Ask the Mods questions about the Forums!

[HebaruSan]

36 minutes ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

What is the deal with this?

its so weird.... 1969?

-1 Replies?

Not really a Forum Game?( obviously the most egregious)

December 31, 1969 (probably 11:59 PM) is the zero point of the Unix epoch timestamp system. Looks like some missing data in the database that the forum then treats as 0.

[OrdinaryKerman]

Why is [malicious site we no longer use] automatically replaced with "***malicious site we no longer use***"?

Edited May 4, 2021 by Snark
Redacted by moderator

[Snark]

3 hours ago, OrdinaryKerman said:

Why is [malicious site we no longer use] automatically replaced with "***malicious site we no longer use***"?

Astonishingly enough-- and I realize that this is, apparently, complicated enough to be difficult to grasp, so stay with me-- the reason turns out to be that it is, in fact, a malicious site that we no longer use. 

There was once a website which was a predecessor to SpaceDock, which was running essentially the same software and worked the same way, which was (like SpaceDock) a major go-to site for hosting KSP mods.  The site was decommissioned and abandoned several years ago, which is why SpaceDock popped up to replace it.

Unfortunately, the abandoned website's DNS then came up for grabs, and it was taken over by malicious actors who now use it as a site for hosting malware, i.e. the kind of dangerous place that tries to put viruses and things onto unwitting visitors' machines.  It's a bad place and people shouldn't go there.

Alas, the KSP forum was strewn with many links to this site (from the "before times" when it was legit), which put the KSP community at risk.  So we did our best to scrub the references and links, and as an added safety precaution, we added the name of the site to the "naughty words" list so that it will get auto-replaced with "malicious site we no longer use".  This serves a dual purpose.  First, it lets people know (who might otherwise not have gotten the memo) what's going on with that site; and, second, it helps prevent further spread of references to the site in the forum.  It's not a perfect solution by any means, but it's easy for us to do, and it's reasonable because there's really no legitimate reason for anyone to be going there anymore.

On a more serious note... in general, please don't try to get "clever" and bypass the filter, as you just did.  There's a forum rule about this (2.2.g, "any technique that bypasses the language filter").  If you find that the forum is blocking you from typing something... well, that's there for a reason, even if it may not be immediately obvious what the reason is. It means that the forum is telling you "don't type that", and is not an invitation to find a way to work around it.  So please don't do that, okay? 

[CatastrophicFailure]

So, in essence, the forum has been vaccinated against this virus site?  save for silly folks intent on licking doorknobs n such...

[Snark]

1 hour ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

So, in essence, the forum has been vaccinated against this virus site?  save for silly folks intent on licking doorknobs n such...

Well, somewhat. There are too many references to it scattered around old threads in the forums for it to be practical for us to remove all references. But those tend to be buried in ancient posts, and at least we can make a reasonable effort to keep new references (which would be more visible, and therefore more likely to lead the unwary astray) out of the forum.

[Ben J. Kerman]

19 hours ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

What is the deal with this?

I came here to ask about that too. When I saw this on the Megathread, I thought it was photoshopped (I know that obviously this is not real, computers weren't even a thing back then (Actually, they might have been. But not personal computers, and KSP was definitely not a thing back then), but why is this here and what is it? Can an actual moderator please answer (If you have an answer)? Has it just been put here by a forum creator as a joke, or is it some kind of error???

[Spaceman.Spiff]

4 minutes ago, Ben J. Kerman said:

I came here to ask about that too. When I saw this on the Megathread, I thought it was photoshopped (I know that obviously this is not real, computers weren't even a thing back then (Actually, they might have been. But not personal computers, and KSP was definitely not a thing back then), but why is this here and what is it? Can an actual moderator please answer (If you have an answer)? Has it just been put here by a forum creator as a joke, or is it some kind of error???

I think Hebarusan knows what he’s talking about. 

[HebaruSan]

1 hour ago, Ben J. Kerman said:

computers weren't even a thing back then (Actually, they might have been. But not personal computers

55 minutes ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

I think Hebarusan knows what he’s talking about. 

But it's still better to see the history and facts rather than just taking someone's word for it (even one so [insert brag here] as yours truly). Spoilered due to large images that might break the flow of this thread, expand if interested...

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Unix

Unix was first released in the early 1970s, and some of the earliest work on it was started in 1969. There were "computers" back then and earlier, but they indeed were not "personal", being closer in size to a car than a modern desktop. The one that most of the early Unix work was done on was called a PDP-7 and looked like this:

Why is that relevant to the KSP forum? Because Unix was respected and widely regarded as high quality software, and also used in many places (though never quite universally, thanks early on to the likes of MUMPS and VMS, and later Windows), and many of Unix's conventions and design choices were adopted by other systems. Eventually it was more or less completely re-implemented in the GNU and Linux projects, including the choice of January 1, 1970 as the start of the date system. When a modern database is implemented, there's a good chance that it stores timestamps in such a format under the hood. And a forum will use that sort of database to store information about users, forums and sub-forums, and, yes, posts and replies. So when something goes wrong, you may see Unix-flavored quirks.

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by HebaruSan
missed an Oxford comma

[Souptime]

why, in all that is holy and unholy, is there a like limit

Edited May 6, 2021 by Vanamonde
Don't get carried away with font sizes, please.

[Spaceman.Spiff]

11 hours ago, Souptime said:

why, in all that is holy and unholy, is there a like limit

why in all that is holy would you use such large text

On 5/4/2021 at 4:41 PM, HebaruSan said:

Unix was first released in the early 1970s, and some of the earliest work on it was started in 1969

I wonder if there’s an alternate timeline where the Apollo computers used Unix. 

Edited May 6, 2021 by Vanamonde

[Le Lynx]

@damonvvYou will make a lunar starship?

[Souptime]

14 minutes ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

why in all that is holy would you use such large text

enraged

[Spaceman.Spiff]

35 minutes ago, Le Lynx said:

@damonvvYou will make a lunar starship?

This is absolutely the wrong thread for that question. 
 

edit: Ok I realize now that you may have misunderstood the thread title. It’s ask the *moderators* questions about the forums, not modders. 

Edited May 5, 2021 by Spaceman.Spiff

[Snark]

1 hour ago, Souptime said:

why, in all that is holy and unholy, is there a like limit

Because experience has shown that otherwise, some folks would spam likes so much that there would be rampant "like inflation" and it would end up being basically meaningless.  The fact that they're limited in quantity, and therefore require people to pick and choose, makes them more useful to the community.

[Dman979]

17 hours ago, HebaruSan said:

(even one so [insert brag here] as yours truly).

Even one so [snip]?

 

2 hours ago, Souptime said:

why, in all that is holy and unholy, is there a like limit

For the record, I still think that the reputation system should be capped at max 5 per day (each with a power of 5). I also liked that you had to spread some reputation around before giving it to the same person again.

[Admiral Fluffy]

1 hour ago, Snark said:

Because experience has shown that otherwise, some folks would spam likes so much that there would be rampant "like inflation" and it would end up being basically meaningless.  The fact that they're limited in quantity, and therefore require people to pick and choose, makes them more useful to the community.

Oh. I have only used up all of my likes once.

[Kerminator K-100]

4 hours ago, Snark said:

Because experience has shown that otherwise, some folks would spam likes so much that there would be rampant "like inflation" and it would end up being basically meaningless.  The fact that they're limited in quantity, and therefore require people to pick and choose, makes them more useful to the community.

Sometimes I'll run out of likes and have to go around to all the posts I've liked going, whos post do I like the least?

[Wizard Kerbal]

WHY, AND HOW ARE THERE POSTS FROM 1969?

ANSWER US!

What was, "Guest" doing?! THEY BROKE THE DAMN 4TH WALL

Edited May 6, 2021 by Wizard Kerbal

[Souptime]

8 hours ago, Snark said:

Because experience has shown that otherwise, some folks would spam likes so much that there would be rampant "like inflation" and it would end up being basically meaningless.  The fact that they're limited in quantity, and therefore require people to pick and choose, makes them more useful to the community.

 

7 hours ago, Dman979 said:

Even one so [snip]?

 

For the record, I still think that the reputation system should be capped at max 5 per day (each with a power of 5). I also liked that you had to spread some reputation around before giving it to the same person again.

ah yes like limit to keep the forums economy from pulling a 1920's

wait does that mean if theres a forum economy theres gonna be like rep billionaires lol

i cant wait for the next forum update where you pay to win in TOTM lol

Keff Kezos

Kelon Kusk

Kill Kates

[Spaceman.Spiff]

34 minutes ago, Wizard Kerbal said:

WHY, AND HOW ARE THERE POSTS FROM 1969?

ANSWER US!

What was, "Guest" doing?! THEY BROKE THE DAMN 4TH WALL

This was already answered. 

[Dr. Kerbal]

Why is the first forum game um, 57 years old and from the 1900s. The forums didn't exist back then. Anyone have the answer?*

*Please quote or mention me so I don's miss the answer. Thanks

Edited May 6, 2021 by Dr. Kerbal
Please quote or mention me so I don's miss the answer. Thanks.

[Wizard Kerbal]

28 minutes ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

This was already answered. 

W H E R E

[Spaceman.Spiff]

On 5/3/2021 at 11:33 PM, HebaruSan said:

December 31, 1969 (probably 11:59 PM) is the zero point of the Unix epoch timestamp system. Looks like some missing data in the database that the forum then treats as 0.

 

1 minute ago, Wizard Kerbal said:

W H E R E

Maybe look. It was literally at the top of the pag. 

[HebaruSan]

34 minutes ago, Dr. Kerbal said:

Why is the first forum game um, 57 years old and from the 1900s. The forums didn't exist back then. Anyone have the answer?*

*Please quote or mention me so I don's miss the answer. Thanks

FYI, 2021-1969=52, not 57, and:

 

Edited May 6, 2021 by HebaruSan

[Dman979]

2 hours ago, Souptime said:

i cant wait for the next forum update where you pay to win in TOTM lol

TOTM isn't something you "win." TOTM is for the thread, not the OP. And we would NEVER have a system where you had to pay to have a nomination considered. I'd resign first.