Map Summary, Dishonest attribution of authorship Options

[Ayanami]

Some audacious individual from Turkey has claimed authorship of maps for the Counter-Strike 1.6 mod that do not belong to them, specifically:

(original author: my anus is bleeding from Russia) and

(original author: ananistus from Belarus). Given that the current administration does not allow users to arbitrarily modify map descriptions, I request that the administration correct the authorship of these works and restore justice.

Alternatively, allow the original uploaders to directly edit the map descriptions. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_neutral.gif)

[qoLmE]

Hello,

Like a month ago, the whole database got hacked due to the site's poor security. As a result, ALL maps were set to "system map", making them unavailable to download unless you performed a manual "edit".
Also, the author of ALL maps was set to the name of a certain trojan-virus.
In an attempt to set all the maps in 1 go as non-system ( so people could download them again ) instead of manually 1 by 1, a user with the name "byplt" had to figure out what data was changed when a map got downloaded.
I don't know how exactly this happened but by trying to achieve this, the trojan-virus name was replaced by his. No harm done in my eyes since it was lost regardless.
So yeah, he had no intend to claim any authorship whatsoever.

Unfortunately, there was only a backup of maps ( author names included ) until roughly 18-01-2021. Meaning everything else from this date 'till the day the attack happened was lost, resulting in the fact that those now carry "bpylt" as author.
Since there were security issues + the fact everyone was able to edit everything from a map's summary, the head admin Arkshine decided to remove the ability to edit for all regular users.
Good to know: Now there's a backup of everything daily, in case something similar would re-occur.

For the moment, I am going through all the "byplt-named" maps to retrieve as much original author info as possible.
Since I'm limited in time, I'm only searching here and on GameBanana. There are more places but I'm already stretching this search and rescue mission beyond my free time.
Once I'm done with this, I'll post a big list of all the maps that I was unable to find anything from. In there, any regular user can post author info which then anyone who is able to use edit can adjust accordingly.
There is a chance that, once this list is posted, I'll switch byplt to "Not specified" ( leave blank ) & set the country to "Unknown" since, to be honest, I don't like seeing someones name attached to a map they do not own. But for the sake of easiness to perform my work, I'll leave them for now as it's convenient to just click on byplt in the top200 author list.

I hope you understand the situation...

P.s.: For the people who have witnessed the site's activity, in particular the shoutbox messages, during the aftermath of the attack: If I have missed important info regarding this attack, or if I have misunderstood certain aspects please do not hesitate to post them here.
I tried to explain to what I remember has happened.

P.s.s.: Thanks for providing the countries of the 2 mappers you mentioned. I will change the authors once I've reached them.
Currently I'm at 11-24-2023 ( both those maps are from beginning of 2024 ).

P.s.s.s.: If I'm not mistaking, users can always edit what they have uploaded themselves. Even if it's a regular user.

This post has been edited by qoLmE: 27/04/2025 - 16:28:14

[Ayanami]

Thank you for the clarification, and I apologize for causing you to spend time on such a detailed response. As I understand it, there are currently no issues with uploading new maps to the site?

[qoLmE]

No worries, you had no idea this had happened. I would have reacted the same way...

The time it took me to ensemble my response is worth my free time as I always strife towards providing the most detailed answer.
I wouldn't feel good about a rushed or incomplete explanation, especially about issues of this magnitude.

Feel free to provide more info about authors once I've posted those lists. Just keep an eye on the forums or the shoutbox, where I will make an announcement/notification of the forum post(s) for people to start adding missing info.

Can't say an exact date but at this rate you can expect them within' 30 days from now on.

P.s.: Uploading in it's current state has no issues.

This post has been edited by qoLmE: 28/04/2025 - 14:02:43

[Ayanami]

There is an issue: after uploading my own map to the site, I cannot change the authorship to my own - Ayanami, country - Ukraine. Map theme - Abstract/Minimalist.

Please fix this.

This post has been edited by Ayanami: 01/05/2025 - 21:51:53

[qoLmE]

after uploading my own map... I cannot change the authorship to my own... Please fix this.

There's only 1 person site administrator at this point and that's Arkshine.
I'll try to notify him about it but there's a chance this issue won't get changed seeing the security problems that lead to the attack are also possibly one of the reasons why regular users can't edit their own submissions afterwards.
I thought they could but apparently it isn't.

You can always send him a PM but since he's a busy person and the fact he does not get any notifications upon receiving one, chances are slim you'll get a response in a reasonable timeframe.

P.s.: Any additional screenshots apart from the mainscreen are allowed to be bigger in dimension/size. Seeing you uploaded a 300x225 sized one in the map you displayed in the message above this one.

This post has been edited by qoLmE: 02/05/2025 - 11:57:44

[Igrik]

There is an issue: after uploading my own map to the site, I cannot change the authorship to my own - Ayanami, country - Ukraine. Map theme - Abstract/Minimalist.

Please fix this.

Fixed