TSR: In Ur Accounts, Deletin Ur Stuffs!

[Pescado]

Because Thomass does not even dare to show his wanky face in this forum, he sends his little brother in for the task.

To be fair, Thomas HAS showed up before, and his unconvincing, weaselly statements have quickly resulted in him being booed off the stage in a hail of rotten fruit. Johan, on the other hand, doesn't come across as a weasel, but he also isn't really qualified to represent the entireity of TSR, being that he admits to actively avoiding the entire TSR political scene. It is therefore entirely plausible that he has absolutely no idea what is going on outside of the server room. All the questions he "ignored", I suspect it is more that he doesn't understand them or simply doesn't have answers.

[coconut]

I can't find CarpeDiem aka Atwa at all on TSR, maybe they really and truly canned her this time or she changed her name again, most likely.

You are not looking hard enough

[Witchboy]

I can't find CarpeDiem aka Atwa at all on TSR, maybe they really and truly canned her this time or she changed her name again, most likely.

All of the TWATS items are now listed as "by TSR Archive" & her minisite has also been archived (This profile has been archived).

http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/browse/category/sims3/search/CarpeDiem

[Missbonbon]

I am rather curious as to how much Johan actually distances himself from TSR's political side. Mainly because a quick search on coconut's blog will bring up results of him participating himself in the information sharing incident. Congratulating people for their finds. Not that I take Atwat's word, but his name has been mentioned in association with her's a couple times on the blog as well.

Not to mention this is the second time an issue has occurred that makes TSR look bad, that has Johan stepping up first. Could be because he's tired of it. Could be because he's in the dark, and truly believes there in nothing wrong. Just given those few instances I'm hard pressed to believe he avoids all the drama entirely.

I just have the hunch that he knows what goes on. Not from personal experience, but second hand. Whether it's through reading the news, because he has already admitted to reading coconut's blog, or whether it's because Thomas is filling him in. Just by his responses, and refusal to even acknowledge the possibility that someone close to him could be operating with different motives, show me that not all the dots are lined up on the peg board.

[Zillah]

Here's why I don't trust Johan - He only turns up when TSR/Thomas/Atwa has screwed the pooch on something. The he pops in to tell us why it couldn't possibly have been them and wasn't their fault. He never pops by to hang out and share a swig of rum. He never turns up to pass on any interesting or useful information that isn't propaganda, he never swings by to say "Hey - there's some question about the origin of this file/creator/hack job/whatever, can you help us out here, or vice versa. Nope, just here when it's time to say "WASN'T US, Nuh-uh, nohow!!!!"

edited for typo

[SnarkyShark]

It's also probably worth noting that TSR has, many times in the past, sent over individuals who've attempted to manipulate the course of our conversations and/or derail threads altogether. NeptuneSuzy, Solander(?) and that emo guy are three that I recall offhand. Even though they failed miserably, it still proves that someone in charge over at TSR is pretty hellbent on fucking with us in exactly that manner.  Given that, it's reasonable to assume that if Thomas thought that johan (who is, after all, his brother and has a vested interest in TSR's bottom line) is somehow capable of making headway here, then he'd exploit it for all it's worth.  

[johan]

Fuck that noise. This is the same guy responsible for the first tool. You know the one, that had the motherfucking keylogger built into it? From the people I've talked to about it, there's no goddamn way NOT to know you're putting one of those bastards into a program, so the bullshit about it being accidentally built in is just that: BULLSHIT. The whole point of his coming over here is damage control and trying to winkle out just how much dust he can throw into the air so people lose sight of; What TSR did is and was, illegal and immoral. Sympathy for him my fucking Aunt Myrtle's girdle, he's not getting any from me. Again, fuck that noise.

There were no keylogger in the first version of TSRW, this myth was started by Pescado for a change, with the same "Pescado logic" that's been applied in the hacking accusations.
That is, to make the impression that you have come to a conclusion using a logical equation which can not be wrong.
Most of you seem to buy in to it because it fits with your view of the world, you simply don't understand or that you buy it just because you don't WANT to understand.

You can't rely on a logical equation where not all factors are known or made up assumptions about the result of other logical equations with the same flaws.
Neither can you remove parts from just one side of an equation.
Here's some good reading on the subject: http://www.brianrude.com/sci-mt.htm

Now back to topic:
The first version of TSRW were using a method of reading input from the keyboard that were taken directly from our previous workshop (which we were working on for sims 2 but never released).
That version was made completely without the use of the normal windows toolkit for handling user interface and interaction. That meant we had to use a keyboard hook to be able to read input from the keyboard.
This is normal way to do things in such applications.

The keyboard hook in itself is harmless but the technique can be used in harmful applications such as keyloggers.
The security software triggered on the keyboard hook, they did not say it was a keylogger.

External parties have examined this and haven't found any grounds for this. That is the prism people and a programmer who use to hang out in the MTS IRC, someone who i think all parties would agree to say is a very good one.
He went through the code in the first version of TSRW specifically to find out if there was any truth in the accusations about a keylogger.
If you don't take my word for it then maybe you can try to ask him. He might not want to get involved but he was asked to do it by someone else (which i don't remember who it was) but if that someone is here maybe you could confirm this?

I will not tell you what to think but i have given you facts that can be verified while you depend on flawed logic.

I don't have time to address everything else right now.

[Moune]

Agreed. If Thomas came here ...
[snip]

Excellent post, Missbonbon, and well said. You just saved me from typing up a long post saying exactly the same.

However – for the record – I do disagree on two minor points. I really do believe that Johan does not know the details of a lot of the scheming that is going on at TSR – including all the scams that his brother gets up to. My guess is it would be half because he doesn’t want to know about it and half because those involved don’t want to include him in it.

I don’t think Thomas sent Johan here. He doesn’t come across as that much of a puppet. Besides, Inge said on the previous page that she had encouraged Johan to come here because he was complaining that the statements made here and on MATY were untrue. Johan came here of his own volition to try to sort things out.

As for those saying he’s just trying to do ‘damage control’, well, I guess you could call it that. If people in a forum – virtual or real life – were saying things about me that I felt were untrue I’d definitely show up too and try to dispute their statements. I suppose you could say I was trying to limit the damage to my reputation – be it personal or professional – and thus doing damage control.  Personally I don’t really see what’s wrong with that.

Zillah, why on earth would Johan show up here at any time besides when he felt compelled to it? It’s crystal clear that the general sentiment here is that nobody from TSR is welcome at any time whatsoever.

[Zillah]

Zillah, why on earth would Johan show up here at any time besides when he felt compelled to it? It’s crystal clear that the general sentiment here is that nobody from TSR is welcome at any time whatsoever.

The TSR people maintain that they are the good guys, that they want the Sims community to be one big happy co-operating family, but their actions belie that. What do they contribute to the happy family? How often do they step up with goodwill gestures or peace offerings? If Johan or any of the rest of TSR truly cares so much about proving that they are decent, upstanding community oriented types, why don't they act like it and take part in the community? They only interact in ways that are engineered and controlled by TSR. They want to play, but only in their sandbox, under their rules. They don't turn up in any other sandbox unless they have an ulterior motive. I certainly don't expect them to come over here and be all buddy-buddy, but the occasional appearance in the spirit of communal equity and good faith gestures wouldn't be that painful if they are what they claim to be. If I thought someone hated me for something I didn't do, I'd want to resolve the situation, and not simply by denial, but by showing them the kind of person I really am.

Say what you want about him, when push comes to shove, Pescado steps up to the bat and does his best to render aid where necessary. No matter how much of a FOJ he comes off as, those actions tell me what kind of person he really is. When there's trouble, he helps while TSR finds ways to exploit the situation to their advantage. I came here because TSR drove me here. I believed the one big happy family Barney-isms they spouted, but whenever I encountered any level of authourity within the structure, from moderators all the way up to Steve, the were arrogant, condescending, censorious, dismissive and far more interested in self-promotion and preservation than actually resolving issues, solving problems or giving good service to their customers. These actions tell me what kind of organisation they really are.

I'd have a lot more faith in Johan's words if hid actions backed them up, or if I had ever seen him anywhere else (outside TSR) doing anything other than covering TSR's ass. Do we pelt him with rocks and garbage when he turns up here? Mostly not. A good bit of any conversation with him is reasonable, thoughtful debate. People have proven they are willing to listen to him - if he and his cronies were everything they claimed to be, he'd have no reason not to have at least attempted at some point to share some goodwill with the community. And if it is so clear that TSR et al are unwelcome here, and we'll only throw rotting vegetables at them if they do turn up, why send Johan at all? What possible reason could there be to send him into the lions den at all? Let's say he comes on his own. Why? Why bother? If he really is a good guy working with other good guys, why has never come here and acted like one? He maintains the appearance of someone who wants to co-operate, to 'prove' that Pes and the rest of us are wrong, but all we ever get from him is words - deflection words, disambiguation words, denial words. And then he disappears until the next time excuses are needed. Never does anything constructive, never contributes anything, never offers anything to promote goodwill amongst the community, peace on earth and all that. Just excuses and long silences.

[ShanOw]

Johan, what about setting the program to start with windows and the DLL injection reports?

**FYI in case you want to deny that this is true I have about 10 screenshots from various antivirus programs producing these warnings.

[johan]

Johan, what about setting the program to start with windows and the DLL injection reports?

**FYI in case you want to deny that this is true I have about 10 screenshots from various antivirus programs producing these warnings.

The DLL injection warning was triggered by the keyboard hook.
The installer does the start with windows thing as part of the installation process. Once installed that is removed.
You should be able to easily verify that yourself.

Edit: missed a word

[Quorneater]

The TSR people maintain that they are the good guys, that they want the Sims community to be one big happy co-operating family, but their actions belie that. What do they contribute to the happy family? How often do they step up with goodwill gestures or peace offerings? If Johan or any of the rest of TSR truly cares so much about proving that they are decent, upstanding community oriented types, why don't they act like it and take part in the community?

Actually they have contributed to a good level on the wiki pages that toolmakers use for reference.  They have discovered and shared information that has considerably speeded up toolmaking by the rest of the community.  Peter has relied on information from Pommes on numerous occasions.  This goes multi ways, of course.

[Fran]

Actually, the split among the community began long ago when TSR started charging for downloads of Sims stuff. PMBD and MATY were created in part to counteract TSR's ways and in doing so, widened it when their customers discovered free stuff that TSR does not provide and has no interest in doing.
TSR is interested mostly in making money from pixels-not community outreach. Just like EA. In the long run, they're doing as much good as EA when something goes wrong with the game-they'll ignore complaints and remove comments from unhappy customers if it suits them.
Then TSR will deny ever having problems at all. Need proof of EA's attitude? Go to the Sims 3 forum to see what their unhappy customers say about the company and how EA responds.
Need proof of TSR's attitude? Check out the previous pages.
Even if Johan is the "good face" of TSR, it does not absolve his brother and his henchmen from previous bad acts. Creator theft and site hacking are not good for your company's image.
Most well-run companies also do background checks on all personnel as a first step in the hiring process. That's a must in any company that wishes to stay in business. You don't give the keys to people who are capable of rampaging through the halls screaming at the top of their voice "Me First!" while holding a shotgun in their hand.
They also don't rehire said people when they're discovered looting the company's safe. Just not done.
Just because someone is an "artist" does not mean they're incapable of stupid, criminal stuff and that they should be given the pass for it because of their "artistic sensibilities".

[Moune]

Actually, the split among the community began long ago when TSR started charging for downloads of Sims stuff. PMBD and MATY were created in part to counteract TSR's ways and in doing so, widened it when their customers discovered free stuff that TSR does not provide and has no interest in doing.

Just for the record:

I wasn’t TSR that started charging for downloads. I believe Mall of the Sims (MOTS) was the first paysite, and there was another one whose name I don’t remember that put up the infamous Paypal button quite some time before TSR did. Back then nobody barked at paysites - in part because bandwidth really was expensive at the time.

The split in the community began way before and was not related to paysites. It had to do with downloads that for various other reasons were ‘unavailable’ to a great many players. These downloads began getting passed around informally and that later led to the inclusion of pay files. That’s basically were the Sims File Vault came from.

PMBD was a countermeasure to all paysites. Not specifically TSR.

[minionsRmine]

He can honestly say that he doesn't know how Atwa snuck in, or how she became an FA again and again, or how she got a hold of the list. I believe he really doesn't know.

I'm thinking that he's just the better liar.