rigorousintuition.ca

UPDATE 11/9/2016 1:00PM ET

We have now come to believe it is possible that the hacker may have been able to gain access to certain member information on our server, including: Usernames, email addresses, and IP addresses. Passwords were not as easily accessible, and at this point we do not know if it was possible for the hacker to access them. (Further note that passwords on DU are "hashed" and saved in a cryptographically scrambled format rather than as plain text, so if the hacker could access a member's password information they would not have direct access to the password itself -- only to the hash.)

We can say for certain that donor data, such as credit card numbers or addresses, were not compromised because that information is handled by PayPal and never passes through to our servers.

We are not going to bring our website back online until we believe that we are no longer vulnerable to attack and our members' user information is secure. Unfortunately we do not know how long this process will take, and it could possibly take days.

We will be posting updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you again for your patience and understanding.


11/8/2016 (EDITED)

Around 4:30pm on Tuesday November 8, Democratic Underground was hacked, apparently by a supporter of Donald Trump. This person clearly knew what they were doing, and despite our best efforts we have not yet been able to resolve the issues caused by the hack.

We are confident that donor data has not been compromised because that information is handled by PayPal and never passes through to our servers. But at this time we are unable to bring our discussion forum online.

The hack was clearly aimed to cause maximum disruption on our busiest night of the year, and we deeply regret that we won't be able to spend election night with our great community of members. We ask for your patience while we continue to work to fix this problem, and while we do not have a time frame we will do our best to get DU back online as soon as possible.

If anyone has any information about the hack, or has knowledge that might help us to fix it, please feel free to contact us: admin@democraticunderground.com

We will be posting updates on Facebook and Twitter.

We are deeply disappointed that this has happened. But we'll be back.

Skinner, EarlG, and Elad
DU Administrators

brekin » Wed Nov 09, 2016 3:14 pm wrote:I think RI will be fine. Trump was the conspiracy candidate. He needs us for content and context.

JackRiddler » 09 Nov 2016 21:05 wrote:Yeah yeah, I don't see a high risk either. Nor would I dream of suggesting RI is like DU. But a) it was mildly newsworthy and b) the predators be out there, of various stripes.

So that's another reason to see about the site-sucking project, yeah? No?

And schadenfreude over this is seriously misplaced.

.

stickdog99 » Wed Nov 09, 2016 4:42 pm wrote:

JackRiddler » 09 Nov 2016 21:05 wrote:Yeah yeah, I don't see a high risk either. Nor would I dream of suggesting RI is like DU. But a) it was mildly newsworthy and b) the predators be out there, of various stripes.

So that's another reason to see about the site-sucking project, yeah? No?

And schadenfreude over this is seriously misplaced.

.

schadenfreude? more like hackingfraude. What makes you dismiss the idea that those ratfucking Skinnerian cat herders simply did not want to face the music?

You have to admit that the timing of this "hack" is a little convenient, and the response to it a more than a little puzzling. I doubt I am the only Sanders supporter who was motivated to visit DU for the first time since primary season last night.

2012 Countdown » 09 Nov 2016 21:47 wrote:

stickdog99 » Wed Nov 09, 2016 4:42 pm wrote:

JackRiddler » 09 Nov 2016 21:05 wrote:Yeah yeah, I don't see a high risk either. Nor would I dream of suggesting RI is like DU. But a) it was mildly newsworthy and b) the predators be out there, of various stripes.

So that's another reason to see about the site-sucking project, yeah? No?

And schadenfreude over this is seriously misplaced.

.

schadenfreude? more like hackingfraude. What makes you dismiss the idea that those ratfucking Skinnerian cat herders simply did not want to face the music?

You have to admit that the timing of this "hack" is a little convenient, and the response to it a more than a little puzzling. I doubt I am the only Sanders supporter who was motivated to visit DU for the first time since primary season last night.

Wrong tree, no cigar. No love lost for that site but it was a legit hack. Check out the election thread. Someone posted a youtube capture.
I was actually lurking when it went down over there. i can personally confirm everything they say is true.

JackRiddler » 10 Nov 2016 01:30 wrote:Yeah, but there are whole (even more minor) right-wing sites dedicated to hating on DU. And the eternal feud with Freepers. So it's not just plausible but likely they got hit. And the timing doesn't say anything either. It's the perfect time to bring them down.

2012 Countdown » 10 Nov 2016 04:13 wrote:They'll be up in a few days. This is so silly, but whatever. Why would they cut off their own site right at a time they were set to get massive clicks?

Of course you are free to think I am a liar. Up to you..

MacCruiskeen » Wed Nov 09, 2016 4:55 am wrote:

stickdog99 wrote:
"We are deeply disappointed that this has happened. But we'll be back."

I mean, does that sound like an actual response to an unexpected website hack?

No. It sounds typically spooky.

ON EDIT: Their Twitter & Facespook pages (where "Skinner" and his two sidekicks promised to post regular updates about the "hack") have also been completely silent for at least the last seven hours. From the comments at Facespook:

Ben Ogden My DU handle is Truebrit71. I joined DU in 2002, but i was sent to Skinner purgatory four months ago. My crime? I said that Hillary was a deeply flawed candidate. Turns out i was right, and all you centrist DNC'ers were wrong.

I wish i could find some small token of comfort in that, but i can't. Why? Because this country in on the verge of electing an unstable, racist, misogynistic carnival barker to the highest office in the land.

Donald fucking Trump gets to pick the next two or three Supreme Court justices.

So, congratulations to you, the DNC and DWS for forcing a candidate on us that couldn't beat a man as despicable as Trump.

Great job assholes.

37 Likes· 4 hours ago.

23 replies

https://www.facebook.com/democraticunderground

The Skinner Box, aka Operant Conditioning Chamber, has fulfilled its function.

Application to social media

Social networking services such as Google, Facebook and Twitter have been identified as using the techniques, critics use terms such as Skinnerian Marketing[7] for the way the companies use the ideas to keep users engaged and using the service.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_c ... ng_chamber