[11/30/11] - HF News

The edition you are currently reading is the 69th full edition. To read any older editions of HF News, please go here.

A couple of notices:

• The webshow and more content will be added on the morrow.

Hack Forums News team recruiting
We are currently looking for some new writers to add to our team, Sir has plenty of ideas in stock and is waiting for you to apply! Being a part of the Hack Forums News team means that you will be admitted in to the Writers usergroup and become a part of the weekly news. Please go see our recruitment thread here.

Kindle Sales Banned
Omniscient informed hackforums this week, that selling Kindles in the Marketplace is now banned. Omniscient stated that there was most likely fraud involved in the receiving of these kindles. For More information regarding this topic, read here.

Social Engineering and Human Manipulation section re-opened
Last Week Omni closed the Social Engineering and Human Manipulation section. In regard's to the reasoning of this, Omni stated that there was corruption in the section, and it needed to be close. This week it is was reopened.

Minnesota Nice hits 20,000 posts
The Member Minnesota Nice has been here since September of 2009. Today he is the 3rd member, behind mothered- and Vitani's Mate, to ever achieve 20,000 posts. He has helped the forum with graphics, and much more. You can read about it here.

Black Knights finally finished recruiting
The leader Amp™ said that recruitment was supposed to end on the 15th of november but it turns out took until November 29th until the members were added. You can read more about it here.

"Do you prefer having less staff and more mentors, what is your take on the subject?"

"I prefer more mentors and less staff because they are usually more available and not
flooded with so many PM's as much as staff are. That's because their name shows up
normally, and not green. They are moderators of the majority of sections and can save
users from getting warning levels by staff members.
Shout out to: xerotic, kutmustakurt, iNviZ, Kr4z1 <3"
-WiFi.

"Personally i think that it is better to have more staff. Staff are able to take more
action in various parts of the forum; while in other parts where the mentors do not usually venture
to; there is little or no action on their behalf. If you make a report post, then staff are able to see
what it is and deal with it accordingly. This is an invaluable asset as they can see what people find
inappropriate without having to find a mentor that is online and contact them. Possibly if the mentors
were able to see the reports, but not who reported it, they could help out more."
-+Pirate

"In my opinion, having less staff is a lot better than having more mentors. Being part of the Hack Forums
Staff is the ultimate privilege, access to all areas, and being ultimately respected. Mentors are a form of 'Jr
Staff', which is good because it shows that they are sort of above others, but aren't on the same level as
staff whom give out warnings and bans. We don't need to have much staff, though we are a forum with
hundreds of thousands of people, we can't give every Tom, Dick and Harry the ultimate honour of becoming
Staff. The ranking system we have now is great, and doesn't need much tinkering."
-Glassy

The topic for next week is "How do you feel about the banning of Kindle sales in the Marketplace?"

To send in your entries for the next edition, PM Sir.

Cairo calm as voters await results
Tahrir Square was peaceful Wednesday as Egyptians awaited initial results of parliamentary elections, a break from the clashes that have gripped Cairo for much of the past two weeks. The Muslim Brotherhood and the Al Noor Salafi Muslim Party claimed a lead in ballot counting, but no official results were expected until Thursday at the earliest.  Voting took place Monday and Tuesday, the first elections since President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February. It is the first time some Egyptians -- young and old -- have ever cast ballots. Citizens are picking members of the lower house of parliament, which will be tasked with drafting a new constitution after three decades of Mubarak's rule. Some voters and human rights activists expressed hope that their votes will actually count, though some boycotted the elections saying they don't trust the voting will be free and fair.

British workers strike over retirement benefits
Mass strikes swept across the United Kingdom Wednesday, with public sector workers walking off jobs in schools, hospitals and police stations to protest proposed pension reforms. The government said the majority of key public services remained open, however, although more than half of the country's schools were closed, affecting many families. The unions said up to 2 million public sector workers could go on strike but early indications suggested the total might be fewer. The proposed pension reforms have prompted wide anger among public sector workers, many of whom say they are bearing the brunt of austerity measures imposed to try to rein in Britain's deficit.

Mark Webber - He had his wonderful birthday last Monday.
Mono - Mono had his birthday this week, happy birthday!
fl3x - This user was repfucked and limited for impersonating staff.
Hopsin - Hopsin was repfucked, then limited for complaining about the repfuck.
๖ۣۜSkiller - ๖ۣۜSkiller was repfucked and limited for several reasons, mostly reputation abuse.
nidhish91 - Nidhish was banned until 12-15-11 for his vacation.
Ups. - Ups. has gone on vacation until 11-30-11.
Scooter - Scooter was banned for the reason "Nonsense with JD" and he will be unbanned on 12-11-11.
Existence - Existence requested a vacation ban, he'll be back on the 12-02-11.
Pali - He went on vacation and will be returning on the 12-05-11.
Prominent - Prominent left Hack Forums due to real life problems, whether he will return or not is still unknown.
Demoralize - He has requested a vacation ban until 12-03-11.

General Thread(s)
Gaming Thread - How to keep your Gamertag secured. - Stormy - If you are out there buying a stolen gamertag or trying to keep your own, this thread will help you secure it. If you play the 360, this is no doubt beneficial to you.
Interesting Thread - Very Interesting Video on the Universe, Society, and Reality in General. - Bankroll - This was just an interesting video and point that you should watch, he also provides some other videos to bide your time.
News Thread - Egypt New human case of avian influenza H5N1 - Ŀucien Lachance - There have been startling cases of a new avian influenza in Egypt and Ŀucien has shared some of the facts with us.
Banner Thread - Christmas Header - Bentley - Bentley has created a compilation thread for all of the banners created by members in the hopes of it becoming the official Christmas day banner.

Interview - Ŀucien Lachance

Daniel Faraday: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. Do you have any shout outs?
Ŀucien Lachance: Shout out to Nilef, mah scottish bro.

Daniel Faraday: So, how do you spend your time on HF nowadays?
Ŀucien Lachance: I don't spend much time on HF anymore. Usually lurk about the lounge when I do come online, but no so much the SSRP section, as it looks rather hopeless without moderation.

Daniel Faraday: Do you feel different now that you’re no longer a moderator?
: Ŀucien LachanceModerators don't have very much power at all, but I kept the section in tip top condition. But yes, I was only irritated that I was demoted over such a retarded thing, but today I care a lot less.

Daniel Faraday: Was it a pleasant experience, or have you had better times on the site?
Ŀucien Lachance: I think back when the lounge was unrestricted was a very hilarious time in HF history, and also a fun one - back in the day when I could stay on HF until 5 AM laughing my ass off. Not that being a moderator wasn't fun.

Daniel FaradayWas the choice to leave was a personal decision?
Ŀucien Lachance: No. I had multiple accounts. My PC had a RAT or a keylogger, so I made another account to post HJT logs. I had another account when I didn't feel like retrieving my main password, and Omni demoted me for this.

Daniel Faraday: What do you think about the state of the SRPP forum?
Ŀucien Lachance: I think alot of the stuff is repeatative, with a few threads of original content every now and again. But apparently the majortiy of people like these repeatative threads, as they usually have the most posts. So when I was a moderator, would close threads on religion if the exact same thing was already being discussed recently.

Daniel Faraday: Do you think that activity in the forum will pick up?
Ŀucien Lachance: In SSRP? Yes, as the number of total members grows, I'm sure more people will come to the section, and some will leave too.

Daniel Faraday: How about future reforms? Will they be handled well and welcomed by the people who frequent it?
Ŀucien Lachance: Reforms so far have went smoothly. Omni is a rational man. He does things for a reason, and he listens to people. Tbh, if Omni were a dictator, I would want to live in that country.

Daniel Faraday: Well, if you could be moderator of a different forum, which would it be?
Ŀucien Lachance: Dunno, maybe a BF3 forum.

Daniel Faraday: What about if Omniscient made you your own forum?
Ŀucien Lachance: That would be kewl. Even cooler if I got revenue. But I'm not a progammer like Omni, so outside of moderation I am retarded. If I had a choice, it would either be a drug forum, or a military forum.

Daniel Faraday: Let’s wrap this up with a less serious closer. Omni, iBf, and Nyx- are in a cannon. Shoot one, marry one, secretly see one.
Ŀucien Lachance: Do you think im one of them homersexual types?

Interview - Orgy

Michael Westen: Hey Orgy! Thanks for taking the time for this interview, I know you're a busy guy. Anyone you want to give a shoutout too?
Orgy: QUERY LEMONS and of course, my buddy Sir.

Michael Westen: Umm, alright haha! I'm not familiar with him, if that is a person. I'm curious, why did you first join Hack Forums?
Orgy: To skid it up, yo. Back then I was playing with some shitty rx bot, and my friend pointed me to this place. I immediately knew it was nothing but skids. But I was a skid back then and so I scooped up some free irc bots and started playing with those.

Michael Westen: I see - I guess some of that led to your future success. Speaking of success, why did you become a part of the Marketers?
Orgy: It's where I belong. I don't know who all might have made more money than me here on HF alone, but I'm definitely in the top 5.

Michael Westen: Yeah - You're definitely known around the forum as the wealthy, but controversial, moneyman. Why did you pick the name "Orgy?"
Orgy: Oh, that's a story I've told a lot. It's weird how many people ask me that. I used to go by Blade, which I picked up on Starcraft AGES back. Was playing some text based game, and I made a lot of enemies as Blade. I created the name Orgy on a whim, because it wasn't taken and I needed to 'go underground' to infiltrate my enemies. I actually ended up becoming friends with those enemies, and gained a lot of popularity on it, so I kept it.

Michael Westen: Interesting - It's always interesting to learn why people pick their name. I picked mine because it was the main character on my favorite TV show. What inspired you to start [censored]?
Orgy: Actually, BV1 started it. He built up the site and everything and then showed it to me. I figured it was a good idea, and passed it on to Lith in IRC. He advertised it on HF and it immediately gained a lot of popularity.

Michael Westen: Wow, awesome. Well it's definately been making ripples ever since it began to pick up motion. For those users who don't know what [censored] is, would you care to summarize it?
Orgy: We're the good guys. We're taking down all the booters run by people who shouldn't be running booters. Those that are ripping off their customers, etc.

Michael Westen: How do you think [censored] has impacted our Marketplace?
Orgy: I wonder sometimes if it has. Sure, we've gotten rid of a good number of booters, but it's difficult to keep them from coming back. We need more supporters. When we first started we had a lot of hype and a lot of people reporting booters, etc. Now it seems there's only a few people. Need to get that hype back.

Michael Westen: If you're interested in [censored], be sure to check it out - They need all the support they could get. If you don't mind me asking, how much have you made on Hack Forums?
Orgy: Of course, I'm not sure of an exact number, but it's tens of thousands. I've made somewhere between $20k and $35k here.

Michael Westen: And to think I was proud of my $200! That's an impressive number, not to mention that it was all made online. This is more a personally motivated question, as we used to play Minecraft together. Why aren't you a part of the Minecrafters, knowing how active you are on Minecraft?
Orgy: Actually, I applied to it last night in the UserCP. I'm not big on usergroups, only interested in joining those that seem to be more exclusive. I wish the Marketers were more exclusive. BV1 and I are thinking of buying our own group.

Michael Westen: I hope to see you in the group! I think another official Hack Forums group has a lot of potential - Best of luck! Do you have any words for the members of Hack Forums before we wrap this up?
Orgy:Yes. For the love of any God that any one of you might believe in, stop posting in the Marketplace asking for PayPal support. Just go to PayPal support you stupid fucks. :)

Please Give Feedback on the Sound Quality, GFX, and Length.
The webshow will be done on the morrow, there was not enough time.

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