Message Board Exploited

[Blake_T]

Well, those of you that checked the site today probably saw that it was hacked. It was basically just a script that managed to exploit the board source and corrupt the database. The database has been restored to jan 11th status and posts/accounts since then have been lost.

I have updated the board source and it is now up to date and secure from that type of exploit for the time being.

[Blake_T]

Things are still kind of buggy but it is being looked into.

if you are having login troubles, uncheck the "keep me logged in" switch and it should work.

[Thatdirtykid]

thanks blake, that was a quick recovery, now I have a question, who can remember what we were talking about?

[TexasOutlaw]

Great job and haste in getting the forum back up. I just knew I would have a question with no one to ask....

I notice that I still appear on many of the pdga posts; I would have thought I'd be pushed almost to the end by now. Is no one posting on that site anymore?

[Blake_T]

i estimate there were at a minimum, 600-800 posts in the technique and equipment threads per day... now i estimate there's more like 50-100.

[TexasOutlaw]

i estimate there were at a minimum, 600-800 posts in the technique and equipment threads per day... now i estimate there's more like 50-100.

I suppose that is what they wanted: to lower the post count and limit discussion.

[Mark Brunner]

i estimate there were at a minimum, 600-800 posts in the technique and equipment threads per day... now i estimate there's more like 50-100.

I suppose that is what they wanted: to lower the post count and limit discussion.

Because that is the best thing to do

Honestly, there were a lot of problems on there that could have been dealt with without having to go to a pdga # members only. I think they will realize this or have realized this and there will be changes made.

[TexasOutlaw]

Well, non-members, I believe, encouraged discussion by asking questions about technique and products.

I would think that the pdga would seek to promote disc golf as a sport, and many of us that are not professional players help do so by purchasing products and such.

Also, I think having non-professional people and non-sponsored players on the board helped vendors and manufacturers. Don't sponsored, professional players have discs given to them or win them? It is the amatuer that spends money.

[Mark Brunner]

Well, non-members, I believe, encouraged discussion by asking questions about technique and products.

I would think that the pdga would seek to promote disc golf as a sport, and many of us that are not professional players help do so by purchasing products and such.

Also, I think having non-professional people and non-sponsored players on the board helped vendors and manufacturers. Don't sponsored, professional players have discs given to them or win them? It is the amatuer that spends money.

I am not saying this is not true, I think the only problems was that they allowed people to post without accounts, and didnt monitor people that held multiple accounts. With some simple moderating everything could have been dealt with and controlled much better.

[Blake_T]

agreed Mark.

that was what i said from the start but it fell on deaf ears.

i wandered to the pdga board in early 2001, had a few questions, got them answered, saw value in joining simply because of that.

the main argument i had was that simply restricting without monitoring was basically saying that if you paid your dues it was your license to be a jerk, whereas it was not okay to be a jerk if you weren't a current member. monitoring is the solution to people being jerks in general.

as for the comments of ams being the people that spend the money, that isn't quite true. out of tournament players, it is the non-sponsored pros that make up the meat of sales since ams win plastic. however, the casual, non-tournament player still makes up well over 95% of the disc sales in the world.

[TexasOutlaw]

it is the non-sponsored pros that make up the meat of sales since ams win plastic. however, the casual,.

I was thinking that if you were to be considered a pro, you'd have a sponsor. About all I know about tournaments is that if there is one going on, they discourage casual play for those of us that travel to play.

It seems that the pdga wanted some separation between pdga members and non-members. Really, Blake offered the best advice, that is, advice that actually improved my game. I do kind of miss the open discussions with company reps.

I do feel that some of them listened to our needs, which perhaps led to product development.

[Blake_T]

95% of pros have no sponsorship of every kind.

they are the backbone of the payouts in purses.

about 25% of am entry fees often get added to the pro purse.

[garublador]

I do feel that some of them listened to our needs, which perhaps led to product development.

I don't think that will change. If Blake's numbers about who's buying discs (95% are non-tournament players) are right, and I believe they are, then it's in the manufacturers' best interest to listen to us and they'll continue to do so. They just won't be able to get it through the PDGA website.

[Blake_T]

new msg board update finally fixed stuff.

i have admin access back finally

[Blake_T]

if you are having trouble activating your account, please let me know by email at blake@discgolfreview.com