Peikko

@@Peikko, if you're judging a hack only by whether or not financial information was released, please don't go into corporate security.  

 

The point of my argument: every hack has repercussions on someone. Stalking, etc. is a very real possibility from this hack. This also reflects rather poorly on Patreon--any time a company or organization is hacked, people lose faith in the company. I was actually considering starting a Patreon at some point, but now I'm just slightly more hesitant unless they can shore up their weak spots.

And if you're claiming that a hack that releases information that is almost already completely public knowledge as being equal to or less bad than one that releases financial information and takes things like your social security information, then you shouldn't be in your major. Financial information theft leads to identity theft, which can result in: thousands of dollars worth of debt in your name that you cannot clear, denial of loans (for cars, mortgages, being able to sign apartment leases), and even employment, and being unable to open a bank account. So yes, I would consider patreons hack a lesser hack than others. It's still unfortunate it happened, but as I mentioned in my first post, they are already taking strides to resolve what happened and prevent it from happening again. 

And as another note: if you're unsure about using Patreon because of this, I hope you also avoid shopping at: Target, Home Depot, getting insurance with Premara Blue Cross, Anthem Insurance, going to Chic-Fil-A, The Post Office, Staples, K-Mart, Dairy Queen, etc etc etc. All have at one point been compromised, and I think almost that entire list had the same information (name, mailing address, etc) compromised. 

So why would it matter if the addresses, emails, etc. of normal people were released? Simple: stalking. There's a ton of Open Source software out there that can locate publicly available tweets to within a few meters. You can track the movement of individuals, find their relatives, and see where all of their Instagram pictures were taken. Any hack where personal information is released is a big deal.

You can stalk essentially any homeowner, as their name, address, and their purchase price of their home is public information online. Seeing as I'm not a secret agent and not overly concerned with stalking from anyone other than my psycho ex, who knows where I live and has my number, this isn't a big deal. Most people post regular updates of where they are on facebook, making stalking the easiest thing. And as a seller on websites like storenvy, ebay, etc, anyone who has ever purchased has this info. If you're afraid of being tracked via tweets, then don't use twitter. If you're afraid of your info being hacked and messages being stolen, then using this website or any social media website is a bad idea. 

My point was that major financial information wasn't leaked, and in the instance of patreon - who I seriously doubt secret agents whose identity is crucial to their safety use - this breach is on one of the lowest tiers of "horrific" as far as security breaches go. I would rank it a 2/10, with something like my community college records being a 10/10 since all my financial information went with it, and the college was forced into offering credit monitoring. If you're conducting major illegal activities online on a site like patreon, you're the biggest idiot on the planet. 

Here's what kind of info was exposed from what people who have explored it have shown was in that 15 GB file:

 

Names

Mailing Addresses

Personal Messages

Email Addresses

Lists of every backer of each creator

 

 

DMCA Takedown Logs and IP Addresses

Funding Records

Tax Forms

and more

 

I don't know where you're getting "tax forms" as being exposed and shared on the download files that are available, but they were not. They were accessed, but not stolen and shared. 

Name - who cares? Address - who cares? E-mail address - who cares? For everyone that has ever purchased a physical product from my storenvy shop, they have this information. This information is public on google. Look up my name on google, and you will find my g+ account associated with my e-mail address, along with my home address. Personal messages? What are you afraid of? Were you involved in major illegal activities? No? Then who cares! Anything I would post in a private message on patreon I don't care if people read - this would be discussions about commission prices and upcoming projects. Not a big deal. List of backers? Who cares. Oh no, Joe Blow supports ___, ___, and ____ people! How terrible! I shall blackmail him for his kind deeds in supporting other artists... not. 

It's not the entire Patreon DB that got hacked, which they explained in an e-mail on 9/30. According to Patreon (and the article you posted backs this up): 

"We do not store full credit card numbers on our servers and no credit card numbers were compromised. Although accessed, all social security numbers and tax form information remain safely encrypted, and all passwords securely hashed. No specific action is required of you, but as a precaution we recommend that all users update their passwords on Patreon." 

So it really wasn't a "horrific failure".  I've had both credit cards and debit cards cancelled from gas stations, grocery stores, and retailers having their information compromised. The community college I attended 8 years ago was hacked about 3 years ago, and ALL their information was compromised - cards, students records, home addresses, social security numbers, everything they had on record. That was a horrific failure. Mandy.com was horrific failure. For the most part, I think this slap on the wrist will force patreon into improving their site security. It also continues to prove that no website is truly safe. 

Edit: You should read this message about the hack from patreon, which explains why the security breach happened, why certain data is safe, and what they are doing to ensure this doesn't happen again. 

I couldn't sleep the other night and splashed together a quick watercolor of Discord. 

I just want to add that the pay-for ballon pop now costs TWENTY gems. TWENTY. I'm sure the odds haven't gotten any better, either. And the whole "download this new game" as a quest that costs one gem to skip is pretty low. 

I got robbed of about a million coins with expanding an area that reset itself, and the game is getting less and less fun to play. This new update is awful.  

Heads up to anyone installing the new game: 

I removed all of the shadows from Canterlot, moved King Sombra's home/a rainbow fountain/some trees and ferns into the newly unlocked/expanded area, and when I logged into the game later the shadows were back and the game deleted the items I moved into those areas (Sombra, fountain, and all). They're not in my inventory, and I'm down all the gold I had spent to unlock aforementioned areas...

... so if you do unlock those areas, be careful, because it might reset itself and you might also lose whatever ponies/items you put there. I already contacted customer care to look into this issue. 

Edit: Also, two of the Canterlot ponies are now balloon pop ponies only: A.K. Yearling and Emerald Gem. I haven't bought them yet because I have been saving up for Celestia. I'm really miffed by this change. 

I am only 16 gems away from getting Rainbow Dash.... then I can start spending my gems to try and get Photo Finish, Trixie, and the other Balloon Pop ponies....

I just have Trixie, Magnum, and Caramel left to win from the balloon pop... but I'm saving up all of my gems for Celestia right now. I'm hoping she'll go on sale again sometime this year, so I'm going to save all my gems until she does. Then I'll get other ponies with the leftover gems. 

It's really hard not to spend them on balloon pop, though. 

Here's a 4" x 6" Edward Scissorhands I drew late last year and finally got around to finish coloring a couple of days ago. There's a lot wrong with this drawing, but it was a fun piece I got to do for myself. I feel like I don't get to draw for myself a whole lot these days, so it was nice to not have to worry about how it came out and just doodle. 

Hopefully I am posting this in the correct place and it is not breaking any rules. I just like to pass these opportunities along as I stumble on them - I have some friends that are writers/artists that sporadically submit work to anthologies for publication. This is specifically for any writers that are 18 or younger that would like an opportunity to have their work published in a book. 

Full details on their website: http://www.aspirationspress.com/#!submissions/ck8y

Submission Deadline: March 15th, 2015

"Dreams Come True Anthology: Stories for the Campfire

All Anthology Stories Edited by Monique Happy of Monique Happy Editorial Serverices

Stories Collected by Kya Aliana

Published by Aspirations Press

 

For DREAMS COME TRUE ANTHOLOGY: STORIES FOR THE CAMPFIRE - We are looking for a mixture of stories and poems written by young authors 18 and under. There is no *minimum* age requirement, if you're old enough to write a story, you're old enough to submit. Please no entries from those *over* 18.

 

We're looking for entries including but not limited to: scary stories, supernatural tellings, ghosts, vampires, werewolves, goblins, witches, whatever creepiness is bubbling up from your cauldron! Even if you usually write in another genre, please don’t hesitate to submit your own special twist on stories you think would be fun to tell around the campfire! 

 

Poems - any

Flash fiction: 100-1,000

Short Stories: 1,000+

 

If your submission is accepted, you will be paid a flat rate of:

$5 for a poem

$10 for flash fiction

or

$15 for a short story

You will retain 100% rights to your story. (You can self-publish, sell, or do whatever you please with it.)

 

You will receive one free paperback copy of the anthology and you can purchase additional copies for cost plus S&H. All profits from this anthology will go toward paying future authors for their stories in the next issue of the Dreams Come True Anthology."

 

There is more information posted on their website, so please make sure to check it out for the full guidelines on how to submit. I'm not associated with this publisher at all, so I cannot answer any technical questions. I just thought I would pass this along, because I remember at 16 I would have killed for an opportunity to get published. 

Whenever I see the word "science" coupled with an exclamation point, all I can think about are this style "SCIENCE!" images. 

Cute drawing!

Smoke a bowl. 

What makes you laugh the most? 

... and yes, that is also my question. 

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I've added a bunch of you over the last two weeks, so check your friend requests! I'm not sure if I've added you, boiteporte, so I will look next time I log on.  - Nevermind, I did and have a "friend request pending" message.
 

All Week seeing ads to "Win Babs Seed through the EG Minigame"

I was really upset about this for about a week because for two weeks my game completely removed the "daily event" icon, so I couldn't participate in anything. It just suddenly went away in the middle of a minecart event I was working on. I contacted gameloft support for it and we did a bit of troubleshooting, but nothing was making it work... and then they e-mailed me back saying something along the lines of, "We just updated the game, install the new version and see if it works now", which totally fixed the problem. I was still pretty miffed I missed out on winning a pony, but then I realized the other day that I'm retarded and I already have her!

To avoid the game notice thingies from getting noticed, turn off you Tablet or Phone completely when you go to sleep, cause it makes a chime sound when you get them, even if the screen is off. They appear as an icon in your notification area (right beside where you get a icon when you have e-mail) and say stuff like "Pony __Name__ is ready to play" when you swipe your screen in such a way as to open the expanded view of the notification area. I forget what's it's called so i had to get a bit descriptive/wordy there...

I contacted Gameloft about this issue (I had it chiming loudly at 3am, even with the sound 100% disabled on my ipad) and they couldn't figure it out. Fortunately, I figured it out on my own! You have to go to your device settings OUTSIDE of the game settings, select the game, and then turn off the sound for push notifications there as well. It completely disables the noise then, so you won't have to turn off your device in the future if you don't want to.  

I think I've met at least one person here well before I joined. I set up at quite a few conventions, and when I was looking through the "post a picture of yourself" thread I recognized someone that had stopped by my table! 

I don't actually watch the show, but I love the character design. I collect a lot of the small blind bag toys (minus the glitter ones) because they look so nice. I can't bring myself to buy any of the large Funko ponies because they did such a terrible job with them. Nothing stops me from buying a toy more than bad seam lines and terrriiiible paint jobs... and the fact that they didn't bother cleaning the large sculpts before molding them so they still look like unfinished wax prototypes 100% ruins it for me. 

But on a lighter note, the artwork/stories in the comics are also really cute. 

*shameless plug* Since said bf is new to the game he needs friends! His username is timemagetim, please add him!

 

(And add me while you're at it! Username is darlingdeviant)

The Derpy story was really cute... also, added both of you! 

I got my mug in the mail today and it looks AWESOME! 

Thank you, everyone! 

Nice design. Kittehs!

Now, unrelated topic: Is that a Nekrogoblikon icon you have there?

Yes! Yes it is. It's John Goblikon from the video "No One Survives". 

Thank you! I'll definitely update with photos when I get it. Estimated delivery date is between the 22nd and 28th. I hope it's fast! I'm so impatient when I'm waiting for packages, especially silly ones like this. 

I collect Monster High dolls, Despicable Me figures (especially weird China bootleg figures), books, comic books, original comic book pages, the mlp blind bag figures and some other mlp things, loose horror toys for my horror themed shelf, pretty much anyyything Phantom of the Opera related, and pretty much anything related to The Shadow. I also really love clearance Mega Bloks, especially if they're things I can add to the ceiling of my living room aerial battle. My home feels like a big, weird museum sometimes, but that's the way I like it. 

I'm curious if anyone has an autograph collection, I have a few but I don't have the right kind of money to start a collection, Here's a picture of some I obtained in person.

I do! A ton of my comics are signed. I go to book signings when I can (I got to meet Neil Gaiman and have some things signed from him, and hopefully next week Anne Rice), and since I collect so much original art I usually buy direct from the artist, so all of that is signed. I have some signed gig posters and CDs, too.