Christmas Grid Attack
by prokofy on 26/12/06 at 12:13 am
By Prokofy Neva, Grief-Watch Dept.
Thousands of red Santa-capped green penises rained down on Second Life in the closing hours of Christmas Day on the grid, sending many residents into a panic to try to return the self-replicating objects before they displaced builds — and crashing SL entirely for others.
The grid-wide spam attack was unleashed by a new alt called llMakeExplosion Toll with an object entitled “Christmas Present”. The name was not fully visible on the object as creator and owner but the full name was later found on the avatar profile with the single description, “llGrief(TRUE);”)
Penising is the typical M.O. of W-Hat and its offshoot groups. The last such attack was just last week — in that case with pink penises — on CNET’s interview with Anshe.
In an apparently related action, Partyhats Loll, another W-hat new griefing alt, spammed people with perverse “Helpful Griefing Rant” notecards saying
“One of the most important issues in Second Life is griefing. Names such as Plastic Duck, Cubey Terra, and Pathfinder Linden are infamous for causing disruption and chaos on the grid. Skilled griefers can even take down sims using a single malicious object. Some griefers infiltrate cultures, becoming authority figures for people who have no clue as to their hostile intentions,” etc. etc
Of course, Cubey Terra, a long-time prominent creator in SL, along with Pathfinder Linden, are falsely portrayed on this spam card as “griefers” by the author.
UPDATE 9:45 PM SLT: Only one Linden appears to be online and Live Help (now known as Help Request) does not appear to be answering. Support is closed for Christmas. I’ve crashed twice trying to clear away the yuletide cocks but they’ve subsided a bit and I see that llMakeExplosion Toll is now gone from the People List. The objects remain all over where people don’t have autoreturn on, and they make a kind of wierd cackling sound. The grid is still up.
UPDATE 10:15 PM SLT The grid remains up, though individuals have reported crashing. The attack is under control. The Lindens now appear to have the ability to remove objects in one fell swoop by name, as we saw them disappear instantly on multiple sims before our eyes.
Hiro Pendragon
Dec 26th, 2006
This is what happens when SL and Virtual World blogs think it’s grande to post video of Anshe being griefed by flying penises. Gee, what a shocker that they took this as encouragement to do it again in order to get more media.
Here’s an investigative report I’d love to see the Herald cover: why one or two particular w-Hats have never had a permaban.
Alex
Dec 26th, 2006
awesome.
Goonygoon
Dec 26th, 2006
Did they finally kick you off that blog, Prokofy Neva?
Prokofy Neva
Dec 26th, 2006
Hiro, we didn’t cover the Anshe attack precisely because it fuels more attacks when they can count on that attention. It seemed important to cover this one as a public service because people are always confused when a grid-wide attack is happening — is it just their sim? or 10 sims? is it under control? etc. Sometimes it is hard to get information. It’s not always about covering griefers to fuel them; it’s about providing information and commentary. It seems it’s now well under control. Mick Linden just put out a message saying a few regions are still with scripts disabled but they’re working on it.
Partyhats Loll is a proud member of libsecondlife, btw, and has been for awhile.
Here’s the quotation from Cory Linden that he has on his profile:
“[14:57] Cory Linden: Question about what LL is doing about griefer alts… well, we are continuing to roll improvements to the group, land, and estate tools plus we are continue to build in better system-wide responses to large scale griefing. Identity is clearly not a solved problem on the web, so community and local control seems the only scalable solution.
[14:57] chmarr Walcott shouts: greifer alts can EASILY be solved by IP# bannings
[14:58] SunShine Kukulcan shouts: USE MAC ADDRESS”
As for the issue of “why one or two particular w-Hats have never had a permaban,” I think one of the ways they can persist is that people like you who style themselves as leaders and developers never name names and never persuade your peer groups to disassociate with W-hat publicly and thoroughly.
There’s only so much a journalist can investigate about something like this when there are peer groups and possibly even Lindens backing them, tacitly or explicitly.
SunShine Kukulcan
Dec 26th, 2006
Well will you look at that!! I get quoted in some asshat/clown libSl’ers profile AND I get a mention in SL Herald! WOOT for me!
Bet I STILL can’t get onto their land-thanks to a ban by the President of the Asshat/Clowns Union in libSL, Baba.
SunShine
Walker Spaight
Dec 26th, 2006
Best thing about this article? The new coinage, “penising”. Excellent.
Inigo Chamerberlin
Dec 26th, 2006
Er, what makes you think the self replicating objects were penises? My personal and limited experience of them doesn’t include things that look anything like the pictures.
Then again I suppose your experience of male appendages may be a little different to mine…
Prokofy Neva
Dec 26th, 2006
Um, they *are* penises? Look at them. Also, none other them that uber-reputable OTHER newspaper, the Blingsider, called them penises:
“They’re hollow green penises, with jaunty Santa-style stocking caps.”
http://www.secondlifeinsider.com/2006/12/26/christmas-day-goo-attack/
Inigo, I have to point out that because you’ve been criticized in a debate with me on another thread, you evidently now carry a grudge, and you’ll see every single post through the lens of your baggage. That makes you do something silly like a) deny these are penises when everybody who saw them knew they were penises and b) take a swipe at me on some gender thing which is just plain abusive. Don’t do that. It clouds your reason, and you were right in your first post to criticize the FIC’s inability to recognize something now from their own little circle. Stay with that revelation, and don’t let them change the lens on you.
Urizenus
Dec 26th, 2006
I think Inigo was making a joke. I know that mine looks like that sometimes. But then I get a shot and everything is back to normal.
Inigo Chamerberlin
Dec 26th, 2006
Right, right…
humanoid
Dec 27th, 2006
I thought they were watermelons or Christmas-themed burritos when I first saw them. But I never saw them up close. They were sailing through the air like Patty Wagstaff on a caffiene high.
urizenus
Dec 27th, 2006
>Christmas-themed burritos
rotflmao
Sadako Shikami
Dec 27th, 2006
“penising” … i love it!
*peers closely at pics of pickle-like penii* hmph. no balls.
Prokofy Neva
Dec 27th, 2006
Yeah, “no balls” is exactly the way to describe people who do stuff like this anonymously — they are cowards.
Ares Artizar
Dec 28th, 2006
the Alliance Navy might have done this…..
http://sltimes.wordpress.com/2006/12/02/pear-tree-tosses-tea-crates-of-cheer/#comment-148
Padijun Loll
Dec 28th, 2006
SLH: a paranoid cat lady’s vehicle for her personal war on w-hat
Stovich
Jun 25th, 2008
@Prok
“Anonymously”? “Cowards”?
That, I believe, is a Slashdot term. I blame the GNAA.
Witness X
Jun 25th, 2008
I love how Prok classifies one of the best loved and most honorable people in SL – Cubey Terra – as an SL terrorist – along with Pathfinder Linden.
Talk about being unclear on the concept.
Lord Kamina
Jun 25th, 2008
Good job reviving an ancient article fuckwit.
Darien Caldwell
Jun 25th, 2008
obviously your reading comprehension is lacking. He is quoting from a notecard where a griefer says that. Look one sentence below where Prok clearly states “Of course, Cubey Terra, a long-time prominent creator in SL, along with Pathfinder Linden, are falsely portrayed on this spam card as “griefers” by the author.”
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