A Citizens of Awesome Exclusive!
Corruption at HostBrickMovies.com!
Posted by Dragoon on August 1, 2007 at 12:23 am
The following is a story of an abuse of power by Aled Owen, a man entrusted with power at hostbrickmovies.com, that resulted in devastating foul play. Bush league. A dick move, even.

Humble Beginnings

4um Patriarch 'KG'
In the time before time, the steward known as KG unleashed upon the Internets a forum of enormous and unprecedented magnitude, hosted upon his humble hostbrickmovies domain. This community, lovingly referred to as "the 4um," was a safe haven for the numerous fans of the cult classic, The Citizen of The Year. It was a place where these simple, peaceful enthusiasts could congregate and discuss this amazing film, free of the vicious persecution of the masses. Harmony and fun abounded. The 4um was even awarded the prestigious 2009 "Place to Be" Award from PC Magazine.


However, the utopia that was the 4um came crashing down on one dark, fateful day...

Perversion of the 4um
Remember, Remember, the 24th of the Month of July in 2007 - Oscar Wilde

Earlier in July, Aled Owen, who turns out to be a long time member of brickfilms.com, used his control of hostbrickmovies.com maliciously, without the knowledge of its leader, LegosJedi. Mr. Jedi was generous enough to provide hosting services for the 4um, and KG had placed his faith in LegosJedi's services and integrity.

The Citizens survey the damage
Mr. Owen, infiltrating and registering at the 4um under the appropriate guise of "Pooface", maliciously and unscrupulously used the powers that Legosjedi entrusted to him on hostbrickmovies.com to launch an unprovoked and insidious attack. His first step, employing the kind of logic man shares with monkeys and poodles, was to remove KG's administative controls over the community. The exact events that unfolded thereafter are unknown to any but Owen himself. From survivor testimonials, the Citizens of Awesome have gathered the following:
  • Posts were edited to appease Owen's sick sense of humor, spreading lies and sexual innuendo.
  • Abuse of the word filter ensued, with frequently used words changed to nonsensical, or deeply perverted, alternatives. TCOTY became "codfangers." "Mr. Less" became "Cockslap!" "KG" became "I'd like to get to know you better".
  • The members were sent horrible PMS.
  • E-mails were sent to registered members, some written under the guise of the former brickfilms troll, manic4000.
  • Passwords were recorded and changed, locking out some members.
  • Meaningless and immature posts of senseless spam were created.


At the end of the day (literally), the destruction was so severe that the 4um fell into a vegetative state, surviving purely on life support. KG was adamant that the 4um be laid to rest. And so, despite the appeals of the Republic of Panama and Zombie Jerry Falwell, the 4um was euthanized. Authorities assure us that it went peacefully, by means of critical server implosion.

Today, the survivors of the 4um have established refuge in a new, modern estate: the 5um. But the horrors of July 24th haunt them to this day.

The motive of Owen's assault remains unclear. It could simply be that he wished to make a name for himself as a hacker, though the masses remain unimpressed by his ability to infiltrate a site over which he already held complete executive control. Far more alarming is the notion that the attack is linked to an ongoing plot of Owen's that could very well involve your own brickfilms.com account!

The Serpent's Broader Plans

Of the several atrocities inflicted on July the 24th, perhaps the most chilling was Mr. Owen's retrieval of user passwords. These passwords were of little use to him in the 4um, but elsewhere, they could prove to be invaluable. Of most significance was that of the password of Cometgreen, a faithful contributor to the 4um, who maintains administrator powers at several sites, such as brickfilms.com and hotforyourm0m.info.

The deceiver, Aled Owen
Due to Cometgreen's foresight, a unique password was used when registering at the 4um. Other communities were safe from Owen's wrath. And there can be no doubt that wrath was his endgame. An anonymous source provided us with the following transcript of a brickfilms.com Talky-Page session (and please be assured that the following are exact transcripts):



A source wrote:
[10:21 am] Gobbob: I'm taking over RevMen's account

A source wrote:
[10:26 am] Gobbob: If I get somebody's like Stefann, do you want it?
[10:26 am] Gobbob: As long as you don't tell anyone.
[10:26 am] Gobbob: Except RP Hoogle

A source wrote:
[10:26 am] Gobbob: He dosen't know I've got this one, we trashed KG's forum last night and got hold of Cometgreen's password.
[10:27 am] Gobbob: It's "5557600", but he dosen't use it on this forum.

A source wrote:
[10:54 am] Gobbob: And i'm also after Dragoons account at least.
[10:55 am] Gobbob: Actually, i'll go after Dragoons account first.
[10:55 am] Gobbob is away
[10:56 am] Gobbob is back.
[10:56 am] Gobbob: I'll try Watson's instead.


You may have noticed that up to this point, the evidence of foul play is from a member named 'Gobbob,' and not Aled Owen. The following reveals that Gobbob is, in fact, a username that Aled Owen has used to hide his identity on Brickfilms (the names of the innocent have been edited out):

A source wrote:
[10:23 am] Gobbob: My password is "****"
[10:23 am] ****: Yeah I know Aled
[10:23 am] Gobbob: wtf?
[10:23 am] Gobbob: HOW DID YOU KNOW!
[10:23 am] ****: Not hard.
[10:23 am] ****: Just watch your older brother MSN and there you go.
[10:24 am] Gobbob: ...
[10:24 am] Gobbob: I hate you.
[10:24 am] ****: so?
[10:24 am] Gobbob: Please don't tell anybody!


Further proof of this is provided by a Private Message that Aled sent to 4um disaster survivor KG:

A source wrote:
From: Gobbob
To: KG
Posted: Wed Jul 25, 2007 4:08 pm
Subject: Your Forum
It was me who trashed your forum.

-Aled


That's right: Owen signed his name at the conclusion of a PM while posing as another member! It is possible that Owen in fact infiltrated Gobbob's account to shield himself from any guilt, as KG received another PM the next day:

A source wrote:
From: Gobbob
To: KG
Posted: Thu Jul 26, 2007 12:48 pm
Subject: Hi
Hi sorry about that my PM account was trashed too


If this is true, yet another offense can be added to Owen's growing list of atrocities. The above transcripts also suggest that brickfilms regular RP Hoogle was complicit with Owen's crimes, though information remains scant.

It should be noted that in the above testimonies, not only has Mr. Owen revealed his plans to overtake several administrator accounts at brickfilms.com - he disregarded all semblance of respect and decency and shared Cometgreen's password in the chat with other members. He also offered to share another administrator's information, should he attain it.

It appears, however, that he failed to decrypt either Dragoon's or Watson's passwords, and never obtained those of RevMen or Stefan. Thankfully, Mr. Owen's skills are so limited that unless he has special powers on a site, as is the case with hostbrickmovies, he appears unable to do anything of significance.

A Call to Action

LegosJedi transferring power to Aled Owen
Recognize that this account is more than a tragic tale of a corrupted official, abusing his powers and the trust of others. It should be a warning for all users of hostbrickmovies.com. LegosJedi's trust has been severely misplaced in the personage of Aled Owen in allowing him any modicum of control over the brickfilm hosting service. While this story provides an exteme example of Owen's behavior, other minor occurances have revealed in him a tendency to meddle and snoop in things that are not his own and to have no respect for the privacy of others, exhibiting, at times, the creepiest of tendencies. While it is reasonable to expect LegosJedi to ensure that his site's resources are not abused by the members, Owen takes advantage of his powers to invade the privacy of hostbrickmovies' clients. Such behaviour is in itself reprehensible, regardless of the damage he has thus far inflicted and the threat of future abuse.

If you are currently a member of hostbrickmovies.com, or are considering becoming one, please consider carefully the above example. Please join the Citizens of Awesome in petitioning LegosJedi to remove the miscreant Aled Owen from a position of power on the site. He has made it supremely evident that he has neither the decency nor the maturity to handle such power appropriately.

Citizens OUT!

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