333 Networks shut down by FBI...

[Hermskii]

This is straight from their homepage:

Bad news list # Sep 27th

This is turning out to be a real bad day.
•Sep 27th: The FBI have confiscated a server which was hosting 333networks-material with the excuse that they may have been used for illegal activities around Anonymous, Paypal and Mastercard. WTF?! Result:◦"<|UTS|> InstaGib Public CTF" UTdemo server down,
◦"LowGrav RealWeapons @USA Server" UTdemo server down,
◦Back-up masterserver down,
◦UTdemo348 mirror #2 down,
◦beta-website lost into oblivion,
◦person hosting that server got guns rubbed into his face.

•Sep 24th: Receiving death threads from anonymous gamer-outcast (yes, we know who you are), also threads in our IRC that Anonymous is going to hack us soon.
•Sep 22th: Our forum was taken offline due to "violations of the terms of service". Nobody home for questions, nobody who knows where our forum has gone now. Screw them.


Here is a link: http://333networks.com/ so you can see for yourself!

None of this sounds good. Pretty crazy actually. HOOK, what do you know and where were you on the night before this happened? LOL!

[ZippityDooDa]

I know one thing.....Stay away from anonymous

[Hook]

I know one thing.....Stay away from anonymous

I think we ARE doing this already Keller - LOL

There is only ONE person (that I know of) that hates the idea of 333Network's existence!
This one guy hates the idea of 333Network's existence, mainly because HE didn't discover it and also because it is embarrassing to him!
Embarrassing to him because he THOUGHT it caused servers to crash, but it really doesn't at all - never has.
He campaigned and posted all over how bad their master server was and that it caused problems on servers.
Embarrassing to him because he was supposedly a "Server how-to" guru - LOL, but didn't see what the REAL problem was!
The REAL problem was SOOO obvious and had Nothing to do with 333Network's Good Master Server, but a lot to do with Linux servers and quite possibly NexGen also.
Embarrassing to him because he has been posting posts predicting and betting on when 333Networks would end their great and needed service.
(more like hoping they would end LOL) NOT!!! (the master server and site is still in service)

Anyway, I have been in contact with the admins over there.
There forum was deleted by a Free Hosting service for a supposed TOS violation.
FYI - TOS violations of SOME Free Hosting services are pretty easy to do, and are a pretty common occurrence with most of these hosts.
(really not a big deal - happens a lot)
TOS violations CAN be caused by malicious users or members of a forum, which sounds like this case!

It also appears that the HOST of SOME of 333Network's servers is what is the "problem" - and Not 333Netorks themselves. (bad luck? - probably!)

I have inquiries into the admins now for some further explanation.
We will see!

Stay Tuned folks!

[Hook]

Well, I got an email back and yes, it is some problem with one of their hosts.
That host hosts some gameservers and forums of theirs and Not the master server and site.
We will just have to wait to see how things turn out.
It really shouldn't affect us that merely use the Master Server, etc.
I hope it all turns out ok for them and us.

Again - The 333Networks Master Server for UT99 is still OK and running good at this time.
I would suggest just letting it run its course and not worry about it.
Word will come when it is all straightened out.

[Hermskii]

This message was actually meant for this forum and not HOOK's so I apologize for posting it over there first and am posting it here now where it was originally intended.

I'm going to post something here (this was originally posted on HOOK's forum) that may (but I doubt it) put me a little bit sideways with HOOK himself and possibly a few others here. (In the end it did not and I'm grateful for that people) I hope my long history of good nature towards folks covers this bill I'm about to pay. Everyone knows I have a beef with GOPOSTAL. It's nearly old history at this point. HOOK does too for that matter for many of the same reasons and many different reasons as well. The short of it is this. GOPOSTAL requested that I reply with a quote from him to a post HOOK made here that was obviously directed towards GOPOSTAL. Due to additional reasoning that only I have read which was included in the email GOPOSTAL sent to me, I have decided to post his requested reply now since I'm also aware of the risks he mentions. Everything beneath this line is from GOPOSTAL to HOOK and some others and I hope that any and all replies in regards to me making this post are sent directly to my email and not voiced here and now or maybe even just go drop it on my forum where I wish this would have stayed in the first place.

To hook,

You wrote:
There is only ONE person (that I know of) that hates the idea of 333Network's existence!
This one guy hates the idea of 333Network's existence, mainly because HE didn't discover it and also because it is embarrassing to him!

I never hated it. I just did some background work on the server owner and predicted something exactly like this was going to happen. I think there is more to the story that will come out, and I'm going to watch this with great interest. Had I been the one to "discover" it, I can promise you my message would have been exactly the same. More below...

Embarrassing to him because he THOUGHT it caused servers to crash, but it really doesn't at all - never has.
He campaigned and posted all over how bad their master server was and that it caused problems on servers.
Embarrassing to him because he was supposedly a "Server how-to" guru - LOL, but didn't see what the REAL problem was!
The REAL problem was SOOO obvious and had Nothing to do with 333Network's Good Master Server, but a lot to do with Linux servers and quite possibly NexGen also.

Yes, I did post for people to take care when using this server. Did I know exactly why it caused the crashes? Not at first, but that's how knowledge is gained. You move from not knowing something to experimentation to (hopefully) new knowledge. If I remember correctly you never gave the answer so either you knew and refused to help anyone or you didn't know and were in the same boat as me. The fact you still think nexgen is involved tells me that choice two is the much more likely candidate.
I still don't get at all how it "embarrasses" me in any way? There was a problem, I posted for server admins to take care, the issue was borne out in testing, and the problem was identified. How is this any different than (literally) countless other problems I've helped solve over the years?

Embarrassing to him because he has been posting posts predicting and betting on when 333Networks would end their great and needed service.
(more like hoping they would end LOL) NOT!!! (the master server and site is still in service)

I did my homework on this place without stars in my eyes. Even then they were involved in anon, the irc chatter bore this out with very little searching (which you should have done too). Now I'm of the same mind as Keller, anon scares the crap out of me and I'd just as soon not invoke their name in an open discussion. That's why I didn't pursue the "why I think the way I do" discussion. Openly posting this would have made me a target but I knew it wouldn't go on forever. The FBI is on them now and my guess is they are history if they were involved at all as proxy for the recent hacks. Shortly the whole 333 deal is going to go -poof- if there is even a single log line tying them to the break-ins.
You also might consider whether you want a server pinging to them now that they are a player in the public whack-a-mole game that is anonymous. Most FBI field agents are athletic with less than average tech skillsets. They are going to see your server pings and I can promise you they will look in on you too. They don't know what a "UT Master Server" is and frankly they don't care. Backsides are on fire right now to catch *anyone* involved and the net is cast widely. You are guilty by association and I can assure you that you will find FBI field office IP's in your logs for both your server and forum. Don't believe me? Go scan your logs.
Yeah, I'm a dummy. Don't listen to me.

[ZippityDooDa]

THIS IS BOGUS BS, PLEASE delete Herm

[*POTS*]

I just know that specific master server stopped working even on UT Turbocheck some months ago. I'd personally stay away from it until this whole turmoil gets solved (if it gets solved), just in case.

[Hermskii]

Settle down folks. Don't act like this is any bigger of a thing that it really is. I felt I had to give fair warning and I did. Now just kick back and watch what happens which will be nothing and by the way, I still use 333Networks as a master server for all 5 of my servers. Chill. Trust me. I have never pointed anyone in the wrong direction here ever.

EVER!

[Sir Mandrake]

Hmm I looked to see if I had put 333networks on my server and at some point I comented it out to try another master server... qtracker. I never put 333networks back. Whats odd is 333networks still list my server. Or is the master list setting not related to getting listed on the 333netowrks website??

[Hook]

FINALLY SOME SENSE is posted!!!

PS: The subject of this post should be edited - it should NOT say that 333Networks was shut down by the (you know what) - it wasn't - it was a HOST that they used for a few game servers and an old forum is all. (they were NOT the host)
333Networks was Not shut down by anybody.
Not their stuff - especially Not their master server.

[quote-"*POTS*"]I just know that specific master server stopped working even on UT Turbocheck some months ago.[/quote]
Actually it didn't stop working - its address changed is all and they didn't put out an announcement - oops.
It works better than ever now.
Hopefully, none of that "other" trouble will affect their stuff.

Whats odd is 333networks still lists my server. Or is the master list setting not related to getting listed on the 333netowrks website??

Yes, their master is like any other, but better, and it updates itself regardless if you use them or not in your ServerActors.
It is Not necessary to have them as a master in your ServerActors.
It is best if your server is running under Windows, and can include more than 3 masters and run stable than it is good to for sure include them as one of them.
With Linux it is perfectly fine to have them, 333Networks, as one of your master servers, but as we all know, Linux doesn't like more than 3 masters at a time is the only problem.
With Windows based servers, it is perfectly fine to have more than 3 masters - 4 or 5 or???
If my server wasn't Linux, I would add them in a heart beat.
I and others actually have run up to 5 masters on our Linux based servers, including 333Networks, but with more than 3, ANY 3, it can become unstable at times.
I pick the most popular 3 masters I know of.
If 333Network's Master was more highly used, I would swap it in instead of one of the others.
When it does get more popular, I will swap it back in.

[Sir Mandrake]

I know I took it out because i was trying different things, but never put it back.....a curse that darn Linux limit of 3. 333networks works fine as long as I dont go over three total.

[*POTS*]

Actually it didn't stop working - its address changed is all and they didn't put out an announcement - oops.
It works better than ever now.
Hopefully, none of that "other" trouble will affect their stuff.

Actually, it looks like they have two separate master servers, and the 333 one is currently down, while the second one is working (16 active servers are listed ATM).

Anyway, that's one of those cases I'm glad I no longer have a server thus having to mess with this kind of stuff.

[Hook]

Here are 2 URLs that do same thing. (also see menu on site)

http://333networks.com/utgoty

http://333networks.com/utfv

Total Servers: 504
UT demo Servers: 10
utfv: 494 <-(fv = Full Version)
Total players: 362

POTS, what address are you using?
Or are you getting info from your UT server browser?

[*POTS*]

I simply added the second master server listed here to the UT turbocheck and then I did a query:
http://333networks.com/masterserver

333networks has it's own MasterServers online. These servers are located on master.333networks.com:27900 (offline at the moment) and on darkelarious.blicky.net:27900 (online). These MasterServers are used by our server lists and serve like stand-alone MasterServers in case the other MasterServers fail, like in the autumn of 2008. With the instructions below, you can add our MasterServers to your Internet Games (for players) or add your server to our MasterServers (for admins).