Quit Haxing My Interwebs, Linux
Really, this email exchange is par for the course if you work in ANY technologically related field to which the general public has access. Still, the mind-boggling-ness remains. For a full disclosure of what poor Johnny was dealing with either keep reading about the jump or visit the link at the bottom of the post.
Thu, 23 Mar 2006 00:52:58 +0000 (Wed, 18:52 CST)
Jerry A. Taylor submitted the following Information:
Email xxxxxxx
Company City of Tuttle
Location Oklahoma
CommentsWho gave you permission to invade my website and block me and anyone else from accessing it???
Please remove your software immediately before I report it to government officials!!
I am the City Manager of Tuttle, Oklahoma.
From: Johnny Hughes
To: Jerry A. Taylor
Subject: Re: www.centos.org – Contact Us Form
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 18:59:18 -0600I feel sorry for your city.
CentOS is an operating system. It is probably installed on the computer
that runs your website.We hope you are happy with it, since we produced it for free and you are
able to use it without paying us … and are even threatening to have us
arrested for providing to you free of charge.Please contact someone who does IT for you and show them the page so
that they can configure your apache webserver correctly.Thanks,
Johnny Hughes,
CentOS 4 Lead Developer
From: Jerry A. Taylor
To: CentOS Web Site
Subject: www.centos.org – Contact Us Form
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 18:58:31 +0000 (12:58 CST)Get this web site off my home page!!!!!
It is blocking access to my website!!!!~!
From: Johnny Hughes
To: Jerry A. Taylor
Subject: Re: www.centos.org – Contact Us Form
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 13:45:37 -0600It is not a website … it is the operating system.
I would be glad to help you configure your webserver.
Do you own the machine that your web site is on, or is it at a hosting
provider.If it is at a provider, they need to properly configure their webserver.
If it is on your machine, your apache needs to be properly configured.
Thanks,
Johnny Hughes
CentOS-4 Lead Developer
From: Jerry.Taylor
To: Johnny Hughes
Subject: Re: www.centos.org – Contact Us Form
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 13:54:24 -0600I do not want this software!!!! This is the City of Tuttle, Oklahoma. Get rid of this software!!!!!
Second notice!Unless this software is removed I will file a complaint with the FBI.
From: Johnny Hughes
To: Jerry.Taylor
Subject: Re: www.centos.org – Contact Us Form
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 14:18:06 -0600Jerry,
I/We didn’t install any software … I am trying to tell you that.
I am asking you as nicely as I possible can to explain what the problem is.
I have tried to explain to you what CentOS is.
It is an operating system … a version of linux.
It does not install itself … it requires someone to install it.
If you will not let me help you, or at least talk to someone who knows
what Linux is, then you will look like an idiot.
Your choice.Thanks,
Johnny Hughes
From: Johnny Hughes
To: Jerry.Taylor
Subject: Re: www.centos.org – Contact Us Form
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 14:46:40 -0600Mr. Taylor,
CentOS is a legitimate operating system … that is what it is. It is
like Microsoft Windows, RedHat Linux, or Apple OSX … It is not
possible that it was installed without operator action. I have no idea
what you think has happened, nor what has given you the idea that the
CentOS Project is involved in any way.CentOS is not spyware, it is not spam. It does not take over websites.
If you will not let me help you, find someone you know who is computer
literate and has heard of Linux to look at your problem. I am trying
very, very hard to save you from great embarrassment.You may certainly call the FBI if you want. I may call some law
enforcement agency or attorney myself if you don’t stop throwing around
accusations and stop threatening me without just cause.Please, for the love of God, either let me help you or talk to a
computer administrator who can help you with your problem.Thank You,
Johnny Hughes
CentOS-4 Lead Developer
MORE OF THE SAME. REDACTED FOR THE SANITY OF THE READERS.
From: Jerry.Taylor
To: Johnny Hughes
Subject: Re: www.centos.org – Contact Us Form
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 18:58:24 -0600Johnny,
I have contacted the City’s network administrator wnd he has done nothing to
install your CentOS software. I have contacted our Internet provider and
they know nothing about your software. I am computer literate! I have 22
years in computer systems engineering and operation. Now, can you tell me
how to remove “your software” that you acknowledge you provided free of
charge? I consider this “hacking”. I have no fear of the media, in fact I
welcome this publicity.
Just correct this problem and leave this system alone in the future.Jerry
From: Johnny Hughes
To: Jerry.Taylor
Cc: mayor of Tuttle
Subject: Re: www.centos.org – Contact Us Form
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 19:08:05 -0600Mr. Taylor,
I decided to see if I could find some of the information myself.I found the website that you are having problems with by looking at
http://www.Tuttle-OK.gov/ and I saw an e-mail address of
cityoftuttle.org … so I went to www.cityoftuttle.org and I see the
problem.Doing more research, I have found that the site in question is hosted by
Vidia Communications. If you look at this pagehttp://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/?host=www.vidiacom.com
you will plainly see that Vidia Communications uses CentOS as the
operating system for their server.Now, for the last time … contact your web server provider, Vidia
Communications, and tell them that they have a misconfiguration on the
server that they are hosting your website on.Thank you,
Johnny Hughes
From: Jerry.Taylor
To: Johnny Hughes
Subject: Re: www.centos.org – Contact Us Form
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 11:36:42 -0600Johnny,
The problem has been resolved by VIDIA who used to host the City website.
They still provide cable service but do not host the website. The
explanation was that they had a crash and during the rebuild they
reinstalled the software that affected our website.I am sorry that we had to go through the process and accusations to get the
problem resolved. It could have been resolved a lot quicker if the initial
correspondence with you provided the helpful information that was
transmitted in the last messages. My initial contact with VIDIA disallowed
any knowledge of creating the problem.Jerry
———————————————–
From: Johnny Hughes
To: Jerry.Taylor
Subject: Re: www.centos.org – Contact Us Form
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 11:49:15 -0600Jerry,
I asked time and again for the name of the web server administrator or
the website so that I could help you.
You will notice that in my first and second e-mails, I spell out exactly
how to fix the problem and who should be contacted.I am glad that you got the problem fixed.
Thanks,
Johnny Hughes
Via: Lady Typhoid and Centos.org
@crazyemails
Wow…the OS hacked the website. Riiiiiiiight.
I swear, people need to learn the internets better.
Actually they need to stay as far away from computers as possible, It would make my job much easier if I only had to deal with knowledgeable people. I think Jerry is confusing his Etch-A-Sketch with a computer.
Ooo, they have CentOS on Etch-A-Sketch now? What’s next, the Internets on computers?
Proof that Oklahoma is led by the most retarded individuals who point fingers anywhere possible.
I also love how the City Manager expects the developers/customer support of the OPERATING SYSTEM that THEIR web providers use to help them. When my website goes down, I call the first thing that pops up on there. I just love being retarded so much that sometimes I try to be an internet tough guy and threaten innocent people who are completely unrelated to my problems.
Oh, now that’s just wrong. Every state is filled with idiots. Look at Washington, D.C. for example.
Um,
Washington D.C isn’t a state.
Lulz
Dumbass.
Hello from Oklahoma. speaking for the sane among us i must at this time inform you that we have no comment. We additionally have no comment about Senator Inhofe at “C Street” or for health care “free speech enthusiasts.” …unless the internet has hacked our webcams in which case you can see us facepalming furiously.
….Proof that people NOT from Oklahoma are so quick to blame the entire state population for one person’s mistake.
Obviously the tubes are full because of all the interweb commerce.
I think the scariest part here is: “I have 22
years in computer systems engineering and operation.”
I agree with you. He’s either incredibly dumb or he’s full of shit with this statement. If you have 22 years of experience in computer systems engineering and operation, how have you never heard of Linux? And furthermore, how could you not know that it is an operating system?
Agreed. I havent even been alive 22 years and i know just about all the operating systems out there. I also have absolutely no formal training with computers. Damn yankees dumbing-down the world!
also, this fool is in charge of some poor sad town?! WTF?
“Damn yankees”…?
Yes, this guy is dumb, but please do not generalize the country based on that. Remember, we are the world’s leaders in technology and innovation.
22 years of experience?!!?…
Maybe he’s including playing Atari games…
Really? Leaders in Innovation AND Technology? Might I remind you that America isn’t the only country on planet Earth. Japan is a real place that might be a little more technologically advanced and innovative than the US. What about the 3rd world dudes that make car parts from trees n sh*t. Americans Egos are about the only thing more advance then the rest of the world.
Agreed! And I am an American… but far too many people in this country are uneducated (and proud of it! “We don’t need no fancy book-learnin!”) and unaware of the entire rest of the world…
*Sigh*
Have you ever been in a close relationship with someone (family or friend) and they royally embarrassed them-self doing something incredibly stupid and everyone looks at you as an appendage of said stupid person? A sort of “Guilty by association”?
That’s how I feel as an American. No matter how many times I might speak up with a, “Not all Americans are like that…” or “Please don’t judge or condemn the whole on account of a loud few” will suffice. I’ll type till my fingers bleed and my eyes feel like sandpaper yet when I mosey into some odd random website and see yet another slander to all “arrogant” Americans; I feel like my personal crusade is for naught.
but when you think about all the problems America has blanketed by the image of might and delusion you begin to see the big picture. America isn’t really all that great. Some good parts, yes, but over all it sucks. It’s like a piece of dog shit in rose colored paper. Still smells like poo.
Amen to that.
He might still be working with the stuff he worked on oh-so-many years ago. My father-in-law is the same way. He’s worked in software since about 1980 but he’s totally clueless about up to date stuff. This is a man who used to program for one of the biggest software companies in the world and now he can barely figure out how to use iPhoto and regularly calls to ask my husband questions, most of which I can answer and I have very little technical background in that area.
Something tells me that by “computer systems engineering and operation” he meant that he’s been bashing his face against the keyboard with Microsoft Word.
LOL! I think I love you.
Wow. What was he doing with those 22 years of computer systems engineering and administration?
Allow me to translate:
22 years computer systems engineering = Knows how to turn it on, and use CDs and floppy disks. Maybe even understands what ‘restart’ means.
and operation = Can log into Windows and open programs. Maybe he can even use two at a time! Oooohhh!
Yeah, that’s about my assumption too. LOL
I swear, the people they put in charge…
I am the administrator for a domain name that is frequently used in the spoofed source email address in phishing emails. We get this kind of thing all the time, including legal threats, occasionally even death threats.
We try as nicely as we can to explain that the from address is spoofed. But we get threads almost as crazy as this one on an all-too-regular basis.
We got one guy who pulled all of our corporate information, home addresses of officers, and the like.
You could always submit them here for our amusement.
That reminds me of the good ol’ high schooldays trying to show my mom how to open a document, open two documents at once, copy and paste, etc.
Seconded! Submit! Submit!
I like how in the very beginning he says “I feel sorry for your city.” I didn’t catch that the first time – he plays it off like he’s saying he’s sorry for their problems.
Just gotta love it how Jerry almost always boasts that he’s the city manager.
this is great!
go johnny go!
glad I don’t live in Tuttle…….
“Now, can you tell me
how to remove “your software” that you acknowledge you provided free of
charge? I consider this “hacking”. ”
Remember everyone…Shareware/Freeware = Hacking.
Let this be a lesson to all you commies who don’t charge for your code like real Americans.
you mean Buttle….
Great work!! I wonder how many people got that reference.
DEAR LORD,
There’s a window’s logo near the bottom left corner of my screen!
Clearly Bill Gates has “hacked” this machine!
Well, now that is true.
Update
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/27/tuttle_email/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/27/tuttle_email/
Mr. Jerry of Tuttle asked the Register to take the internet offline, in an attempt to top this embarrassment.
How satisfying…if only every deserving moron could be so richly embarrassed…
Damn CentOS…causing people to be more idiotic than usual…also, what kind of a name is Tuttle. Seriously.
Love the update….
think this guy will have his …..”I am computer literate! I have 22
years in computer systems engineering and operation.”…job very much longer????
kudos to everyone who has emails this guy with “harassing” emails…
too funny
Linux: 1
Idiot: 0
Geesh…doesn’t give you much confidence in the government if this douchenozzle who claims 22 years in computers can’t understand this concept. I know nothing about computers and I understood.
I hope someone in his office gets a hold of his retarded emails and prints out copies for everyone in his workplace to enjoy. I hope he gets his ass fired for making the whole city look like it’s populated by knuckle dragging cave people.
The Mayor defended him,
but this was a few years ago.
For the record, he removed his name from the website.
Comedy.
Moar comedy http://www.tuttletimes.com/apstorysection/local_story_088201244.html
LOL, I checked out http://www.tuttletimes.com/apstorysection/local_story_088201244.html , and I can’t believe it he’s still putting the blame on CentOS.
“since he believes that was what prompted Hughes to start treating him seriously.”
there Hughes did simply what that city manager should’ve done.
““I’m not about to follow any instructions on an unknown web page,” Taylor said. “That could put a virus on my system.””
Yeah, because we all know letting the server provider know that the apache server needs to be reconfigured can create virusses.
OH,
The worst part of this whole thing, is that Jerry Taylor made fun of CentOS but because it was given away for free.
“This is just a bunch of freaks out there that don’t have anything better to do,” he said. “When I came in to work Monday morning, I had about 500 e-mails, plus anonymous phone calls from all the geeks out there. [CentOS is] a free operating system that this guy gives away, which tells you how much time he’s got on his hands.”
So remember,
1. Giving Softwar away for free is “hacking”.
2. Volunteering is done by “freaks with too much time on their hands”
3. And if a webpage fails too load you need to remove the operating system, because that will fix it.
By the by Wikipedia says of Jerry;
Taylor earned a Masters in Business Administration from Averett University in Danville, Virginia.
Taylor worked for 22 years with E-Systems as a program manager, 17 of those years working on a classified government contract in Virginia. He later ran his own computer business and worked as an Internet technologies manager for Choctaw Electric Cooperative. Taylor was city manager of Harrah, Oklahoma and Hugo, Oklahoma. [1]
Taylor was selected city manager of Tuttle in August 2005, after an absence of a manager for almost two years.
“Taylor was selected city manager of Tuttle in August 2005, after an absence of a manager for almost two years.”
So basically what you’re saying is, no one else wanted the job, so they just gave it to him.
How I think the exchange went:
“So, do you want the City Manager job?”
“No, do you?”
“No, hell no!”
“Well, we kind of need one. It’s been two years already.”
“Let’s give it to Jerry. He’d love it.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. And that’ll get him off of our computers so that we can actually get some work done.”
22 Years of playing Oregon Trail doesn’t count
OMG. Hats off to Johhny for keeping his cool by that last email. I was frothing at my computer and I didn’t even have to DEAL with that idiot!
My guess is that he spent those 22 years eating frito pies and smoking weed. I haven’t even been alive 22 years and I have full knowledge of Linux.
Seriously, 22 years and NEVER heard of Linux? I mean, there’s more flavors than Baskin Robbins!
Slackware, Knoppix, Puppy, Ubuntu, Astrumi, DSL, Sneaker, Debian, Fedora/Red Hat, SUSE, GNOME, CentOS, Slax, Gentoo, T2, LFS, Arch, Mandriva, gOS, hell, even the IOS on Cisco switches is a Linux deriative!
And that’s off the top of my head, and I can’t even USE Linux without a GUI unless it’s a niche distro meant to be used for one purpose!
Not everyone from Oklahoma is that fucking retarded. I am from Oklahoma, born and raised. Proud of it too. However, Tuttle is a small town with obviously a small minded leader. All small towns in ALL states have this problem.
That is true…But until the next state steps up and offers their own dumbass up for ritual humiliation and sacrifice then Oklahoma will have to hold up it’s own village idiot for that purpose…Right now the “City Manager” of Tuttle is the Alpha and Omega of the twat waffle universe…
But never fear…I’m sure one of my fellow Texans will embarrass us to no end soon enough….
You’ve had 8 years of embarrassment just recently, it’s time for another state to take a turn.
Wasn’t he born in Connecticut?
I never claimed him as one of ours…I don’t care where he has a ranch…
Texas is a big enough embarrassment for the south.
And just what part of the country are you in Megan?
I’m sure your bringing down property values by your presence and continued breathing of precious natural resources….
Heyyy… that hurts! I live in Berthoud, a small town in Colorado, yet I can use a computer just fine…
What a a**hole, Taylor actually thinks he’s done the right thing abusing Jerry who was under no obligation to help this tool.
People like Taylor seriously tick me off.
Then he and the mayor belittle CentOS’s contribution, which allows their website to be hosted at lower cost…
The mind boggles, it really does.
God I hate some people sometimes – I think oxygen thief is the appropriate term here.
Daddy? Is that you?!
Does anyone even have the number for the FBI?
Its not like they have a 1800-IGOT-HACKED-PLZFIXITNOW-KTHXBAI number.
My grandmother knows computers better than this man, and she has about a month of computer/internet experience compared to this man of “22 years”.
She can probably type faster, too.
Isn’t it funny that http://www.tuttle-ok.gov throws an “Address not found” error?
I even checked en.wikipedia.org to get something like a verification of that URL. Anyone playing around with the DNS servers?
God – what a horrid, douchey bastard.
Loud, wrong people make me sick.
22 years of computer experience? what does he consider experience? having a microwave in his kitchen, what a total asshole, the CentOS people really held their composure, at least in the beginning, I’m not sure I could have held mine for as long.
I work at the free tech site called http://www.techsupportforum.com. Now, I’m young and all that but I certainly know things about computers, and I also know that this guy and his ‘22′ years is a crock. If he is the mayor of a city then I expect him to conduct himself in a much more mature manner then this.
If he had any REAL computer technicians to help him, they would have told him the problem and whom to deal with.
I sincerely hope this man learned his lesson.
communication issues are always more complicated than the actual problem you are trying to fix
“I do not want this software!!!! This is the City of Tuttle, Oklahoma. Get rid of this software!!!!!”
Because Tuttle, Oklahoma is famous. /sarcasm Tuttle isn’t even recognized by spellcheck.
Picture the Voice of Jerry being Boss Hog from Smokey and the Bandit…and the voice of Johnny as HAL from 2001 A Space Odyssey…It just may blow ur F’in mind…
Wow, all this from Jerry with a whopping 22 years in computer systems engineering and operation under his belt. No wonder I can’t land a decent IT job, apparently I know too much.
Palm. face. introduce repeatedly.
A man is flying over a field in a hot air balloon. He spots another man walking on a path through the field, and shouts down to him.
“Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?”, he asks, in a slightly desperate tone.
“Sure,” says the walker. “You’re fifty feet above the ground in a hot air balloon.”
“You must be an IT guy,” says the balloonist.
“How did you know?” asks the walker.
“Because you told me something that is technically 100% accurate, but of absolutely no use to me,” replies the balloonist.
“And you must be a manager,” says the walker.
“How did you know?” asks the balloonist.
“Because,” he begins,
“1. You have absolutely no idea where you are,
2. You didn’t think to bring the tools along to figure it out for yourself,
3. You got into this mess all by yourself,
4. You only ask for help when it’s too late, and
5. When I come to your assistance, you act as if I’m the problem.”
lol. Put it this way, I am no more computer literate than I need to be to look at websites like this and check my facebook, and even I can tell this guy’s a fucking dumbass. LoL @ him.
The IT guy who worked for the city I worked for was no brighter than this guy. Except every time something went wrong with one of the computers he ran around screaming that someone was using the internet and gave all the computers viruses.