Welcome Ninterror!  stick around ^_^

and G.Apster, long time no see, haven't seen you since "Ramirez's Tower"

thornhillboy said:

Hi, i'm Thornhillboy (THB),

I used to run a forum a while back with Joe (and many others here involved) until that died. Ha, just saw 'Ramirez' (classic name). Used to be involved in 'Ramirez's Tower' back in the day as well. That takes me back…

Now i'm in uni studying for a masters! Hooray! I still play games occasionally (WoW owns me when I am at home, FIFA and Call of Duty when i'm in university).

Good to see you all around!

Good to see you made it! I'm guessing you got my PM at GS.

Yeah, it is a lot like The Tower. I no longer have the void within me that I possessed after our beloved tower "collapsed". I actually wasn't quite sure who Death Hormone was until he informed me. Well, at least now if GS dies (and some say the time is coming), we have our designated place again in the world. Though, I will do whatever PR I can for this place. It's an entire site vs. a forum from InvisionFree.

True story: I quit posting at GS after they revamped the forums. I didn't mind the setup, but as so many people had gone, I did as well. Hmm…no, I think I did have a bit of trouble accepting the new HTML setup. It was actually better, but OCD doesn't like change. Then, I couldn't get into the Tower anymore, contacted Joe, and he told me what went down.

Luckily, I did continue talking with Joe and Pster, but sadly, I lost Pster's email address which was on my contacts list in my email. I still don't know why I lost my entire address book. Whilst I could've seen it coming if Yahoo had overhauled their system, there was no actual cause in this case.

Just to catch up a bit more, I've long since abandoned Nintendo WFC as far as the DS is concerned. It's not that I was bored with online gameplay; Joe and I had some serious fun with AC:WW and Mario Kart DS. What happened was I switched to a standard wireless router, so I could go online with my PSP in addition to my DS. Then, this last Summer, someone hacked my wireless. This wouldn't have been an issue either, but they got me in hot water with the cable company. They'd downloaded "Terminator: Whatever the Last One was", and a second time, they downloaded Windows 7. So, I got nailed for downloading programmes illegally. That used two of my three strikes, and even though I've beefed up security substantially, I just don't dare get that third strike where I lose internet access for good. Likewise, when I beefed up the security – right down to a password prompt – I found the DS no longer could go online. I would have to strip security back down to the risk of getting hacked in order to take my DS back online. No, I don't think so.

I will go online with my PSP occasionally to check for firmware updates, etc. I will also use the PSP to purchase PSN content. Other than that, I keep the router unplugged, or at least, bypassed.

G.A.Pster said:

I’ve got my wireless turned off too I don’t want someone downloading movies or looking at child porn.

there's no need for wifi for me; if I need it I’ll turn it back on.

What ISP were you using?

Now if I’m gonna download cracks and pirated stuff would a proxy server service shield me or would my ISP still know?

I have Mediacom Hi-Speed. As for anything you want to download, the only safe bet I had found was LimeWire. It masked my IP#, as well as encryption to prohibit the ISP from detecting anything I downloaded. I usually just downloaded MP3's. Even then, I couldn't make a federal case of the hacking/cracking that happened, as I would have to reveal dozens of MP3's I downloaded. (Not that I would want anything to do with any "federal" office.) The irony is, for every song I downloaded, I eventually bought in CD form. While I have 7-8GB worth of downloaded MP3's, I own what is likely the largest CD collection in my – albeit small – town. I no longer have an exact count, but it's somewhere in the lower thousands.

These days, I buy my music legally. Yep, I've gone legit and purchase music via iTunes. I actually have found their prices quite reasonable. After using iTunes for a while, I could easily see why Columbia House and BMG went under. Likewise, the video store in my town recently went under as well. The place opened back in the late 80's, was sold in the early 2000's, and struggled off and on since. I am certain the video store crashed as a result of Netflix. Why pay $8-12 for a one-week rental of a single movie? Plus, there's always the risk of late fees if you don't manage to get it back in time. (As portrayed in the Netflix commercial.) It does go to show you how capitalism weeds out the smart business people from the stubborn "I want my monopoly" business people. Back in the 90's, as other video stores closed, this store just kept increasing their prices. Now…well, they just couldn't compete in the world of good reasoning. Lower prices = happy customers. Happy customers = more customers. More customers = more profit.

(Sorry for going all political on you guys; it's just one of those things that really strikes in my mind.)