koop koop

Warez d00dz

▼

Warez d00dz

from WinCustomize Forums
This is an update to Frogboy's earlier post. I am the one that tried to shut down the warez site. Since the web master of the site posted my Stardock email address and websites, there have been several attacks. I have received confirmation of my subscription to several porno sites (thank you) and several virus infected emails (no, thank you.) For those who know me, the decision to take action against the warez site was taken with grave reservations.
I am a free speech advocate in the extreme ( a perfect foil to Frogboy's ethical conservatism) and a supporter of civil liberties. I think software should be free. An unusual attitude for the sales person of a software company? Not really. I also think food, my childrens' education, DVD's and a new Volvo should be free. I just can't get everyone to agree with me.
Having said that, the Warez site posted a link to the full version of our software. They posted an article about it on their front page. I emailed them, told them to take it down and offered to let them post a shareware version instead. 24 hours passed. My blood pressure rose. I contacted their ISP, who blew the whole thing off. Now the site contacted me, told me the link was taken down. Then they posted another link on their message board, telling their community that they would not be stopped. Well, for a week we played games. Ultimately, I did what I had to do.
I learned two lessons this week. The first is that we live in a time that permits small crimes everyday. As I said to a one of the people I met on the warez scene this week, he would follow someone a mile to return their wallet, but sees nothing wrong with stealing software. This isn't just about the software. ISP's have to turn a blind eye to these sites. I am not kidding, I had three virii mailed to me, threats sent to me, etc. Come on guys, you know that this is wrong. When we (yes all of us) do little things wrong many times a day, is it any wonder that big wrong things happen?
The second thing I learned is about community. These warez d00dz (am I so old that I am the only one to remember that phrase?) found a community on that site. They were prepared to defend their home. I hope that they keep that enthusiasm of youth, but transfer it to a more socially acceptable community- like skinning.
Peace, y'all.
14,047 views 37 replies
Reply #26 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Citizen razorborg....if some drug-crazed junkie 'borrows' your car from your garage, wouldn't you perhaps expend a little effort in its retrieval?
Gosh...you probably were still paying it off and now you no longer have it....and in the back seat is your youngest child, about to be dumped on some kerbside as useless baggage to die of exposure. Never mind, lad, you can always breed another...
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #28 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Starduck style:

"you probably were still paying it off and now you no longer have it....and in the back seat is your youngest child, about to be dumped on some kerbside as useless baggage to die of exposure. Never mind, lad, you can always breed another"
Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Minor point, Jafo has nothing to do with StarDock and is much older than you might think (as are most people around here). Not much teens here.
Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Note to self....sarcastic analogy may be lost on 1337 warez-geeks...
Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ya well, I don't quite get the analogy myself, I must confess... OK, I see where your going with the car anology, although I disagree with it, but how did you get to throw a kid on the backseat?
Reply #32 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Citizen Razorborg, any reference to your children was made in haste and was not meant to be hurtful. I am sure that your little girls are lovely and that you work hard to be the best daddy that you can. Jafo is as kind a human as you are likely to meet anywhere. We are all feeling a little defensive these days. Add to that his being from Australia and walking around upside down all the time with the blood flowing to his head, and, well I am sure that you can understand.
Wincustomize is a good place. It is more than these message boards, it is more than the discussions. It is a place where artists create beauty from the void. The apps- well, the apps are just tools. Sure if the Sistine Chapel didn't have a roof, Michelangelo would not have had a place to put his work. But the art is MORE than paint on the ceiling. Look at our WindowBlinds skins, at our DesktopX themes, at our wallpapers. That is what it is about! Beauty where there was none, man! That is the legacy we make for our kids.
Peace.
Reply #34 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I actually can't believe that jafo,one of the most well respected people of the skinning community would post a comment such as he did.Well, he just lost my respect for him
Reply #35 from WinCustomize Forums Top
BlazerRW...
The analogy just worked better in my head than on paper...
It was a [failed] attempt to show the severity of property theft of a product from Stardock with the stealing of a car by some low-life who has no regard for anything but his personal persuit of his drug habit, at the expense of collateral damage...innocent people suffering as victims....
Just remind me never to be quite so 'clever' and analogous as it obviously screwed up....
Reply #36 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I know Jafo for a long time, and I am sure he was just making an analogy and was completly missundertood.
I know his character and can put my hand on the fire by him, without being afraid of burnning it.
Reply #37 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Bum....'pursuit'....Spell checker

As a motor-racing official, I officiated in about 1993 at Albert Park in Melbourne...a promotional sprint race/speed trial as a lead up to the Grand Prix being held there [in '96].
There were no proper crowd control fencing at the corner where I was posted...although it was a 'controlled motor race event'.
Now, when mum and dad walks their kids across a road...jay-walking, you'd expect them to at least hold the rug-rat's hand so it didn't run off and get squished by a car.....
Now, just imagine a race-track....with testosterone-mad racing drivers of varying capability...at near-race-speed....and parents jay-walking with their kids....accross a Race circuit!...You guessed it, not even holding the kid's hands....and there is me, trying to convince them that they are too f***ing stupid to be allowed to breed.
In the end, I said to their parting backs, much to the approval of other horrified parents...."Never mind, if you kill this one, you can always breed more".
At least on that occasion my sarcasm and abject disgust sank in.

You haven't lived till you have jumped out in front of a Formula 5000 racing car [similar to an Indycar] at full-song, to flag down Bib Stillwell as his car approaches a blind corner where 2 little kids have strayed into its path on bicycles, thanks to the knuckle-dragging morons who should not have been their parents.

When the 5000 had passed....then at about 30 kph, I said to the 2 kids..."well, you got to see a race car up real close, didn't you?".....about two feet away....