Let us preface this by saying that we are so grateful for this comment. We believe it to be true and from the same person who made the original comment. We are not mad at the commenter in any way, shape or form. We have talked with some techies who say that such comments, while not wise, in 99% of the cases are not perceived as real threats. It is viewed as more of an epitaph, something Dee thought when she saw it.
Said person has our sincere thanks. (S)he should know that we, too, have felt like cussing people out at times and have said many unwise things, even on this blog.
We are grateful that said person wrote this email to us because we believe this thing may have been used to "prove" that we, at TWW, would advocate mayhem and destruction on those with whom we disagree.
This whole thing has been blown waaaaay out of proportion, and we would like to get back to the discussion at hand. We have been accused of advocating physical violence and internet mayhem. To those who don't like us, please remind yourselves that we love little dogs, enjoy babies, and always feed the bluebirds. We are not arch terrorists bent on the destruction of men of God.
We are removing any identifiers from this email and ask that our readers be understanding of this person's sincere apology.
To the commenter: we love you and hope you will continue to join in on the discussion. You are very welcome here. If you ever come to North Carolina, we will take you to dinner!
Oh yeah, and let he who is without sin cast the first stone!
Dear Dee & Deb,
I am the one who made the DDOS comment. I am so, so, so sorry for my unfortunate, unkind, and what I now understand to be dangerous remark. I had no idea it would have this kind of effect on the WW community and reputation. I am genuinely shocked & grieved over my actions.I made the comment out of various levels of frustration, which was not wise to begin with. I am hardly a techie, and only recently did a friend explain to me what "DDOS" was. It was explained to me as a way that sites are temporarily crashed or blocked. I had no idea about the broader implications that imply threatening & violence. And I never intended the comment to be taken seriously in the first place — it was merely an attempt to blow off steam gone horribly wrong. Yet, I did know that it was inappropriate from the beginning given the fact that I used the made-up email address I only use to avoid spam when signing up for online purchases, discounts, etc.I now see that it is akin to being frustrated while waiting in airport and making a "bomb" joke — it expresses frustration, but behind it lies all sorts of questions, implications, and real-world threats. It cannot be joked about.Dee, I am writing from the email address with which I left the comment for two reasons: (1) to show that I am indeed the same author of the comment, so no one can accuse you of making up this message, and (2) because I don't how how deeply anyone perceived this as an actual threat, and I don't want to put you (or myself) in the position where you are asked by someone for my real name & email address. Even though I am the one clearly in the wrong in this situation, I do still fear some sort of reprise and/or slandering from those that this community often speaks out about. I hope that does not come off as merely wanting to get off the hook or avoid accountability. I'm writing this message under great sorrow and conviction.I ask forgiveness from you, Deb, Tim Challies, and the entire WW community. My comment displayed the worst kind of reaction to perceived abuse of authority and unchristian behavior, and was not in keeping with the values and character of Christ. I am deeply sorry.I will be meditating on Matthew 12:36 for the foreseeable future: "I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken."Again, my deepest apologies for the hurt and distraction that I have caused to many today, especially to Tim Challies.-A real, irresponsible commenter
**Feel free to post this message at your discretion.
“Decent” is an understatement. He/she sounds genuinely remorseful.
I can understand if that comment was made out of frustration . . . I have had my own moments of frustration at many times of life and I’m sure I have said/posted things on the Internet that reflected that.
Dear commentator, thank you!
Wow!
Thank you, ARIC (who is no longer an ARIC)! Sanctification at its best.
Dee –
Did the message get forwarded to Mr. Challies (since he doesn’t read here)?
If only it was always this way among the faith family. Love it.
@ Bridget: I am sure that he will find out about this. I wouldn’t want him to be worried about his or his computer’s safety if he received an email from us.
What a wonderful, heartfelt apology and explanation! Thank you!
dee wrote:
LOL!
ARIC,
You made my day! Thanks for your bravery in coming forward.
@ dee:
Too funny!
Thanks for posting this! I always enjoy what appears to be true repentance. The Lord is good and faithful.
Wow indeed and thought-provoking in a good way.
Took a grand total of what, a day for the apology. And how many days and counting for CJ?
To the anonymous commenter who had the courage and humility to apologize,
Be at peace and thank you for taking the time to straighten things out. You warmed my heart tonight.
Sincere apologies from someone who could have dug in their heels make me hopeful for the future. Thanks for sharing this.
ARIC, that took guts! What a responsible and mature way to deal with a mistake.
I’m putting this here because, frankly, the misinformation is bugging me to pieces. This is a huge problem in business today but I believe people don’t understand what DDoS really means.
*headdesk* *headdesk* *headdesk*
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDos) does NOT mean to put a virus on someone’s website. All it means is that a large number (these days, it has to be in the thousands of connections on very large sites) of computers are connecting to a website in a malicious attempt to keep the website off line. If you run a business that promotes its availability on the Internet (e.g., most large American banks), this can be killer. People tend to take to Twitter and gripe when JPCitiAmericaFargo is not available so they can see how much money they have in their accounts.
Where the virus comes in is here: there are a LOT of computers out there that have been infected with viruses/trojans that harness their computing power into what’s called a “botnet.” So, for example, it’s believed that the DDoS that has been perpetrated on US banks over the past several months is being run by a group calling itself the Izz Al-Qassim Brigade (or Battalion, seen it both ways). They have thousands of infected computers in their botnet and they can send a command out that tells these computers to open connections to JPCitiAmericaFargo and just keep flooding those connections with data. I mentioned hundreds of gigabytes of data a second in a previous post. It takes thousands of infected computers (*not* websites, *computers*) to do this.
Back in the beginning of 2008, the Church of $cientology was hit by a DDoS attack run by members of Anonymous, using far less firepower than today’s botnets. It hurt the Co$ terribly and it ended up utilizing the services of Prolexic to counter the DDos. I’ve also heard of (but not recently) incidents where hackers have used a piece of software called the “Low Orbit Ion Cannon” to try and bring down sites briefly. In neither of these cases, viruses and botnets were not involved (at least to my knowledge). And then there’s the noted “Slashdot” effect, in which a website’s sudden popularity or notoreity is such that it can’t handle any more connections. This usually happens to websites hosted on shared servers.
My point is this: DDoS is a bad thing, but a DDoS does NOT involve putting a virus on someone’s website. It DOES involve harnessing botnets of computers infected by viruses (not websites infected by viruses) to block access to websites.
I also agree that the original DDoS statement was out of line and I’m glad to see the apology. I am dead serious when I say that I know someone who spent several months in jail because he was convicted of terroristic threats because he linked together three words (“missile” “tom” and “cruise”) in a post and it was taken as a threat in the early post-9/11 era. (He didn’t help his case by having a bad attorney and then by running off to Canada.) So you do have to be careful of what you say online.
@ Southwestern Discomfort:Thank you for your thoughtful comment!
Southwestern Discomfort,
As techno-peasants, Dee and I are grateful for your explanation of DDoS. It's Greek to me! ð
For anyone concerned about computer viruses or security, here you go:
Computer Cleaning
Courtesy a pug dog, (You Tube video). You’re welcome.
ð
ARIC, I agree that this apology took guts. I am totally impressed how beautifully direct your words are. Two giant thumbs up to you. May God bless you.
When I first read the comment by ARIC I didn’t think anything of it. I took it as it was intended – an offhand comment of frustration and in no way a call to action. That said, it’s best to avoid comments like that in an area where emotions run high because some at one extreme can take it as a threat and some at the other extreme can take it as a call to action.
At any rate, Dee & Deb, the lengths you go to to keep TWW a place of civil discourse make this a rare place in the world of Internet forums, particularly when the topis discussed are so contentious. God bless you both!
ARIC – so good to see, nice work you.
Well done that person! God indeed works in mysterious ways to His glory, and I think we’ve all been edified! (If that doesn’t sound too pious?).
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To ARIC from another ARI(at times!)C,
Brother or sister, as one who has often (and very recently!) made an a** of myself in the public square of a blog; I know how painful it is to eat words! Just recently I lost my temper and posted a lengthy and unkind comment on Jared Moore’s blog in response to his words about our dear WW ladies and reposted the comment here. I was compelled (on Easter Sunday morning) to e-mail Jared and ask forgiveness. Ouch. And that’s just one example. Apologizing and asking forgiveness HURTS when it is done right but it is a good hurt, isn’t it?
God works even our sin for good and doing right is always worth the cost. Blessings to you!
We all at CLC were so poised to forgive CJ Maheney (however weak his apology
appeared – all willing to accept the words despite the lack of usual tears on any other
topic. U’d think this one would bring the most tears). The irony of it is this : look at all
the respect being shown here for a genuine repentance. Obviously love of reputation
has been a sin he’s been confronted by and admitted behind closed doors. What he
wants (that others think highly of him) he would have received double the portion he
already had. But because he’s more in love with his own reflection (like Narcissus) than
he is with Jesus and His church, his reputation is in the sewer where in needs to be.
The rewards of man’s praise must cease until he has nothing left but to look at the Cross
again (instead of talking about or writing about the Cross). Until his “friends” actually
care about his soul, keep him from men’s praises, he won’t survey the wondrous cross
On which the prince of glory died – but he’ll keep preaching it. I don’t think they care –
they lack discernment and any fear of God. They need to listen to Mahaney’s 17
messages on the book of James. Maybe they, like Luther, question whether James
should be in the canon of Scripture : “Don’t show partiality.” Have any of them asked
the CLC pastors of their assessment – I doubt it. May the God of Mercy have compassion
on CJ as he did on Jonah, etc, etc (all of us) and deliver him from eating grass and restore his sanity.
@ Paul Kellen:
I have been reading your comments over at SGM. Thank you for this. I have said this over and over again. Had CJ and the rest apologized for the mess at SGM, they would have been forgiven and the lawsuit would never have occurred. I mean that most sincerely. Why they wouldn’t do such a simple thing is beyond me. They have hurt themselves so badly and will receive scorn in the eyes of a watching world as this unfolds.
There was a pastor at a former church who was told, by his elders, to apologize to a young teen who was the victim of a pedophile. He would not do it.Had he done so, forgiveness would have been extended. Instead, he chose to thumb his nose at a victim.The elders were ineffective and did not hold him accountable. It will haunt him, and them, for the rest of their lives.
How sad that CJ,who wrote the book on Humility, has shown his utter lack thereof. He shows he knowns nothing of humility and the book should be scorned by all thinking Christians. Obviously, he got it wrong.
“Tail Catcher: Get ‘Humbly’ Dumped?”
hmmm…
” I have said this over and over again. Had CJ and the rest apologized for the mess at SGM, they would have been forgiven and the lawsuit would never have occurred. I mean that most sincerely. Why they wouldnât do such a simple thing is beyond me. They have hurt themselves so badly and will receive scorn in the eyes of a watching world as this unfolds.” –“Dee, Â “Â Moderator, WartBurg Watch.
I can assure Wartburg , wheels were prayerfully set in motion long before C.J. Mahaney’s weak and apparently retracted apology.
Historically what has happened is that ‘their’ positions have not been supported by the facts, and they have bern forced to retreat with their “tails between their legs…”
A Jezebel bed, for him and his callabÅrÄre *, perhaps?
huh?
God, is indeed, not mocked.
…indication of integrity?
hmmm…
C.J. and his associates have sown the wind, shall they not also reap a whirlwind?Â
Father time will tell…
Will the fields of  Maryland, in 2014, be his ‘Waterloo’ ?
au pied de la Croix pour l’amour des enfants… **
Le S“ã¡”py
___
Notes:
* callabÅrÄre Latin, meaning, collaborator(s)
** (Fr.) eng tr. “at the foot of the cross for the sake of the children…”
—