Recent downtime

[The Maffyx]

Yea it would be kind of obvious if anything happened to those sites, kind of like instant retaliation, which then at that point could probably be made into a lawsuit.

[The-Eradicator]

That Steve Burnz guy is a total joke if he thinks he can get rid of a site like this with emails. Given combined expeirence of users on this site, why don't we make some of his own sites "disapear" and watch him cry about it?

Oh wow.

1. Stupid idea.
2. You know he reads this thread, right?

[Henessy]

Dumb idea, Bon...

I know we're all furious with Steve Burns and his idea of getting rid of the 'Scams' Section, or if not the whole account... but think about it. He's a Microsoft MVP. If you do what you just said... well, I think you can think to what can happen.

Huh, I was wondering if Steve will put me on his next post =3

[idusy]

Huh, I was wondering if Steve will put me on his next post =3

Wow....


Anyway, just a thought here, to make scams look a little more legit, (not that it isn't) put something like:

This is for educational purposes only. We do not condone scamming, this section is to help users avoid being scammed.

Kinda the same, I know. But more technical, or something... Well whatever, it just sounds better imo.

[poiper]

In all seriousness, the guy is really just looking for some sort of recognition. Getting an MS MVP award isn't very technically challenging. (They're handed out like candy)

The NYNoc is a horrible host. I know from first hand experience. Andy is a tool, who can barely understand his own business model. (Andy is the owner of the hosting company by the way) This dumbass 'Steven Burns', thinks he is the internet police. Yet, instead of doing what he SHOULD have done (eg; contacting the administrators of the site, or hell, any staff member for that matter), he went straight to the host. This proves he has no intention whatsoever to try to resolve the issue.

We all know that most of the staff would be happy to see the Scams section removed. However, being as it's one of the highest traffic sections on the site, it's simply not an option. Dumbshit Burns obviously has never run a site specifically meant to be a forum-only site. You can't just take down one of the busiest aspects of a site, because some tool has an issue with it. (That'd be like MS getting rid of Windows, just because I have an issue with calc.exe) No, we don't condone scamming. However, we do allow our members to speak freely (this is the US, free speech rules.), but we do restrict what is available on the site. (Eg; no keyloggers/malware/etc) As far as the advert he's mentioning, there isn't anything we can do about it. So until he gets his facts straight, or hell, once he does even the most minute amount of research, he should stick to trolling other sites who won't fight back.

We're MMOwned. We won't die that easily.

If Apoc released a book it would be called "How I am WIN" and i would totally buy that.

on topic: im glad to see Mmowned back i was getting worried

[Baneh]

While Mr. Burn does have a few points that do deserve recognition and notice, much of what he says doesn't do any good - for his own personal gratitude, for the good of the internet community, for the forum users themselves, or for anyone in general.

---

Mr. Burn, I am speaking directly to you when I say that you won't stop the scamming by stopping the alleged "source" of the scamming and phishing, etc. As long as the videos that people have made exist, as long as the files exist, as long as the (very motivated) people behind the files, as long as the websites exist, there will always be scamming.

The internet is such a vast place that by attempting to "stop" one website and community that hasn't done anything wrong (as a whole), you'll just make people even MORE motivated, because people's minds don't work as you would like them to. People LIKE a good challenge. As long as people have a large social following, the files and videos etc. will get around.

I ask you, how do you plan on getting rid of the files and the people behind them and the SLEW of websites that are packed with the files. You can't just call up YouTube Headquarters and ask them to please remove the videos, you can't effectively remove all the phishing websites without an entire army working for you - because when one goes down, two more pop right up to take its place. You cannot change the mindset of everyone to be as your own is. The only people that came remotely close (still very far) from that were Hitler and Stalin, and I'm pretty sure that you aren't qualified to be one of those two.

Lets put it this way, if people weren't so stupid to begin with, then there would be no need for a scamming section or for the word "scam" to even exist in the first place, but it does. Instead of wasting your time trying to shut down websites with a large community of (mainly) friendly and innocent people, go after the forums that are really causing havoc - those that show people how to steal credit card information and PayPal information, among others. Why pick MMOwned over one of those MUCH more imminently dangerous websites?

There are websites that download trojans and other malicious information into computers too, why not go after them and their hosts?

Really, sir, I think you're really taking this way too far. You will never be able to simply pick and choose what you and others imagine a Utopian cyberspace to look like.

Hell, if I could do that I'd change the lottery numbers to read the ones on my ticket.

Anyways, I hope I got -somewhat- of a point across without sounding too repetitive...

[Patchumz]

Ah, and another example of the plague known as stupidity striking again.. Steven needs to get a life, and quit being such a puss.

[obox]

stop blaming the scam victims they are stupid just because they are illiterates when it comes to what a hack is how it works whats client side/server side they probably don't even know there are wow private servers and when they see the video they are like "oo wow i need to have this" + see all the positive comments they just get sucked in and take it for granted , also there is a lack of information towards these kind of videos on the world of warcaft forums as they only show us how to recognize phishers but don't tell us that the youtube videos are fake...it's like scamming old people

[Hazzerd]

Awesomesauce.

[DaemonScyth]

Not being funny or anything, but this "Steve Burn" talks too much out his ass.

You may act like some kind of big shot in the Internet world. but In real life you are a pathetic/depressed man who has nothing more in life then just demeaning people on the internet. (From the looks of things)

If people want to learn about scams, let them, who says you can control people, God created people with a "Free Will" Which is why everyone is different.

I suggest you just sort yourself out and go play Checkers or Dungeons and Dragons with your 8 sided dice.

Nuff said

Sincerely.....
The Guy who has a life...

[izzywizzybuzy]

The internet should be free but there will always be people that want to control it and only show what they believe is right, exactly like the real world and is why wars are started...

Steve Burns is an example of why the human race is so ****ed -.-

[Lazeka]

Meh, what a fool. Naivety surely runs thick in his veins, doesn't it? Does he honestly believe MMOwned is the worse thing in the world? Bug exploitation may frustrate you but you don't die from it. As for scamming and phishing? I have no sympathy for those who get scammed/phished simply because it's easy to avoid: Use some goddamn common sense (I have posted in the scamming section but I do not condone or endorse the act of it, even though I have tried it multiple times).

Yes, I have tried out phishers. Mostly for educational purposes (I know many of you will throw that off in disbelief, but you do what you will) and the scamming section is an incredibly good insight into the minds of many scammers and phishers, as well as scams to avoid.

Phishers are easy to avoid, which is why I have no sympathy for them. There isn't many ways to mask a URL, nothing easy anyway, nothing that a simple leecher may want to dig into. Most phishers use fake addresses (top-level domain or sub-domain, doesn't matter) and are incredibly easy to notice if you look at your goddamn address bar. You know those scammers on WoW who whisper you saying Blizzard is releasing something cool at www.<blah blah blah>.com? Obvious fake. Blizzard would announce such events on their own site, e-mail you about it and actually use their sites (such as WorldofWarcraft.com and The World of Warcraft Armory).

This guy thinks he's an internet hero, eh? Maybe if he went and "killed" some sites that promote rape, child molestation and child pornography I may think such, but until then he is a naive fool who thinks scamming is one of the worse things online (also: I have seen screenshots/forums who actually do condone murder, rape and child molestation, they get removed quickly but I've seen these and they communities are absolutely disgusting).

Edit: izzywizzybuzy, Steve Burns is allowed his opinion. He is allowed to think that MMOwned is a scourge upon the internet, upon the world even, if that is what he wishes. But I'm allowed to think he's a naive fool. That's the beauty of free speech and what I support it. What makes Steve Burns worse than most is that, while his opinion is bigoted (not the main problem) he actually went and attempted to deny user's access to the site.

Steve Burns is not the reason why Humanity, as a race, is a doomed race. Whilst I believe we kill ourselves to live I don't think Burns is the worst human out there. Some would say I'm worse, some may say your worse. Steve Burns hate phishing, scamming and MMOwned. Good on him. I hate rape and would take much pleasure in torturing each and every single rapist and child molester in the world until the brink of death (but I would never kill them, it's far too easy a-way out). Some find me sick, cruel and twisted for thinking that. But that's my opinion. And I'm allowed it.

[amadmonk]

Look, **I** was an MVP (and MCSD, and MCSE) for a while, it's not a terribly impressive title. Yes, this guy clearly has an overinflated sense of his own importance. Granted -- this is the internet, after all, and egos run wild, but still...

That being said, I'd love to see the scams section go. I think that it is the focus for a lot of script kiddiez (who I hate) and definitely gives the whole site a bad name. I think that there's nothing wrong with hacking and botting a game and all that... TOS be damned. But when you're specifically trying to take advantage of the less knowledgeable... yes, that's not cool.

[Lazeka]

That being said, I'd love to see the scams section go. I think that it is the focus for a lot of script kiddiez (who I hate) and definitely gives the whole site a bad name. I think that there's nothing wrong with hacking and botting a game and all that... TOS be damned. But when you're specifically trying to take advantage of the less knowledgeable... yes, that's not cool.

Lots of people would like it removed. But to do would be an incredibly unwise business decision. The WoW Scams forum is just as popular a section as the WoW Exploits section is, both generate revenue.

KuRIoS has also stated (on MarkeeDragon) that while s/he (someone educate me on that detail lol) doesn't condone or endorse scamming or phishing at all it's a necessity to keep MMOwned up. Whether that standard still holds true today is unknown to me but the fact remains that it does generate revenue and users.

Some people may think it's rather pathetic to allow the scamming section to stay just for extra hits, posts and members but popularity is popularity. More hits equals more popularity, more popularity means better page rankings for search engines like Google or Yahoo! (search Google for "world of warcraft exploits" and "world of warcraft scams", MMOwned comes up high on the first page for both searches).

With the sheer traffic MMOwned no doubt gets (look at the stats for crying out loud, over 500,000 members, over 1,300,000 posts, the newest member joining TODAY, that's a feat in and of itself, one I am rather envious of) the cost to run and maintain it must be somewhat high.

I'd say adverts will bring far more revenue than donations do (especially in terms of sustainability, you shouldn't expect donations at all). And, if they're CPM (for those uninitiated, CPM means "cost per thousand" and is a term used in internet advertising, in a nutshell every thousand views earns X amount of money) CPM ads (again, something I wouldn't doubt simply due to the wise nature of using them as cost per click ads are about as sustainable as donations, you can't rely on users to click your adverts) they may be making a fair amount each month (but then this can be combated by how much they pay for hosting and any advertising they may do).

I know many people dislike Alexa but I'll use stats from them as I know of none else that produces similar stats. Now, according to Alexa's data that rank quite highly (19,687 at time of checking). Which means they must get at least a somewhat decent amount pageviews and visitors.

And after that I now hate MMOwned. Ugh, those stats make me jealous lol.

[KuRIoS]

The fact is that we have already begun discussing the scam section as we always do, last staff meeting a few months ago another discussion about it started and we may be doing changes to it soon. However a few of our moderators wasnt able to attend that meeting and therefore we are going to discuss it again when more ppl can attend the meeting