As you’re undoubtedly aware, all of our sites have been down for a couple days and Stonewall Fleet’s website has been down for several weeks. Now that things are back up and working appropriately, I wanted to inform everyone about what happened.

StonewallFleet.com

Way back in 2008, when Stonewall Fleet first started, I knew nothing about web hosting or web development. I was lucky to have a member of the fleet, called Genesis, that knew enough about web sites to get purchase the stonewallfleet.com domain and get our first site, a basic instillation of phpBB, up and running. Sometime after that, I wanted to make our website a bit more advanced, so I learned much more about website development and took over the website, but Genesis still held onto the domain. He’s owned the domain since then and we’ve never had a problem, until recently.

Every year, a small maintenance fee needs to be paid for owning a domain and Genesis has failed to pay that fee. I would happily pay the fee to get the domain restored or take it off his hands completely, but unfortunately but I’ve been unable to contact him by any means since the domain has gone down. Until I’m contacted by Genesis, we have no control over stonewallfleet.com and for that reason the Admirals have opted to use fleet.stonewallgaming.net going forward.

Hacking and Deletion

On the 27th, when opening stonewallvanguard.com to respond to one of my messages I received a warning stating that the website may harm my computer. I immediately went to Google Webmaster Tools to find out what was the cause of the warning. There I was informed that the htaccess file on the website had been compromised. After logging in via FTP and checking out the file, it indeed had been. Several lines had been added to redirect users to spam websites.

I removed the nefarious lines and changed the file permissions so that it couldn’t be edited again. I checked back an hour later and the filed had once again been hacked. I removed the redirects and redouble my effort to figure out how they had gotten in. A few seconds later, I opened the folder containing all of SGN’s websites and it was empty. I can’t quite explain the feeling I had when I saw that in text, but suffice it to say, I was shocked. That folder contained 4 years of SGN’s history and to lose it would be painful for the community. I immediately changed the password to our database and downloaded a backup to my computer to protect it from being lost.

Shortly thereafter, I contacted our host’s Tech Support and requested that they restore a backup of the folder which they were able to, thankfully. I was directed to their Security department for help in figuring out how the hackers gained access and how to prevent it to happen. They helped my greatly and I began the process of restoring the sites.

Now…

It’s been over 24 hours since there was any unauthorized access so I believe we’re in the clear, but I’ll be keeping a very close eye on things.

You may still be receiving the message that this site may harm your computer when you visit; I've requested that the sites be reviewed again and it should clear up in the next day or so.

You may notice that some files or images are missing, that because the backup was from two days before the site went down. You can go ahead and re-upload anything that’s missing. Reply below if you run into any problems.

I've enjoyed the game, but being in the guild but not in the guild due to a malfunctioning guild system has been something of a bummer. I was looking forward to exploring the world with at least some good conversation going on....

There are going to be creeps on any server, so I'd rather pick one that has enough LGBTQIA so I won't be an oddity. Therefore, once Alienware gets it's act together and finally decides to send me the computer they've delayed twice, I'll hopefully squeeze into CD.

In the meantime... our guilds aren't going to get scared off. But since there's no way to stomp on server-mates, the homophobes will probably leave once they realize where they are.

I agree with Cubby -- we should stick it out.

I reserve the right to change my mind if CD fills up, though. ;)

[attachment=1037]guildemblem.jpg[/attachment]
the editor seemed buggy in game, I couldn't design the emblem alone, so here is it on a banner, cropped and resized (hope it edited ok!)

The heart background for, well heart and kinship! The phoenix rising symbolizes adversity and resilience. I like the color combination, it seems to well balance and highlight the back/foreground. The colors represent spirit, life, healing/sunshine (depending on how you interpret the shades, hehe)

Quote by Daidalus

Bring back the Auction House! D:

It's been fun, but I agree.. this has kinda been a bummer. It's been so hard to make money because the AH has been down. I'm basically living on event rewards, haha.

Quote by Halish

Yeah I think you mostly buy them from the cash shop. I really hope they expand the "Town Clothes" so that we have lots of options when it comes to designing our Pride outfits. :D :)

ROFL-LMAO! OMG that was funny!

WOW!

(Here is my design using the out-of-game emblem creator thing as well.)

I think it's appropriate and critically important to have an emblem that does not say this is a man's symbol anymore than it should be too feminine...but shares an equality across the board with symbols and colors that speak to the diverse-richness that is Stonewall.

The military style background I'm proud of because...women are now serving in the military in many countries in the capacity - they rightfully deserved from the get-go. This maroon colored, military stripe shows strength and power...but can now represent both genders...and still blanket others as well.

The wings: I see as representing angels of all genders....human angels precisely...letting their experiences and hearts take flight on wings to educate and promote tolerance of others...all over the world.

The Sun: speaks to our 'Desert" home....bright as it can be...but not blinding.

and finally....I like the "balance" of colors. ;)

Thanks and good luck to all entries.

[attachment=1038]guildemblem2.jpg[/attachment]

And it's a crafter! They leveled up by crafting with guild donated materials.

Quote by mcavey

This is great news! Nice to see a company living up to its Rules of Conduct.

Ditto!

Bring back the Auction House! D:

This is great news! Nice to see a company living up to its Rules of Conduct.

Yeah I think you mostly buy them from the cash shop. I really hope they expand the "Town Clothes" so that we have lots of options when it comes to designing our Pride outfits. :D :)

[attachment=1046]gw002.jpg[/attachment]
The Phoenix has been a symbol of transformation and perseverance for millenia. The fire of our predecessors burns in us today and even though we may not share blood (smear in the background) we're still family.

This is my attempt at an emblem. I honestly just chose elements and colours that appealed to me and that might look good on a banner.

[attachment=1049]gw047.jpg[/attachment]

Unlike many others types of jobs that are 9 to 5 ish, (In-game names: Siafu Antsy and Dorylus Insecta)....me and Posidius are live-onsite apartment managers and currently maintain/manage 54 units. We work were we live and at any given moment ( 24 / 7 ) we or either of us may get a phone call and have to leave vent, guild chat, party chat, forums or anything else at a moments notice to take care of an emergency or other.

In the past, our real-life professions have sometimes played out badly when we have to drop and run with no notification, leaving some people to assume ass-hat rudeness or we needed you or we were talking to you and you just up and left (for an undetermined amount of time.) Our job is what it is and it demands what it does...our apologies now...if that happens at anytime in the future.

Your understanding and patience is of course voluntary...but greatly appreciated.

Can't wait to chat / hookup in-game with any of you as long as you understand...our work situation.

Have a wonderful day. :)

I haven't been able to figure out if making non-combat "town clothing" can be done with tailoring. I hope so!

does anyone know?

If not, where can we buy them?

"Collectibles and inventory space

You can save a lot of time and storage space by making use of the “collectibles” feature in GW2. There are several categories of items - primarily crafting materials and minipets - that get their own dedicated storage spaces in your account bank. Furthermore, you don’t need to visit the bank in person to deposit collectibles! To deposit an individual collectible item, right-click on it and choose “Deposit collectible”. To deposit all collectibles from your inventory at once, click the gear icon at the top of your inventory window and select “Deposit all collectibles”.

You can also save yourself a lot of trips to the bank by knowing that you can access your account bank fully from any crafting station"

HUGE thing for me - I always have huge inventory issues. This is amazing!

How about you?

Siafu's Upside-Down Apple Cake

Ingredients

• 1 Box of (single-layer) Jiffy - Yellow Cake mix preferred or any other brand will do.
• 1 Butter stick
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
• 4 large baking Apples, cored and peeled and then cut into small chunks the size of a small marble. (Do not slice the apples as the cake mix needs to flow through them to reach the bottom of the pan.)
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract (added as a extra ingredient into the cake mix.)

Directions

1. Heat oven to the temperature required on the cake-mix box. Spray a 9x9 inch single-layer baking pan with nonstick spray - Pyrex preferred. Spread apple chunks evenly on bottom of pan.
2. Cut from butter stick, 6-8 thin slices of butter and place here and there over the apple mix. Sprinkle cinnamon evenly over apples then do the same with the sugar.
3. In a large bowl, mix yellow cake (per instructions) add the vanilla extract. Tip: do not beat batter until smooth. Beat or stir batter until it looks coarse or ever-so slightly lumpy.
4. Pour the batter over apple mixture evenly. Lift and drop pan on counter softly a couple of times to help promote the cake-mix reaching the bottom of the pan.
5. Bake as per instructions on the cake-mix box. At the end of baking time...insert a butter-knife into the center of the cake until it comes out clean. The cake should be nicely browned. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack for no less than 30 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of cake pan. Then cover the pan with an upside down dinner-plate and flip the cake to the plate. Result: apple side up on the plate then cut to desired amount of servings.
6. SERVE: room-temperature. TOP: individual servings with a whipped-topping for an extra wow to this tasty cake. Enjoy!

We have a vent server that is used by all members within Stonewall. However, there are rooms that are setup for each game and grouping rooms as well.

The info can be found here http://stonewallvanguard.com/wc/communication/vent