Underground Mac Community Foils a Coup

An anonymous reader writes "In an attempted palace coup that would not have been out of place in a Shakespearian tragedy, a moderator faction at Mac Serial Junkie, one of the largest underground Mac communities, was shut out this weekend after it was discovered that many staff members were plotting a coup. The plans included a surreptitious takeover of the domain name macserialjunkie.com. In an Open Letter to the Community, the founders of MSJ explain how a number of people at the highest levels of the underground planned their takeover activities for almost two years, only to be foiled at the last minute."

Who cares?

[by Anonymous Coward]

I assume this is some sort of piracy forum, but regardless, who cares? This stuff happens all the time on forums and IRC. Owner X doesn't do much/disappears leaving Y in charge. Y gets upset that he's doing all the work while X enjoys ownership. Y plots takeover, and either does or fail and is replaced by Z.

Re:Who cares?

[by Anonymous Coward]

Yea, it's a site to swap software serial numbers. Amusing that people who are content to rip off other people's hard work suddenly think they have the moral high ground when they're about to be ripped off themselves. Pot, kettle, etc.

Re:Who cares?

[gEvil (beta) (945888)]

Pot, kettle, etc.

Boiling water? Tea? Why yes, I would love a spot of tea.

Drat!

[peacefinder (469349)]

"Yea, it's a site to swap software serial numbers."

Darn, I was hoping it was a site about Mac serial ports. I was gonna go ask a question...

Re:Who cares?

[Foerstner (931398)]

Are we talking about the CEO who laid off half the development team, required the remainder to work over time, and then gave himself a bonus by firing the rest after the product went gold or the pirates?

I say this because more than naught developers are underpaid for their work and then have the hounds released on them by the bean counters when quarter figures need to look better.

Nice little Freudian slip there.

I'd wager that most of the successful commercial software companies treat their developers with a modicum of dignity. Sure, there have been dozens of exceptions over the years, but by and large it's hard to stay in the business if you treat your programmers like shit. It's a good way to make sure your company is a one-hit wonder. Perhaps that's why Adobe, Microsoft, and Google have all been on the "Best Companies to Work For" list, as have other software firms. They may not please all of their employees, but they generally have a reputation for taking care of their own.

It's often a meaner existence for programmers who work for non-software companies like financial or logistics firms--they're viewed as a "cost," not a revenue stream.

Re:Who cares?

[ksheff (2406)]

CmdrTaco is getting scared that CowboyNeal is going to take over.

Re:tag this whocares

[quanticle (843097)]

No kidding. This is like the stories about scams and drama in EVE Online, but even more irrelevant.

Re:tag this whocares

[ScytheBlade1 (772156)]

This is one story that I honestly feel could be deleted, and no one would care.

Because no one cares.

Get this off the front page.

Re:tag this whocares

[24-bit Voxel (672674)]

Funny you should mention this. When I was just a kid of about 12 or 13 years old the going modem rate was 2400 baud and BBS's were where it was at. The rules to get access to the adult sections were always crazy like send in a photocopy of a drivers license, and often times pretending to be a girl and flirting with the sysop gained you entry within 10 minutes, no ID required. Most of the time I just typed out word for word the bs letters from penthouse/playboy I'd found in my dad's closet. (In these days porn 'video' found online was usually about 12 frames of animation that was looped very well so the male was in a perpetual thrusting motion. Hilarious.)

The best is when they called you out for downloading porn that obviously was predominately female, and telling the sysop that you really liked girls as well as guys and before you know it you have superuser status. You could download all kinds of things with that. (I think this is how I played police quest 2.) I remember having to setup fake 'meetings' with some of these sysops, just to keep status for a few more days. Nothing elevated user privelages faster than the possibility of some "hot chick" who is into girls and wants to meet you. Then I'd hide out for a few months and repeat the process all over again.

My pops at the time didn't have unlimited local calling for the phone line and our first months phone bill was something like 700 dollars. Ah, those were the days.

Anyway, don't always assume that the "chatroom moderator" isn't just out to find some busty images back in those days. Often it was guys pretending to be girls.

Re:tag this whocares

[sg3000 (87992)]

> tag this whocares

No, there's too much of a risk that someone will think that Dr. Who or those simpletons the Grinch was ripping off actually care about this tempest in a teapot.

It would make more sense if Slashdot started a section specifically for stories like this. They could combine it with stories about changing alliances among pre-teen girls at our local Junior High School and which C-list celebrities are feuding with their former cast members. They could even reuse the OMG Ponies theme.

Re:tag this whocares

[quanticle (843097)]

Yes, and to further drive home the distinction, they could even place it under a different domain. Something like, Fark.com [fark.com] perhaps...

/kidding
//this is probably too irrelevant even for Fark
///slashies on Slashdot

Re:tag this whocares

[mikael (484)]

Yes, and to further drive home the distinction, they could even place it under a different domain.

Perhaps the Mac Serial Junkie People's Front?

or the Popular Front of Mac Serial Junkie?

or even the People's Front of Mac Serial Junkie?

but not to be confused with the Popular Front of Mac Serial Junkie.

Oh god...

[by Anonymous Coward]

You know I'm going to hold you personally responsible for this if they create gossip.slashdot.org. I can just hear them now discussing how popular sites like TMZ and The Smoking Gun are.

On the plus side, though, it might bring more girls to Slashdot.

Re:Subterranean Homesick Blues

[gEvil (beta) (945888)]

Highest levels of the underground? That means they're just below the surface, right? And they've been planning their takeover for almost two years? They don't sound all that motivated to me...

Days of our lives

[dekkerdreyer (1007957)]

This is quite a soap opera, but I think only people who regularly post on those forums could really care. So here's to the three of you.

Next week on slashdot: How one moderator over at knittingmachines.org thwarted an attempt by 31337gr4ndm4 to copy the patterns of beloved moderator iknit4u.

It had to be said

[Cait Sidhe (1026312)]

Internets: Serious Business

tag: firehoseabuse

[Nimey (114278)]

I see the trolls are gaming the firehose.

In Other News

[Stevecat (198954)]

SmR writes
"In an attempted anthill coup that would not have been out of place in a tragic Discovery Channel special, the red ants in my backyard, owners of one of the largest anthills underground in my backyard, were doused with gasoline this weekend after it was discovered that a faction of the worker ants were plotting a coup. The plans included an unprecedented and sneaky incursion into my kitchen trash containing an old big Mac, cereal, and tasty junk. In an unexpected move I placed some honey-soaked borax in their trail and the poison infiltrated into the highest levels of their underground empire. Then dousing thier anthill with gasoline I ended their reign of almost two years, and thus they were foiled before my wife got home."

Honestly, I think my story is more interesting.

SmR

Re:In Other News

[iroll (717924)]

It had a Mac in it, and thus is relevant to my interests!!

Re:who fucking cares?

[Derek Loev (1050412)]

I've said it before and got modded down. But I'll say it again (and get modded down).
Was anybody surprised Kdawson posted this? Seriously, anybody.

One person was

[by Anonymous Coward]

Zonk, and boy, he's pissed he didn't get to post it.

Ob: lame dupe joke, about dupes (lame, not funny)

[edittard (805475)]

Zonk, and boy, he's pissed he didn't get to post it.

Not true. Strictly speaking, he only didn't get to post it first. Just wait a day or two.

Re:who fucking cares?

[morgan_greywolf (835522)]

y34h, 1tz n0t l1k3 n3 b0dy g1v3z a cr4p ab0u7 w4r3z 4 m4cs!!! a11 th3 31337 d00dz us3 w1nd0ze!!!!

Re:WGAF

[Poromenos1 (830658)]

Man, you did not just use a regular expression when telling people to get girlfriends. Tell me that's not it.

Re:Hypocrisy

[jjohnson (62583)]

Not quite. Regardless of ./ers participation in Eve, it's well known that it's a 100K strong community, so any interesting community dynamics are newsworthy, moreso because they reflect on the MMO genre itself.

Most of the reason this is a non-story is that there's a total of four people with two servers involved. I'm far from certain that there's more than 100 people who even give a shit about the 'attempted coup'.