Questions for St C That I Think Many Posters Would Like Answered

[gnadfly]

Was anything from eccie seized, turned over to, or taken by the feds or any state agency during the last few months?

How can I be assured by eccie that any information that I put on this website or even the act of viewing this website isn't being monitored by the feds?

In the months that eccie was down, the URL led to another website. Who is responsible for that website, why was it chosen as a redirect and what happened to the information of the people who signed up for it?

I notice that many of the mods or very frequent posters have not returned. Is there a reason for that besides "personal choice?" I can think of several people who posted 20+ times a day who aren't posting. Without naming names did anyone get arrested by the feds because of this site? Has anyone been told by "management" not to return?

On the other hand, I notice several posters who we're banned (I thought forever) from this site who have started posting again. Have all the points, suspension and bans been lifted?

Thanks!

[I B Hankering]

Originally Posted by gnadfly

Was anything from eccie seized, turned over to, or taken by the feds or any state agency during the last few months?

How can I be assured by eccie that any information that I put on this website or even the act of viewing this website isn't being monitored by the feds?

In the months that eccie was down, the URL led to another website. Who is responsible for that website, why was it chosen as a redirect and what happened to the information of the people who signed up for it?

I notice that many of the mods or very frequent posters have not returned. Is there a reason for that besides "personal choice?" I can think of several people who posted 20+ times a day who aren't posting. Without naming names did anyone get arrested by the feds because of this site? Has anyone been told by "management" not to return?

On the other hand, I notice several posters who we're banned (I thought forever) from this site who have started posting again. Have all the points, suspension and bans been lifted?

Thanks!

Excellent questions. Many here would appreciate answers.

[Tsmokies]

IMO...nope. They turned off the lights to regroup and assess the situation. They turned the lights back on to make all the money they can until they switch off for good. I've heard they will be charging ladies to be here for the guys to enjoy. Wtf...it's all about the money lol

[Guest110920]

Originally Posted by gnadfly

On the other hand, I notice several posters who we're banned (I thought forever) from this site who have started posting again. Have all the points, suspension and bans been lifted?

Don't think so. I still have the same 7 points I had before the site went down. Maybe some bans were lifted.

[WARHEAD]

I believe time continued on premium access and bans.
So bans probably expired.

[gnadfly]

Originally Posted by Tsmokies

IMO...nope. They turned off the lights to regroup and assess the situation. They turned the lights back on to make all the money they can until they switch off for good. I've heard they will be charging ladies to be here for the guys to enjoy. Wtf...it's all about the money lol

I'm not seeing Admin or St C by your name so that's just your conjecture. Let the owner speak for himself.

Originally Posted by SpankyJ

Don't think so. I still have the same 7 points I had before the site went down. Maybe some bans were lifted.

Where can you see your points? Maybe. That's one of the questions I'm asking...from someone who knows.

The other poster said "probably" so you don't know either.

[The_Waco_Kid]

Originally Posted by gnadfly

Was anything from eccie seized, turned over to, or taken by the feds or any state agency during the last few months?

How can I be assured by eccie that any information that I put on this website or even the act of viewing this website isn't being monitored by the feds?

In the months that eccie was down, the URL led to another website. Who is responsible for that website, why was it chosen as a redirect and what happened to the information of the people who signed up for it?

I notice that many of the mods or very frequent posters have not returned. Is there a reason for that besides "personal choice?" I can think of several people who posted 20+ times a day who aren't posting. Without naming names did anyone get arrested by the feds because of this site? Has anyone been told by "management" not to return?

On the other hand, I notice several posters who we're banned (I thought forever) from this site who have started posting again. Have all the points, suspension and bans been lifted?

Thanks!

excellent questions indeed. i've wondered about all of these questions. it is my personal and professional opinion as a senior UNIX system administrator that the site was hacked. first, let's rule out the possibility that the site was seized by the FBI. if so, then by law, the FBI would have posted their banner page stating so. it's law that they have to do so. just like backpage. no other US agency would have domestic jurisdiction to do so. not the CIA, the NSA or even Homeland Security.

since no banner page was put up, i feel certain the site was not seized then restored as some sort of shadow op. it would have been easier for the FBI to start their own site .. and legal .. to do this. besides, who would login to a site that for several weeks had the FBI banner page displayed then suddenly returned as if nothing happened? i wouldn't.

so, this leaves three possibilities left. that the site was taken offline by the site owners or it was hacked. or it crashed.

let's discuss the possibility the site was taken offline i.e. a controlled shutdown of the server(s) by the owners. would the owners take the site offline, let it go "blank" for several weeks (not to mention the domain redirection, more on that in a moment) without posting a page stating so? i think not, as it would not be good for business. a simple webpage stating this is very easy to do. no need to return the basic bulletin board software to state the site was being restored (classic sign of either a hack or a crash). no such page was put up, meaning to me the site was not shutdown by the ownership to make changes.

now, two possibilities left. did it crash or was it hacked? if it crashed, again it would have been easy for the site via whoever hosts the site to display a notice that it had crashed and was in the process of being restored. that didn't happen. for weeks, the site displayed a blank page. surely, the hosting company could have displayed a page stating this, and/or restored the site much faster. this didn't happen

so let's discuss the domain redirection hack, a common hack technique. the site was hacked, in my opinion, and a "battle" began to control the domain name. this explains why the site displayed a blank page for over two weeks, then that bizarre site for another two weeks. i only tried that link once, it was blocked by my anti-virus software, Malware Bytes, as a malware site. i did not override that, as i could have, to see what exactly that site was. it was not ECCIE and certainly chock full of malware, so what was the point?

so, as far as i am concerned, the site was hacked, crashed by hackers, and these hackers did a domain redirection hack via the domain name. this is why it took over a month before the owners could regain control of the domain. it takes time to do that. since they are the rightful owners, they were eventually able to regain control and post the basic vbulletin board software stating the site was being restored. that they opted to make changes to address these new laws is just part of what happened.

it is my opinion, and there were rumors of such, that the site was hacked. the behavior of the site for over a month tends to indicates this.

the site ownership is not going to admit the site was hacked. would you? you would be acknowledging that some external hack group took your site offline? unless you are Experian, Bank of America or some other large public entity and had to admit it, would you? No.

the site was hacked. that's my opinion. it fits the pattern of what happened.

that's the bad news. the good news is the site is back under the control of the rightful owners and there is no reason to fear the Fed's had any control even temporary, of the site.

[Danielle Silver]

Originally Posted by gnadfly

Where can you see your points? Maybe. That's one of the questions I'm asking...from someone who knows.

.

Click on your name at the top right corner, then click your profile, on the top of your profile are tabs, click Infractions..


The pulled the site to clean it up before anything did or could happen just to be on the safe side of things... I’m not St.C but that’s what happened..

As for bans they weren’t lifted the time had expired.. Quite a few are still intact. Bans range anywhere from a month three months, six.months, a year to permanent...

If you want to address St.C there is a forum for that..
Questions for Staff..



DS

[The_Waco_Kid]

Originally Posted by Danielle Silver

Click on your name at the top right corner, then click your profile, on the top of your profile are tabs, click Infractions..


The pulled the site to clean it up before anything did or could happen just to be on the safe side of things... I’m not St.C but that’s what happened..

As for bans they weren’t lifted the time had expired.. Quite a few are still intact. Bans range anywhere from a month three months, six.months, a year to permanent...

If you want to address St.C there is a forum for that..
Questions for Staff..



DS

so you are saying the site was taken offline by the staff? then it was very poorly handled. why no notice for over a month? and it doesn't explain that site link that appeared on the page for a few weeks. was that by design of the site? what was the purpose of it? why would the staff allow a link to a site that Malware Bytes blocked as a site chock full of malware?

and only the individual user can see his or her infractions on their profiles. by design, no other regular user (non staff) can see another user's infractions.

the ban extension i can see why. the site was not up, so time was "halted" from an eccie point of view.

[Danielle Silver]

You are correct the user is the only one who can see their points except for staff..

How I explained it earlier is how the user finds them on their profile..

If Staff would have told everyone they were pulling the site for a transformation that could have left the wrong people screen shoting different things and could have put the users at risk..

Was it ideal, Did it piss people off?
Different Questions that affected different people..

Are you referring to the message of site can’t be reached on the server? Isn’t that kind of like pulling the plug just completely taking it off line until figuring out the ends and outs of how to make the site as legit as it could be in order to comply with the new laws as to not be subjected to seizure like BP was..

Sometimes it just is what it is and sometimes it just sucks..


Since this website does charge for different things, it does make it more of a customer base board instead of a user board.

I understand the frustration from the gentlemen here..
I understand the frustration from the ladies as well.

It just is what it is at the end of the day..
Let’s be truthful, no matter how bad it was or wasn’t for business everyone came back....

[gnadfly]

Where is Questions for the Staff? Do I have access to post a new thread to it?

I'd still like St. C to answer my questions.

BTW, who was the genius who put "boys and girls" in the comeback announcement?

[Guest083119]

Gnadfly,

Your best chance at actually reaching staff is to post this in Questions for Staff in either Houston or Dallas. You can also RTM your own post to bring added attention.

Good Luck.

[Guest083119]

Occam’s Razor

- They took down the site without notice so that no one had a chance to screenshot or copy posts that they wanted to disappear forever.

- They didn’t put up a notice right away because they were awaiting advice from counsel as to whether they could bring the site back somehow and be compliant.

- The credit card processing is not working, fact. They most likely put pressure on Eccie and similar sites to clean things up or they would not work with them. Hence, the wacky and sometimes inconsistent new rules. Not much to do with the new laws, more likely to try to get CC processing back on board so they can make money.

- The redirected the site to another and had some advertising still in effect in order to try to recoup some lost advertising revenue and avoid having to refund money.

- They weren’t hacked because it’s a bit coincidental that would happen right at the same time other sites were voluntarily taking themselves offline AND since Eccie doesn’t have a reason to have much personal info about us other than our DOB and email address, why wouldn’t they simply just say...we have been targeted, we’ve been hacked. Additionally, if this were some sort of data breach, they’d be in a lot more immediate trouble for trying to cover it up than they likely face under the new laws that aren’t yet in effect.

- They were not seized by a government entity because there was not a takedown notice, though I do think there are a couple of government entities besides the FBI (not CIA or NSA )that could be involved, though they would all put up a notice.

[administrator]

.....

Originally Posted by gnadfly

Was anything from eccie seized, turned over to, or taken by the feds or any state agency during the last few months?

Nope. Don't know why they would, to be honest.

How can I be assured by eccie that any information that I put on this website or even the act of viewing this website isn't being monitored by the feds?

You can't be assured of that. And neither can I. They can monitor whatever the fuck they want to

In the months that eccie was down, the URL led to another website. Who is responsible for that website, why was it chosen as a redirect and what happened to the information of the people who signed up for it?

Our advertisers pay for our traffic, just like our members pay for Premium Access. The redirect went to one of our long-time advertisers who had paid already for banners on the site. Instead of a refund, they got some quality traffic during the outage. As for what happened to someone's information if they signed up?? Dunno. Probably the same thing that happens to it if you sign up for a membership with them right now.

I notice that many of the mods or very frequent posters have not returned. Is there a reason for that besides "personal choice?" I can think of several people who posted 20+ times a day who aren't posting. Without naming names did anyone get arrested by the feds because of this site? Has anyone been told by "management" not to return?

Nobody's been arrested, and nobody's been told not to return. We have only brought back Texas, and a few other places. If your state wasn't back yet you might not post. I don't wanna get into guessing games over why frequent posters disappear for awhile. Happens all the time. I'm encouraged by how many have returned. If some of your favorite people aren't back yet, hang in there....they'll be back. (unless of course they've been abducted by space aliens)

On the other hand, I notice several posters who we're banned (I thought forever) from this site who have started posting again. Have all the points, suspension and bans been lifted?

Nope, and if somebody is back that you thought should have been gone forever, let a member of the staff know. Maybe a glitch happened or something

Thanks!

[administrator]

We weren't hacked Waco. I love ya dude, and respect your opinions, but you got this one wrong.

The site was taken down to make changes that will hopefully give us a chance to operate well into the future. How it was handled is a matter of opinion and you, like everyone, are entitled to yours.

Long time, no see, brother. Hope all is well.

St. C