Limited-time: Getting a Tyrael minipet and a BETA key through Wowhead.

[Zlingo]

Thanks alot dude.
Giving it a try

[StarletRox]

If they're just renaming the pictures the easiest would be to just archive all the md5-checksums of all pictures in the /screenshots-directory (no need to download/waste hd space - they would still be able to track it though), and then pull out the md5-hashes from the 5 pictures and compare with your md5-archive to find the name of the real file.

[xtremez]

By Zawarudo 2 hr 21 min ago
Hey! So I read in a forum about the cheating. He is teaching everybody. They are downloading the whole directory Page Not Found - Wowhead and will then use a image comparer to find the images in your post. Then he said that he stretched the image by 110% and switched the RGB with 10 and the program still found the image. So I would suggest you do something about this, I want fair game and no cheaters winning this please.

that was posted on the contest forum.

seems like someone here is trying to destroy OUR kind of fun

[xtremez]

oh and btw, how did you manage to download only all the images, i can't seem to download them, all i download are a crap load of html pages etc.

ty

[someone32]

I wrote a PHP script (similar to the one posted by Marroc (http://www.mmowned.com/forums/wow-gu...ml#post1034482)) that downloaded all the images to my HTTP server to avoid being tracked (from where I downloaded them later). I know some more people, one who used a WSH script, and one who used some sort of a download accelerator with a RegEx pattern.

I've been notified about that post on the Wowhead forums, though that post wasn't the first. Some guy posted a similar one this morning which ended up being deleted by the admins.

Maybe I should have posted this in a more hidden place, but I'm 99.99% convinced that there would have been someone who told them about it. But even before this thread was posted, people suspected cheaters and asked Wowhead to make it more difficult to cheat. I'm very curious about what they are going to do now. They had to change the rules twice, reword their articles, and this already annoyed some. They can only transform the screenshots in a way that it is still similar to the original; if there's too much difference, people will start complaining. But yes, I know how bad it is to be on the losing end. I do like Wowhead, I do think that it is one of the bests in its category, but I feel they've made a mistake with that contest - the idea was awesome, it's just how it happened... (sorry for these few off-topic lines).

To those who complained that this is too hard to pull off, remember, it still takes effort to win. Either this or that (=their) way. For some, it's easier to look at 5 random screenshots and tell what those are right away (and maybe use a bit of searching); and for some, it's easier to find another way around.

And to the one who asked if you can get sued for this: I'm not a lawyer, but I highly doubt it. Downloading all the text and the images is not like (D)DoSing the server and the contest info page doesn't mention anything about alternative solutions. Even if it doesn't matter; in my eyes, this is not any worse than having X people with laptops behind you telling you all the answers.

[xtremez]

well ty for your reply, but writing such a script is getting to hard for me. so i will just try it with my memory, tho i won't come far with that competing against you people

and actually i don't really need the beta key at all (need my warlock 70 so haven't got time) just want the pet :P.

+rep for this thread/replys anyway

[Marroc]

If they're just renaming the pictures the easiest would be to just archive all the md5-checksums of all pictures in the /screenshots-directory (no need to download/waste hd space - they would still be able to track it though), and then pull out the md5-hashes from the 5 pictures and compare with your md5-archive to find the name of the real file.

Except they're very likely to watermark the images, thus changing the md5 sums.

[Poglia]

The Contest has been cancelled.
Because of the determined efforts of a few of our less fair-minded users, we've been forced to cancel this contest until we can find a way to distribute these WWI cards that's not open to exploitation. I thought the contest winners could be trusted to play fair, but apparently this is not the case.

GJ guys... they have catched us.

[someone32]

Yes, I had a feeling that they would cancel/delay it. It was the only wise step left for them. I am into shady business, and I know for sure that there were more people, even hacking groups (that normally don't bother with such things) who got involved with this. I understand and accept that some people don't like what I (we) did, but remember, if we hadn't done it, someone else would have. Yes, this is not cheap stuff you buy for $5, and I imagine some can have gained over $500, but neither me nor my friend is going to win any money on this (if it makes you feel any better).

Thanks to everyone who read this guide, especially to those who also tried to help out by answering questions, to those who asked the questions, oh, and to the person who replied "waaaaaaaaaaaa". That made my day.

Bye! :wave: