When handling my inbox yesterday, as I try to do weekly, I got to a scam, where the victim had lost about 500,000,000. So I created the money on my account, and was about to send it to the victim, to see MTA owners had set their interest rates to 10%! A quick calculation lead to 50,000,000 of created ("dirty") money going to an MTA owner.
The solution? Adding an MTA, and using thatone instead. So I did, and put the rates at 8%... A few hours later people on msn messaged me asking about all that. I put the rates back to 10%, kept the MTA for future (scam) usage, and logged out instantly, to then get curious about the forum topic.
After explaining, we got to quite a nice chat with a load of players, hitting up to about 200 posts. Of course it was all about the MTA situation at first, but we then got back to me. Why am I here? Why isn't TMN updated as everyone (probably including me) would want it?
My answer: I respect DC, and I care about the game, so I can't just upload a game myself and run it instead of TMN. I won't take down the credits page, and I won't sell credits for money on my own PayPal account.
So what am I doing here? Keeping my inbox clear, updating really important things (bugs, exploits), and waiting for DC.
Why am I not (for example) implementing MTAs on trade pages, and why am I not adding Casino, Business and BF sales on a trade page? Because I'm doing work I actually get paid for. PHP work mostly, and it's quite interesting too.
Me
So, about me. I finished the internship/traineeship at Logica, and got a (rounded upwards) 8.0/10, not bad. The SMS game works, and it's a shame I can't get it to work with any regular cell phone.
I'm now doing the Create a Rich Internet Application Semester, which seems very easy. I'm in the 3rd week, and I haven't done any exciting things, besides some nice Javascript exercises.
That'd be all for today,
Marc
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Scams, email to DC, Marc
Scams
We've all seen the bullet scams, and we've also seen me, not doing anything about it. Why? Because I can't!
We never undo actions with scammed goods, so I can't in this case either. It's a shame, and I disagree to it, but it's like this (for now). One lesson: Don't get scammed!
What I'm talking about? Bullet scams, where the victim gets shot with his own bullets.
DC
Today I emailed DC. Here's the email:
Internship is almost over, one week to finish up on some parts, then my final presentation and assessment, and I'll be done! I'll then have some more time to fix up TMN, I hope. ]
Marc
We've all seen the bullet scams, and we've also seen me, not doing anything about it. Why? Because I can't!
We never undo actions with scammed goods, so I can't in this case either. It's a shame, and I disagree to it, but it's like this (for now). One lesson: Don't get scammed!
What I'm talking about? Bullet scams, where the victim gets shot with his own bullets.
DC
Today I emailed DC. Here's the email:
So, where are you at?Marc
What’s with the “I’ll have time for the next six months” statement from last October?
And what’s with the “I should have the escrow system ready by today” statement of about a month and a half back?
And what’s with the “I’ll be online tomorrow” statement of… many times?
Internship is almost over, one week to finish up on some parts, then my final presentation and assessment, and I'll be done! I'll then have some more time to fix up TMN, I hope. ]
Marc
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
2009
2008 was the year of tmnX, which wasn't as good as everyone (including me) had expected. Unfortunately it took 8 months of 2008. The last 3 months were a lot better; TMN grew to about 400 active players again.
2009 will be the 5th year of TMN, and the 5th year I'm working on TMN as well. Which brings me to the future of TMN as it's in my head...
I hope TMN will hit 1,000 active players again in 2009. I also hope Huy will notice what has been going wrong, so we can work on these things.
Besides TMN, there's also my personal life. 2009 will be the year I have my final 2 semesters before graduation, and the year I turn 21 as well. Besides that, I'm looking at lots of learning, working, and having fun.
One more thing:
I wish everyone a merry Christmas, and a great 2009!
2009 will be the 5th year of TMN, and the 5th year I'm working on TMN as well. Which brings me to the future of TMN as it's in my head...
I hope TMN will hit 1,000 active players again in 2009. I also hope Huy will notice what has been going wrong, so we can work on these things.
Besides TMN, there's also my personal life. 2009 will be the year I have my final 2 semesters before graduation, and the year I turn 21 as well. Besides that, I'm looking at lots of learning, working, and having fun.
One more thing:
I wish everyone a merry Christmas, and a great 2009!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Activity of DC
I think we all agree that DC isn't active enough. No news, right?
So, why am I posting this? Because I have a chart to show you guys how active DC is, and -most important- when he is active.
The chart below shows when he updated pages, or files in general. You'll see that I set it all up, and DC started using it most (when he had a few weeks off) when he created TMNClassic. He worked hard for about 4 weeks, and then it all slowed down. My line, the green one, stays visible, where DC's disappears for a few weeks, until he fixed the cred retrieve from tmnX.
Chart is generated by TortoiseSVN.
So, why am I posting this? Because I have a chart to show you guys how active DC is, and -most important- when he is active.
The chart below shows when he updated pages, or files in general. You'll see that I set it all up, and DC started using it most (when he had a few weeks off) when he created TMNClassic. He worked hard for about 4 weeks, and then it all slowed down. My line, the green one, stays visible, where DC's disappears for a few weeks, until he fixed the cred retrieve from tmnX.
Chart is generated by TortoiseSVN.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Poll
A problem TMN has always had, is ISPs. Some seem to think it's best to throw all users through one proxy server, resulting in many players having the same IP address. Why is this important to us? Because players having the same IP Address, look like duplicate accounts to us. And if these accounts have interaction, it becomes a violation of the TOS.
"so, why don't we publish a list of users on my IP", is a question I often get. The reason is quite simple. Our TOS simply states we will never provide 'private information' to any third party. This third party can be a company or person, including a player.
Now, I would like to know what you find more important; Being safe, or having the TOS changed so your username and ISP details can be published to others.
Please let other players know they can vote here, I really am interested in your opinions. You can also comment to this post, if you want to add something. Thanks in advance.
Update #1
Option 1: You will get a page where you can see everyone who has accessed your IP. You will appear on lists of other users, who have logged in at your house/school/internet cafe as well.
Option 2: When you're about to send someone who has been on your IP anything, you'll get a warning. Something like "this user has used your IP, if you continue, you will be in violation of the TOS".
Option 3: You will get a page where you can see if other (active) accounts are on your IP.
Option 4: You are responsible, read the TOS and watch out!
Option 5: Place your own opinion in a comment to the related blog post.
"so, why don't we publish a list of users on my IP", is a question I often get. The reason is quite simple. Our TOS simply states we will never provide 'private information' to any third party. This third party can be a company or person, including a player.
Now, I would like to know what you find more important; Being safe, or having the TOS changed so your username and ISP details can be published to others.
Please let other players know they can vote here, I really am interested in your opinions. You can also comment to this post, if you want to add something. Thanks in advance.
Update #1
Option 1: You will get a page where you can see everyone who has accessed your IP. You will appear on lists of other users, who have logged in at your house/school/internet cafe as well.
Option 2: When you're about to send someone who has been on your IP anything, you'll get a warning. Something like "this user has used your IP, if you continue, you will be in violation of the TOS".
Option 3: You will get a page where you can see if other (active) accounts are on your IP.
Option 4: You are responsible, read the TOS and watch out!
Option 5: Place your own opinion in a comment to the related blog post.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Bad websites etc
I think it was last Thursday I heard about all these hackings, but... As always: I was too busy to do something about it. On Friday I started internship at 8:30 AM, and got home at about 3:00 AM, as I had a Christmas party.
This weekend I was finally able to produce a possible fix, but I couldn't test it because I wasn't sure how these hackers did it. I did talk to DC about it, but he didn't have a clue on how it was done either.
Today, I heard of more hackings, and decided to ask around about it. I got a working hack-site, and had a quick look. I implemented last weekend's fix, and it worked! I tested it a few times, but it kept working.
After updating it on TMN, I decided to update a few other thigns:
- Global Most Wanted page not giving out rewards
- Killing scums using 150,000 FMJ bullets threw me an error
- Adding a fix to stop certain scripters on crimes and gta pages
- Adding a nice warning image to possible bad links on game forums etc
Then it was time to handle 15 days of inbox... busy busy busy!
This weekend I was finally able to produce a possible fix, but I couldn't test it because I wasn't sure how these hackers did it. I did talk to DC about it, but he didn't have a clue on how it was done either.
Today, I heard of more hackings, and decided to ask around about it. I got a working hack-site, and had a quick look. I implemented last weekend's fix, and it worked! I tested it a few times, but it kept working.
After updating it on TMN, I decided to update a few other thigns:
- Global Most Wanted page not giving out rewards
- Killing scums using 150,000 FMJ bullets threw me an error
- Adding a fix to stop certain scripters on crimes and gta pages
- Adding a nice warning image to possible bad links on game forums etc
Then it was time to handle 15 days of inbox... busy busy busy!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
updates, DC, IRC
IRC
IRC can be used to chat to other TMN players, and it's quite easy to use. You can use mIRC to connect to it, or use this website that only requires you to install Java. The details below can be used to connect to our IRC server. It's managed by myself, so it's quite safe. The rules are stated when you connect to it. For more information google it (or visit this page), or wikipedia.
Server: irc.themafianetwork.net
Channel: Jail
Nickname: The name you use on TMN, or a name people know you by.
DC
I don't like it, but it's starting to look like DC isn't as active as he used to be at the start of this reset. I hope he returns very very soon, to fix some things I don't have time for myself. Adding mods is one of those, but also setting up mod rules and guidelines.
Updates
Although I don't have much time myself, I did manage to update a few things. One is related to networks being sent from one scum to the other: this is fixed. Boss+ is the new rule, just like when creating networks. Another update done today is related to crimes and GTA while in jail: this was possible for the past 2-3 weeks, because we had another bug. I think it's fixed now too (and I hope you all enjoyed it). Also I think we had an exploit, which should be fixed now too (I won't provide any info on it though).
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