Corvania Reboot Imminent

It’s that time of year. Corvania players should have been sent an invoice and request for renewal commitment. If you are planning to continue with the game after the reboot, you MUST have your payment in by New Year’s Eve at 11:59 PM. Late payments will be refunded. Failure to pay will result in exclusion.

There are two possible slots opening up. If you are on the list, slots will be given out as they open in the order of request, and holds will be notified and given an extra three days to make payment.

We HIGHLY recommend that players consider a half year subscription. Subbing for 6 months does not in any way change your status, nor will it move your place as an active member. We remind about the reboot in June. You pay half the cost, naturally, for a half year.

Reminder: members pay $250 for a year; $125 for a half year.

IP Tracer Shout Out

I am cross posting this to save time. ALL Ops on Corvania and Sceptics’ Tank are being asked to run an IRC ip tracer script.  I have sent a text file to everyone, and it is available in our private archives.

Copy and paste into REMOTES if you want the shortcut.

I’m also apologizing in advance to anyone who was inconvenienced over the past week by relatives from East ButtBone Virginia. I really LOVE that my people had the absolute, perfect, best response ever to our stalker. I love you all. :)

The benefit of the code I have sent out – even though Minnesota Fathead can’t join private channels, the stringer IP trace pops on the attempt, as well as popping on join in public channels.

Thanks, everyone!!

A Legacy in IRC and the Death of Dalnet

Recent developments at Dalnet have signaled what most agree is the beginning of the end.

While this may delight some, The Sceptic’s Tank greets the slow and painful demise of Dalnet with sadness. We, as most recall, formed there many years ago.

Most casual users of the internet remember only a saturated version that took baby steps with Compuserve, Prodigy, and then some weird thing call AOL. Our membership was crawling out of the primordial ooze of the net back in the days of the BBS systems. Marc Springwell was around in 1988 when Jarkko Oikarinen created it in Finland, attempting to replace MUT (MultiUser Talk) on their BBS. By 1990 things were growing, and in 1994 a bunch of Efnet Star Trek dorks formed Dalnet.

Khaled changed things with mIRC. By 1995 a lot of us were scripting, and mIRC opened up flood gates for users who might not have otherwise shown interest. The Sceptic’s Tank was already in its infancy, though we had not formed. But The Twelve were there in 1996 as hired guns, watching the scroll for trouble. Over the years we grew and evolved. By 2000 we had our own network. We were still chilling in other parts of the underbelly of the internet, keeping in touch. We were still building scripts, tearing code, designing. From that core group came what we are today. 

It started on Dalnet, which has always been the dog everyone likes to kick. It’s hard to argue that the network has become nearly unusable due to the failure to change as they grew. They were the first to offer WallOps and K:Lines… the latter probably fairly identified as the poison in the cup. Mass bannings are crippling the network, and the sad thing is it really comes down to lazy Ops and management.

Whatever the issues there, this group will not participate in the slinging of stones. Marc Springwell, Tom Livingston, Chrissy Olinger, Seth Harris, Tiny McKay, Terry Justin… if you use web search your algorithms were born there. Technology for tracing IP strings effectively was born there. Ironically, abuse of KILL/AKILL is shutting out so many ISPs, this very problem is the strangle hold killing the network. It’s true that bad server connections are the reason for a huge part of the mass exodus, but it began with mass K:Line bans, and seems to have resulted in mass lethargy.

Recently Tank IRC ventured into gaming. The popularity of Corvania Chronicles resulted in expansion, and this month Corvania got a shiny new home under the umbrella of Tank Net, individual servers for power and speed. A large flurry of requests came soaring over the wall, and most of them were old friends from Dalnet.

We’d love to be able to host the lost, but we have stayed strong, stable, and private since 2000. The Tank’s privately owned and occupied home on IRC was born on New Year’s Eve, 2001. We’ve never been shut down unless we were doing our own reboots. We’ve never been victims to exploits, slams, or wars. Not so much as a bump in the road. Being members-only is why.

That doesn’t mean we can’t relate to the sorrow many feel as Dalnet appears to take its final breaths. The BBW channels there gave us two relationships that are still going strong. Friendships, marriages, and even babies have come of those early connections. The Tank would not exist if The Twelve had not been there in the early days. We wish them well, however the current issues play out.

Current Rankings After the Corvania Reboot

First Circle:
Abados (Warrior) 32,171
Riley (Wizard) 31,781
Finnvara (Thief) 28,292

Deaths/Outcastings:
Ladvaris - Dungeon by Abados
Mellinarin - Killed by Finnvara
Rezeva - Killed by Ladvaris

Corvania Rankings and Log Snips

This week's rankings:

Current First Circle Rankings:

Finnvara (Thief) 64,355
Abados (Warrior) 61,000
Ladvaris (Ambassador) 49,755
Ellinore(Cleric) 32,450
Riley (Wizard) 22,115

Second Round Deaths/Outcastings: 

Abados (killed by Finnvara)
Foster (killed by Finnvara)
Rezeva (killed by Abados)
Zanjari (cast into dungeon by Abados)
Riley (cast into dungeon by Abados)
Stephos (killed by Riley)

Best Chat Snippets of the Week:

<Finnvara>  Sorry.
<Abados>    WTF??? AGAIN???
<Finnvara>  I hope it didn't hurt.
<Abados>    I am taking back almost all of your presents. #santafail
<Finnvara>  Almost all?
<Ladivaris> No, you're not whipped at all.
<Abados>    SUCK HOT DEATH, MARC!


<Ladivaris> You're kinda hot for a nun.
<Ellinore>  I'm the kind that gives spankings with rulers.
<Ladivaris> Rowr!
<Ellinore>  So, Ambassador, are you going to sell me that jewel?
<Ladivaris> You could be habit forming.


<Riley>     I will sell you a ruserrection spell for three releases.
<Abados>    Not worth it.
<Ladivaris> I sold my jewels to Ellinore.
<Abados>    WHY THE BLOODY SHITE DID YOU DO THAT???
<Ladivaris> She's hot and she wanted them!
<Abados>    She's a corrupt cleric, ass-cheese.
<Ladivaris> She's all sexy and promisd me stuff.
<Abados>    It says right on her avatar blurb "corrupt."
<Ladivaris> I know, but I'm married to her outside of Corvania.
<Abados>    I HAVE BEEN KILLED TWICE BY FINNVARA YOU TWIT.
<Ladivaris> That's trouble in YOUR paradise, pal.
<Abados>    None of you know what an ALLIANCE is. NONE of you.
<Riley>     Why are you mad at everyone else?
<Abados>    Shut the hell up Riley.

Defyin' da Mayans Party

It's the end of days! So we are having a party to defy those pesky Mayan calendar twerps. If you are home on December 21st, please log in to join your fellow tankeheads for an IRC chat session from Midnight (showing up early is fine) til the end of days comes... or the booze runs out. Should the world fail to end we will be doing some serious celebrating, beginning at the midnight hour, including the following:

• Skype Karaoke
• Trivia Blast
• Drinking Games 
• Fabulous Prizes, including cash and gift certificates, for those who are the most ridiculous

Be there or be square!!

Holiday Shennanigans

Holiday update, just to prove the blog still works!

1. If you did not sign up to participate in the gift swap, you're too late. MAKE SURE YOU MAIL PACKAGES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE so that they arrive on time. As always, awards will be given in January for:  a. gift that traveled the farthest  b. dumbest gift  c. most disgusting gift
2. We are pleased to announce the return of CORVANIA CHRONICLES. A BRAND NEW version has launched, Tankers-only, with some amazing world building. Skyrim shmyrim! Dice roll takes  place December 8. If you miss First Dice you can't be First Circle, so show up!
3. Negotiations are currently underway to purchase new servers so that we can bulk up IRC for greater slam-width. Though not yet completed, at least two are a lock (just a matter of paperwork going through). Thanks to Damiano for his help in making this happen.
4. If you have been looking for an IRC application that works on both Android platforms and Kindle Fire, the newer version of AndroidIRC, AndChat, works like silk. Go, download, be happy:

http://www.andchat.net/page/download

And a preview of the new legend...

Designed by Chrissy Olinger for The Sceptics Tank 2012

New Dedicated, Tank IRC Client

At long last we have finished the IRC program designed by, and for, THE SCEPTICS TANK. Tank IRC has been a labor of love. The new client does everything that mIRC does, everything that pIRCH did, and stuff no IRC client has ever done before.

The interface is pop-out-able, the server connections incredibly smooth, and it comes ready to have your own scripts and code rolled in very quickly and easily using familiar commands.

A MILLION thanks to:

Marc Springwell
Seth Hart
Chrissy Olinger
Jayce Moran

Members can now download the program in the attic. You WILL be asked to agree to TOS that includes a confidentiality and INDIVIDUAL USER ONLY agreement. The short end of that stick is this: share the program and you'll be booted and banned for life. This is TANK MEMBERS ONLY. Shouldn't have to be said, but having said it, there are no excuses.

Test drives, FWIW, have been freaking UN. BE. LIEVE. ABLE.