we don't have the very latest data, including your donations. If your transfer was recent, you may be able to reverse the charge. Older stuff you may be out of luck. In addition, if you provide proof of donation in admin mail we will do our best to extend your rightful credit to you. Skiff will be personally handling that, so send him a PM.
~ This all sucks!
We agree, and we're working hard to get things back to normal. All the admins have been advised of the situation and know the score, hopefully the transition can be smooth and relatively hassle free for users.
We also working on new ways for you to be able to donate, but it will take a little while. In the meantime we'll make sure noone is deactivated for ratio issues while we handle things.
~ So what's the deal with the new domains?
As mentioned, we've been locked out of servers and administrative services. That includes control over the .bz domains. Unless someone has a sudden change of heart, those domains should be presumed lost... and if so, TeamBZ is dead. The .click TLD had all the domains we needed, plus the new name isn't half bad.
Welcome to the (re)birth of The Click Group.
~TCG
