Great theory!

As far as conspiracies go, that was pretty much what I was thinking. Site maintenance shouldn't have messed things up as badly as they did this morning. Frankly, I think someone stuck their hand in where it didn't belong, and since most corporate espionage is done by insiders it's not too far off to be assuming all that, whether it's right or wrong. And it may very well be wrong.

This is how corporate types tend think, even if the risk is really minimal. After all, truth is a defense to defamation.

Also, most account names go under a handle, so users are largely anonymous. It's really hard to defame an anonymous individual. To bring suit, they would have to disclose their real name and give all sorts of information they might not want to give.

In fact, it might be an effective way of smoking them out. Make all sorts of accusations, and if the thieves file a lawsuit, EA knows who they are!

(Police agencies and a computer company probably have effective methods of tracking down the thieves. In fact, EA may very well have let them access the page with the intent of tracking them. Only a fool hacks into the website of a computer company!)

I log on the official forums to correct the wrong information being spread on it. For example, someone wants to know if there's a mod to add more lot sizes to the world editor, and I respond telling them about Inge's mod. Give the link and the page where CTNutmegger's directions on how to tune the XML. Next response, a long time poster going around telling that mods are bad for your computer and may destroy it.

Since this person have thousands of posts, the chilluns believe her and chime in, "Oh yeah, she knows what is up on mods, because she has been around for a long time." I am thoroughly entertained by the response, laughing til I cry. Then I cry for those with little mod knowledge, cause they will never enjoy the game to the fullest.

Aha! So that is why there is a gifting system. Now it makes sense, capitalism at its best.

Mods are also offensive to Wiccans.

I've been pretty amazed at the level of ignorance regarding modding the game that exists at the official site...it's good that at least one person is trying to help out over there

Funny...then again, I have to wonder if one of this person's main experiences with "mods" wasn't that bizarre TSR doll-virus...lol. For people who don't get much beyond the official site that thing probably reinforced every scary thing they've ever heard about mods from off-site.

There's a pervasive view on the EA forums that you can get infected with a virus or other malware from ads on the TSR site. I don't know if that's true or not, having no reason to go there. Seems unlikely, since it's not exactly good business to do that

Well, sometimes ads get hijacked by malware/adware, so that they'll display different ads than usual and those ads may contain MORE malware/adware that your antivirus reacts to. It's happened here too - someone will report a particular ad makes their antivirus go crazy, and it turns out they're already infected with something their antivirus didn't catch.

If you don't have a subscription, going on the site will make my Norton's have a hissy fit. There are many ads on a free log on, but Norton picks up on tracking cookies. I guess those that experience virus or any other problems may not have a virus protection program, or one that doesn't work well on TSR's ads. Just IMHO.


Ninja'd by HP.

I don't have any problems with TSR or their ads. I actually have more issues with the ones on this site since they sometimes get stuck and I can't close them to click on the MTS menu..plus they are noisy and if I forget to turn off the sound at 1 am they can wake up my kids. I have never gotten a virus from TSR either..and its not just the Official Forums that spread this rumor. I am not defending TSR, just responding to the rumor.

Sorry HP! I forgot.....

I've never experienced anything negative with the ads on TSR either. My Avast doesn't react to it at all. The Sims 3 site acts weird for me though. It loads three times more slowly than any other site I go to, so I don't go there unless there's some new freebees to download. I'm actually kinda glad I'm not there often, now with all the weirdness is going on. As for mods, I really don't go any further than MTS and XM Sims, because whenever I try to download stuff form any other sites, I tend to come across problems.

Really? I thought they were created by Wiccans...and Warlocks...and fairies...and alchemists...and pretty much anyone with magical abilities.

So all the conspiracy theories are quite true.

SimGuru Hydra posted this in the official forum:

I just saw that too.

I think it's about time EA does something about these losers. It's been going on for way too long now.

sounds to me like it was Alexurt herself, or one of her buddies that hacked the forums.

Sorry to say, but when is EA going to press charges??? I don't agree with a lot of the things they do either, but this stuff is getting ridiculous. I mean, first theft, now hacking into a major corp.'s website???? A bunch of innocent people's threads were deleted because of this, so whomever did it must've had a bone to pick with these people as well. ??

Okay, it doesn't necessarily mean that because they did one thing, they did another.

Honestly, I think that EA steals from us by removing a chunk of content from every game, then selling it to us piecemeal. Its why I stopped buying -all- EA products after sims 3. No more rockband, as sad as it makes me not to have it anymore [sold the 360 and all the 360 games]. The fact that the whole digital media business allows the corporations to mistreat their customers.

And going back along the thread a bit, having had my WoW account stolen and used for gold selling, and having had a very good experience with Blizzard, comparing them and EA is like comparing an magical golden apple with a nasty one filled with worms - no real comparison. Only issue with Blizzard is getting -through- to someone.

Meanwhile, EA has tempbanned me for asking 'uncomfortable' questions on the sims 2 forums, so yeah....wonderful technical support there.

True. Good point. (wouldn't let me post this if it's less than 7 characters? Really?? How weird.)

How do we know that was really from SimGuru Hydra? (Just kidding.)

Honestly, I´m thinking the same thing... Anyway, I´m lost in all this mess... Suspicious free simpoints page, false heroes, forum drama and now we learn about compromissed administrative EA accounts, assuming that post is even true?

If SimGuru Hydra's statement really represents EA's position on this can we assume that the administrative accounts were maliciously used by outsiders and not merely highjacked by other EA employees on a spree?...or even that forum administrators didn't do the damage for some reason of their own? Can we assume the powers that be at EA would be aware of it if their own employees were manipulating the forums this way? Perhaps not.

IMO the whole thing just goes to show that a large corporation can't run a Sims forum any more effectively than anyone else...and not as well as many others do. Certainly they've demonstrated twice now they don't even protect their pages very well.

I consider "fault" a terribly inadequate term. It implies a one-dimensional cause and divides the involved parties in delinquents and innocents/victims. The problem with such labels is that you can't talk about what they might have done right or wrong anymore, and talking about a "victim's" wrongdoings/failures will get you labelled as delinquent, too.

And: A group of a certain amount of individuals won't show individual reason anymore. It's just a mob and its actors are only driven by basic instinct.

They've demonstrated that they've got incompitance vermin. Lots of it.

Bashing the big bad corporations seems to be a commonality for the 21 Century. Perhaps we should all just quit playing the game...that'll fix everything. That'll bring back the hundreds of dollars that I've spent on the Sims and the thousands of dollars that I've spent on computers to play the Sims. And I'll get back the last ten years that I've obviously wasted playing a game that was designed from the very beginning to pilfer my pockets. Shame on them for preying on my lack of willpower to shun their drug.

How on Earth am I going to hold on until Tuesday...I need my FIX.

Lol...agreed...they've proven that over and over in a myriad of ways.

People always bash the powers that be...corporations have stepped into that role more pervasively over time so they're gonna get a bashing Personally rather than quit because EA is selling content "piecemeal" I'd rather just make my own and download what other players have made...I like it better than most EA stuff anyway.

are they not worthy of bashing?

Sometimes, but not by people who only buy the base game and then complain about every EP & Sp that comes out. If you want the whole game, then you have to buy the whole game. That hasn't changed in the history of the franchise.

And yet your previous comment on the bash-worthiness of corporations was in reply to a complaint that we would have to buy things piece-by-piece from the Store because EA didn't want to sell us the whole game in just one go. And that would be a change for the franchise.