Question for Techs

DerangedPsycho

DerangedPsycho

One step at a time. . .
I frequently play in an online Pool League that utilizes Yahoo's Pool rooms for it's tournaments.

Recently, we have encountered a problem with people loading up bots that rapidly fill up the room and open up the maximum number of alloted tables.

They also use these bots to boot people. From what I understand you don't have to worry about being booted if you have a sturdy, high speed connection.. so that's not my concern.

However.. I am curious if there is a way to have the websites that provide these bots taken out legally..... or otherwise.. and if there is a way to force yahoo to enforce it's TOU. These bots are deffinately in violation of their TOU. And yet, reports to their abuse department seem to be a failing effort.

There are hundreds of us that report these bots on a daily basis and they are multiplying faster and faster rather than going away. There are several Yahoo Pool rooms that are now "dead" ( no one ever visits them ). And several leagues that are dissapearing off the "map".

I fear that if things continue the way they are, that the league I play in will die. It has been slowly dwindling in numbers since these bots started to show up.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice.. or even know how... I beg that you contact me, not only for my sake, but for the sake of the thousands of people that play in these leagues... Yahoo did away with chat... I don't want to see games go next.

There must be something we can do collectively to combat these idiots that seem to think they are cool because they can use a program someone else wrote.
 
Well Yahoo is also discontinuing thier photo hosting. I think our old Rp stomping grounds are starting to sink faster. The Main thing I would try to do is get in contact with Yahoo Corperate offices. If thats not viable Ceros or SJ or one of the other members may have some good ideas.
 
****Update****

In the span of an hour and thirty-six minutes, I was able to bring one of the websites that distributes these programs down! And legally too. WooT!

One down, a million to go!
 
It seems like you've answered your own question. Yes, you can go after the websites that distribute the bots. But you are probably fooling yourself if you think anything will change because of it. 50 new websites will pop up for every 1 you squash, legally, or otherwise.

You did the right thing by contacting Yahoo and telling them about the infraction to their TOU. However, if you are dissatisfied with their reaction, there is not a whole lot you can do that will force them to react to your complaints. What you can do is let your actions talk for you. Gather up all of your friends who are in your league, and move the whole league to a different site. I believe the Zone is another site that offers league play, but they are a pseudo-microsoft entity from MSN. If you have reservations about that, google other online pool leagues. You'll find numerous sites, which provide better service than google.
 
I was drunk, so wisely I didn't answer this post earlier.

I think SJ pretty much hit all of the important points - if you've taken it as far as you can with Yahoo!, you're pretty much fucked. The only thing I'd advise you to do is get to be really annoying. Send them a complaint e-mail once a day, you and everyone in your league, listing screen names and crying out for holy vengeance. Find some phone numbers and start calling people at Yahoo! Corporate. I don't think it needs to be said, but the people who answer and read those e-mails are corporate drones. Well, corporate drones are a step up - most of the jobs are outsourced to India and Pakistan. You need to keep replying "No this did not help my problem" whenever they send you an automated reply. Instead of reporting it under abuse, report it under Misc shit because they can't just send you a form reply, they actually have to read it and THEN send you a form reply.

Basically what you're running into is probably one person or multiple people with a bot network. It's the way the old fashioned Y! Messenger Booters worked - you create a bunch of accounts (in the old days it was easy, you could just hit Back and change the screen name and then resubmit the app and you were done) and then a program would tell them all to Buzz or IM or whatever at the same time. It would really fuck the other person up, especially if you had 500 bots. The main thing was, it took time to make all these accounts (at least back then). Perhaps you could try everyone in your league reporting every bot, one bot per e-mail. Use a copy and paste form report.

That's the best I can offer. Honestly, I think you're fucked. If Yahoo doesn't care enough to fix sloppy code, then you're SOL.

Also, as for taking down the sites that distribute these programs, it's a good effort but it doesn't really stop the people who already have the programs. It does however suck to be the person who runs the site, because they just lost a $7.00 domain name and the rest f their hosting money. But it's still probably a drop in the bucket. Maybe if you got your whole league organized to fuck these sites over (perhaps write a step by step guide to getting the site removed) they'd feel it more.
 
You read my mind Ceros, this is already in the works.

While I realize that none of this will solve the problem, I honestly believe that the more people participating in reporting these websites, the better the odds of there being less bots being used.

While we can do nothing about the people that already have the bots, in time, I believe that those too will dissapear, people like that are asking for trouble and will most likely destroy themselves.

If, for every website we take down, two more pop up, that's fine. We will take those down too. Let them keep on wasting their money. Eventually, they will get tired of wasting their cash.

There are roughly six hundred members in my league, at least half of them active on a daily basis. And there are thousands of leagues on the site that hosts them. Soon, word will spread and soon there will be thousands of people joining the cause ( I hope )

With a force like that, I'd almost bet that these websites will start dropping like flies. I only hope that I can convince everyone to be as devoted as I am in this. They are just as fed up with them as I am after all.

I have come across one hurdle however. There are a few of these websites that are hosted on servers owned and managed by the website creators. It's kind of hard to file a complaint with the website's host, when the host created it. Any suggestions on a course of action in this scenario?
 
Question to the admins on this subject....

do you mind if I post a link to the AHR ( Anti-Hacker Revolution! ) in my sig and also post it on the peanut gallery?

It is a basic website outlining ways to protect yourself and ways to report an abusive website. There are also forums of various topics related to AHR.

I would greatly love to have the support from those at my first ever, second home.
 
I don't see a problem with it. Your sig is your business as long as it isn't malicious code. If you'd like to go ahead and post it in the PG, go for it.
 
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