Autosurf Updates - 30th April 2006

Now with a juicy bit of Phoenix Surf soap opera.

So, I'm weaning myself off Phoenix Surf as I said. In fact, when I get my last payout I'm moving them next to MPDW in the sidebar. Sure, I'll be keeping a minimal amount in, just to keep tabs in them, but nothing more than the $8 spend for a few months at least - if they pull off a miracle and prove themselves, I'll consider getting back in.

Now, here's the latest word on the downtime:

" Dear members,

As I promised, I am posting/emailing an update about the current situation with
Phoenixsurf. Many members have had questions concerning what we have done to
eliminate the problem with the DDOS attacks, as well as cashout questions. I
will try to answer those questions now.

We have a new server as of now. We have implemented phenomenal security
measures that have limited the DDOS attacks. If we were to remove this
security, we would be swarmed with a billion attacks, so we know that our
security measures are working. The problems is, they are working too good.
Because of these new measures, our system will detect a certain amount of
activity from an IP address and it will limit that IP to a minimum amount of
traffic from that IP address. This is great, because it definitely limits the
DDOS attacks and keeps us up and running. The problem is, it is limiting
egolds IP address as well, so we are not able to go in and do cashouts or allow
for upgrades. Egold has a certain IP address that we need in order to resolve
this problem. We are currently trying to contact them to get this address. If
we are unable to receive this IP address today, then it will be Monday before we
can do anything. The DDOS attacks have not been stopped, but it has definitely
limited them, so removing our security to do cashouts or upgrades is not an
option. We are hoping to have all problems resolved by Monday, or at least
sometime next week. Until we have this situation taken care of, members will be
on a surf holiday. We have also contacted Cisco systems to discuss further
security measures if we decide we need more, but we are not currently using
them.

For those members that have not received an email from us, the Fasttrack fees
have been removed from your advertising upgrades and your upgrades have been
changed to a regular scheduled upgrade; 4-7 business days. We will begin
processing cashouts as soon as we have the IP address that we need from egold.
We will pay the oldest cashouts first and move towards the most current ones.
There are some that have not been paid since the 14th, so they will be paid
before any upgrades expiring on the 27th.

Some members have not been able to connect to Phoenixsurf. This is because
everything has not propagated yet. Once everything has propagated, everyone
will be able to connect and continue surfing.

I know that this does not cover everything, but it covers the most important
things. We are working hard to resolve all issues, and will continue to do
whatever it takes to get things up and running as quickly as possible. Thank you
for your support as we continue to overcome those who would seek to harm our
program, and I will keep you updated as much as possible.

To Our Success,

David Clark
NME/PS Administrator"

Fair enough - though many people have speculated that the DDOS is BS.

Now, this is where the interesting soap opera parts come in. NMEAdmin David popped by HYIP Discussion. I posed him this question:

"Have you any feedback on the fact that many people believe the Phoenix forum is being too heavily censored, and also for a lot of people the debit card is not practical?"

He replied:

"If the forums were not censored, then we would have another TalkGold now wouldn't we? We are running a business, not playing a game as some would like to think. Can you go into a business and just question their business decisions and throw fits about them? I'm afraid not. If you were an employee, you would not last very long questioning the boss. PS is a business and it will continue to remain that way. I will keep all the trash out of there if I have to ban every user from the forum.

The debit card may not be pratical in your life, or be easily used by you, but for the majority, they are very happy that we have made this decision to remove away from egold. Some will like the idea and some will not. That is the way it is with any business and any decisions that a business makes.

We are going to protect our members, and egold has no future in that protection. Sorry if you are disatisfied with this, but it is a final decision, and not only one that WE have made, but MANY of the other programs. It was an industry wide decision.

Thanks and God Bless!"

Uh... I don't see Wired and Compact eliminating E-Gold. So it's not an 'industry wide decision.' Already I'm beginning not to be impressed with his 'candour.' See how I asked a global question and suddenly it is 'you you you.' For example - 'The debit card may not be pratical in your life...' This was giving me shades of MPDW. Amateur hour spin with doses of vague condescension.

Colour me entertained, but not impressed with the admin.

Here's some more choice moments in response to my posts and others (mainly a fellow poster called "Bridenboy.")

"And you think that your words effect our business? When everything is resolved, and everyone is paid, then you can eat your words I have nothing to say to ya..... We have proven ourselves over and over to being faithful to take care of our members, from late fasttracks, to surf holidays, and a few other things that you are even unaware of. So, while everyone else is standing behind us and you are accusing us, they will be very happy and you will remain to be just the way you are right now."

"I do understand the situation and the concerns.....but to you sir, nugatory, effrontery of miniscule minds have never bothered me, so I'll just ignore you and not post any updates in this forum. Sorry to bother you! I hope you when you get paid, and you WILL get paid, that you just decide to drop out of the program.

I come OUT of my way to bring information here....to keep communication open, and you have the audacity to be the pious puke that you are. I pray God first of all forgive me for the anger I have allowed to build up inside and then He forgives you for acting assinine! Cheers!"

He did howeve apologize when I called him on referring to everything as if it was me personally, not a global question, in his first response, so I have to give him credit for that:

"And for my last response in this forum. Nothing was directed towards you and I apologize if you took it that way."

It was a begrudging apology but one nonetheless.

My advice? As it has been, get out of Phoenix. Even more so now. If they're so happy without us, let your last cashouts come and be done with it, at least beyond a minimal spend. That's my advice.

The PhoenixAdmin, to me, has shades of the MPDW admin's. Vague responses, and a 'we don't need you atmosphere.' They also have a nasty habit of attacking the members.

There is someone - Rod from Udachu - who can pull this off. Why?

He's funny. :) Something these people aren't. And he doesn't cross the line of decorum to the point where he is specifically attacking members.

Humour goes a long way.

Compact Surfing

I was paid promptly within 30 hours for my cashout request.

Wired Surf

Well the last of my old upgrade payments came through, within I think it was 5 business days of it's expiry - all my next payouts are with instapay and the new system. Looks like the old backlog is nearly cleared out. I'm beginning to think these guys have definitely got what it takes to get the momentum back, at least for a sizeable while.