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Because They Are Afraid — Why Now?
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Because They Are Afraid

Mustang Bobby at Bark Bark Woof Woof writes about the problems that have plagued Shakesville recently: a series of denial-of-service attacks.

A clue that a DOS attack is in progress is given when your browser talks about problems connecting to 127.0.0.1 – your computer is always 127.0.0.1 until it hits the ‘Net and is given a “real” address. That is the fixed Internet Protocol [IP] address for localhost, essentially your computer, and it means you are shut out. This is one way a system may combat a DOS attack, so don’t take it personally.

The people doing this are obviously afraid of the writers at Shakesville and are trying to silence them. The activity is criminal, and if they keep it up, they will leave a trail that can be followed. Melissa’s ISP will have already called this in, and the tracking has already begun.

As for those who did this: look, you puling script-kiddies and link-whores, I realize that it’s tough being weighed down by the current crop of criminals and mental defectives that you voted for, but why don’t you spend your time justifying their illegal and extra-legal activities as best you can, rather than clogging the ‘Net with your infantile hissy fits. You might want to do a little research and find some real conservatives to promote instead of the mental midgets and whackos the GOP primaries have produced. You might want to consider that all of those laws you supported giving up your civil rights are going to make it much easier to find you, as they have already got copies of your activities thanks to the spinelessness of the telecoms. When they seize your computer, don’t say you weren’t warned.

23 comments

1 Cookie Jill { 06.23.07 at 3:44 pm }

love that last paragraph.

2 Bryan { 06.23.07 at 4:04 pm }

This crap really ticks me off because it messes up all kinds of things and causes problems for people who have no connection at all to the conflict. There are a lot of people who become collateral damage in DOS attacks.

3 andante { 06.23.07 at 4:14 pm }

“You might want to consider that all of those laws you supported giving up your civil rights are going to make it much easier to find you”

What a splendid thought. I fear, however, these fools probably would never understand the connection.

4 Bryan { 06.23.07 at 4:34 pm }

I’m hoping the connection occurs when they have to explain to their parents why the computers are gone. This stuff has been claimed by the DHS as part of their anti-terrorism measures, so they’ll take whatever they can get to up their percentages.

5 whig { 06.23.07 at 5:01 pm }

The timing coincided the hit job in the NY Times on John Edwards. Just saying.

6 Alice { 06.23.07 at 5:06 pm }

The people doing this are still stupid enough to think they’re anonymous on the internet. Here’s hoping they learn their lesson the hard way.

7 Bryan { 06.23.07 at 5:57 pm }

This is the second major attack on Shakesville, Whig, and they have already been forced off an ISP who couldn’t handle it. Some of the smaller indy bloggers have had the same thing happen to them, and few got swamped in the last spam-rush.

Alice, these clowns would be ludicrous if it weren’t for the wasted bandwidth and cost of fighting these attacks. They really need to be slapped with some major “mediation time” in a quiet place, like the “resort” Ms Hilton is now visiting to expose them to the error of their ways.

8 whig { 06.23.07 at 8:54 pm }

Why I like WordPress.com hosting. It’s free unless you pay for upgrades (which I do), and there are hundreds of thousands of blogs being hosted so a DOS attack would have to be supermassive to be of much concern.

9 Bryan { 06.23.07 at 10:00 pm }

Actually, it depends on the type of DOS attack, not that I expect these idiots to know the difference. You can affect even a large site, if you have the skill. but you can’t do it with a pre-packaged script, which is apparently what is going on in the Shakesville attack.

There are a lot of strategies that can be used, but the bottom line is that it’s a “flame war” that serves no purpose, and is illegal.

10 The American Street » Blog Archive » From and About the Bloggers { 06.24.07 at 9:46 am }

[…] Melissa’s been having woes all weekend with severe DOS attacks. […]

11 Libby Spencer { 06.24.07 at 2:57 pm }

It will be delicious that they’ll get caught by the excesses they so blithely excuse in the administration’s illegal surveillance.

12 Bryan { 06.24.07 at 3:21 pm }

They should be sentenced to work as human spam filters, with their sentence lengthened for every spam that gets through.

13 Mustang Bobby { 06.24.07 at 3:38 pm }

Bryan, when this is all over, remind me to share with you the e-mails that have been going back and forth between me, Melissa, and my brother, who is the one who stepped in back in May to rescue Shakesville from their server problems in Indiana and the steps he’s taking now to prevent it from occurring again. Even he was amazed at the volume of automated spam that was getting in.

14 Shakeseville Victim of of Right-Wing DOS Attacks « Semidi { 06.24.07 at 3:55 pm }

[…] Now” has a wonderfully scathing statement to the wingnuts behind the attacks: As for those who did this: look, you puling script-kiddies and […]

15 Bryan { 06.24.07 at 5:17 pm }

Let him know that I really reduced it by closing comments and pings after 30 days, and I periodically delete spam, not just mark it, to keep the comments database a reasonable size for backups.

There was a month when it just flooded the site.

16 I am Shakesville « cannablog { 06.24.07 at 9:00 pm }

[…] Shakesville, Shakesville, Shakesville, Shakesville, Shakesville, Shakesville, Shakesville, Shakesville,  Shakesville, Shakesville, and of course […]

17 Paul the Spud { 06.25.07 at 9:48 am }

On a particularly disgusting note, I should let you all know that this DoS attack happened after Melissa’s latest “Rape is Hilarious” post. Ever since the Opie & Anthony fiasco, a new legion of knuckle-dragging rape apologists have been keeping their eyes on Shakesville, and pounce the second Melissa writes anything about rape. Although their politics most certainly run opposite to our opinions on the blog, that is not what this attack is about.

These people shut down Shakesville because Melissa has the gall to say that Rape Is Bad.

That’s what this is about.

18 Bryan { 06.25.07 at 12:35 pm }

Paul, Shakesville deals with the hate people have that is based on their fear. They are acting on the fear, as the currently government has encouraged them to do.

I grew up down here on the Gulf Coast, where there were “White” and “Colored” signs on nearly everything. Most of the people who put up those signs didn’t hate or fear black people, but they were afraid of what white people would do to them if they didn’t put up the signs. They didn’t believe in what the signs represented, but they did believe in the violence of the people who wanted them.

The attack started a day or more before anyone noticed the effect. You can’t just thrown a switch and get an instant DoS attack when you are using a script. It takes time for the script to propagate and for resources to be highjacked. You can’t nail it down to a single post, although one may have been the triggering event. Remember, this is the second event, so they have been working on this for a while.

19 Paul the Spud { 06.25.07 at 4:08 pm }

With all due respect Bryan, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what posts and topics are causing these attacks on Melissa. And these attacks are specifically towards her, not Shakesville. I’m not saying it was that post specifically that caused the DoS attack, but every time something like this happens, it is almost always due to a rape post.

20 Plutonious Monk { 06.26.07 at 11:05 am }

Shakesville’s haters and detractors are apparently those somewhat subnormal males whose manhood is predicated not on their temperament or character or on their self-confidence and strength but rather on their need to feel important through hatred and viciousness toward females. These shrunken ball cretins are typically found at NASCAR events, mega fundamentalist churches, right wing websites and in supermarkets where Cheetoes are sold at big discounts. They are often 30 or 40 years of age but still get their kicks from porno masturbation, fart jokes, video games, car crash movies, raw.com, listening to Toby Keith and furtive late night forays into parks to meet and meat with like- minded adult boys.. They worship Gerge W. Bush’s empty codpiece, watch and agree 100% with everything on Faux News and support war on a massive scale but have never, never will, and never could serve in the military.. . They openly express express their contempt for all females, masculine men, black folk, people with a liberal arts degree, Asians, Hispanics, French people, the well-to-do, etc., etc..

21 Bryan { 06.26.07 at 12:39 pm }

Paul, you may be right, but until the forensics come in we don’t know when the attacks actually started. While many things occur at lightspeed on the ‘Net, these attacks have to build momentum. You are certainly aware that hate is not rational, and there is a massive amount of hate directed towards the site and Melissa.

PM, you are guilty of stereotyping and leaving out such luminaries as Ms. Malkin, Ms. Coulter, and Fred Phelp’s daughter. Haters come in all shapes and sizes, and that is forgotten at our peril. I do admit that you are probably correct about the general description of the individual responsible for these attacks, although I suspect he is younger.

22 Plutonious Monk { 06.26.07 at 3:30 pm }

Bryan, you’re right–I was being a bit off-base in the sterotypes. And yes, I’m familiar with Adams Apple Annie, Michelle, and the Fred Phelps spawn.
By the way -where did you live on the Gulf Coast? I spent 18 months in Pensacola in the 70’s working for the Navy. — PM

23 Bryan { 06.26.07 at 4:19 pm }

I’m just to the East, surrounded by Eglin AFB, in Okaloosa County.

I really don’t understand how they can convince women that this kind of thought is good for them.

Oh, I like your pun, as much as I like his music.