Skoar Forums hacked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skoar forums have been hacked & this was the message posted over there

On the morning of 9th March, the forum was cracked into and several threads deleted. The culprit's identity has been traced and he will get his just desserts soon enough (yes, VJ_Lunar, that means you), but that's another story. The forum will be restored to its state as of 15th Dec 2006. That means all posts\users added thereafter will vanish forever. This restoration should take about a week's time, until which the forum will remain inactive. Apologies for the inconvenience. See you in a week.

Nope. They deleted the threads themselves and put up that message, because it was on digg.com for the wrong reasons.

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51511

this means that guy vj_lunar is being made a scapegoat

^^ Read VJ_Lunar's reply on the digg story.
I won't give the digg link here because whenever that appeared, the thread either got locked or deleted.

yea...
i think its just done to cover up for that piracy issue...

His reply uncovers quite a lot of sht.

So sad man..such is the state of India's only gaming magazine...Computer gaming World was superb...I left buying skoar long time back...God help India in the gaming front

@blackpearl
I got it man....

@pathicks
I 2 think that is the reason

Have you noticed that raaabo updated his closing post.
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showpost.php?p=440657&postcount=122
ON MORNING OF 9th march!

vimal_mehrotra said:
Have you noticed that raaabo updated his closing post.
*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/showpost.php?p=440657&postcount=122
ON morning of 9th march!

Interesting that you mention this. According to another SKOAR forum member, he remembers seeing Raaabo on the SKOAR forums at the time it was having its "hacking" going on. He didn't reply to any of the topics but the guitar one, maybe even acting oblivious to the whole situation. Don't know why he would waste his time even visiting, but I'm not going to judge a man like based just off that.

Honestly, the whole mess regarding the forums, the editing of articles, and ABOVE ALL the pirated games provided on their discs - make very much the pinnacle of absurbity. But just because the community doesn't have their forum, doesn't mean we aren't in communitication with another. And yes, we plan to do something about it. Aayush himself mentioned the magazine was entirely community-driven. Well, let's see our far they'll go now without a majority of their contributers backing them up.

L

Finally u hear something from vj_lunar he he so thats true?

Hmm..some light finally

Welcome to digit Vj

Skoar definitely has to pay its price..!! With so many people sure of the piracy and injustice that happens there, I dpn't see on what pretext the admins there or our raabo here still try to protect it..!!! I think that's pure arrogance..

Pretty much whatever I said about the things regarding the editing of articles and the supposed "HACKING" are true. I honestly don't think they were hacked, I believe someone who had administrative access deleted most of the forum topics. What two things I don't understand at all are:

1. Why are there back-ups of only up to December 17th 2006? This is especially weird since most of the issues regarding the piracy and editing of content had topics where we discussed for (or rather demanded) some explanation. None of those topics will be there now. Case in point, whatever topics here in Digit regarding at least the piracy issues have also closed (simply because it doesn't have anything to do with DIGIT, which I can understand to some point - but why NOW?)
2. Why was the whole forum closed off? There was a topic made by Enoonmai requesting a reason for my account deletion. That topic had a bunch of replies asking the same question, and now no one outside of the forums will be able to see that. I can also guarantee you never will, since they'll probably delete it.

This whole thing seems awfully convienent if I truly did "hack" the forums. You'd at least think they'd question themselves before accusing others for their own ignorance. Such is the way things are being handled~

vimal_mehrotra: Thanks

~ Don't mind me, just stating my case here. I don't plan to stay for long as I have things to attend to

T

*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SKOAR!

.

Welcome VJ_Lunar. You are most welcome. Iam sure noone will ban you here. If they do something like iam sure all the spears and arrows will be poking the admins. We got gaming section too

.

Yeah whatever

You are free to state it here(as long as admin dosen't close it)

*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SKOAR%21

LMAO, I just saw that today. Well, it's not the most insightful Wiki entry I ever read, but at least more than one person understands that there is some internal conflict going on.

We got gaming section too

:O !!

I'll be sure to look at those later today, thanks!~

You are free to state it here(as long as admin dosen't close it)

As long as they don't pull a SKOAR and delete the topic itself, I don't mind if its closed. And if DOES get closed, that's just going to raise anyone's suspicion. Either way I look at it, this issue is too big for most people to ignore considering how closely related these two magazines are.

T

VJ_Lunar said:
LMAO, I just saw that today. Well, it's not the most insightful Wiki entry I ever read, but at least more than one person understands that there is some internal conflict going on.

:O !!

I'll be sure to look at those later today, thanks!~

As long as they don't pull a SKOAR and delete the topic itself, I don't mind if its closed. And if DOES get closed, that's just going to raise anyone's suspicion. Either way I look at it, this issue is too big for most people to ignore considering how closely related these two magazines are.

Well it a wiki. Anyone can edit it

. Iam sure someone will come with some points and add a reference link. The only thing i can thing of is digg. But that is not a reliable link.

.

Has anyone contacted JDM over this issue?

T

vimal_mehrotra said:
Has anyone contacted JDM over this issue?

Well they ever check their email :lool:.

thunderbird.117 said:
Well it a wiki. Anyone can edit it . Iam sure someone will come with some points and add a reference link. The only thing i can thing of is digg. But that is not a reliable link.

Good point, I think when I get some time over the weekend - I'll take a snapshot of those games that are featured in the cases (maybe even use print screen to show the games on the folder are indeed the full versions). As for the editing of the articles, I know various people who have proof just by going off the original emails that were sent to Aayush for processing. Compare that too what was printed in the magazine, and BAM - you got some extra leverage for a good Wiki write-up.

Has anyone contacted JDM over this issue?

Not including myself (since I could really care what their opinion is), I know two people who have sent their own emails. But like Thunderbird mentioned, I really can't say if anyone will take them seriously. Best bet is to actually contact the Indian distributors and game publishers for the games that got pirated. I'm sure Valve won't be too happy to know Half-Life 1 didn't cost me "too much", hurr hurr.

T

Look at this *en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SKOAR!&diff=114276744&oldid=114276585

Very intresting

Yeah, I don't feel at that anger is really justified. People should sit tight and wait for a real gaming forum to pop up, and just forget anything like SKOAR every existed in their heads. It'll reduce your brain-cell count quite a bit.

T

VJ_Lunar said:
Yeah, I don't feel at that anger is really justified. People should sit tight and wait for a real gaming forum to pop up, and just forget anything like SKOAR every existed in their heads. It'll reduce your brain-cell count quite a bit.

Digit have fairly decent and good gaming forum.

. It is let to be improved

^^He means A dedicated gaming forum..

@vj Has you or anyone of your friends contacted valve or activision?Or are you waiting for badjag's reply?

Like I said, I shouldn't have to be the one to make these complaints. I was never a SKOAR magazine fan to begin with, I just liked the people who visited their forums. The only difference here is that I got booted off the forums because I teased their precious baby so much, that they had to take action and once again prove that: "We're the overloards around here, so f*** off"

My real focus right now is to gather whatever is left from the SKOAR community and make things right for them - since this whole thing does seem kinda like my fault (lol). And as much as its nice to see DIGIT forums care about PC or console gaming, I'd rather have a gaming-centric forum from the get go. All we need is that very gaming-centric forum, and things will improve right of the bat. This needs to happen no matter what. Let someone else play tattletale.

Here is our man ;-)

*setiathome.berkeley.edu/view_profile.php?userid=31208

hmm... ok arsenal1.. dont get too involved in this...

Ok no more google now

Never seen admin and mods under such pressure here.
"Dhobi ka kutta, na ghar ka na ghat ka". No offence intended.Really I dont remember any other saying.
Not much replies from senior members about this.
And mods are happy fishing small fishes. I think they neither have power nor are allowed to go in deep seas.

T

The admin itself told us that they are not part of the skoar mag. Has they is already one thread like this which was locked by Raaabo. Where else should we complain then?. They can not say in skoar forum because the replies we get is filled with vulguar words and they already blamed VJ_Lunar for cracking the forum. Which i know he did not. Now who else to compain?. JDM email?. Will we get a proper response?. Do they check their mails?.

^^ But JDM has to do something before someone shoots an email to game publishers or they will be in serious trouble.

T

vimal_mehrotra said:
^^ But JDM has to do something before someone shoots an email to game publishers or they will be in serious trouble.

They are evidence too. So what can skoar do?. Moreover what can JDM can do about it?. They are really going to face it. The time is running out. The countdown start now.

I think: just mail these links to some newzpaper like Indian Express or Hindu with all evidense as links [from digg also] and ask them to publish the newz. Its sure to work.
I strongly feel this thread is bout to be closed.

T

aravind_n20 said:
I think: just mail these links to some newzpaper like Indian Express or Hindu with all evidense as links [from digg also] and ask them to publish the newz. Its sure to work.
I strongly feel this thread is bout to be closed.

What good that will do lool. I do not care if they close this thread or not. The game publishers and developers will come to know even if the JDM delete theis threads.

@aravind.. I think the best person to do that shd be lunar...

Some pretty ugly things going over there. Although my previews never got tampered...just a line or two tweaked, still I personally know of reviews that have been chopped until the reviewer himself had no idea he had written it.

Anyways, after a long break, I landed at SKOAR! forums just as it all blew up around me, leaving me completely bewildered. Vanishing posts, sudden revocation of my mod status and that too 4 o'clock in the morning and then that announcement by BJ. I had no idea what the hell was wrong.

I am not going to take any sides here and blame anyone. I just hope that everything gets sorted out soon. Even though SKOAR! isin't exactly loved here, me and my fellow band of gamers have devoted some real time in making the forum a great place to be. Seeing it implode like that hurts a lot. We knew it was coming...still it hurts.

@VJ: Welcome to Thinkdigit forums...you can PM me here now. I never got to see what you had PMed me at SKOAR! I just got the notification and by the time I clicked on it, it had already gone kaput.

This thread will also close , Raaabo closed that thread and deleted the so called offensive posts from that thread to cover up skoar's bu*t . Discussion abt other mag is not allowed here , then why does he/admin post (or allowed to post) anything abt skoar expo here, why were we discussing it here.
Everyone knows why skoar forums are down , the excuse written there is funny.

So what are we trying to do here?Making more Skoar! threads which will eventually get deleted by Admin.What are we trying to achieve?

AFAIK, the magazine has the right to edit articles without informing the writer, no matter how good or famous a writer you are. There is nothing you can do about it officially. But what is the reason behind Skoar editing the writer's previews? Is that because they don't like the preview or is that it does not contain enough abuses? Generally, the edited article should be better than the original one otherwise there is no sense in editing.

blackpearl said:
AFAIK, the magazine has the right to edit articles without informing the writer, no matter how good or famous a writer you are. There is nothing you can do about it officially. But what is the reason behind Skoar editing the writer's previews? Is that because they don't like the preview or is that it does not contain enough abuses? Generally, the edited article should be better than the original one otherwise there is no sense in editing.

yup they can edit the articles but then they shd add a note that the above article has been modified... wd u like it if a publish a filled crap article in ur name???

^^People will think I have expanded my vocabulary,if this would have happened to me

pathiks said:
yup they can edit the articles but then they shd add a note that the above article has been modified... wd u like it if a publish a filled crap article in ur name???

Exactly!! If the edited article is full of crap they should stop writing for the mag.

T

blackpearl said:
Exactly!! If the edited article is full of crap they should stop writing for the mag.

That is the whole point of Skoar! thread. They should stop publishing Skoar. Iam sure a gaming magazine will come to india but not from JDM.

Do you think they will be to give next skoar "on time"

Do u think there ll be a NEXT skoar ????

^^I was about to ask that,but then I thought that would be too far

Sure there will be , crap keeps coming...

Oh...I hate to buy P**ted games from the game parlour. So maybe this time I can adjust with SKOAR

If skoar comes this time there wont be p-rated games for sure

and I expect lots of abuses for the "duggers" too

T

vimal_mehrotra said:
If skoar comes this time there wont be p-rated games for sure and I expect lots of abuses for the "duggers" too

Duggers?.

^^One who "Diggs"

T

vimal_mehrotra said:
^^One who "Diggs"

Ah that one. The more they abuse the more they get. I do not think skoar will last that long.

L

Just kind of curious about the will and would be next issue of skoar......Hmmm maybe i should get it just for whatever **** may come written in its latest issue after it got bash pretty much

pathiks said:
Do u think there ll be a NEXT skoar ????

I searched for a copy for 2-3 months in Hyderabad, Banagalore and Chennai on the news stands but did not get it. So I orderd a copy on Jan 4th and I have not yet received the copy. Every time I call them once on Feb 29 and other last week both times they said that they are sending it the same evening. But it seems in the skoar land evenings do not come...

hailgautam said:
I searched for a copy for 2-3 months in Hyderabad, Banagalore and Chennai on the news stands but did not get it. So I orderd a copy on Jan 4th and I have not yet received the copy. Every time I call them once on Feb 29 and other last week both times they said that they are sending it the same evening. But it seems in the skoar land evenings do not come...

Its good that magazine support like the mag/forums does not use cuss words when you call them. yet

T

hailgautam said:
I searched for a copy for 2-3 months in Hyderabad, Banagalore and Chennai on the news stands but did not get it. So I orderd a copy on Jan 4th and I have not yet received the copy. Every time I call them once on Feb 29 and other last week both times they said that they are sending it the same evening. But it seems in the skoar land evenings do not come...

Few reason not to get skoar

. If you subcribe the magazine cancel it and get the refund. 200Rs for this mag is not all worth buying it. If you want to know about gaming i suggest you to visit sites like gamespot.com, ign.com, gamespy.com. Iam telling you this because you should not waste your hard earned money to buy this magazine or if your parents or someelse give you the money to buy. Skoar deserves to die in the dustbin with no respect at all.

S

The ultimate question- Will this thread get locked too just because its not related to digit ?
I must say that just because this thread talks of a sister mag, it doesn't mean it must be locked. we are trying to point what actually IS going on. (Yeah, its the piracy and blaming) Just because its a different mag, it doesn't mean you can look over the fact that the same publisher is behind both of them.

Regarding whether or not Maulik Jasubahi is concerned or not about the pirated (no, they are NOT abandonware) games. I must say you are losing buyers and moreover you are bringing down our own image in the eyes of your very own readers.

People still see SKOAR as a magazine by digit people. And the people will say - If its in skoar then why can't be in digit tomorrow. 'Yesternight' my buddy said, "hmmm so you mean there are pirated games in digit too."

On the morning of 9th March, the forum was cracked into and several threads deleted

When was VJ's account deleted BTW? Do you mean to say VJ just goes and learns to crack the security and implements it under 24 Hrs? He was a happy member till his last post, wasnt he.

The forum will be restored to its state as of 15th Dec 2006

Hmm.. so you got no backup for 3 full months. Who are you trying to fool eh?
There won't be any ranting about piracy and sh!t when the forums are into play again. Nice move.

Yup, they can fool us[ the readers] by saying the site has been hacked nd all threads were deleted. But weve nothin to do as well.

It was a mag with bulletholes nd burn bigger holes in our pocket also, and what we get are some stupid languages and 10bucks games which is easily available local game parlour wala. Then why shud waste 200 precious bucks.

T

SE><IE said:
The ultimate question- Will this thread get locked too just because its not related to digit ?
I must say that just because this thread talks of a sister mag, it doesn't mean it must be locked. we are trying to point what actually IS going on. (Yeah, its the piracy and blaming) Just because its a different mag, it doesn't mean you can look over the fact that the same publisher is behind both of them.

Regarding whether or not Maulik Jasubahi is concerned or not about the pirated (no, they are NOT abandonware) games. I must say you are losing buyers and moreover you are bringing down our own image in the eyes of your very own readers.

People still see SKOAR as a magazine by digit people. And the people will say - If its in skoar then why can't be in digit tomorrow. 'Yesternight' my buddy said, "hmmm so you mean there are pirated games in digit too."

When was VJ's account deleted BTW? Do you mean to say VJ just goes and learns to crack the security and implements it under 24 Hrs? He was a happy member till his last post, wasnt he.

Hmm.. so you got no backup for 3 full months. Who are you trying to fool eh?
There won't be any ranting about piracy and sh!t when the forums are into play again. Nice move.

You are totally right.

Also half life and mafia are not abandonware. The company still exist and they still have copyright of it. So basically it is pirated.

Also if they lock this thread. They will undergo lot of suspious and also giving excuse like Skoar is not part of digit wont help at all. Because it same had JDM has Se><ie already told you.

Btw does anyone have skoar where they sold the priate version of the disk?. I do not buy all the skoar. So if anyone brought. Please post the picture here or contact me via pm.

S

I don't have a cam or else I would have posted the photos.

PS: @ admins, see this thread as being pointed to JDM rather than digit in particular.

T

SE><IE said:
I don't have a cam or else I would have posted the photos.

PS: @ admins, see this thread as being pointed to JDM rather than digit in particular.

Why the cam?. The pirated is on the dvd. Use the print screen and the paint. Can you tell me atleast which all magazine came with this stuff?. So that i can go to libray and get it.

The only problem is the mag. It is not the cam problem. The whole magazine is filled with bad language. I can not take pictures of all mag lool.

S

[Snipped]

I was popping another disc and my optical drive stuck. The pinhole trick aint working either. Guess I would have to use some knife or something to bring that tray out.

Will edit this post for more ScreeShots

pally ji kya aapne digg kia

. What are the chances of the story to hit the main page of digg with 42 diggs so far?
__________

SE><IE said:
Call of Duty

[Snipped]

I was popping another disc and my optical drive stuck. The pinhole trick aint working either. Guess I would have to use some knife or something to bring that tray out.

Will edit this post for more ScreeShots

thx , some one needs to make a blog post abt this and submit it on digg, coz Raabo will again delete offensive

contents of this thread too.

Edit: Pic removed on fellow members request.

T

Please delete the screens. Also give me more screenshot of other warez. Iam already preparing the data to deliver it. Send it in my pm.

Aayush has removed the "criticism" in wiki entry for skoar.
*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SKOAR%21

T

who is Aayush?. Is he working of Skoar?.

T

vimal_mehrotra said:
^I fixed it(though i am a wiki noob)
Aayush is "right hand of BJ " he also does this editing stuff.

Ah i see. I do not know anyknow from skoar lool. Iam preparing for a gift

Look like the right hand is trying to ask for full protection on wikipedia. Look like JDM is trying to keep it shut.

*en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Re...it.7Ctalk.7Chistory.7Clinks.7Cwatch.7Clogs.29

I see a conspiracy in JDM.

Wow 71 posts...never thought it will go this much when I created it..

S

The games are NOT abandonware if you have to BUY them on amazon

Half life
*www.amazon.com/70365-Half-Life/dp/B00000DMAE/ref=sr_1_12/002-0862168-2364843?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1173866835&sr=1-12
cost: $6.25

*www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=70&cc=IN
cost: $9.85

Mafia
*www.amazon.com/Global-Star-Software-2133571-Mafia/dp/B0001PK3WE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-0862168-2364843?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1173868358&sr=1-2
cost : $4.00

call of duty
*www.amazon.com/Call-of-Duty-Dvd-Box/dp/B00066FGRK/ref=sr_1_45/002-0862168-2364843?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1173868718&sr=1-45
cost: $4.87

*www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=2620&cc=IN
cost: $19.95

Prince of persia 3D
*www.amazon.com/Prince-Persia-3D-Jewel-Case/dp/B00005YX8F/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-0862168-2364843?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1173868977&sr=1-2
cost: $9.99

well even u can edit the wikipedia entries.... so just go on it... and keep re editing it if it changes... i hope threy dont lock it...

^^The wiki entry is locked,but not by them

And it has been 1 week.Skoar! forum is still down.

Only Game mag of India is like this , how ironic. what would have happened if there was slightest bit of competition for them.

So two weeks have past and their forum is still dead.

Dead and buried as far as we are concerned. All of the quality members have moved to their own spanking new forums where they wont be tied down the way they were. Its a matter of time before the SKOAR! forum sinks unders its own weight of assumed awesomeness.

^^ nice words.. R u giving the TOEFL by any chance??

ctrl_alt_del said:
Dead and buried as far as we are concerned. All of the quality members have moved to their own spanking new forums where they wont be tied down the way they were. Its a matter of time before the SKOAR! forum sinks unders its own weight of assumed awesomeness.

Haha..

.

Skoar!March is ready.
*skoar.com/ReadIssue.php?IssueId=16&IssueName=XIII — March 2007

Hey I never read skoar but I those of u who have bought the mag and have used the dvd must have installed the games and I wud also be asuming that u all must be playing those so called pirated games....that makes all of u all the same as the pirates....hence criticising them hardly makes any sense...

sabret00the said:
Hey I never read skoar but I those of u who have bought the mag and have used the dvd must have installed the games and I wud also be asuming that u all must be playing those so called pirated games....that makes all of u all the same as the pirates....hence criticising them hardly makes any sense...

Lol,how can you say we have installed pirated sh1t
In any case,skoar are supporting piracy.They are a big company and should be responsible.

T

sabret00the said:
Hey I never read skoar but I those of u who have bought the mag and have used the dvd must have installed the games and I wud also be asuming that u all must be playing those so called pirated games....that makes all of u all the same as the pirates....hence criticising them hardly makes any sense...

You are so ignorant.

pathiks said:
^^ nice words.. R u giving the TOEFL by any chance??

Not in the near future.

Why do you ask?

There are more games with crack in the March Issue

T

rajivnedungadi said:
There are more games with crack in the March Issue

Is this for real?.

thunderbird.117 said:
Is this for real?.

Yes, they really provide cracks and they call it as "No CD Patch"

T

rajivnedungadi said:
Yes, they really provide cracks and they call it as "No CD Patch"

Oh boy. Not again. They still did not read this thread. I wish skoar stop publishing. It is only ruining gaming culture in india.

Jasubhai Digital Media

Yup, more cracked games have been included in the latest issue. The one that I know of is Max Payne. The game costs just 99/- now!

which are the cracked games given in marc's issue?

Again in march !!!!!
Dude they really have got guts or they are plain dumb to do that again after whole controversy.

As far as I know: Max Payne, StarLancer, and Heart of Darkness are available in Issue #13 DVDs, but I'm sure there are maybe two or three more that people have missed (ROMs for older game systems still count!). On another related note, the SKOAR forums are finally back up - but the posts from their previous backup haven't shown up yet. Certainly took long enough for them. That just means we have to get our crap together while we're still on the rebound ;P

Hey I never read skoar but I those of u who have bought the mag and have used the dvd must have installed the games and I wud also be asuming that u all must be playing those so called pirated games....that makes all of u all the same as the pirates....hence criticising them hardly makes any sense...

Nobody asked for pirated games on their DVDs though, that was entirely their doing. Besides, it might surprise some people but I really wish they'd focus on actually putting stuff that's some use to me rather the same old PC games I've grown tired of long ago. Why not put some more mods on their? Or how about some developer interview videos? The indie community has some amazing **** too, yet they'd rather put Half-Life on their discs and call it a day. They really don't care.

You also gotta look at the bigger picture here. SKOAR interviews developers as well, how would you feel if your work was being distributing for nothing. Developers would feel less inclined to talk, and thus take us less seriously. And don't even get me started on distributors.

Either way you look at it, everybody's losing something here really. I thought people still cared about gaming in India

man, it sure seems strange. with all the anti-piracy hue and cry from digit, skoar goes about distributing pirated games to the while nation. i wonder why jasubhai digital media is taking such a risk. if game publishers decide to sue thm, they'd be in deep ****