QBASIC.COM gone?

Announce and discuss the progress of your various programming-related projects...programs, games, websites, tutorials, libraries...anything!

Moderators: Pete, Mods

User avatar
burger2227
Veteran
Posts: 2466
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:40 am
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

QBASIC.COM gone?

Post by burger2227 »

Apparently Qbasic.com is hacked also. This is more than just ignorant!

Ted
Please acknowledge and thank members who answer your questions!
QB64 is a FREE QBasic compiler for WIN, MAC(OSX) and LINUX : https://www.qb64.org/forum/index.php
Get my Q-Basics demonstrator: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fdmgp91d6h8ps ... s.zip?dl=0
sid6.7
Veteran
Posts: 318
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2005 8:51 am
Location: west USA
Contact:

Post by sid6.7 »

everything appears normal this morning that i can see...

what did you notice?
User avatar
T'lon Nanaki
Coder
Posts: 42
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 12:46 pm
Location: Denver Colorado
Contact:

Post by T'lon Nanaki »

I see it too, on my window title it says "HACKED bY: SH!T" what a discrace :(
User avatar
burger2227
Veteran
Posts: 2466
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:40 am
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Post by burger2227 »

It must have been restored today. But the forum is linked directly to the N54 Qbasic Forum and I still cannot access that. As for the rest of Mark's site, why bother lol.

Ted
Please acknowledge and thank members who answer your questions!
QB64 is a FREE QBasic compiler for WIN, MAC(OSX) and LINUX : https://www.qb64.org/forum/index.php
Get my Q-Basics demonstrator: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fdmgp91d6h8ps ... s.zip?dl=0
roy
Veteran
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 2:39 pm
Location: London

Post by roy »

I think that QBasic.com is worth saving for the the original site, which is history. As for you and me still being banned at N54, perhaps Pete does not want us back . lol
User avatar
burger2227
Veteran
Posts: 2466
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:40 am
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Perhaps you .......................

Post by burger2227 »

I have been in contact with Pete and he is still waiting to take the Forum over when the security is done being worked on by N54.

Perhaps this weekend he hopes

Ted
Please acknowledge and thank members who answer your questions!
QB64 is a FREE QBasic compiler for WIN, MAC(OSX) and LINUX : https://www.qb64.org/forum/index.php
Get my Q-Basics demonstrator: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fdmgp91d6h8ps ... s.zip?dl=0
User avatar
Pete
Site Admin
Posts: 887
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:10 pm
Location: Candor, NY
Contact:

Post by Pete »

Ugggh, it sure bothers me that such a great domain name is going to waste like that. Mark could have really done a great thing with QBasic.com, but he flaked out.

The only worthwhile parts of it are Lachie's http://games.qbasic.com and the N54 forum...not because the layout is that great, but because it's still active.

It was way better when Mallard's old site was still up.
User avatar
burger2227
Veteran
Posts: 2466
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:40 am
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Amen

Post by burger2227 »

You got that right, Pete! Mark is keeping the site name for some stupid reason. He lost interest years ago.
Please acknowledge and thank members who answer your questions!
QB64 is a FREE QBasic compiler for WIN, MAC(OSX) and LINUX : https://www.qb64.org/forum/index.php
Get my Q-Basics demonstrator: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fdmgp91d6h8ps ... s.zip?dl=0
tlsuess
Veteran
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:28 pm

Post by tlsuess »

I think it might be because he gave up on it. I mean the site was hacked, shut down by its web host, and just left to rot.

I'd personally fix it up but I don't know how much of a use it would be. Plus I've got finals coming up soon so I'll be even busier.

Also, I don't know who did it, but there are some "hidden links" at the bottom of QBasic.com's homepage. They all point to the same domain and look like honeypot-like spam. Take a look at the source to see it.
User avatar
Pete
Site Admin
Posts: 887
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:10 pm
Location: Candor, NY
Contact:

Post by Pete »

Either that, or Mark added those links himself to generate some sort of advertising revenue. QBasic.com has a very high Google PageRank because of all the links pointing toward it, and gets a lot of traffic since it's been the #1 ranked site for "qbasic" for years. I remember Mark was making a fair amount of money from his Google ads at one point, so he gave cash prizes for the coding competitions.
User avatar
Pete
Site Admin
Posts: 887
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:10 pm
Location: Candor, NY
Contact:

Post by Pete »

Hmm, it seems that if you search for "qbasic" or "quickbasic," QBasic.com is no longer in the top search results. In fact, it's not even on the first page anymore.

I wonder if that's a search engine penalty for the spam links?
Nodtveidt
Veteran
Posts: 826
Joined: Sun Jul 25, 2004 4:24 am
Location: Quebradillas, PR
Contact:

Post by Nodtveidt »

More than likely. Google especially penalizes for known spam URLs, as they have their own spam racket and don't like competition.
roy
Veteran
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 2:39 pm
Location: London

Post by roy »

As the last Super Moderator at QBasic.com, I will have to state the position as I know it.
Mark also owns AionSource, the English language site for a Korean ? game, that had 72 members and 193 guests visiting in the last 15 minutes. Which makes me think that he is not really interested in QBasic.com.
I did ask Mark what he wanted for the domain name and his reply was that he would not sell and that he had set up an automatic renewal until the day that he kicks the bucket.
Why he made me Super Moderator I have not got a clue, as Solitaire and I had been the main proponents for returning QBasic.com to its original state.
I did visit 5 times a day to clear out spam and answer or refer questions to N54 but Mark eventually pulled the plug on that as well.
PS
I would like to add that Mark made N54 the main link after he closed the forum, which seems to say that he still cared but had lost interest. At least this has now put N54 back on page 2 of Google.lol
User avatar
Pete
Site Admin
Posts: 887
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:10 pm
Location: Candor, NY
Contact:

Post by Pete »

Yeah, it's really a shame that Mark has the QBasic.com domain name.

There are dozens of people who could have done better things with QBasic.com, and it just so happened that Mark lucked into registering it on the day it expired. It's not like Mark had any track record in the QB scene -- he was a 16 year old newbie that most people, including me, had never even heard of before. Aside from setting up a now defunct forum at QBasic.com, he hasn't contributed anything else of value (as far as I know).

The website he made sucks, he's clearly lost interest in the site, and he's just being greedy by sitting on the domain. There are LOTS of people who would love to rebuild the site from scratch and make it something worthwhile. He should either give the site to someone else to run (even if he keeps the domain still registered in his name), or sell it to someone who will do something useful with it.
tlsuess
Veteran
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:28 pm

Post by tlsuess »

I think so too. I started losing interest in the QuickBASIC GUI Blog, so I passed the torch over to Brandon since he has more interest in it than me.

It's just downright cold to leave a website up and not change anything but not let anyone go near it.

I personally think a fair compromise would be to offer to redesign his site with him keeping full ownership of the domain and hosting.

Plus he can't set it up to automatically bill him forever - his credit card / bank account will eventually change, and if he forgets to change it, QBasic.com will be gone.
User avatar
Pete
Site Admin
Posts: 887
Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:10 pm
Location: Candor, NY
Contact:

Post by Pete »

Well, for me, the reason why this is important is because it's QBasic.com. If this was http://www.marksqbasicsite.com or http://www.qbasicmark.com or some other personal/undesirable domain name, it wouldn't matter. He could let it sit there idly and die for all I care.

But we're talking about QBasic.com, which was an established website that he basically linkjacked.

It's also the most desirable QB domain name out there, and due the fact that it is *THE* QBasic domain name, and since it once had an established track record, it also gets the most traffic.

The fact is, there can only be one QBasic.com. Do we really want *that* site to be the representation of the QB community?
tlsuess
Veteran
Posts: 64
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:28 pm

Post by tlsuess »

Personally I think QBasic.com is held together by strings. I mean the forums are linked to Network54, the pages all contain hidden links, and the homepage looks very plain and almost like someone made it in an intro web design class.

Pete, your site ranks the 1st QB site when "qbasic" is entered in Google. I think this site is more interesting since there's so much content, tutorials, files, the Qmunity, and of course, QB Express. I think the only thing Mark's site alive is the N54 Qmunity which pretty much runs itself. Half the links on the site are broken anyway so I think it's just the Qmunity.
roy
Veteran
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 2:39 pm
Location: London

Post by roy »

I have sent another email to Mark explaining the situation. Pete,s site is and probably has always been the best but that does not mean that we should let QBasic.com die. For some reason Mallard made N54 the discussion site for QBasic.com and that is an historic anomaly that we are going to have to live with if we wish to preserve the past.
roy
Veteran
Posts: 55
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 2:39 pm
Location: London

Post by roy »

Email reply from Mark after I told him about the poor state of QBasic.com.

Poor state? What should it link to? What should it be? I've asked that question before and never got a straight answer. I doubt anyone knows what they really want out of it. Selling it would be stupid, because then everyone would be disillusioned and disgruntled once again about what the new owner does with it.

If anyone has a real plan for the site, I'll consider it. I've always been open to suggestions.


Mark
User avatar
burger2227
Veteran
Posts: 2466
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2006 12:40 am
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Post by burger2227 »

The site name is great, but I don't think another site is really necessary. Perhaps a current site could just move there.

Of course, a new owner would make some decisions that some will criticize. The real question is will it be used? The site was losing posts anyway. I don't think the N54 site is interested in moving there either despite the recent problems there.

Ted
Please acknowledge and thank members who answer your questions!
QB64 is a FREE QBasic compiler for WIN, MAC(OSX) and LINUX : https://www.qb64.org/forum/index.php
Get my Q-Basics demonstrator: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fdmgp91d6h8ps ... s.zip?dl=0
Post Reply