#Bot mitigation

[onetechavenue]

G2 Customer Reviews Recognize Appdome as Only Leader Across Fraud, Bot Mitigation and RASP

Manila, Philippines – Appdome, the leader in protecting mobile businesses, today revealed it has been recognized as the market leader and high performer in four (4) additional categories for Spring 2025 on G2, the world’s largest and most trusted software marketplace. The four new leadership categories include Bot Detection & Mitigation, No-Code Dev Platforms, Rapid App Development and Best…

[porchenjoyer]

Neopets has fucking cops now?????

[gay-yosuke]

a couple days back i went to use my discord bot to get my persona weaknesses checked to make a point against someone and my file was the fucking test file instead of the real one. my physical affinity is "fuck you"

[ilovedthestars]

I understand why people are very concerned about this, but it’s based on a lot of misunderstandings.

You can ban a user from your server without them ever having been a member of your server. Adding those IDs to your ban list successfully does not mean there were secret evil bots on your server.

Discord does not need to add secret evil bots to your server to scrape the content. Discord already has all your content because it’s on their platform. If they want to sell it as an AI dataset they will do that and it will not involve server bots.

Discord does have “apps,” some of which use AI. Turning off the “Use External Apps” setting for all roles on a server will prevent any user from using these apps to send images to the server. (i.e. sending an AI remix of an image)

This setting does not prevent users from using AI apps on images already present on the server (i.e. it is still possible to make an AI remix of an image and receive it as an “only visible to you” message.) It is currently not possible to disable this. This is the thing you should be worried about, complain to discord about, make moderation policies about, etc.

Here’s a writeup that was shared elsenet and which I am drawing my information from.

TO ANYONE WHO USES DISCORD- FOUR AI SCRAPING BOTS HAVE BEEN SECRETLY ADDED TO YOUR SERVERS WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT

Saw this going around and tested it myself, and I can confirm that this is unfortunately legit. Four hidden bots have been placed in any existing or newly created Discord server that are harvesting data, images, and most concerningly, one seems to be a face swap bot. It should be noted that it is stated that they cannot grab content not sent through bot commands, but knowing how things have gone on sites like A03 and twitter, it is impossible to say if it will stay that way.

Due to them being invisible, banning them from your servers isn't possible without their ID's, which I've typed out for easy access.

1153984868804468756 1288638725869535283 1090660574196674713 1104973139257081909

Banning is done with the /ban command with each string pasted in one at a time. Four ban commands in total.

Image proof below and further information. This was in my PERSONAL server that has existed for +5 years. Discord is harvesting your shit without your consent, fight back. The "partnered with" part appears to be false (?) in relation to one image talking about it, so some information is currently unclear.

[david843346]

Bot Mitigation Market: Global Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2036

Research Nester’s recent market research analysis on “Bot Mitigation Market: Global Demand Analysis & Opportunity Outlook 2036” delivers a detailed competitors analysis and a detailed overview of the global bot mitigation market in terms of market segmentation by security type, component, deployment mode, enterprise size, end user, and by region.

Growing Cases of Account Hijacking to Promote Global Market Share of Bot Mitigation

The global bot mitigation market is estimated to grow majorly on account of the rising instances of bot attacks. In one reported attack, operators invested 60 hours undertaking over forty-four million login attempts. The easy accessibility of compromised credentials has fueled a spike in these large-scale attacks, which can put tremendous strain on infrastructure. A massive volume of bot traffic connected with a wide-scale credential stuffing attack can create slowdowns or outages comparable to a DDoS attack. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of attacks increased by 155%. During the third quarter of 2022, companies have discovered a clear association between data breaches and account hijacking attacks. A claimed 70% increase in data breaches worldwide corresponded to a 40% increase in account takeover attacks documented at the same time.

Some of the major growth factors and challenges that are associated with the growth of the global bot mitigation market are:

Growth Drivers:

Bad Bot Surpassing Good Bot and Human Traffic on the Web

Rising Investment for the Bot Security

Challenges:

The types of bad bots have become advanced and have a close resemblance to humans, which makes it even more difficult for current bot security solutions to distinguish them. This factor is likely to stifle the market growth. Moreover, many mediocre businesses find it expensive to implement advanced bot-mitigating solutions. Therefore, these are some of the major factors anticipated to hamper the global market size of bot mitigation.

Request Report Sample@

By end user, the global bot mitigation market is segmented into retail & e-commerce, BFSI, it & telecommunication, media & entertainment, defense & security, travel & tourism, healthcare, energy & utilities, and automotive & aviation. The retail & e-commerce segment is to garner the highest revenue by the end of 2036 by growing at a significant CAGR over the forecast period. The growth of the segment is majorly expected on account of rising traffic on the e-commerce sites and the growing financial loss due to bot attacks.

By region, Europe, amongst the market in all the other regions, is projected to hold a notable share by the end of 2036. The growth of the market can be attributed majorly to the growing instances of manipulated chatbots in the region Chatbots can be exploited by hackers to inflict terrifying real-world effects, according to the UK's cybersecurity agency.

According to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the cybersecurity risk of individuals manipulating is increasing and is prompted via "prompt injection" attacks. Regulators throughout Europe are investigating whether ChatGPT conforms with privacy standards, following Italy's decision to restrict the popular chatbot driven by artificial intelligence (AI).

Access our detailed report at: https://www.researchnester.com/reports/bot-mitigation-market/5413

[otiskeene]

Kasada Introduces New Suite Of Attack Prediction Services: KasadaIQ

The innovative firm Kasada, which specializes in thwarting automated threats powered by humans, has announced KasadaIQ, a package of attack prediction services that go beyond traditional bot management. The first product in this package, KasadaIQ for Fraud, provides actionable indications based on large amounts of data from the Internet. Businesses looking for information on how bots target their digital channels and client data will find this service especially helpful. With its unmatched visibility into adversary communities and non-traditional data sources, KasadaIQ for Fraud distinguishes itself by offering a cutting-edge capacity to identify and validate risks prior to their manifestation.

Businesses face a serious and expensive threat from bot fraud, which may cost them money, effort, and reputational damage in addition to endangering their customers. The environment of eCommerce fraud is expanding globally, with predictions that it will top $48 billion this year. A startling 96% of IT professionals reported that they have lost money as a result of bot assaults in the previous year, according to Kasada's 2023 State of Bot Mitigation Report.

The founder and CEO of Kasada, Sam Crowther, highlighted the increasing sophistication of bots, pointing out that almost eighty percent of business executives find it harder and harder for their security solutions to identify bots. In spite of this, a lot of businesses continue to use antiquated technologies that develop slowly. According to Crowther, businesses can proactively defend against attackers with KasadaIQ for Fraud in conjunction with their current bot detection systems, giving them a competitive edge and avoiding bad press.

Read More - https://bit.ly/3G5EvbD

[kaiasky]

i don't think this is particularly fair, like. 1) idk about you but i HAVE seen pornbots get banned, and frequently. (We don't appreciate enough the periods of solace when staff has got the filters just right and there's basically no bots!)

but 2) more importantly these are two different issues and different people.

One is "design an automated filter to catch all spambots, which are constantly being tweaked to try and dodge that filter". it's a hard and thankless task, there's no permanent solution, and even Google and Twitter and Facebook with infinite wads of cash have struggled to effectively manage it. the people working on this are normal automattic employees, programmers and support staff, who are frankly doing a better job than anyone would expect on a very hard problem.

and then the recent bannings are unconnected, just matt personally making a bunch of super ill advised choices late at night that I'm sure the bot-detection side of staff are just as frustrated with as us users are.

thousands upon thousands of pornbots: *exist*

tumblr staff: what? are we supposed to do something about that?

one singular transfem: *exists*

tumblr staff: we’re gonna erase you from fucking existence you swine

[keferon]

Ooo Prowl deciding to snoop or bug the mecha scientists about how various ones work so that he can better figure out how to keep pilots from getting killed in the field, and Tarantulas being one of the only to actually show him the work plus talk possibilities once the mad scientist realizes that Prowl’s actually listening and genuinely paying attention.

Cue an increasing back and forth of Prowl coming by with new ideas for ways mecha abilities could be advanced for safety or protection, with Tarantulas consistently being the only one to figure out how to do the impossible work needed with their Earth materials (and scavenged Quintesson materials?).

Which then gets pushed even farther as Prowl gets more and more desperate with every death and puts himself front and center for Tarantulas to use as a test subject for their new ideas. Tarantulas’ questionable morals not seeing any problems with potentially dangerous or unstable upgrades bc the science is simply fascinating + Prowl really wants to do this clearly so who is he to refuse. Like Tarantulas is gonna make sure Prowl doesn’t die from such things, he likes having him around too much, but if the side effects are within a certain (dubiously safe) threshold then he’s not gonna exactly mitigate them all that much. (Upgrades for other mecha & pilots might be. A bit less safe comparatively. Tarantulas has a soft spot for Prowl and Prowl alone of course)

Eventually Tarantulas is bringing even more wild and dangerous ideas to the table, and bc of years of results and… companionship, one could say, between the two, Prowl is almost completely trusting with whatever Tarantulas brings to the table after only a quick (and maybe not entirely honest sometimes) rundown.

Which obviously has lead to an increasingly questionable state of Prowl’s general health. Not that Prowl would care as long as he’s able to pilot his mecha and do his job.

As well as increased isolation from many others somewhat encouraged by Tarantulas as Prowl focuses only on his pilot work and being around Tarantulas for brainstorming sessions or upgrades. Withdrawing from many around the base as a defensive measure so he doesn’t get overwhelmed if something goes horribly wrong out in the field- grief could get in the way of directing or helping others to safer situations after all. And this being the way things are for a long while.

Until a certain visored bot crashes into the tactician’s life.

OH MAN IMAGINE

Jazz doesn't want everyone to know that he is secretly tiny because he is shady and sneaky like that. But also his armor is too big to fit in corridors so he can't really follow Prowl everywhere. Including the labs~

So one day he decides that "fuck it I wanna know more" and hacks into security system to look though cameras footages right. And he finds the ones that placed in the labs and discovers the fucking HORROR that regularly happens there.

Bonus points if he doesn't realize that the reason Prowl does all this is kind of. him. Jazz.

He looks at Tarantulas and thinks there must be some kind of shady scheme involved. He thinks that Tarantulas is somehow forcing Prowl to go through this shit.

While the real reason is just. Prowl lost his previous partners. He doesn't want to lose the new one. He is afraid he wouldn't be good enough to keep Jazz alive and Tarantulas is very conveniently here reaching his hand and promising that "You can be better at protecting him and keeping him alive. Sure thing you can save him you just need to let me do a couple of tweaks and upgrades~"

[prowlspaparazzi]

First time with an autobot

Cliffjumper. Valveplug. Minors dni. Fem reader. No foreplay we goin' in.

The feel of velvet flesh squeezing Cliffjumper’s spike had him shuddering slightly. Letting out a guttural groan as he manages to slide some of himself in. Human valve was incredibly tight– yet so soft and warm. He knew he’d have to go slow the entire time. He didn’t mind that. If he went any faster he’d have overloaded by now.

“Primus… that’s so tight…” He murmurs to himself. He shifts his hips forward slightly, keeping his thrusts short and soft. Beneath him was the human woman. The woman that he had become rather personable with.

She was nice. And very curious of Cybertronians and their planet. So much so she had asked Cliffjumper to share this intimate moment with her. It was funny. It wasn’t like he had thought about it. Then again, he didn’t not think about it either. He hadn’t realized until the question left her lips, a sheepish look on her face that their friendship was heading that way.

Frankly, he felt honored to be chosen. This human had built a rapport with a number of autobots. And he wasn’t the only shortstack of the team after all. A few times being mistaken for Bumblebee, but that's because he was just more popular. That stuff didn't matter to Cliffjumper, not with the war going on. But it did stroke his ego a tiny bit to be asked of this. Besides, the autobots were deserted on this pale blue dot indefinitely. No sign of deceptions anywhere in this star’s system either. So, in the meantime, Cliffjumper would indulge in this. Just a bit. Agreeing to do so in the privacy of her somewhat rural home.

He could feel his spike rubbing up against the walls of his human friend. The red bot shudders, doing his best to keep composure and control himself. In the past, due to his smaller size, he had often been the one being spiked. Again, he didn't mind it. But It was rare for him to be given the lead. Being given the chance to show what he can do. How cybertronians do it. He was determined to not give a bad performance. He would not waste this opportunity to make her feel amazing.

She whimpers while her legs wrap around his hips as best as she could manage. The size difference between the two was the best part of all this, but it did come with some pitfalls. To mitigate this, Cliffjumper grabs her ankles. Being careful to use a gentle grip and spread her legs further, raising them slightly. Slowly, his spike buried deeper. At just the right point too he guessed. She arched her back and shivered.

His spike had ridges of plating that caressed the sensitive entrance of her body as he had made that slow, deeper push. Her body stretched slightly to take Cliffjumper in. The delicious feeling of being stretched further than any average human with a dick could. It gave her a mix of both external and internal pleasure. These sensations had her squirm, her hands grasping at the blanket underneath and her shoulders tensing. A hiss of an inhale between her teeth.

“You okay?” The red bot asked in a low murmur close to her face. His frame hunching over slightly to watch her closely during this moment.

She nods hastily, a slight pleased grin forming on her face, “Yeah… Yeah that was so good. Do it again, Cliffjumper.” She adds his name to the end to encourage him.

He acknowledges her request with a nod. Slowly, he pulls his hips back and pushes in again to the same depth just as before. Doing so results in a pleased hum coming from her beneath him. A grunt leaving his voicebox as well. Eventually, he finds a slow and steady rhythm to use. Careful, and considerate.

Her hand comes up to caress along the intricate seams along his frame. Her fingers sliding up until she reaches his faceplate. It was surprisingly tender. His optics meet her eyes.

“I won’t break y’know… You can go a bit faster.” She utters to the autobot.

Cliffjumper’s jaw tightens slightly, “If you say so…” He says in a low rumble and a nod. Holding himself up with his forearms at both sides of her. He takes in an vent and increases his tempo just enough to not overwhelm her or himself. It was a tricky rhythm to find. Her breathing got louder with each press and her eyes began to shut. The red bot smirks a bit to himself slightly.

-

Not finishing cuz i ran out of ideas. But I felt like Cliffjumper needed a lil love.

[raspberrighost]

I finally finished the ref for Crosswind! I love her sm. Shes just kind of a big ol pookie.

She's calculating, a lil loud, but mostly just doing her best.

Shes a wee bit shorter than Jetfire despite her alt-mode being larger than his. She's just compact!!

Info stuff down below :V

Crosswind has a deep running loyalty for the autobot cause and anyone who is under her direct care. This loyalty often leads to her calculating high risk, high reward situations in battle to ensure everyone makes it home. This willingness to engage in risky actions makes her come across as a lil’ unhinged, but she is assured in her abilities and driven by her need to keep casualties down.

When in battle she is seen in the skies, offering support in many forms. Often she is found evacuating injured parties, and containing the fight to its current area to minimize casualties. If able she will intervene in active gun fights, using her size and speed to ensure whoever is pinned safety. 

She has a decent amount of combat experience,  and what she doesnt know she makes up for in her ability to process information and throw her weight around. Fighting against similarly sized bots means she has to rely on her smarts more than experience and fire power. If others are present and at risk she will continue to engage until they can get to safety or she dies. 

The only way she will disengage is if someone can convince her processor that her present calculation is incorrect. 

-

Generally very pleasant and kind off the field, she does keep a distance, rarely indulging in her personal thoughts and past experiences, but enjoys small talk with the other bots around the base and learning about them. Gets along with most everyone at a base level, but struggles to make deeper connections because of it. It’s a mix of both fear of not seeing them again, and self-doubt. 

Despite this hesitation, she is fairly close with some bots like Jazz, Sideswipe, and surprisingly Ratchet. She does work closely with Prowl off the field, and while they hold a mutual respect, her propensity to disregard rules and risk her own safety means they often butt heads.

She adores the Earth's fauna and flora, adopting the color green quickly for her altmode when she arrived, as green is not commonly found on Cybertron in such beautiful abundance. She kept parts of her orange coloring as a tactical choice so she is easy to see in forested areas and the sky for her team to quickly locate for evacuation. This is a double edge sword as it makes her visible to the enemy, but it's a risk she has been willing to take since the beginning. 

Prior to the war she was an intelligence analyst, constantly searching for flaws and ways to mitigate long term risk for multiple clients. Once the war started she hesitated to join a side, unable to convince herself that a side ran mostly by the previous militia’s personnel was good let alone a side where brute strength seems to rule all. She believes this hesitation led to the loss of some of her closest friends. 

Quick tid-bits:

She is built for long hauls, and landing in tough terrain. This makes her use essential when hunting for energon in remote locations.

She has the ability to survive for longer periods in harsh climates. She is often used as a warming hub/base of command during these missions in order to prolong their mission. 

Her support varies on the needs of her team. She can put out encroaching fires to minimize damage, contain fights, remove injured, or transport. 

Crosswinds altmode is an Illyushin, a multi-purpose strategic airlifter, built to haul 88k lbs 3,100 miles in under six hours (thats from southern Cali, up to Maine in less than six hours for perspective). The build also makes them perfect for landing in rough terrain and taking off on short notice without much runway space. Occasionally used as a command center.

They were built to be all-arounders, and therefore I wanted Crosswind to represent that. They even come equipped w two rear guns, but it wasn't their obvious purpose.

lil close up of her pre-war look, and a comic close up

[smoqueen]

Do hammers work in battle bots or are they too gimmicky?

here's the thing: "hammers" are typically going to slot into the "overhead attack" category, where there's a few things to keep in mind

-the hammer is only going to give you the force of the swing itself, and is going to have a blunt, heavy, 'crushing' impact -this is compared to hammersaws, for example, who also are swinging a weapon downward, but typically have built up a lot of speed on a spinning blade -- there's a different 'cutting' impact here that compounds the force of the swing itself -weight is a massive factor (no pun intended). hammers are heavy for how effective they are, though this is mitigated the higher weight you go. you will see hammers used more in literal battlebots (250lb), you will likely never see it in beetlweight (3), extremely rarely in 12lb, and somewhat more often in 30lb

here's an example of a 'hammer bot,' the 30lb mister roper. it is considered more 'non competitive' than other 30lb bots, for example, but he won enough fights to qualify for world finals and can certainly beat the shit out of robots that aren't prepared for it.

it is hard to say 'theyre gimmicky,' or even 'theyre not as effective as you would think' - i would simply say they are 'off meta.' i am patiently waiting for someone to come along and make a hammer bot with some really interesting design (weird plastic hammer? stored potential energy from a powerful gearbox?)

[marveltaughtmetoread]

What's really interesting about Civil War is the conflict's which incite the Accords are mostly one's that the Avengers only helped to minimise

Loki, completely out of their control, zero culpability, it would have been so much worse without them, the public might blame them for the actions of mind controlled Hawkeye but I'm willing to bet that Shield suppressed any whiff of his involvement

Winter Soldier, yeah Steve is responsible for the downfall of Shield but his hand was very much forced by project Insight threatening to wipe out anyone Hydra deemed a threat

The events that preceded the Accords in Civil War are Rumlow blowing himself up leading to the deaths of 10 people (something that they actively tried to stop), and then, as the Accords are being signed, Bucky being framed

The only one where their actions actively contributed was Ultron, Tony and Bruce helped make him, and then Wanda mind controlled Hulk which led to him causing devastation in a civilian area, and the rest of the Avengers were left picking up the slack

So out of all the events, the Avengers actively tried to mitigate the devastation for all of them, with it being so much worse without their intervention, but two of them created a murder bot

[surelysilly]

Holy shit i love your circus gothica au!! And i really love your art style.

If you want to share anything about it, any little tidbits you wanna talk about? (you absolutely don't have to, see it as free space to ramble if you need it:D)

asjdhf omg hi!

thank you soooooo muuuuch for your kind words!!! <333

you have unleashed a beast, i also really love the circus gothica AU but it's refusing to truly come together into anything super coherent and i am pinning the blame unfairly and squarely on the the Danny in this AU,,,

all I really have is this for it is this and:

No one knows Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom, and then Control Freaks happens, the circus leaves town, Danny Fenton never comes home, and Danny Phantom disappears.

10 years pass

Tucker is at college in NYC(?), and I want Kwan and Paulina to be there because reasons (i love them, and the Paulina being seen at a LAN party by Tucker post convinced me easily), so they all got in on different degrees and somehow hung out during orientation and just kept... hanging out idk (I gave Dash a HS injury that kept him from going to university on a football scholarship because)

But! for Halloween one year, they (and a couple other friends) go to a haunted house attraction like an hour or so away, see if it's any good, can't compare to back home probably, but

besides the haunted houses, there's a small Traveling Freak Side Show performing too!

And i wrote a little bit of this scene, where the last act is where people of the audience are invited to come up and pay to staple the crew members

I like to think Tucker saw the one member, Acid, wandering around earlier in the night, but. He steps up to do it, it's only five dollars... and they're saying it's okay, so... he steps up to Acid, and is coaxed into doing it.

after that, im sorta.... hand-wavey on anything and everything

Tucker will meet Acid again on the street after Halloween somewhere, a store or something, but Tucker recognizes him without the costume and makeup and just

they somehow get to talking, and then somehow keep running into each other. Turns out the guy's name is Cid, and Tucker assumes it's a nickname for something but never actually asks

Tucker is somewhat 'late' on his degree at this point, Kwan and Paulina moving ahead on their academic careers/jobs, but they try to look out for him since him and Sam got real distant after Danny disappeared (i have no thoughts yet on her in this, but they're still friendly just not... close anymore)

I've also forgotten that Vlad exists so uuuhhhh dw about it <3

on the flip side

I haven't decided if Acid -- Danny -- remembers his name or not, but he does mainly just go by Acid or Cid, for short(er).

His life is Circus Gothica -- and he knows he's a ghost.

Knows he's... different, but a ghost nonetheless. He already looks mostly human, but the others are very good at shapeshifting, so in downtime they're allowed to mingle in whatever city they're stopped in, but, of course, it's always a cover for some sort of planned robbery somewhere.

So, Danny does his due diligence: commit robberies, perform circus acts and routines, and just. Try to be a normal ghost.

He suffers mightily from some sort of 'unfortunate affliction' as stated by the ringmaster. Weirdly, he needs to eat, sleep, etc, if not very much. And deals with plain and frequent enough episodes of Psychosis.

he obviously doesn't really recognize that, and it, and barely bearable physical pain (from his human side being neglected for a decade whoops) are mitigated with substance abuse! which, after he ran the gamut through various kinds, ends up being fentanyl (patches) most of the time.

he says theyre nicotine patches if anyone asks </3

none of the ghosts know they're being mind controlled, though. Lydia is here for fun, and does kinda look out for Danny, but she doesn't actually care about him. She just doesn't want him to mess anything up. I don't know if she knows he's also human or bot, but Freakshow does for sure.

Or at least, in that Danny's 'shapeshifting' is more true than not. And intertwined to his 'identity' as a ghost

but to anyone when Danny is just out and about, his eyes are green. Due to the ecto-contamination from the portal back in Amity Park, Tucker can see that they're actually red.

whoops.

I've somehow made this savant par (Danny/Tucker) but it'll blow up for sure. Kwan and Paulina are the ones to notice the 'nicotine' patches aren't such, and end up trying to talk Tucker into to leaving Danny toward the end

also, somehow Danny's hair keeps getting longer and longer every time i draw him it's a problem askjhskjdfhf

in conclusion

Sadly idk how to get where i want this to end, but i do want it to end with it turning into DPxDC because I want to write some fight scenes lmao

i also want circus gothica going somewhere fun like... Star City or something and getting investigated and everything really

B L O W I N G U P

i wanna write Danny fighting someone so bad 😭 like Lydia for sure, but someone else too!!! but idk how to get there, Danny wont sit pretty for me to figure him out *huffs*

but thanks so much for ask!!! if you made it this far down, here is another lil tidbit that might survive the plot actually being written one of these days cskjdskdf

There is this… ache. It's all encompassing and always there, a low simmer of sharp and throbbing and pulsing  and, and.  You hate it. But not nearly as much as you hate how every year to the day, something calls to you. It, too, is always there. A cycling faint murmur that builds to a scream and back, again and again, again, again — “Shut up, shut up, shut up,” you hiss, and shakily pull hard on another drag from the cigarette. “Goddamn, shut the fuck up.” But. Every year to the day — that climaxed crescendo. It nearly beats out the thread of red that lines your joints and seams. Almost, almost. It makes your nose itch.  Makes everything hurt more than it already does. A hard flick to your ear sends you reeling sideways onto the ratty couch. From above, Lydia stares down impassively, brow crooked. You can only blink at her, startled, but the surprise fades just as quick back to the heat and beat of your heart. A bag is dropped onto your chest, and you test the shape of its contents with trembling fingers. You're not sure where the cigarette went, but — this is better. “T-Thank you,” you rasp, and she curls a lip before stalking back out of view to a snap of her cape. 

[bishopinblue]

Old fandom drama time!

It has been about 3-4 years since I had been as active as I was in the Nefarious fandom (Indie game/comic). I have gripes with multiple people in that fandom, but one/two of them thought it was a good idea to make a "call out" blog a few years ago about the Official Server, the RP server, SoR, and myself. Unfortunately for them, I remembered and felt the vigor to do what I should have done as soon as this shit was published. 

Let me start this by saying I am about 95% confident I know who is responsible for this blog. Because they thought it was okay to name drop me I'll be doing the same under my assumption and dissection as well.

From here on, my own replies will be italicized to differentiate the caps from text. Please know this is going to be a very long post. 

If you read it in full, thank you for your patience.

So hello chaoticmelody3805 and khimer_zherki. I have full reason to believe you two are the ones behind all this belly aching.

I will mainly be referring to Melody in this post due to the knowledge and proof that she has talked about most of the points in this blog to a near identical degree in private. All the while, Khimer appears to have been more of a support than a driving force. Considering he also hasn't done much harm to me I will be overlooking him. Still, I think acknowledgement is due for my reasoning on this.

To start, I think it is important to mention the fact that I was a mod in the Official Server and only that server. There are some references later on stating I was a mod in the RP server as well, which are false. I was never a mod in SoR and only held a sort of Teacher Role for a whole of 12 hours before asking to have it removed. This was early on when I was still fresh into the server.

With that being said, let's get to it.

Iceberg Post link for reference.

I want to address the reddit post first and make it abundantly clear that the creator himself was the only one with the power to edit, delete and monitor the reddit page. I don’t even have a reddit so being responsible for deleting it isn’t possible. When this iceberg was posted, Josh was the one to see and delete it. No one else. That is the only thing I wanted to address in the opening remark.

These two points have to do directly with the Official Server, as shown in the iceberg image.

"Bugs in the game"

No shit. It's a small indie game with the efforts of a handful of artists and coders to complete it. Even then, the plot was fun, the characters charming, and gameplay was enjoyable for what it was worth. It's the first stepping stone to the fandom and was often asked for a second game. 

This entry is simply pointing out the obvious for most, if not all indie games and is just mean spirited towards the creator for his efforts. 

The comics came after the game, buy the way. The server mostly pandered to the comic over the game. 

"Bot raids"

Bot raids happen on bigger public servers. This is not something that was 100% preventable and precautions were put in place to MITIGATE the amount of bot raids that occurred. All things considered, it would have been leagues worse without the clearances put in place once the initial raids kicked up. 

I say mitigated because for it to be 100% safe, the server would have to be private invite only.

I was a mod during some moments in the Official Server where I had helped think up ideas to help keep users as safe as possible. Once again, not 100% bullet proof and some still found a way in. They were dealt with swiftly each time, however.

Once again, only applicable to the Official Server.

"Important comics are Patreon exclusive"

The creator does these comics and the game as FREELANCE WORK. Of course he has the right to put some of the content behind a paywall! It's his main source of income! You and other users like you are lucky there was even a public version of the comic. 

Instead of complaining about a freelance artist asking for compensation for their creations, maybe you should be happy with the free material he gives you in bulk.

"Comic is an incoherent mess"

 This is an opinion, not a fact. Like all stories, some things bounce around and some details are hidden for later. Is it perfect? Hell no! But it's also not a damning factor either, let alone one valid for a fucking slander post.

Both of these points are opinion driven and hold no weight against their argument. Honestly, it feels like it was put in just to be mean and spiteful towards an artist who wants to make a living off his work. Pay your artists and show appreciation for the work they do!

This level can be applied to both the Official Server and SoR, despite one being only for the Official Server in the diagram.

"Bullying fan content that doesn't fit canon"

Josh has been very encouraging to artists and fans to make content they like for the fandom. The only times he has kept his mouth shut on details are for parts of the story that haven't been made public yet. He doesn't want spoilers. 

There haven't been any caps provided to support this claim for him. This can be disregarded as opinion as well.

On the other hand.

SoR was notorious for restricting content allowed in its server, but also had a harsh vetting process that prevented most players from utilizing the creations they made. 

Do you remember the Vetting Document? The one users had to fill out and then be judged upon if their muses “fit the universe enough”? I do. I also remember telling the mods to go fuck themselves because they wanted to change an aspect of my OC they didn't like. They didn't attempt to do that again.

If anything, SoR was much more restrictive in regards to following cannon content and even frowned upon most ideas that didn't adhere to the timeline. The worst of it was when I first joined that server, but over time it lessened a bit as more ideas were entertained. Only a bit, though. It was still a suffocating environment to play in thanks to the regulations and time slots for rping.

"Gaslighting"

For something as serious an accusation as this is, there are no caps. No proof. No nothing. 

If anything, that makes this a null point too. To accuse someone of gaslighting, there needs to be proof or examples given. You have provided none.

Speaking for myself, I would say I was a victim to this multiple times in SoR. By mods and users alike. Even in the three posts of this blog it's present. It did lasting damage to my mental health and stability. So, while I will not acknowledge this point due to lack of proof, I will agree that it was done to me in SoR and the after effects show in my daily life. This is my own opinion in return for yours. Tit for tat.

"Comic released on Pride Month about an 'insane' character with rainbow hair"

One of the other mods answered this more gracefully than I could. A copy and paste of their answer is below.

*Lark does have rainbow hair, and she was in  an asylum, correct. Her relationship preferences are unknown, and she is in fact- not insane- there is plot reason on why she is there, and it gets explained in the very same comic.*

Also, there is a cannonly gay character named Owl. One of Crows brothers. Macks fathers are also gay and married. Mayapple and Malice are also together and lesbians. There is plenty of LGBTQ representation in his comic if you want to claim it's only there as one moment of negativity.

"Being 'Progressive' for money"

Another opinion rather than a fact. 

The above paragraph shows examples of the LGBTQ representation in the comic. Healthy ones at that!

You can say many of the characters in the comic are touch and go, sure. Something multiple fans have also noticed. But it's not just for LGBTQ ones.

There isn't much development on already existing characters and their relationships outside of Crow. So you can't pinpoint this just to a proposed lack of LGBTQ material when a lot of other characters outside of this lack the same attention. Malachite is a good example! One of my favorites when I was still a supporter.

It isn't being progressive for cash. It's focusing on the main character and developing the world around him. Albeit, in a quick paced way, in my opinion, but not one meant as a cash grab.

"The K&B incident"

This

Is where I get longwinded.

This was the thing that pissed me off the most.

As I stated at the start of this post I was NEVER A MOD IN SOR and was ONLY A MOD IN THE OFFICIAL SERVER. I don't know who started this rumor, but it is blatantly wrong. On top of that, no one had ever come to me to confirm it! This Is coming straight from the horse's boney mouth now. I have no reason to lie about this.

I had just as much power in that rp server as any other user did.

In regards to the Official server, however. 

After leaving SoR, once I finally came to terms with how toxic that environment was and how two faced the head moderator, Fancifool, was, I did still want to rp and interact with some of the friends I made in that rp server. However, I did not want to use the Official Servers rp room as that was a place Fanci could still see me and I didn't want that. I like the privacy a private server gives.

Most of the strife, lies, rumors and manipulation all stem back to Fanci and I believe fully that any of these false accusations were fabricated from her to make herself look better, and me as a monster. (Another very long post for another time.)

Once I left, I kept away from anything to do with SoR and her. I wanted to mind my own business on the main server and enjoy the fandom. Even then, she was the one who persisted in watching and going after me whenever it seemed she could.

From things like trying to sabotage me making a pin design for the Official Server to spreading lies about why I left the rp server, she continued to harass me at a distance to the point my friend, Kaly, had to step in. She came in hot and told Fanci off before blocking her. Approaching with courtesy and a calm nature didn't work before and I continued to be targeted for minding my own business. Enough was enough. 

That is where Kaly unfortunately got her big bad rep from Fanci, despite being more than polite to multiple people who didn't deserve it in the end. The ones who made this blog are examples of some of them.  

That is all I will say about that aspect of my experience for now. SoR was an entirely different kind of trauma I had to go through and this post will never end if I tried to fit it all in here.

So back to the point at hand.

I brought up in the general chat in the Official Server that I was thinking about making my own server for folks who still wanted to rp with me, because I was NOT stepping foot back into SoR. I wanted to gauge who would still like to play with me outside of the server after I left. Not once did I say I wanted it to be a server to rival SoR nor be dedicated to Nef content. And I absolutely NEVER wanted to hog the unused rp channels in the Official Server. The same server they would host an rp in once a week or so as a type of stage to flaunt their writing outside of their server. If there was one thing Fanci loved, it was an audience. Which is also why she got so bent out of shape about the rp rooms being archived.

Fanci took this turn of events as me trying to undermine her stage, despite me saying that was not its intended purpose. She went to the SoR server owner and made up the hairbrained assumption, that you typed in this post, to get people riled up. 

As a matter of fact, I still have the original transcript of the ENTIRE CONVERSATION IN THE MOD ROOM THAT OCCURED ABOUT IT!

I was at work at the time and couldn't join in until the very end, but I think this speaks for itself well enough on how little these people actually listened to anyone other than themselves. I also have caps showing that in their group chat after the fact. 

Also, it was a majority of the OTHER moderators in the Official Server that wanted to shut down the rp channels. I was one of the only ones who tried to convince them to keep it open after Fanci demanded an audience with them. But the majority ruled and in the end I did agree with their choice as well. 

In reality, it was Fanci who ultimately pushed the mods to decide to close the rp channels due to her persisting that it would be unfair to them to have BASIC RULES IN PLACE. Rules you can read in the doc transcript at the end when I was finally free to say something on the matter. Thus, the rooms were archived and a direct link to SoR was put in its place in case anyone still wanted to join their server. That archive is long gone now.

This is just one example of how facts were twisted to make certain parties look better than they were. Making mountains from molehills to make a group look better than another.

TLDR: Fanci made a spectacle over me wanting to see if people still wanted to rp with me outside of SoR, made up lies about what my PRIVATE INVITE ONLY SERVER would be used for, and ultimately why the rp rooms were shut down.

By the way, I still made that server and it's still invite only for close friends. It's called Blue Lagoon and it's beach themed. Don't worry. I'm not stealing her number count.

"Complaints about anything on this being ignored/excused"

Any issues or complaints brought to mods from both servers were handled to the extent they thought it appropriate enough to do so. This isn't their fucking day job! It's a damn fandom server. 

I will admit, SoR neglected its own 25+ page rulebook often so they could keep numbers up. Because I was only a mod in the Official Server towards the end of this shit storm, I don't have much I can add to this point. But also, once again, no caps. No proof. No examples.

Another opinion rather than a fact.

"The Purge"

I was not around for this event and know nothing about it.

One thing I will make very clear is that the Syndicate of Roleplay was NEVER THE OFFICIAL RP SERVER FOR NEFARIOUS!

Josh never deemed it so and never once considered it a direct branch of his server for him to foresee. He has stated this multiple times. This was a self proclaimed title that held no weight in the servers validity.

"Sexualized art"

People make 18+ content. This is universal. Literally every server ever made has this happen from time to time, but at least there exists an 18+ server for the Official Server where it can be isolated to. Whether people use it is up to them. The mods usually followed up about that too. In both the Official and RP servers. Your second post actually proves that on its own.

"Provoking suicidal people" 

I don't think I know of this instance so I'm skipping it. No comment via lack of information and proof.

"ERP with minors"

You can say this was in regard to Dusty and you, Melody. I don't know what really happened between you and Dusty in that timeframe, but calling him a pedophile during a time when he was also young and unaware of some things is downright malicious. In fact, I did the math at one point and I think he was ALSO a minor during that time. So referring to him as the ADULT in this point is painting him in a worse light than he was.

Is he an asshole? Absolutely! I will not disagree with you on that. But I will never label someone something as extreme as a PEDOPHILE unless I know for sure they are one. Going to such an extreme label like this is alarming, but something you are known to do.

It's perfectly valid if you regretted that interaction with him, though! I've had moments like that in my time rping and interacting with different people. There was a lack of consideration from him and that's one of his major faults. He's inconsiderate.

As for how the mods responded to this instance. Once again, I was not there for this and there's no proof, once again.

But if this is true. You did not deserve to be treated like that and their response is more alarming than Dusty's idiocy.

"Exposure to drawn child porn"

My brother in Christ.

This is one of those instances of 'makes a character that's fully grown, but was Freshly Brought To Life recently'. I can't comment on this fully because it is also a matter of opinion in a way. One I also am not fully comfortable with. Yeah. I also don't like this trope. I think it's too close to the line in the sand.

In regards to the Event that provoked this bullet point.

It is so fucking easy to post an image or text in the wrong chat. I have done it so many times because, guess what? HUMANS CAN MAKE MISTAKES.

It doesn't matter if he had to press "several buttons" to post it if he didn't see he was in the wrong server. Which is what he said after it was all said and done! It was a huge screw up on his part, but the big takeaway is he didn't do it ON PURPOSE. He was extremely embarrassed by it after the fact and you even showed that in your second post.

Just say you want a reason for everyone to hate him as much as you do. To make him out to be a horrible person rather than someone you just don't vibe with. Cause my dude, I also don't vibe with him, but I'm not going around making shit up to make him look like a perverted pedo. That's fucked up and frankly you're fucked up for doing that!

"Active Pedophile in the community"

This is literally your last point in Level 5 just jumbled with different words. 

However, I will agree that Dusty usually had risqué muses that didn't fully belong in that space. Which once again, should have been properly addressed by the mods in that server and weren't. If anything, instead of saying Kaly gave him passes for this, what about Fanci? His best friend and overall main power holder of the server who was letting him get away with it long before Kaly even entered the server. 

But once again. No caps. No irrefutable proof. No evidence.

That's all for that post!

Now onto the second.

Accusations Post link for reference.

This part only has to do with the RP Server and the bullshit that happened in it. 

What I will be doing for this post is simply debunking the outlandish claims made in them about ME. I'll explain why they are framed in ways meant to demonize rather than inform of anything actually malicious.

I'm not going to touch the top of this post as it's just another jab at Dusty and his idiocy. The guy's inconsiderate and I'm leaving it at that.

Where I will start is right here.

Allow me to start by genuinely asking WHAT SUICIDE BAIT?????

Where??

Do you even know the meaning of that word because I don't think you do! 

And once again throwing around extreme words and phrases without understanding what they truly mean as well as the extremity of them. There isn't a single instance of that in any of these caps!

The only thing I can feasibly piece together that is close to that is when Dusty say's he's going to kill his phone and then himself.

Out of embarrassment. 

A phrase that is so commonly used that everyone has heard and used it at least once in their lives. No one is being fooled by this. It's NOT suicide baiting. 

I will go over the following main accusation against me (number 1) and why it is completely false, written and framed in a way to try and make me look like a horrible person. I will NOT be speaking for Kaly in this as her experience differs from mine. But I will touch on a few things involving her.

All the caps below are the extent of the conversation taken from this post as "proof".

Now.

I find it very convenient that the actual offending pic wasn't captured and that is because these caps were not taken at the time of offense. Not because you didn't want to capture it.

I know Khimer is most likely the one that took the caps before he left the server about a year or so ago. The reasons I think this is because of two things.

1. The date of each post alone is a baseline. This indicated that these caps were taken WAY after this happened.

I also want to point out how none of these caps are full screen caps that hide the full story and and additional context. To me, that devalues them and makes it look like certain things were framed or cherry picked. Something Melody is notorious for and also did often to make others look like unsympathetic assholes. Notably, something she attempted to do to Kaly and got caught for.

It's manipulation and gaslighting. Something she accused so many other people of. So yeah. Projecting much?

2. If you look at the first cap you will see chaoticMelody's name is one of the only ones that are white. This means that she wasn't in the server at the time of the cap being taken.

Based upon the timeline of her ban and when I knew Khimer also left the server, I can safely assume this was taken during my time still in the server considering my name isn’t in white like hers, but most certainly AFTER she had been banned and Kaly was no longer a mod.

This narrows it down to a chunk of time for me and deduces that it was not taken during the time Kaly WAS a mod in that server. While I was never a mod, Kaly was and demoted herself because she was sick of all the bullshit. She was never kicked from the role. She stepped down herself. I know for a fact this moment happened after she took that step down into just being a normal player in the server too. And if that’s hard to believe, then the proof given isn’t viable either as it says otherwise. I’ll get to why.

And no. The one user below Melody is not white as well. It is a pastel yellow. One of the other tiers they had in the server was that color and this user had it as their main color. The whole role system was a gradient from light yellow, to orange, and then purple. Purple being the owner/mods, orange being the standard users/players, and yellow being other roles like artists, viewers, etc. These were also the main colors of the main character in Nefarious, Crow. 

That's not important really, but just a tidbit of logic behind it.

My username is orange just like all the other standard users. The moderator, Fancifool, and server owner at the time, Lock Jaw, have distinctly different purple colors to their usernames and that is because Fanci was the main mod at this time and Lock Jaw was the owner with the same privileges as the mods. Even when this cap was taken they still reflect that. 

They were the ones responsible to handle this. Not me. Not Kaly. 

If this were the case, then users like MasterofMemes, who was also orange, should have been on the chopping block too, no? And what about the blatant ping in the same color as Fanci and Lock Jaws usernames? Any discord user knows the role color matches the role, so how do you deny that one?

Even then, Memes and Fanci both acted before either Kaly and I did, so in either retrospect, once again, why am I being targeted for hate in something I wasn’t even responsible for, let alone was too late to get to? Is it because certain people coupled me and Kaly together as one entity? You all sure treated us like one, which was just fucking rude and demonizing.

With this information, this accusation that I 'favored' Dusty and let him get away with accidentally posting an nsfw pic in the server flops like a dead fish. 

It’s so easy to take a cap, put it out of context and say whatever hate comes to your brain. But this was sloppy. Really sloppy. I didn’t say anything or engage with you on it for years because anyone with eyes and half a brain cell can put 2 + 2 together to make 4. Well… almost anyone, apparently. 

And allow me to state again, because this seems to continue to not be committed to memory.

I WAS NEVER A MOD IN SOR!

Not once. Never wanted to be. Never was.

On top of this, the event happened in the middle of the day when most people with jobs were AT SAID JOBS as well as school. (Don’t think I need proof of that.) We weren't tethered to our phones for any beck and call that may happen. Assuming people with lives outside of a fucking discord server will come running at any instant is, frankly, ridiculous.

But it looks like it took Fanci and Lock Jaw roughly “2 minutes to get on scene” in this instance. 

It doesn't matter if you have screenshots if all you're going to do is use them to make up lies about someone. None of what you know about me is even close to true. You can’t even dig up one cap that shows my username in the purple color Fanci’s is in because it doesn’t exist and won’t ever exist now because that server is either shut down or private.

Either way, this was a long time coming and I know by now Melody is probably in her early 20's. No longer a minor as you loved to flaunt about like a shield. So how about you act like a big girl and mind your own damn business from now on and stop spreading lies? You must be mature enough by now to do that. After all, your Harry Potter blog has been on hiatus for quite some time. That’s a good sign.

I will never deal with this brand of bullshit ever again. Not from the likes of them or others in kind. If anyone tries to stir up anything else aside from what is already on this blog I will no longer hesitate to act upon it.

If you're done embarrassing yourselves, then delete your blog and never utter my name again.

[stormbreaker101]

HOW TO BE A GOOD VICTIM FOR THE WIZARD101 NUKE (which I guess is what I'm calling this project now)

Requirements

Beguilable

Stunnable

High HP, so that it doesn't die to any of the B Path spells that stack buffs. We're currently looking at needing it to survive a Storm Lord coming off high damage stat (assuming 200, a 3x stat), and 3 hefty buffs on it (1.65 x 1.65 x 1.7). That is 10,000 damage without a crit, potentially 20k with. This damage can be mitigated by beguiling Legion Shields and Mass Tower Shields onto it, but still. yikes.

No self damaging moves in its deck (dark pact, empower, sacrifice, immolate)

No moves that can remove blades from target (Earthquake, Enfeeble All, Steal Charm, certain B Path Ice and Death spells) or traps from self (Cleanse Ward, certain B Path Life and Fire spells).

Not required, but nice to have

Casts weaknesses and/or infections, traps, and/or DoTs often.

Does NOT cast stuns or mantles. Bc stuns and mantles are annoying

My first thought is to look through various bosses in the game before mobs. See if there are any bosses out there that can be stunned and beguiled.

Time to see if anyone has ever made jsut a basic spreadsheet of every non-beastmoon creature in the game. There should be one out there, the Kimerith Windhammer bot exists after all.

[witchofthesouls]

Ooo can we get more of the Other liason? It's interesting that they are a hybrid of a creature that engulfs sleeping humans. The Bots wouldn't want to recharge with them around. Or maybe the liason can sneak up to their births to study them while they sleep. After all, they are too big to eat. Or ARE they?

(Also I wonder why June and the Other are being all diplomatic...)

Oh, the Autobots are really incredibly lucky about this individual since the institution that usually keeps this breed of hybrid under strict ironclad magical contracts due to how long it takes to reach a stable form of this mix. (At least, several generations but no guarantee about a good balance between human and creature.)

The Other liason is still under said contract, but it's been updated to include a clause to work with the United States government under a branch that's managed between the Foundation and a federal department. This one is capable of restraint and is willing to put in the effort to seem less... like an unnatural predator.

The Autobots know something is really off-putting about them, but they can't put their digit on it. Besides, they feel much cooler compared to their humans, and their smile doesn’t reach their eyes. (Agent Fowler has to remind them to fucking breathe and to make some sort of noise around baseline humans, like himself. He's going to have to take this one to a place to people watch, so they can blend easier and not spook the top brass. He feels it in his bones.)

In general, they feel neutral towards the extraterrestrials, but as they're partially a creature that hunts at night cloaked in shadow to eat flesh and dreams... They deliberately stay away from Optimus Prime due to Matrix. That particular Primal Artifact belonged to Prima, the Prime of Light, and he shines too brightly with an intensity to sear away without realization...

They recognize June Darby as another hybrid entity with powerful ties. Their creature heritage allows them to sense the presence of Others and potential. Their ancestor was a Lethifold kind of creature, so magically-inclined humans are their natural prey. Sleeping ones as dreams act as 'space between spaces,' where everything and anything, no matter how insane or contradicting, is possible. Their creature lineage is like a void; something that can only consume to mitigate the emptiness and lack of presence that echoes within it. A shadow of unrealized ghosts and infinite choices of 'what ifs.'

Going back to June Darby and the Other liason, not only is the second liason to determine if Agent Fowler had been coerced by more 'eclectic' means, but they're functioning as an envoy of the United States since there are treaties across the world to ensure 'civility' between humanity and Elsewhere. Because of Agent Fowler's reports, especially combined with M.E.C.H.'s increasing stunts, the United States is covering their bases, just in case someone pisses off a powerful party on the Other side.

Now, should M.E.C.H. attempt anything in their presence... they have full authorization to discreetly 'handle them.'