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[Temporis (temp)]

[EMAIL] I got a response

[weyrdchic]

> Hi there! Just wanted to say that I'm part of all these people willing to help with the hacks to your site, and if there's anything I can do let me know. Will post in your blog as well.
>
> Regarding the site, do either of you have any enemies or anyone that might have wanted to prank you? I know, you're just keeping bees and selling honey, probably wouldn't get many people angry, but I wanted to cover all my bases. Including the fact that, if you check some of the messages this person is putting up, it might be some kind of cry for help too. No idea who or why they'd use your site. Again, maybe you do.
>
> Hope I can help!
>
> -Indigo

Hi Indigo,

Thanks for joining forces, it helps to not be wrestling with this
thing all by myself.

Can't think of anyone who would do this as a prank... no one has ever
complained about Aunt M's honey, and my friends know better than to
mess with my family. the cry for help theory is really interesting,
though... I don't have any ideas about that off the top of my head,
but I'm going to mull it over, thanks.

See you on the blog, I hope? (www.ilovebees.blogspot.com)

d.

[Gupfee]

Me as well. (NOTE: to keep things less confusing, please make sure you change the font color or something to differentiate email sent and received.)

> Weird stuff. Are you sure one of your friends isn't pranking you?
>
> Why are you going to China?
>
> Marie, just curious
>

From: Dana Awbrey danatwingSPLATgmail.com

it seemed prankster to me at first, too... but it wouldn't be playing
fair to mess with my Aunt Margaret, so I'm pretty sure my friends
aren't behind this. Plus, I've been so freaked, I'm sure my friends
would have 'fessed up by now if they had anything to do with it.

Why China…. You sound like my parents, lol. Mostly, I want to walk
down some streets that I've never seen before and be around people
who've never seen me before. Does that make sense?

d.

[ mod: switching colors so Dana is in blue consistently]

[RobMagus]

My Email:

Hello Dana! I've joined the group trying to help with your problem.

First thing:
When I look at some of the older posts in your blog, they link to a
post titled "Let's Squash This Sucker". When I click on the link,
however, it goes to a "not found" page in blogger. Could you possibly
recall that post?

Also:
Was your aunt's honey business affiliated with any other businesses?
Did she sell honey to any people that struck you as odd?

Hope I can help!

- RobMagus

***

Dana's prompt response:

Hi Rob,
ai! the Blogger server appears to be stickier than Aunt M's honey.
originally I had a post up under "let's squash this sucker", and then
a friend of mine suggested that "squash this sucker" might be
interpreted as an invitation for hackers to come make an even bigger
mess of the site. So, he suggested that I make my plea for help in
slightly less incendiary language. I did, and now I don't know why
Blogger still has a record of that deleted post.
However... I must say, I am greatly heartened by your attention to
detail! this bodes well for uncovering the source of the
bug/virus/whatever, don't you think?
keep poking! and let me know what you find... see you on the blog.
d.

***

Sorry that they aren't different colours. How do I change them, Gupfee?

[ mod: use BBcode {color=red} and {/color} -- but use brackets instead of braces ]

[jamesi]

Hi Jamesi,

My aunt is (understandably) a bit freaked out by everything that's
going on with the site, and as the officially designated debugger of
the family, she's forwarding all recent site-related mail on to me.

I did try re-uploading all the files from my hard drive to the web
directory, when the site first went wonky. (Back then it was just a
little wonky, not the full-blown mess it is now). It helped for about
a day, and then it started acting strangely again. That was about 2
weeks ago. I was able to get it to act normally by reloading a few
times, early on, but since then, it's only gotten worse, no matter
what I try.

ideas? anything theories you have (maybe add to the blog?) would
really help, I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around this
problem.

d.

> On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 14:46:21 -0700, Margaret Efendi
> <ladybee777@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > >From: Jonathan Waite <argjamesi@gmail.com>
> > >To: ladybee777SPLAThotmail.com
> > >Subject: www.ilovebees.com
> > >Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 18:45:30 -0500
> > >
> > >I'm not much of an expert, but I can see your website is having, er,
> > >'issues'. Did you try re-uploading the files from your local computer
> > >back into the web directory?
> > >
> > >jamesi
> >
> >
>

[irongoddess]

Dana's replies & Bee/Arachnid theory

[Omnie]

I had nothing useful to say, so I went for a randomly personal tone, to see if I could get a response:

From me:

Hey, a fellow gmail user! Nice, isn't it?

Anyway, I visited your aunt's bee page and then found your blog from
there. You drink maté too? Isn't it wonderful stuff? Where did you
come across it? I first tried it while spending a summer in Chile,
and have been ordering it on the internet ever since. Got me through
several study nights when coffee wouldn't have been enough. Mmmmmm.
Have you tried it with honey? Presumably you have, but it doesn't
hurt to ask. A wonderful combination, that is.

To get back on topic here, I have some limited html/web experience...I
don't know what to do about your site just yet, but I'll keep looking.
In the meantime, good luck!


From: Dana Awbrey <danatwing@gmail.com>

maté is so amazing… a few years ago a friend of mine came back from a
trip to Paraguay with a bunch of mate and a cow's horn with a little
metal straw drilled into it, and we drank the maté out of the horn.
Definitely my all-nighter brew of choice.

Thank you for throwing your oar into the web site mess with me. Let
me know if you think of anything I've missed so far.

d.

Nothing useful, but I figured I might as well post it. I totally have one of those little metal straws.

[fireball]

Here's mine!

[Temporis]

More correspondence

[Varin]

Re: More correspondence

[sauceykat]

OK, here is the letter that I sent to Dana:


Hi Dana,
further to my comment on your blog, I just wanted to introduce myself. I go by the handle ThePhoenix, to protect my identity as I am often involved in some rather precarious research for my clients. Myself and a large group of my colleagues are very willing to help you out pro-bono. It would really help our efforts if you can give us any and all information you have regarding your website intrusion. Specifically:

-When did the strange text first appear on your aunt's website?
-Is there anybody who would want to do this to you on purpose? (ie. you mentioned you wanted to go to Asia because you were "tired of being so...known"). If you are somebody who was famous or high-profile, that could make you a target.
-Have you observed any other strange phenomena such as odd emails with garble, strange phone calls, etc. that you may have just ignored/overlooked?

Thanks for your assistance. The more information you can provide, the easier it will be for us to assist you.

Sincerely,

ThePhoenix

I will post her reply as soon as I have it.

D-

Edit: Her response:

Dear ThePhoenix,

Thank you for offering the services of you and your colleagues. I'll
tell you as much as I can, although honestly, I'm not sure how much
more helpful information I have to offer. (Although I promise to keep
thinking and trying to remember anything that might shed light on
this.)

For starters, I can try to give you the most complete chronology, this
is as accurately as I can remember:
- Launched the site in early June.
- The site crashed early in July... it the beginning of the 4th of
July weekend, so I guess it was probably the 2nd. It was totally dead
for a day.
- Got it back up the next day. Everything was fine. But within a few
hours, it was wonky again. Minor stuff: images and text slightly
glitchy.
- Image and text glitches got worse over the course of the next week,
week and a half.
- The warning text and countdown showed up on the 14th.

As for the Asia trip, and the stuff about being "known"... not about
fame, just about feeling too familiar to everyone and everything
around me. I can't remember the last time I walked into a room that
didn't already know what to do with me. I need to have some
first-times, somewhere new. Do you know what I mean?

Best,
Dana

[Lysithea]

> Hi Dana,
>
> Your aunt's site is now very strange. Like you, I'm not sure what
> it is all about just yet, but I'd like you to know that I am one
> of the many people pondering this conundrum.
> I wonder if you have tried to communicate with the personality
> which is leaving those curious snippets on the site.
> I would love to support you and your aunt by buying some honey,
> but I doubt Australian customs would let me receive it.
> Hang in there, if nothing else, more of the puzzle will be
> revealed as the countdowns end.
>
> Puzzled and intruiged,
> Lysithea

and the response...

communicating with the thing... hmmmm.

that makes sense... and yet sort of scares me at the same time.

so far, it hasn't exactly been friendly. I wonder if engaging it would
help or make things worse.

Of course, it's sort of a moot question, because I wouldn't even know
how to go about communicating with whoever/whatever it is...

maybe if I understood its motives a little better, I would feel safer
reaching out. Does that make sense?

-d.

[aiesha_anonymous]

nuffin here, but for completeness' sake:

[Temporis]

Server Check

[sauceykat]

[quote="aiesha_anonymous"]