AfricaHunting.com Under Attack

[AfricaHunting.com]

I have been wanting to do a post since AH crashed a few days ago to let you all know what happened. My first priority was to get AH back up and running with everything intact as soon as possible. It took me, along with six others, literally working day and night from three different continents to bring AH back to life after being viciously hacked. I have strong reason to believe that we were hacked by an organization paid by an anti hunting group to take us down. I will tell you that for the better part of a day I thought that all of the contents of the forum as well as the integrity of the site had been lost and that was a very sick feeling!!!

I have mentioned in the past that AH has a strong security and back up system and that I have now upgraded the site to the highest level available by adding a fully managed robust Terabyte backup solution that provides continuous data protection and off-site disaster recovery for Dedicated Servers. AH will also as of next week be increasing its' primary hard drive to a Terabyte including a faster SSD drive, which will mean better loading speeds for you since the site has been growing so quickly. This has all been very costly so tell your friends in the hunting industry that we need sponsors to help support the site!

Aside from this hacking job, anti hunters have been assaulting us on every level from endless "fake" spam posts (which are just an irritant and a waste of time for me and BRICKBURN) for kitchen supplies and other nonsense to behind the scenes stuff where they engage automated queries to overwhelm and compromise the good operation and speed of the site.

I have not shared with you guys what has been going on as I have always thought that bringing that negative energy to AH would not be good. But after what I/AH has just been through, I thought you guys should know. There are several extreme anti-hunting groups that have put a target on our backs but I for one will not be intimidated. I have received at least 70 hate emails including ones with death threats to myself and my family since November. However this is nothing new to me, I have been getting 3-4 emails like these every month for several years, what is new is the intensity and number.

This increase directly coincides with a few posts that were made on Facebook in the beginning of November by a couple of anti hunting groups, which stole photos from my outfitting website posted them on their pages and made false claims about my outfit. These Facebook groups are not just doing this to me and AH, they are using hunting photos stolen from all over the web to spread false information and to stimulate support and donations.

As soon as I became aware of these posts and photos that were being used without my permission I asked Facebook to remove them, which they did. I thought they had been permanently removed until I received an email from Facebook which quite literally blew my mind saying that they had reinstated the photos and discussion as a matter of "public importance". I am still fighting with them to have these photos removed and have sent them a cease and desist letter, we'll see where that goes.

Anyway, I have been considering starting a thread with the hate mail that I receive and allowing any of you to post your anti hunter experiences or hate mail, etc. Do you think there would be anything positive to gain by doing this or would it just bring negativity? I must admit that some of them are quite entertaining if just for the sheer ignorance displayed by some of the people. Let me know what you think?

 

[bluey]

name and shame Jerome .
not real good to get death threats mate, specially towards family members
ithink its wise to let people , know how low these activists will/do go to get people to believe that they are right ,we see it in my industry regularly, that quite often these supposedly peacefull people will say anything about anyone ,right or wrong to get their opinion across .putting these threats online for anyone to read cant be a bad thing .
those reposible for them are more than likely, not accountable for their actions .once they run out of wind they hastily disappear from my experience .

.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Jerome,

I'll have to give some thought to your proposal regarding an "anti" thread, I can see both pros and cons to that.

Regarding the spammers, can not a bit more of a vetting process for new members be introduced to prevent them from access in the first place? I'm a member on a number of different forums, hunting and otherwise, that seem to have a more significant process for becoming a member and I almost never see the spamming there like we get here.

If FB continues to allow the theft and misuse of photos from AH as a matter of public importance, I think I might start posting those death threat emails under the same context. What's good for the goose......

 

[firehuntfish]

Jerome,

I personally would love to have you PM me the list of email addresses of those who have sent you the hate emails/death threats. It would be my pleasure to innundate them tirelessly with pro-hunting material and some personal opinions that I would be happy to share about their terrorist-like tactics.

 

[enysse]

I'm sorry to hear AH is causing administration headaches, it's so unappropriate for people to attack this website.

Still, I would like to read their letters, maybe we can turn the tide on the anti's.

 

[Cliffy]

I've given your thoughts consideration and I will weigh in on the subject.
First off, this is the best website on the net considering the base subject of the site and the strong feelings that it can generate. Everyone here has held to the utmost in decorum and conduct even when viewpoints differ. Gentlemen (and women) one and all. As was recently posted, "a breath of fresh air".

Jerome, I personally will stand with you on any stage, in any forum, in any crowd in support of this forum.
My name is Cliff Biggs
I live in Page, Arizona
My phone number is 702 845-3376
My personal email is cncbiggs@yahoo.com
If anyone thinks that childish and illegal acts will intimidate me they better have a second thought.
Bring it on!

The kind of action that they originate strikes at the heart of what we, in the USA, believe in and have fought for and died for for more than two centuries. And yes, I put it that high in importance! (Can anyone say, Zimbabwe?)
It is embolized in our Constitution and so important that it was chiseled in stone as the First Amendment to our Constitution, it is the RIGHT of free expression and speech.
I look at this "attack" as nothing less than an attack on our Constitutional Rights as most of the posters are from the United States of America. Canada and Australia have a long history of standing with us on this issue through several wars and I will not cower from the challenge nor hide in the shadows on something I believe in so strongly.

Now to the subject of your base question- to post or not to post the flaming emails.
It is my belief that one can not legislate stupidity nor can one fight true ideology, no matter how misdirected, by "getting in the trenches with them". They are looking for notoriety among their own peers, publicity among the general public and confirmation of their position and importance in any public forum they can find.
By going to their level we only give credence to their beliefs. One only has to look at the mountains of evidence that contradict the recent closing of hunting in southern Africa to see that empirical data does not sway the ideology of idiots.
While the postings may give "us" some temporary interest and vicarious enjoyment it would only, in reality, give another public forum for their postulations.
I am not keen on posting the offending emails as it goes against the grain of all we have done here to maintain an even keel on decorum and manners. Lets not destroy that for a moment of gratification. Let's hold ourselves to a higher level than our opponents.
We will not win this fight by seeking their level. We will not win this fight in one battle or engagement. We will win this fight over the long run with sound reasoning and the highest of morals.

Jerome, I have PM'd you on another matter for your input and I want to thank you and Brick and the others for the hard work it took to piece together what must have been a difficult puzzle.

 

[spike.t]

nicely put cliffy , and jerome well done to you and your crew who got it all working again. :thumbsup:

 

[gi jane]

Hi Jerome,
I am so sorry you have had to face such hatred. Thank you for standing strong and providing this forum. I have to agree with Cliffy on every point he made. Well-said Cliffy. So much stress for you. I wish I could help. We are so grateful!!

Jane

 

[Buff-Buster]

Very well put Cliffy and my sediments exactly. I would never have been able to put it in words a eloquently as you did! And as Spike said, thanks Jerome and Wayne for all the hard work you guys do so that we will have a place to come home to.

Maybe the "antis" will show up at the Iron Cactus in January.....that could get interesting....don't ya think Jaco! :angrymob:unch:

 

[sestoppelman]

Thanks Jerome! Glad its back and hope it goes better forward. The net is a wonderful thing but obviously it has its dark side as well. That people can anonymously post anything they like without divulging identity is one of them. I am not sure that posting the moron thread would be helpful other than giving an outlet for our/your frustration. It is up to you in the end. Thanks again for providing a great place for us to hang out.

SES

 

[jduckhunter]

Thank you Jerome, Brickburn and everybody else that plays a part in keeping this great site going. It is an honor and a pleasure to be in such great company that AH provides. We are all better off for the wealth of knowledge that this site provides for us on a daily basis. We all haven't agreed on every subject or topic of discussion but we've handled our disagreements for the most part with respect towards each other. As far as the haters and hackers that would like to see us shut down. I say give them the respect that they deserve by taking the high road and doing like Cliffy said and don't even acknowledge their existence. At least for now, I remember what one of my favorite preachers said to me one Saturday afternoon on the way home from a local gun show. We were discussing turning the other cheek and he reminded me that's what we are asked to do, and then he told me to remember also that we only have two cheeks and after that your on your own. Sadly he has past but he left me with a lot of good advice.

 

[BRICKBURN]

...............

Jerome, I have PM'd you on another matter for your input and I want to thank you and Brick and the others for the hard work it took to piece together what must have been a difficult puzzle.

Cliffy, I just decided to have a look through the banned list.

I have not been at it (the fight) nearly as long as Jerome and I have just calculated the percentage of the twits that I have personally banned:

40.55%

of the total number.

I will not bother to share the true numbers.

Suffice to say, the fight goes on and there have been more of them.

 

[gillettehunter]

Thanks guys for helping to keep the spam and haters off of here. One of my favorite forums. I tend to agree with Cliffy. He expressed it so well. Thanks for fighting for us. Bruce

 

[AkMike]

I also give big kudus to the whole admin here for keeping it pointed in the right direction. I'll echo Cliffys thoughtful words. Keep fighting these twits.

 

[Red Leg]

40.55% - Nearly half of the total number. Say a third of those are just auto marketing computer programs, and another wedge are merely pranksters, looking for any relatively soft target. That still leaves what must be a staggering numnber of opponents to our sport targetting this site.

We are, I am afraid, losing this battle. Just recently saw the DU statistics on wildfowl hunters and associated revenue. Both have plummetted over the last decade and the rate of decline is accelerating. We are, I would suggest, in the midst of a significant cultural shift in this country. I see it in my nieces and nephews who make NYC their home and the young engineers joing our workforce in California. None have any appreciation whatsoever for the notion of conservation thru hunting. In their minds "enviromentalism" is conservation and hunting is merely a form of abusing the environment. Some are ambivilent to that perceived "abuse", but very, very few have a sophisticated enough understanding of enviromental/human interaction to appreciate the role of hunting. And that uninformed majority is growing.

And how many young hunters do you know? Gun enthusiastes are a bit more common, but some of the more extreme elements of that debate are having a negative impact on our sport as well.

I believe strongly that the idea of game paying its way - closely allied with the fiscal interests of the governments in whose domaine that game resides - is our strongest case for sustaining hunting as a means of species conservation. But Botswana demonstrates just how fragile that reed may be.

We must be organized to be heard - and DU's analysis indicates how challenging that organizing effort is likely to become as the base of hunters continues to shrink. I am a life member of SCI, DSC, and the NRA. I volunteer and speak where and when I can to support this sport. It will take all of us doing whatever we can whenever we can. As this site's recent experience indicates, the wolf is already at the door.

 

[TRAVEL EXPRESS]

Hi Jerome & BRICKBURN ~ Thanks for your hard work as I understand how frustrating and time consuming these computer issues can be. I agree with Cliffy and the others above on the issues. I occasionally get "ignorant" posts on my FB page normally on hunting photos posted, etc. and sometimes PM's on there as well. I immediately delete the posts if they are on my timeline and sometimes reply to the messages in the heat of the moment but really these type of people are not worth wasting my time and energy!

 

[James.Grage]

Jerome

Since November the anti hunting groups have been stealing Hunters pictures and posting on different accounts on Facebook. I have been working for over a week working to assist on of my fellow Facebook friends who has been a prime target.

Things i have suggested to her include the following:
1. Copyright your photographs.
2. Place water marks on your photographs.
3. Contact your District Attorney - concerning the
a. Threats to self and family.
b. Harassment
c. Internet bulling
d. Interstate commerce
f. Stalking

4. Keep the e mails and make copies of the facebook threats and provide them to the DA or FBI for tracking purposes and yes they can track down where the e mails or posts came from and who sent or posted them.
5. If facebook fails to remove stolen goods, consult with an attorney about a possible lawsuit. Take them to small claims court for the max. they have to show or they lose the case.
6. Report all stolen pictures to facebook and let them know you will be taking action.

Some pictures are being removed on other sites, however the owner of the picture has to be the one making or asking for it's removal.

DA's are now looking at taking a stance on internet bulling and stalking and what is taking place by the anti hunters matches the guidelines that they are using.

This change in mindset came from the recent Florida case.

 

[gi jane]

Excellent advice James. They can be tracked by their IP address.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I just spent a few minutes to see what is going on on FB.

I will spend no more.

This one was linked directly to AH.
An Africa Hunting Gazette article on Cheetah Hunting by a child is referenced.

69 Posts on this particular entry.

Attacks on a 9 year old, including death threats and death wishes:

Sick bitch
psychopath
lost cause for humanity
generation of retards and a**holes
she'll be in prison soon
vicious little bitch
kids have no morals today
truly sick parents
parents should be hunted down and shot
people are amazed kids start shooting up other kids
f**ked forever
hope she is gored by a buffalo
she has no soul

My favourite of the truly ignorant and ill informed.

"All hunting in Africa needs to be banned as most animals are endangered"


Try to inform everyone around you and educate them as best you can. Take a kid hunting.
Teach them respect! Obviously, the parents of many of these individuals missed that boat!

 

[Wheels]

Jerome and Wayne,

First, thank you for providing a great website where members can connect, learn and share their passions. AH is the most respectful site of its kind filled with wonderful, helpful and caring members. That is why I participate here.

Second, thank you for getting AH back up and on the net. I find it frustrating when the site is spammed and especially when it was down. It must be extremely frustrating for you dealing with cyber vandals. Thanks for the time, effort and money spent in keeping it up. To show my support I have just signed up for the "Gold Supporter " and would encourage others that appreciate AH to become a "Supporter" at some level if they can afford to.

Regarding the hate mail you and AH receive. Personally, I would like you to start a thread that shows what you have to deal with. It will be entertaining and educational to those of us that don't deal with the hate crowd very much. If you do start the thread, I think it would be good to leave out the individuals email address and last name. Some members may take it upon themselves to respond to them. It doesn't behoove us to stoop to their levels.

Regarding Facebook, It is wise to send the cease and desist order. The cost of fighting a legal battle with them would be prohibitive but some members might be hesitant to post pictures or stories on AH if they are able to be manipulated, changed and transferred elsewhere. If you can show Facebook's attorneys where AH content has been purposely changed or used out of context they may be more inclined to remove the material from their website.

Thank you again for AH and for all you do!

All the best.