Last night was an interesting one for those over at LifeChurch.tv as they were apparently the victim of a malicious bot/spam attack in their chat portion of their online experience.
As mentioned by Tony Steward, the attacks came near the end of the talk in the chat area:
May this serve as a simple reminder to everyone to have back up plans if your online service goes down and at least some protocol for communicating to the viewers of a potential downtime of their experience, for whatever reason, malicious or simply a mistake.
One thing’s for sure, the fact that someone would spend the necessary time and resources to plan such an attack means, from one perspective, that we’re doing something right:
I wasn’t there, so if you were, love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
What do you think?
Marcus Williamson says
I saw that and was wondering what had happened. Like Tony said they must be on to something if someone would take the time to do what they did. Go Lifechurch.tv!
Jeremy says
I was there actually. It was really annoying, but at least it was at the very end of the message, and for the most part, I don't believe it interrupted what was being said. It looked like it came from the folks hanging out in 4chan. It's sad really. I'm not sure it was a long-term, planned attack as much as it was just a bunch of people jumping in once it was posted on 4chan.
Kristen says
It was definitely hard to focus…but the post says it all…God must be moving for spiritual adversity like this to arise!
Daniel Decker says
I was there. Saw it. Crazy. Appeared to be a very deliberate attack. I agree that it’s a great indicator of LifeChurch doing something right. The enemy is trying to bring it down. I do hope though that LifeChurch is able to implement some sort of plan to disrupt attackers should they strike again. While I know sometimes this stuff happens and catches people off guard, there should be a way for LC to shut down the chat room all together in an instance like that. The vulgarity of the spammers was sad.
Gabe Smith says
I was there and it was organized by a group of guys from 4chan (aka: the bowels of the internet.) I think the people who were there for church just tuned it out by going full-screen or to the notes tab. I know for sure several of us connected via facebook or twitter afterward just to say good night.
Jeremy is right. I don't think it was a planned attack as much as it was an ad hoc attack by the full-time-trolls over at 4chan.
@tonysteward says
Hey John, it was some guys from 4chan and it was disruptive for sure. I don't know what it says about anything other than the internet can be used for incredible good, evil, and often just annoying.
I actually get excited at what could happen when guys like that start using what they have to make a difference in the world. They are obviously passionate and wanting to make a mark. Could be really cool what their imagination could come up with to make a positive difference in the world.
stephenbateman says
Wow that's intense. I guess it just comes with the territory.
dewde says
I would like to respectfully disagree.
I dig Tony and LifeChurch.tv and I support them whole-heartedly. But I disagree that this is any sort of barometer for success.
I ran a highly trolled Christian website for 3 years. Often, we were trolled because we provoked it, with our confusing and easily misunderstood Christianese or by our flat out offensiveness. Other times we were trolled because some bored kids were trying to fit in with their peer group. This is another way of saying that it had almost nothing to do with who we were or what we were doing. It could have just as easily been Habbo (http://habbo.com) or Gaia (http://gaiaonline.com) being trolled that night. Actually, 9 nights out of 10 it was Habbo or Gaia being trolled, and not us, and I'm pretty sure it's not because of the awesome love of Jesus that is being preached on those secular websites.
When a Christian is attacked by a non-Christian it is usually because the attacker was once the victim. And words like "We must be doing something right!" do absolutely nothing to help that person heal.
peace | dewde
human3rror says
good point here. well taken.
@tonysteward says
Dewde I can definitely understand your cynicism. If it had only been the trolling, and not the specific timing, message and other physical and spiritual attacks going on at the very same time I wouldn't have thought about it either. But since all those things were happening, and Twitter and relational respect didn't give me leave to post about it all, I just made the comments I did hoping for prayer from those connected with the post & as encouragement to those in the midst of it.
Honestly I am not sure what to do with your last statement. If I caused the peeps from 4chan hurt or denied their road to healing through that update than I am certainly sorry.
vince says
Speaking generally about and to most american Christians….we tend to drop the words 'God is doing something' or 'God is blessing' …when we go down that road, by default we are saying that God is not blessing ministries that aren't seeing 'spiritual warfare'
Tony; i'm not saying this was the case for this situation…just thought this was a good conversation to bring it up and i think that's where Dewde is coming from.
dewde says
I don't mean to cast doubt on your motives and you guys are such an inspiration to me.
It is challenging to know how to handle a group like 4chan. On the one hand they were responsible for bringing down a white supremacist who was broadcasting a message of intolerance and hate. I consider that commendable, even if they did reduce themselves to his level in order to achieve victory.
On the other hand, they once held an impromptu contest to see who could create fake personas on our site, gain the trust of our users (depressed/struggling Christian teens) over time, with the goal of convincing one of us to "make a hero" of ourselves. That's slang for "commit suicide."
Tracking back to their conversations and reading through, it surprised me how many of them had been legitimately hurt (sexual abuse, etc.) by outwardly professing Christians.
I'm not saying it is appropriate for them to do what they did, and it sucks that you guys are on their radar because once you're on it you don't ever really leave, but I think it is important to try and see ourselves through their eyes. Or, as is more theologically sound, to see them through God's, so that we can have compassion for them like He does.
peace | dewde
dewde says
I don't mean to cast doubt on your motives and you guys are such an inspiration to me.
It is challenging to know how to handle a group like 4chan. On the one hand they were responsible for bringing down a white supremacist who was broadcasting a message of intolerance and hate. I consider that commendable, even if they did reduce themselves to his level in order to achieve victory.
On the other hand, they once held an impromptu contest to see who could create fake personas on our site, gain the trust of our users over time (depressed/struggling Christian teens), with the goal of convincing one of us to "make a hero" of ourselves. That's slang for "commit suicide."
Tracking back to their conversations and reading through, it surprised me how many of them had been legitimately hurt (sexual abuse, etc.) by outwardly professing Christians.
I'm not saying it is appropriate for them to do what they did, and it sucks that you guys are on their radar because once you're on it you don't ever really leave, but I think it is important to try and see ourselves through their eyes. Or, as is more theologically sound, to see them through God's, so that we can have compassion for them like He does.
peace | dewde
Daniel says
haha yeah 4chan raids tons of websites. They don't specifically target religion (except scientology) What (probably) happened was some bored 14yr old kid found the christian chatroom, posted it on the /b/ section and many other bored people decided to troll the christians. Happens all the time to lots of different sites.
Noel says
Sounds like there are some hurting people in 4chan – time for some love. I've been reading the musings of a guy named Zane lately (heavydrinkerz.com) and, while I don't believe I (we) should be walked all over (figure out how to protect against these attacks) the only reasonable response to have to those who are hurting is love.