Reviews "leaking"... a new trend?

Kombatant

Regular
What is this thing with reviews "leaking" before the NDA is out? [H] was first with the NV40, now Tom's and Bjorn3D... is that a new trend or something? What do you guys think?
 
991060 said:
I think people did it intentionally for whatever reasons.

I would understand that if they were small sites, desperate for hits. But these sites are considered amongst the biggest in the net.
 
They got to be the biggest by the amount of hits.. hits translates to sponsorship. (Probably oneupmanship on Xbit too).
 
I think Bjorn3D actually got hacked. :(

As for Tom's, I guess they felt it would be a refreshing change for them to leak a review rather than people taking a leak (figuratively speaking) on it. :p
 
Hanners said:
I think Bjorn3D actually got hacked. :(

As for Tom's, I guess they felt it would be a refreshing change for them to leak a review rather than people taking a leak (figuratively speaking) on it. :p

Well, I think I need to explain a few things. We did not post the article. We did´nt link it anywhere on the THG page. Due to a human error the german article was just acessible on the server for about 10 minutes. We pulled it imidately when we got aware of it. But it seems somebody just tried to find it by guessing the URL in that time and was lucky. It was long enough to start the mess, also thanks to browser caches.

The error happened because of a combination of unlucky things. We really have no interrested to see our work and images used all over the web! But we also can´t stop it.

I can only apologise to other sites and mags for the trouble it causes. I´m also sorry for Bjorn3D since some schnooks got the idea to hijack the site because of the leak.

Lars - THG
 
I'm having a hard time believing someone just got lucky...

However... bots scanning all major hardware site servers for new reviews that are not yet available from the home page, THAT i can believe.

If I just see the number of bots trying to hack into my personal FTP server.....
 
Borsti said:
Hanners said:
I think Bjorn3D actually got hacked. :(

As for Tom's, I guess they felt it would be a refreshing change for them to leak a review rather than people taking a leak (figuratively speaking) on it. :p

Well, I think I need to explain a few things. We did not post the article. We did´nt link it anywhere on the THG page. Due to a human error the german article was just acessible on the server for about 10 minutes. We pulled it imidately when we got aware of it. But it seems somebody just tried to find it by guessing the URL in that time and was lucky. It was long enough to start the mess, also thanks to browser caches.

The error happened because of a combination of unlucky things. We really have no interrested to see our work and images used all over the web! But we also can´t stop it.

I can only apologise to other sites and mags for the trouble it causes. I´m also sorry for Bjorn3D since some schnooks got the idea to hijack the site because of the leak.

Lars - THG

You've got to admit tho Lars, there were too many "luck" factors there (and no, I am not implying anything, to set the record straight); I am just pointing out that this sets a worrying trend (either by accidents like that, or by site hacking, as it was the case with Bjorn3D).

By the way was the whole article leaked, or just a part of it?
 
Look at the URL of our articles:
http://www.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040503/index.html

the folder 20040503 is the date. So it´s not hard to guess the URL if you know the NDA date. You know that some people in B3D also linked our NV40 .com article before it was online! (which is normally OK since the content is protected on a stage server). So there´s really no mistery behind the URL.

As I said, it happened on the german server. That one´s a bit different from our .com servers. Our guy who handles the german articles normally and left the office earlier so someone else had to handle it. But he did not know that he had to set the protection by hand (that works automatic for the .com). That´s the story behind it. Nothing more, nothing less. We make sure it can´t happen again.

As I said. We have zero benfit from it (no PIs etc). The article was a not finished draft/work in progress in german.

Lars - THG
 
Borsti said:
The article was a not finished draft/work in progress in german.

Lars - THG

Jeez, Lars, considering what was shown....I'd hope is was a very old draft..... :rolleyes:
 
martrox said:
Borsti said:
The article was a not finished draft/work in progress in german.

Lars - THG

Jeez, Lars, considering what was shown....I'd hope is was a very old draft..... :rolleyes:

Oh yes! I´m working on benchmark graphs with buttons like "Insert your favorite numbers here" for every card. So everyone can generate the results he wants to see ;)

Lars
 
Borsti said:
Well, I think I need to explain a few things. We did not post the article. We did´nt link it anywhere on the THG page. Due to a human error the german article was just acessible on the server for about 10 minutes. We pulled it imidately when we got aware of it. But it seems somebody just tried to find it by guessing the URL in that time and was lucky. It was long enough to start the mess, also thanks to browser caches.

The error happened because of a combination of unlucky things. We really have no interrested to see our work and images used all over the web! But we also can´t stop it.

I can only apologise to other sites and mags for the trouble it causes. I´m also sorry for Bjorn3D since some schnooks got the idea to hijack the site because of the leak.
Lars - THG

yea yea. This wasn't the first, nor the second time for THG. :rolleyes:
 
Borsti said:
As I said. We have zero benfit from it (no PIs etc). The article was a not finished draft/work in progress in german.

Lars - THG

I for myself have no reason not to believe you. And since it's not the final form of the article, I will reserve my...ehm... constructive criticism until I see the final ;)
 
Bjorn3D did get hacked. I know I own it. We have been up all night working on the issues. And we did pull the links people found.
 
PatrickL said:
Lars, using 61.11 drivers has already proven your point :LOL:

noticed the different color? All IQ tests were run with the 60.72 drivers. It seems to be a bit fanatic to see a cheat behind every performance increase. NV40 is a new chip. A performance increase from beta to beta driver is nothing really surprising. You can also see some perfromance drops with 61.11.

Happy flaming! :LOL:
 
Scott@bjorn3d said:
Bjorn3D did get hacked. I know I own it. We have been up all night working on the issues. And we did pull the links people found.

Yes, we heard man. Any idea where it came from? Is it the first time such an attempt has been made?
 
Kombatant said:
What is this thing with reviews "leaking" before the NDA is out? [H] was first with the NV40, now Tom's and Bjorn3D... is that a new trend or something? What do you guys think?
I like it. :D

Oh, and I hate ATi. :devilish: o_O :devilish:
 
Kombatant said:
Scott@bjorn3d said:
Bjorn3D did get hacked. I know I own it. We have been up all night working on the issues. And we did pull the links people found.

Yes, we heard man. Any idea where it came from? Is it the first time such an attempt has been made?

We have a few guesses, not concrete yet. And yes it's the first and hopefully the last time.
 
Borsti said:
Well, I think I need to explain a few things. We did not post the article. We did´nt link it anywhere on the THG page. Due to a human error the german article was just acessible on the server for about 10 minutes. We pulled it imidately when we got aware of it. But it seems somebody just tried to find it by guessing the URL in that time and was lucky. It was long enough to start the mess, also thanks to browser caches.

The error happened because of a combination of unlucky things. We really have no interrested to see our work and images used all over the web! But we also can´t stop it.

I can only apologise to other sites and mags for the trouble it causes. I´m also sorry for Bjorn3D since some schnooks got the idea to hijack the site because of the leak.

Lars - THG
You do realize that this could all be avoided by NOT putting up ANY of the content until a lot closer to the NDA expiration, don't you? :|

Security by obscurity is just wishful thinking. :(
 
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