A few days ago (two or three days from today, August 25th) in an IRC chat room BBG brought my attention to ZDoom.org's mainpage which had a post by three persons that were not Randy Heit. Two other people in the room posted in the news section to have it show up on the mainpage and then promptly deleted the post. I also made a post, had it screencaptured, and then deleted it. The only evidence of it exists in a shot BBG hosts on his site.
Innitially we were going to make a post somewhere to mention to Randy that user threads were enabled in the news section and should be turned off, but another in the channel wanted to put something on the main page so Randy would see it. Of course, after a short talk we put together (what we felt) a harmless joke to put on the front page, and it was posted by deathz0r. Admittedly, I encouraged the post of it so take some of the blame. I told him that if he got in any trouble for it, I would stand up for him if possible because I had part in it as well.
Unfortunately, Randy didn't show up the next day or even the next day as we had assumed, and more and more people were figuring out that they could post threads in the news forum. Soon it ended up being an out-of-hand jokefest spamming the front page, although none of the original party was involved in later posting. Still, the posts were more or less harmless and we figured it would be fixed soon and user threads would be disabled from the news section.
Earlier today, however, when I got up I checked my e-mail to see if my step-dad had written me back about a plane ticket yet. I only had one e-mail to check so I opened it:
I was a little perplexed at first, knowing that BBG had shown everyone the first, and he is a former Doomworld staff member. Also, Shaviro, Ichor, Julian, Lüt, and Arioch all posted on this thread, and although a few said not to go too far with it (Julian) and some thought it was stupid (Cyb), none actually stated that we should apologize, that it should be fixed or taken down, or that it was wrong. In fact, the general attitude of the thread is light and comedic. If anyone on the thread had said it required an apology then, I would have made one. The e-mail took me entirely by surprise as it says nearly the exact opposite of what the problem thread suggests.Arioch wrote: From: "Arioch" <arioch@doomworld.com>
Date: 08/25/2003 02:31 AM
Subject: administrative action regarding zdoom.org defacements
It has come to our attention here at Doomworld that you, among others, have been involved in incidents relating to the defacement of the ZDoom homepage. While we do not run the ZDoom site or forums and therefore have no ability to punish your involvement in these actions on the ZDoom site itself, it is our policy that we do not condone bragging about those actions here at Doomworld.
To that end, we will be placing certain Doomworld forum accounts on suspension (banning) -- unless you take appropriate steps such as providing an apology via e-mail to Randy Heit (which should be CC or BCC to an administrator at Doomworld) or publicly via the ZDoom General forum.
CC: Lut, Mordeth, Julian, Arioch, Cyb, mewse, Bloodshedder
I was also rather confused because I know that at least two current Doomworld staffers had posted on the main page and theirs had not been deleted. However, the purpose of the e-mail states that I am at fault for having bragged on the Doomworld forums about it, not the actual content of the ZDoom page.
In either case, it was an oversight to not realize it would cause problems on the page and that several people would take advantage of the site and spam it continuously. It will not happen again.
Also, as a side note, I do hope to hear an apology to Randy from others who have contributed to the jibberish on the mainpage, especially since two of them obtained carbon copies of the e-mail above because they are Doomworld staff members. As of the time of this message, the current posts on the front page are (in order): zwouth, Sparky, wildweasel, Carnevil, randie, Bloodshedder, Spary, mewse, Stupid N00b!, and deathz0r.
Although I can't vouch for everyone who has posted on the page, I do know a few of them, and I hope they have the decency to apologize for having done so in the first place.
Thank you,
Nanami
