Universal Sims...

[OneEyedWillie]

Why doesn't someone ask Delphy personally?  I mean he's antipaysite and whatnot, and it can be seen as a scam is being ran, and we are trying to find out if this is legit or not, and delphy would know.  I don't see why we couldn't...i mean it's our money and it would be the same with any business (as if we would give them a cent though  :roll: )

[Quorneater]

Someone has already asked Delphy, and he's standing by the story.

[Moose]

I got the email too, and I know for a fact that I never registered at that site. Who takes the time to gather emails from MTS2? It seems like something that would take a lot of time.

But I suppose if you're desperate for money...  :roll:

[missangelica]

Out of curiosity I checked my email addresses for this spam and I have not received it (yet) and then I checked N99.  They seem to feel the same.  http://p218.ezboard.com/fstarlightsimsfrm51.showMessage?topicID=14601.topic

[keirra]

I'm not a member there.  Do they have any info not already shared here?

[missangelica]

Well I haven't read through it all yet but here is the "evidence" that Delphy has given them.

http://www.modyourpanties.com/hosting/070328045327-LT_Switch_Details_UniversalSims.jpg
http://www.modyourpanties.com/hosting/070328045528-Bandwidth%20Accounting%20March%201st%202007.txt

[HideTheRum]

I got the email too, though I would have never found out had I not checked this thread. I got curious and went checking and hey, there it was in the spam bin. Like most of you I don't remember ever even visiting that site. I'm only a member at MTS2, InSim and MATW, so I guess it's becoming obvious where they got all the addresses...

[Lisa]

I'm regged at mts2 and that email didn't get the spam. So maybe it's from another source

[missangelica]

After wading through the threads, I've come to a conclusion.  Delphy realized that Universal Sims was a dormant site (up to this point it hadn't been updated for a year) that had pretty much zero visitors and that he could use it for some of the MtS2 server load.  He is the admin for the UniversalSims server.  He certainly has the access and means to do it.  On top of it all he could make someone else pay for it!  It's really a perfect plan.

At this time it's unknown how they got all those email addresses but it isn't a stretch to think that they were acquired from the sites he has admin status over.

[redisenchanted]

Well, that seems possible, but that doesn't mean it's true. It pains me to defend him but I'm not willing to charge him with outright fraud. He was at least sleeping on the job though and we need a lot more explaining from him.

Would a bad script leave some kind of evidence?

[missangelica]

If past behavior is evidence of future behavior then we won't get an explanation out of him that is satisfactory on any level.  If and when this happens again I won't be surprised.

Edited to add:  Remember the big Sapphire Sims snafu?  http://phorum.mustnotbenamed.com/viewtopic.php?t=301&highlight=sapphire+sims

[Pescado]

Delphy's extortion squeezes are not an unknown thing in his history. Reviewing that log shows nothing that conclusively indicates that it is A: Attributable directly to Universal Sims, and B: Not fabricated. The statistics given are for the IP as a whole, not specifically Universal Sims. I would require more substantive logs before swallowing THAT claim, and none have yet been provided. And *2000*? In the period of what, a month? That's extortion. That's more than *WE* pay for the *ENTIRE YEAR*, and at that level of payout, the Malaysians wouldn't give a flying crap about how much bandwidth we use. If I want to run the line in the red all the time serving l33t w4r3z, I can! Let's not forget the time Delphy squeezed Kathy and Insim for hundreds of dollars to do a tar -cof and a mysqldump. TWO COMMANDS. The guy demanded HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS to do TWO COMMANDS.

[Randomness]

Let's not forget the time Delphy squeezed Kathy and Insim for hundreds of dollars to do a tar -cof and a mysqldump. TWO COMMANDS. The guy demanded HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS to do TWO COMMANDS.

 :shock:  Did they actually pay it?!

[redisenchanted]

Delphy squeezed Kathy and Insim for hundreds of dollars to do a tar -cof and a mysqldump. TWO COMMANDS. The guy demanded HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS to do TWO COMMANDS.

 :shock: Didn't know about that one! Lends more credibility to the fraud accusations, that's for sure!

I'm glad I don't donate to MTS2 anymore.

[missangelica]

This is Nathan from UniversalSims.

I'm glad this topic turned from an attack to an intelligent discussion, but there are a lot of questions I need to answer, so bare with me, and if I don't answer some, just ask and I will do my best to answer whatever you want to know.

UniversalSims is hosted by LayeredTech, and managed by Delphy. I pay Delphy directly, the screenshot of the bill was sent directly from him, I don't have access to the billing section of LayeredTech.

UniversalSims has not been shutdown because it is connected to Delphy's LayeredTech account, so as far as LayeredTech was concerned it was just a littler extra bandwidth from say MTS2. As someone pointed out, LayeredTech doesn't shut your down for going over, they just bill you. I was not aware of this, I assumed there was a block of some sort. When Delphy found out about what happenned he did take the site down for a few days to investigate.

Every email sent out, was sent to registered members of UniversalSims. The site has been around for 2 years, so a lot of people may not remember registering. We have over 55,000 registered members, you can verify this by looking at the registered members on our forum, as it's all connected.

I don't know why we were attacked over other sites, may had been deliberate, or may had been random. The site isn't as small as some people said.

Some people are saying they've never heard of the site, but you can check the domain stats, search Google, look at my posts. I've been posting updates here since pretty much the beginning.

UniversalSims is hardly a paysite. 98% of files are free downloads, I do make enough in donations to pay for my regular monthly hosting (sometimes I do pay for it out of my own pocket though). I've kept the site up this long because there are so many free downloads for new and old players alike. I have been creating new content for the site (a more fashionable line)...my first creations for the line were lost last year when my computer crashed so I have been recreating things since. I've been putting off updating right now because I didn't want to risk a bandwidth spike again, at least until were confident something like this wouldn't happen again.

Again, if you have any questions, just ask.

Nathan

and then this one...

tessieroo, I think I emailed you the same reply:

No it's not the communities problem, and I am not blaming them! I am not holding any of you responsible for anything (where did you get that idea?). I asked for help because I have been offering a free service to the community for 2 years, and hoped that some would be willing to offer something in this time of need. I don't make a profit off the site, it's been kept up this long as my gift to the community. I've only emailed members of my site asking for help, not random people from the TS2 community.

Yes, I have an internet connection, I don't see your point.

TammyK

I think I answered all your questions in my post, as well as others who have the facts of the situation.

Sim Realty

I pay Delphy the same amount each month via PayPal. I've never gone over my limit before. Since this bill was an unusual amount I requested a copy of the invoice.

SimGoddessByline

Thanks. Delphy manages my server but is not the host. That would be LayeredTech.

I am going by Delphy's word. I've know him for years, and trust him completely. I would imagine MTS2 monthly bill is much more, there would be no reason to pass their bill on to me. He has shown me the stats, it's a very unusual situation.

As for a laywer, I think it would cost more to hire one, we don't even know who the person is that's reponsible for the attack. Like Delphy said it was a very clever one. It looks like they are free from any liabilities, after looking at their TOS. I personally think they should had shutdown my site as soon as they saw something suspicious but since it was on the same account as Delphy's high traffic sites, they didn't notice anything odd. Delphy didn't get the bill until early March.

Sim Realty

I could move my site and not pay the bill. That would leave Delphy with a hefty bill, and I wouldn't feel right for it.

Echo of the Night

Perhaps your old email is forwarding it? You can see if your new email has an account at the site by logging in. It was sent via the site only to registered members, nobody else.

I smell BULLSHIT!  ^^;