The Community Shrinks: SkinArtistry Closes
Damn hackers
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 by Zoomba | Discussion: WinCustomize News
If you've tried to visit SkinArtistry.com in the last day or so, you've found yourself staring at the following notice:
"Skinartistry.com is now officially closed due to hackers installing a series of php scripts, to send out spam, and other various malware. I am sorry that it had to come to this, but they say the third time is the charm. To all those that made SA what it is today, I thank you. Especially all Admins, thanks for your hard work! I will be talking to some that may want to revive the site, but for now, SA is Closed for business."
SA was one of the older skinning sites out there, with the domain registered all the way back in 2004. Along with sites like Skinning.net, SkinBase and Skinz.org, it made up a large chunk of the skinning community beyond the walls of sites like WinCustomize and DeviantArt.
The shutdown of SA is a blow to skinning, and to the overall community. Any time a site goes down, we lose not only the skins and artwork hosted there, but we also lose a unique voice and perspective on the hobby and community we've all come to know and love over the years. It's especially frustrating when we lose a site not because the owner moves on, or for not being able to pay for the site, but because a bunch of punks with nothing better to do decide to tear down something that others put years of hard work into. Some in the community lost their virtual home because some losers sitting in their parents basements wanted to send out spam.
To the skinners, moderators and administators of SkinArtistry, and on behalf of everyone here at Stardock/WinCustomize, I'm sorry it had to come to this. Please let me know if there's anything we at WC can do to help salvage what's left and possibly get things going again.
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Reply #3 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 10:30 AM
Reply #4 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 10:45 AM
Reply #5 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 10:51 AM
Reply #6 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 11:03 AM
Reply #7 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 12:00 PM
Reply #8 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 12:54 PM
Reply #9 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 1:21 PM
If I could get my hands on the bastards I'd chop their goddamned nuts off
Reply #10 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 1:27 PM
It does piss you off, though.
Reply #11 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 1:32 PM
if this kind of guys just put 1/10 of their talent to make good instead of bad , the world would be paradisiac....
Reply #12 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 1:35 PM
Typically when this happens, the site being attacked is using some sort of platform software which has documented or exploitable holes. Such platforms like phpNuke and e105 frequently have new exploits, and site managers have to scramble to update before their site is comprimised. While it's not completely out of the question that WC may have a lingering hole we havent yet found, our stuff is all developed in house and thus, the source code is not available for people to pick through and find problems. We also have a service which checks out sites for holes on a regular basis...
Reply #13 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 1:38 PM
If you knew how senseless it all was and that Tom (bones2112) got no assistance from the people he leased the domain name from. As the matter of fact, at one time they accused him if I remeber correctly. The whole thing is the suckiest suck that ever sucked. If I ever visit Pakistan, I know the first place I am going.
Reply #15 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 2:52 PM
My personal thanks to Tom and all the people I worked with through the years over there. I couldn't have asked for a better bunch of folks.
Reply #16 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 2:54 PM
We at Skinning. net would like to express our sorrow at the news of the closure of the SkinArtistry site. SkinArtistry was a valued member of the skinning community and will be missed. One can hope that sometime in the future a SkinArtistry will once again open it's doors to the community. Thanks to all that managed the daily site activities and to those members who contributed their wonderful talents in their skin submissions. SDN would also like to extend our assistance if needed.
Reply #17 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 3:26 PM
Reply #19 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 3:33 PM
Pakistan? Where does that come in? Am I missing something?
Reply #20 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 3:56 PM
The hackers are from pakistan.
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Reply #1 Wednesday, July 2, 2008 10:16 AM