Hate Crime? GayGamer Site Hit By DoS Attack
One of the sites on GP’s daily roundup is the always lively GayGamer.net. Sadly, GG seems to be under some type of Denial of Service attack. Homophobia at work?
Sure seems like it.
Going to the site at this point triggers only this message:
As you might have noticed, we have had some connection issues in the last few days and now the site is completely down. I’m sad to say that we have been the target of homophobic hackers. Thankfully, they didn’t get to our database so all of our stuff is still in tact. At this point we are jut waiting for our service provider to ensure everything is good before putting the server back online.
Hopefully, this will be resolved by the end of this weekend, so please keep checking back. You can’t keep a good gay gamer down, so we’ll be back before you know it, serving up all the sassy game content you can handle.
Kotaku, which employs GG owner Flynn DeMarco as weekend editor, has more:
A hacker has knocked Gay Gamer.net, the only news gathering gay-gaming site, offline with a series of denial of service attacks after flooding the site with threatening emails and hate speech…
Small waves of denial of service attacks started Wednesday morning, causing occasional timeouts on the site. By Friday the site, working with their host, was able to block the IPs where the DOS attacks seemed to be coming from. Then Friday evening someone began flooding the site’s forums and chat room with hate speech, including some death threats, and over-sized images meant to bog down the site… The flood of messages and images all originated from the same IP in Philadelphia…
August 5th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
So,how many luls is /b/ hoping to get this time?
August 5th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Could be a homophobic attacker, but it’s more likely to just be some random /b/tard or likeminded idiot. Just get the site back up and pay him no mind… trolls feed on attention.
I hope it does get back up soon, though. I’m hetero myself, but I read it every day
August 5th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Hannah, apparently there was some hateful messaging that preceded the DoS attack, so it sounds hate-motivated…
August 5th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
@GamePolitics:
Dude, you’ve seen the /b/tards on here. They regularly use hatespeech to get a rise out of people, typically for the “lulz.”
It’s still possible that it was, in fact, a homophobic hacker, but I doubt many homophobes have the patience/intelligence/skill to perform the kind of attack that a bored 4chaner will do just for the hell of it.
August 5th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Hmm… Same IP in Philly. Isnt there a way to have the hacker’s IP tracked by the ISP and have the address turned over to the police? This is not free speech when you are harassing and trying to shut down a site. Death threats are no laughing matter either. I think this is enough to get police involved.
August 5th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
They could have found a better target, but instead, threaten a gaming website geared to a different liking? I love how society keeps falling.
August 5th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
@Hannah I think you are reaching a bit to claim that bored 4channers have any unusual level of patience/intelligence/skill. It’s not _hard_ to do that sort of thing.
But it doesn’t smell of /b/ really; /b/tards would just stick to flooding the site, there’s no lulz in a boring DoS. Possibly a hanger-on, but more likely, just some anonymous internet idiot. (Soon to lose their connection and possibly worse if they were dumb enough to do it from a single IP, duh.)
August 5th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
After spending so much time on battle.net, unfortunately I’m no longer shocked by this sort of thing. It’s sad what the anonymity of the internet does to people.
August 5th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
@fridgemagnet:
True. I guess they would’ve just invaded and asked if anyone liekd mudkips. I usually just think of them because they represent such a high percentage of the internet’s stupidity.
August 5th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
How pathetic can someone get? Whether it was a homophobic attack or not, it’s pathetic and immature.
August 5th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
I think the homophobe is about to learn to love his inner homosexuality once the Feds send him to the slammer in a month or so.
August 5th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Never even knew about this site until now, so I guess this attack has backfired. I’m not gay, and I find the idea of a gay-gamer site pointless, seeing as I have never seen anything anti-gay on any gaming news site, but I guess if gay gamers want to chat that is the place.
August 5th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Right now /b/ is focusing on the FOX News outing. They don’t have any beef with this one small site. Fridgemagnet is right, /b/tards want people to know that they were responsible. A DoS is too quiet, too boring, and coming from only one IP. Not their style.
Hope he gets this resolved soon.
August 5th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
“The flood of messages and images all originated from the same IP in Philidelphia, he added.”
Oh GP! How could you!?
August 5th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Let me just say, as a Christian from the Philadelphia area, that I wish GayGamer the best in their recovery from this and offer them my deepest sympathy. The internet is full of idiots. I guess we don’t yet know the motivation of the homophobia but, if some tragically misguided “Christians” were behind it, I’d also like to extend my sincerest apologies. We’re not all like that. Flynn (of whose writing I’m a fan) and the rest of the staff, here’s hoping you never have to deal with this sort of attack again.
August 5th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
I really don’t get the idea behind a gay gaming site, since gaming is so sexually repressed anyway, thank you ESRB. Moreover, most major releases are either entirely nonsexual or the psuedo sexual creeper affairs with big pixelated tits and implicit innuendo. A-list releases with heavy sexual content are usually gay friendly as far as I can tell (think Sims 2).
‘Hot Coffee’ really should’ve had a gratuitous black-on-black anal-fucking orgy buried in its code, I think we would be years ahead of where we are in terms of adressing sex in games, since it would’ve made the insuing ESRB fuck-freedom-of-speech-athon homophobic and racist. Just like the ESRB!
August 5th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
What the fuck is wrong with you people? Quit violating rules 1 & 2!
August 5th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I hope the crew at Gaygamer don’t have too much trouble getting things back on track. It’s one of my very favorite gaming sites, and I miss not being able to check out the news there.
August 5th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
@Zigs
Done attacking the ESRB yet? *rolls eyes*
Anyhow, regardless of what the motive was, it’s still horribly pathetic. I don’t really visit the site, but I still hope they get it up without too much problem.
August 5th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
@Joe_Snow
not necessarilly. about the 4 chan wanting people to think it is them. if it was a real one, and not just some idiot who just found it, they have a better term, they would try and pass themselves off as from ebaumsworld.
@toxicity
rules 1 and 2 don’t mean a thing if you aren’t a /b/ tard.
August 5th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
Gay gamer would be the same as girl gamer or another game site with a generic theme altho a bit smarter than most I have seen.
Wolf
ZOMG pointing out the lack of a real NC17 level in the ESRB is hardly attacking.
August 5th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
You know, as bad as this is, it IS nice to see news that isn’t about the raid.
Seriously, this is pretty nasty, and there are pretty nasty people out across the internet.
August 5th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
rdeegvainl:
Does that mean I can’t complain about newfags violating them?
August 5th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
@ZippyDSMlee
I think you looked at the wrong comment, or you’re seeing something I not. Zigs never even said anything about ratings. At all. First he said that he doesn’t get why there should be a gay gaming site, then he said something about Hot Coffee and called the ESRB homophobic and racist. Or something, I dunno. “since it would’ve made the insuing ESRB fuck-freedom-of-speech-athon homophobic and racist. Just like the ESRB!” seems a bit like an attack to me, and a rather poor one.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
I remember Gamespot posted a story from there, “Top 10 most fanciable Game Characters” or something similar & was stunned by the comments. Very very few were outright “kILL f4GS” but 5 of every 6 was “This is ridiculous, Solid Snake isn’t fucking gay, & Link? He’s a child most the time sickos. What are you posting such a weird story for? This passes for news?!?! I don’t want to hear about it, I don’t care about what these guys think, you hear me? I DON’T CARE!!!!!!!!! ” I’d hate to think this was hate fueled (against Hate Crime laws though) but don’t doubt it was for a second. Hope the guys at the site fix it up soon & continue standing proud.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
These hackers seem innordinately interested in penetrating GG defenses and violating their TOS. A bunch of closet cases, if you ask me.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Wolf
if you read threw the snideness you will see the question everyone wants to know ,why is NC17 banned in gaming.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
I still don’t quite follow, sorry. NC17, is rated Mature. I don’t see how that’s “banned in gaming” considering I know plenty of games. Unless you’re saying why is SEX banned in games. As for that, I really can’t answer. It wouldn’t bother me, but I’m just one man compared to the whole. As for why, well, my guess is as good as anyone else, really.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
@WholeFnShow
I remember that article - I, personally, found it pretty funny. But on the anonymous internet, sadly, when it comes to sexual orientation (as with race, religion, gender, class, etc.), sense of humor is generally the first thing to fly out the window, followed shortly by decency, and then by plain common sense.
The effort the attackers put into pretty much rules out the usual idiots, I agree. It’s looking like it’s hate-motivated, and it makes me somewhat sick. I don’t frequent the site, but that doesn’t make the situaton any less reprehensible to me, and I hope the police do get involved - if it’s a single IP address, it should be fairly easy.
August 5th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
@Wolf
NC17 actually more corresponds to AO than M (which is closer to R). And there is a de facto ban on AO games, since none of the big three allows them to be published on their systems, and major retailers wouldn’t stock them even if they did.
But why is this even being discussed here? It’s really far off-topic.
August 5th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Definitely off topic. Discuss in the forums.
Anywho. The attackers’ motive though unclear successfully put the site down. Attacks like this happen all across the country. It’s just now that we are recognizing hatred toward homosexual when the hate affects something that we can all recognize.
I for one do not agree with the gays, but I never enacted hatred toward them. This act that was sent upon gaygamer is a serious matter. And not just because it’s an attack on gays, but because the person(s) has the means to disrupt a person’s freedom. Who’s to say how many other sites this person took down that are gay, staight, black, chinese, jewish, muslim, patriots, foreigners, bluelovers.
August 5th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Why in the hell do people care how others live their life? In all honesty, this type of ridiculous ignorance really contradicts all logic. Who gives a fuck?
August 5th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Wulf said:
“I still hope they get it up without too much problem.”
@Wulf
Was that a gay innuendo? The ESRB would break its collective foot off in your ass.
August 5th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
@TheUnholy: What do you mean you don’t agree with the gays? Is homosexuality some sort of opinion now?
August 5th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
I dunno, Zippy brought it up in response to what I said. As for Zigs, 1. No, it wasn’t, but I wouldn’t care if you want to look at it that way. And 2. “The ESRB would break its collective foot off in your ass.” That doesn’t even make any sense.
August 5th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
@ Zigs, Wolf, ZippyDSMlee
Off topic guys. Try and get back on track.
@Gaygamer
Hang in there. Get your site back up and remember you have the ability to use law enforcement if you need to because this counts as harassment.
August 5th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
/b/ didn’t do it. Maybe a wizard did it, but it was ONE IP from philly, and we all know that anyone from philly who is anon has been sent to bel-air to live with their auntie and uncle.
August 6th, 2007 at 1:21 am
@Zigs
I think you’re the only one who read that into his response, which, considering your first post, isn’t at all surprising.
August 6th, 2007 at 2:32 am
I love gaygamer, it is one of the best web sites to go to get updated information that is updated with useful information about five or six times a day except for weekends.
I am straight gamer myself but honestly that doesn’t matter I go to the site because I love the people and the information content provided.
We may not agree politically, for I am a conservative but regardless of a political stance or belief there should always be respect.
Gaygamer.net is a great site and I will be lacking gaming information for a couple days till they come online
William Hart
Neo_DrKefka@yahoo.com
Pious_Augustus@msn.com
August 6th, 2007 at 6:04 am
[…] Nu har tyvärr den omogna spelmaffian hittat ut även på webben. De har förvisso alltid varit här, men en ganska anonym närvaro i interna forum har gjort att man kunnat ignorera skitstövlarna om man så önskat. Attacken mot underbara bloggen GayGamer.net visar på en oroande utveckling. […]
August 6th, 2007 at 6:12 am
[…] Det är lätt att få sig totalt fel intryck av spelvärlden om man beger sig online. Atmosfären är oftast rasistisk, homofobisk och sexistisk. Jag kommer inte ens ihåg hur många spel jag lagt ner bara för att jag inte orkat med online-klientellen, men titlar som Halo 2, Burnout 3 och Counter-Strike: Source får läggas till på listan. Bäst är alltid att spela på dedikerade privata eller modererade servrar, men det är ju inte alltid det går att hitta sådana. vNu har tyvärr den omogna spelmaffian hittat ut även på webben. De har förvisso alltid varit här, men en ganska anonym närvaro i interna forum har gjort att man kunnat ignorera skitstövlarna om man så önskat. Attacken mot underbara bloggen GayGamer.net visar på en oroande utveckling. […]
August 6th, 2007 at 9:22 am
thats quite sick to hear. Homophobia, duhh!
I ever was interested on logging in the site, but Gays have equal rights as we have, I dont see why people disgust them, I hae met with Gay people throughout my carrier, at college, nightclubs etc… One of my friends (in the 1990s) turned out to be gay, because of some homophobic turds he committed suicide.
Every person should be equally respected, and i hope they catch who this Hacker from Philadelphia was.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:24 am
@ William Hart
hey man try out this site: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/
I use it for my gaming news (it focuses mainly on European Gamers)
August 6th, 2007 at 9:35 am
@Toxicity²
no, it means go ahead and complain, just nobody is gonna listen.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:02 am
INTERNET HATE MACHINE
August 6th, 2007 at 10:29 am
@Terminator: ya got me, man…
LOL
August 6th, 2007 at 10:41 am
My condolences to the Gay Gamer folks and here’s hoping you are back to full strength soon and that the bastards are caught!
August 6th, 2007 at 11:57 am
@Joe_Snow
420chan’s /i/ is still pretty active with other things. I think there was a GayGamer tread, too.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Shame about the attack. Funny guys over at GG, on the few occasions I’ve read their stuff.
August 6th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Condolences to GayGamer folks too. I hope your site come back.
It reminds me that a couple of years ago, there was a “blogs’ serial killer” that attacked a lot of blogs and knocked them off one after one, in a short period of time. It was quite weird…
August 7th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
[…] My frantic pace recently has kept me from commenting on several key issues, including the hate-inspired DOS attacks on GayGamer (link) and the accusations of racism aimed at Resident Evil 5 (link). […]
August 7th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
if the hacker used his own IP for the attack he’s got to be the dumbest hacker ever.
August 8th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
[…] Then, today I read in Game Politics that a special-interest gaming blog I subscribe to, GayGamer, had been hacked. According to GayGamer, “First we were blocking the IP addresses of a rather feeble DoS. Then the hate speech started appearing all over our forums.” The tenor of the comments on both Game Politics’ and Kotaku’s coverage of the hack was not nearly as evil as the ones on and about Black Looks. Maybe GayGamer is only gay, but Black Looks is black and gay and female, I don’t know. But this reaction also partook of the notion that there was a great deal being made of nothing, that the people offended should get over it. […]
August 8th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
I’m not gay, but I have no quarrel with those who are. You gents have my support.
August 11th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
[…] A Point We Keep Coming Back To Hate Crime? GayGamer Site Hit By DoS Attack [Game Politics] Hate Crime? GayGamer Site Hit By DoS Attack [Killer Betties] Fanbois: On notice Homophobia Attacks, GayGamer Rebounds Gay Gamer Back Up After Weekend Attack GayGamer Target of Hate Crime […]