The Brutal Honest Truth

[SomeDude]

So first of all i will say that there are probably some of you who are really not going to like what i have to say.


The old server was a complete disaster and had been hacked multiple times, not to mention several other issues that were going on such as ancient (in technical years) software, absolutely no firewall or security measures in place in any way, shape or form.

When the previous hosting company was contacted about these major security issues and that the VPS had been hacked as well as system files were compromised as well they preceded to tell us that they wanted us to upgrade the hosting package as well as PAY THEM to fix their security nightmare and rooted server.

Then there were several copies of the ENTIRE database were left "out in the open" for anyone to download which means ---

EVERY SINGLE PASSWORD ON THIS FORUM HAS BEEN COMPROMISED!!!!

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD ON THIS FORUM IMMEDIATELY!!

now if you happened to use the same password on this forum as lets say your personal email account(s), online banking sites , credit card websites .... stuff like that.. Guess what you get to do now? And if you had happened to use the same password as any financial websites, you better get some fraud alerts out too and (in my opinion)... YOU ARE A F**KING MORON (no offense pls) That's just stupid to begin with..





Now, For the paranoid types that are going to have a complete panic/sh1t attack when the learn that this website is now hosted on a server in the united states...

First of all.. The DEA/FBI/whothehellever does not have a reason to even bother anyone here in the first place UNLESS we have members doing INSANELY STUPID SH!T like making drug deals through this forum whether it be via private message or whatever. If you are participating in any activities such as this, YOU ARE A F**CKING MORON AND DESERVE TO GET BUSTED (my personal opinion). A little common sense goes a LOOONNNNGGG WAY PEOPLE!!

2nd: Most of the major backbones and hubs of the internet route though the US to begin with so it doesn't make any difference to anyone (except maybe <insert overly paranoid persons name here>). It would be way easier for the "Feds" to just capture/tap any and all data coming from your or the server IP address (no thanks to this). There is no encryption in any shape from your computer to the server that this website is hosted on.. it is not hard to do that and there is lots of freely available software on the internet just for that purpose.

3rd: The chances of your house getting raided by the DEA/FBI/whothehellever are way higher than them "raiding" or "hacking" into gp

4th: It does not matter where the server is located at.. if the DEA/FBI wants to get into it, THEY WILL GET INTO IT.. end of story, quit whining and get over it.

5th: the "old server" had already been hacked multiple times and among being part of a bot net, it was also being used to promote/drive traffic to Russian porn sites. Please explain to me how the old server in canada was "more secure"?

6th: Do you honestly think that if someone from the us government send an email to someone in the canadian governement asking them to jump that the canadian official wouldn't ask "How High?" -- Coooommmmeee on.. Go ask someone like Marc or Jody Emery how that game works.. Do you think that there is honestly any difference between the way US & CA play ball between cannabis and telecommunications? If so, please send me some clones of your strains please






Now.. since i busted my ass for basically the last week, trimming this site down from almost 16GB down to a little over 5GB, cleaned out all the "crap", set up a completely new server with all kinds of security stuff....

KICK DOWN!!

Make a donation of some kind (even if it's $1) to help out..


Marijuana Policy Project

NORML

American Red Cross

American Diabetes Association


There are lots of places like this... don't limit yourself to just these. If you find a worthy cause, post it


(you could all also send a small donation to jangel too since she is (and has been for years) paying for all of this out of her own pocket. )

[jangel]

Thank you so very much Somedude. There you go folks, the brutal truth. I have managed to save a very few posts myself in the last few days and will be reposting them. I could not save much and most of what I saved was to do with hemp oil and treating cancer. If I did not save your post, I just couldn't do it. It means nothing to do with you. Just with what is possible to do in a short period of time and with what resources I could.



I warned everyone by email and did the best I could. I have saved new member names etc, and will start re-emailing those members who newly joined the site. There are over a hundred of them so hold your hats folks, I am pretty busy. We did the best we could and thanks to Somedude we are now becoming secure. You have to help us though and change your passwords etc.



GreenPassion will now have a new look, in time, and be screaming fast as well as shoot for the Stars! We are going to ROCK folks!



EVERYONE please give somedude a round of applause as he has come through big time for us. We still had such a mess from the previous owner to weed through and no one had the time to do it. But this fine man has sorted it out for us, so now we can indeed go forward in style!



Thank you so very much Somedude! You are indeed a prince!



Peace

[SmokeToLive]

That really really sucks. (For everyone.) If there is anything I can do, you know how to private message me.

[Mr Tumnus]

Hi Dude,hows things? First off I'd like to post a massive Thank You for all the work you've put in over the past week or so to get the site in order.After reading your thread it's blindingly obvious it was badly needed.If there are some people who are not happy,as the saying goes ''build a bridge and get over it''.I for one can see the obvious benefits of this change,as I'm sure most users will(there are very few imbeciles on GP,if any) My password is now changed and I'm motoring along feeling safe and secure.

Secondly,I posted an entry,in The Knowledge Project 4,after the 28th.I was wondering,could you tell me if the contest entries were saved anywhere before the posts were lost? If not,hohum,I guess I'll have to build my own bridge lol
Anyhow many thanks again,Cheers,Tumnus.

[jangel]

Yes, Mr. Tumnus, I saved your entry and will post it up shortly. It was one of the things I thought important, so no worries. Just give me a bit of time and I will get it up. No worries sweetie.

We will muddle through.

Peace

[Mr Tumnus]

Post Thank You's aint working yet,so Thank You to Somedude,jangel and SmokeToLive,for their useful posts.
Cheers,Tumnus.

[ileso]

hehehe

[ileso]

though the other layout for the posts was more efficient i like the new banner...

[jangel]

Everything is evolving so we are a work in progress. Until the site was up and populated, we did not have a way to know the speed, or what was not working. If you find things not functioning please please PLEASE let us know.

We will need this info to find the fault:

Time zone you are in. Date and time it happened.

What the error code was.

What you where trying to do.

Anyother info you can supply us with.

This way the Dude has a hope in hell of figuring out what the problem is and fix it.

Thanks folks!

[Deb-HAS-grn]

Thank you SomeDude for pulling us out of such a mess... I'm on my way to change password and see what has been lost or saved...Things will fall into place everyone,,,, Oh and I like the new header at the top of the page,, nice and colorful

[SomeDude]

Originally Posted by Mr Tumnus

Post Thank You's aint working yet,so Thank You to Somedude,jangel and SmokeToLive,for their useful posts.
Cheers,Tumnus.

The thanks button is missing a file that i need to get..

[I8ntLucky_UR]

Thanks for the help SomeDude you are a gr8t human being. Reality is what it is and now we are safer and moving forward is better then looking backward.

[SomeDude]

kick ass.. thanks button works again

[I8ntLucky_UR]

You The Man! No No You The Dude.

I am jonnyappleweed.

[jangel]

It more than works now, it does not have to repost the page...that always bothered me.

Thank you Prince Dude!

[CAMSTER626]

Thanks much Somedude for all your hard work bro...it's truly appreciated.

[Daithi]

Thanks for the effort guys, I'd be lost without this place (and thanks to you all, i now finally have some females beginning to show - all previous efforts had been male).

[sabasi]

Originally Posted by Mr Tumnus

Hi Dude,hows things? First off I'd like to post a massive Thank You for all the work you've put in over the past week or so to get the site in order.After reading your thread it's blindingly obvious it was badly needed.If there are some people who are not happy,as the saying goes ''build a bridge and get over it''.I for one can see the obvious benefits of this change,as I'm sure most users will(there are very few imbeciles on GP,if any) My password is now changed and I'm motoring along feeling safe and secure.

Secondly,I posted an entry,in The Knowledge Project 4,after the 28th.I was wondering,could you tell me if the contest entries were saved anywhere before the posts were lost? If not,hohum,I guess I'll have to build my own bridge lol
Anyhow many thanks again,Cheers,Tumnus.

Ya, your post was lost too LOL JUST at the end of the contest LOL Mine is still there but I'm missing part of my grow log. Any idea how I could find my old posts to resubmit?

[sabasi]

I for one know how much work a message board can be! KUDOS for the work on GP!!

[CAMSTER626]

Originally Posted by Daithi

I'd be lost without this place.