320.2! 301.5, 311.3, 65.4 - Page 130

General Woundwort · #**1291** July 7th, 2003, 09:07 PM

[puts on Sherlock Holmes cap and lights up Cavendish pipe]

Let's take this one step at a time. A crime has been committed (theft of Posts). Culprits must be identified. The three major criteria for culprits are...

- means
- motive
- opportunity

I think we can conflate means and opportunity here. Only a moderator/sys-admin could pull a stunt like this. That narrows the list down to...

(Moderated by: geoschmo, Mephisto, Suicide Junkie, Atrocities)

(copied from top of Forums hub page)

[pauses to puff on pipe]

So, which of these four scurvy dogs had the motive to perpetrate this crime?

Any ideas?

[ July 07, 2003, 20:10: Message edited by: General Woundwort ]

Suicide Junkie · #**1292** July 7th, 2003, 09:34 PM

There are also the admins, and software gremlins that could be at fault.

General Woundwort · #**1293** July 7th, 2003, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
There are also the admins, and software gremlins that could be at fault.

[draws long puff on pipe]

Indeed. But, regarding the admins, we must also ascertain motive. Why would they steal our Posts? Why this thread, and not another? And why no prior announcement?

And as for gremlins... well, I am no programmer, but the hit on this thread appears to this old bunny to be a bit non-random. Why just one thread? This thread, for example? Further, why would Posts just disappear, rather than the whole thread being corrupted? Barring further evidence (reports of prior incidents of such gremlins), I must default back to purposeful human action behind this theft.

Elementary, my dear Junkie.

[puff, puff]

[ July 07, 2003, 20:56: Message edited by: General Woundwort ]

narf poit chez BOOM · #**1294** July 8th, 2003, 06:20 AM

*pulls out his hammer*

I'M GONNA GET HIM! OR HER!

*begins randomly smashing stuff*

Taera · #**1295** July 8th, 2003, 10:51 AM

uh huh? what? whats going on? i missed two pages, why is the white mouse running around with hammer?

General Woundwort · #**1296** July 8th, 2003, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by narf poit chez BOOM:
*pulls out his hammer*

I'M GONNA GET HIM! OR HER!

*begins randomly smashing stuff*

[sighs, taps ash from pipe]

Now calm down, my good fellow. We will not solve this crime by such destructive displays. You may be destroying valuable evidence, besides.

Erax · #**1297** July 8th, 2003, 06:01 PM

Possible motives :

- Free time in excess.
- Yet another bad day.
- Revenge.
- Online arguments with people who post here frequently.
- No taste for nonsense.

Hmmm... does that point out a suspect ?

mottlee · #**1298** July 8th, 2003, 07:02 PM

Don't look at me!!!! I did not take em!

Taera · #**1299** July 8th, 2003, 07:11 PM

i know! its the B5 people taking revenge on us!

General Woundwort · #**1300** July 8th, 2003, 07:35 PM

[pauses to relight pipe]

Remain calm! Let's take this step by step.

To review, there are three possibilities here.

1) An "inside job" by one of the Moderators/sysadmins

2) An outside "hack" by a third party

3) A "bug"

As you all are aware, I am inclined to think that 1) is the probable solution. The evidence (disappearance of Posts in this thread only) does not appear to me to indicate a random bug in the system. An outside hack 2) is a possibility - and given the success vis a vis MOO3 that SEIV has enjoyed, we have a clear motive. But I am not inclined to believe that this is the case, as a "hack" job by a disgruntled MOO-ite would have, I believe, most likely targeted a more game-oriented thread - the Newbie FAQ for example.

So, we have the crime, and we have a finite and identifiable circle of suspects. We must now be about the task of narrowing that list down, until we find our nefarious culprit.

[puff, puff]