Three days ago, many of us experienced a very rude and threatening message when we tried to access the General Questions forum.<P>I like many was very upset over this message, and wrote an Email to both the MB Admin and to our Forum Moderator Tempest.<P>I wanted to post the Email I sent as well as the replies I received.<P>I am also posting a copy of an Email which another long time forum member sent after receiving the threat when they tried to access this forum.<P>I personally think that this forum should have done a much better job of notifying the membes of this forum that there was a problem taking place. There have been many times when I have tried to access these forums and received a meesage that work was being being done. Why couldn't something of that nature have been done in this situation.<P>Tempest -- I want to thank you for sending an apologetic thoughtful reply.<P>Email from me to MB Admin : <P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>It is currently 8:05 pm MST on August 18, 2000. We just tried to open the General Questions section of the Infidelity Forum and received the following message : "We have logged your attempt to hack this forum. Authorities will be notified if you persist."<P>My Wife and I have been coming to this site, and these forums for over a year now. I would like to know SPECIFICALLY what attempt at hacking your system seems to think we have made.<P>Since we are in no way attempting to hack into anything, I expect an explanation and an apology.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR>Reply from MB Admin :<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>We are experiencing some technical difficulties on the forum. Thank you for<BR>notifying us of your problem.<P>Marriage Builders, Inc.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Reply from Tempest : <P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I certainly can understand your being upset about receiving a message such as this, and you have my sincerest apologies on behalf of Marriage Builders that it occurred. You may have noted the new forum Steve Harley has put up for General Questions. Apparently there is some kind of scripting error that is occuring when any valid honest forum members have attempted to post to the original forum. Please be reassured that you have not been accused in any real sense of any wrong-doing. Steve is working on the problem at this time. <P>Again, my sincere apologies, and those of Marriage Builders, are extended to you.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><BR>Email from Dazed and Confused : <P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>I thought I'd let you all know what happened to me while trying to access the MB forums today, because it could happen to you too. <P>I am deathly afraid to even try to get back into the MB forums, so this is why you won't hear from me any more there. <P>When you access messages on the forums, you get a URL in your location bar that reads something like this: <BR> <A HREF="http://www.marriagebuilders.com/forum/Forum28/HTML/003892.html" TARGET=_blank>www.marriagebuilders.com/forum/Forum28/HTML/003892.html</A> <P>This is the URL for a particular message. <P>Today I selected this item in my location bar, and the indicated message page was served to my browser. I then clicked the "General Questions" link. I do this all the time, and it always takes me into the General Questions forum. But today it returned a page that read, "We have logged your attempt to hack into this forum. The Authorities will be notified if you persist." <P>Needless to say, I was horrified. I don't even KNOW how to hack a forum, and as a member in good standing since January 1999, why on earth would I want to? <P>Receiving a message like this is no joke. Hacking is a serious criminal offense that can result in criminal prosecution. <P>I assure you all that what I did to access the forum is something I have done HUNDREDS of times without a problem. I am not a hacker. Believe me, folks, if I were a hacker, I'd be making a lot more money than I am, because I'd have to be a far better programmer than I am. <P>Needless to say, I have now been slandered -- branded as a hacker by Marriage Builders, and until I receive an apology from them, I am not going to even attempt to read or post to their forums. It is not safe for me to do so. My stepdad is gravely ill, deteriorating quickly, and is stuck here in NJ while my mother is in Maine, and I fear we won't be able to get him home. I am stressed to the gills, and I need this nonsense like I need a second navel. <P>Be careful how you access the forum, people, because this could happen to you. <P>Best wishes to you all in the future, and goodbye,<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR><p>[This message has been edited by Empty Shell (edited August 21, 2000).]

Empty Shell-<P>I too got the same message when trying to access MB forums as I have been doing for over a year now.<P>And I too wrote the MB administrators asking what the heck was going on-that I do not know how to hack anything.<P>I got the same lame reply that you got.<P>I am glad Tempest took the time to explain things a bit better. And thank you for alerting all the good folks here <P><P>------------------<BR>*heartache*<BR>"Loyalty Is A Two Way Street"<BR>

Empty Shell,<P>Thank you for passing the emails to us.<P>I'm very concerned, has D & C been notified that it was a hiccup in the error messaging. I too am an engineer and understand how serious hacking can be a criminal offense, but it was a mistake in the error messanger handler and that's very understandable and common, although the content of the message was a bit disturbing. This would not have been the fault of MB that the error appeared during a down time, the software is developed by UltimateBB and it's their bug, not MBs.<P>Can someone please contact Dazed & Confused so we can get her to come back to the forum? She is a very important member and I hate to think of us not hearing from her anymore. Plus she needs us with all that's going on in her life right now.<P>Jo

Resilient -- I sent a copy of Tempest reply to her, but my personal opinion is that someone from MB should make an attempt to contact her.<P>God Bless

She has posted to Steve & he has replied to her, explaining the "bug" and what is being done to try and fix things...hopefully she'll be back.<p>[This message has been edited by kam6318 (edited August 22, 2000).]

I sent an e-mail (based on my listing in <A HREF="http://www.marriagebuilders.com/forum/Forum29/HTML/000166.html" TARGET=_blank>Roll Call Index </A>) for her to check this post.

I, too, was beyond upset at the message I got and the lame reply. Thanks for posting your reply, Empty Shell.<P>As I accessed the board from the home page today, I noticed a message stating something to the effect of "Because of a member's expressed legal concern General Questions I is offline. Please post to General Questions II."<P>What was the legal issue? If we know what it was we can avoid it in the future. If we don't we can't.<P>Thanks. --HBC