No occasional double-post:

It came tue what was rumored yesterday. Apple is censoring the web.
Almost all old posts at www.appleinsider.com were wiped out this night, and at the moment they shut it down completely.

Think different means Think Jobs.
Apple’s no longer the company for the outlaws, but the company with the lawyers.
Read this:

www.lowendmac.com

End of the Mac Web as We Know It

It's been a very slow month for rumors, but we finally have a new one.

3/31/2K: No longer beleaguered, Apple Computer has finally accomplished it's ultimate goal of controlling the Mac web.
They have forced sites to pull articles and photographs, hijacked domains, and even shut down Mac Cards, a noncommercial
ecard site.

Through iReview, one of their iTools, they are feeding traffic only to a select group of lapdog sites (no offense intended to
Small Dog Electronics).

But that was just the beginning. Effective April 1, 2000, the anniversary of their incorporation, Apple will be celebrating their
anniversary in style -- by shutting down the vast majority of Mac sites on the internet. Any site with the word "apple" or
"mac" in its name has been contacted by Apple's ever vigilant legal department and told to "get the Mac out."

Expect to see a huge change come over the Mac-centric web on Saturday, April 1, as many sites make a shift away from
their first love, the Macintosh, to a completely new focus. Several webmasters I've been in contact with say it's just been a
matter of time before Apple shut them down for not being positive enough about Steve Jobs, Apple Computer, OS X,
Microsoft products, Apple's iTools, ClarisWorks 6 -- let alone any mention of rumors or rumor sites.

Expect significant changes tomorrow. I'll have to start digging dirt on other companies, since the least hint of a Mac rumor,
no matter how tongue-in-cheek, could subject myself and my publisher to a lawsuit from the once-beleaguered Apple. Like
the rest of the Mac web, we don't have the money for the lawyers necessary to fight, so we're switching.

Switching to what? I can't say, but be sure to surf the web on Saturday to see what the creative Mac webmasters have
come up with to stay in business despite Apple's best attempts to shut them down.

- Anne Onymus

[namannik]

April Fools!!!???

[markhers]

I'm fairly sure I'm not authorized to go into this, but whatever you're thinking isn't what happened.

Originally posted by markhers:
I'm fairly sure I'm not authorized to go into this, but whatever you're thinking isn't what happened.

Maybe (and hopefully) you are right. But yesterday - there was this rumor at lowendmac. And a scary post at appleinsider announced it too, but nobody believed it.
Round about 2:00 AM today they wiped almost all posts out at www.appleinsider.com. No explanation from the mods, no explanation on the main page. At 9:00 AM they closed the board completely, saying they are doing some technical overhaul. No explanation on the main page.

If there have occurred a technical problem - why isn’t there any notice about that?

[This message has been edited by pmG3/300 (edited 03-31-2000).]

[markhers]

pm*,

Don't take this as an overly harsh rebuttal, or even a rebuttal at all, but I am the Systems Admin for ALL of MacNN (servers, forums, the whole deal), and I'm telling you that what you're trying to tell us is false.

Some remarks on it:

- They didn’t shut appleinsider down but its forum.
- It occurred March 31. Not April 1. So no joke intended, IMHO.
- If Apple was founded on an April 1, so am I working with a prank computer?
- Apple legal did a lot of stuff the last times, and sometimes with reason I support very strongly. Intellectual property must be saved from theft. But in the case of MacCards, for example, there was a site supporting strongly the platform. Apple treated them harshly instead of offering them a license, calling them to remove some things or else. They shot it down from behind.
- So Apple/Jobs follows a path at the moment that could lead to Apple closing down forums as well.

Just my 0.02$

Edit:
markhers, no offence taken. :=)
But why is there no notice, no info at all?
Some days ago at appleinsider, they shut down new registrations for one day. No word on why this happend.
This *is* scary, as it is a matter of seconds to post an explanation if one wants to. 7 buggy hours in a forum with administrators and not even one »sorry, we have a problem«?

I’m not trying to spread false info, april jokes or evil messages. I’m just trying to catch what’s going on.

[This message has been edited by pmG3/300 (edited 03-31-2000).]

[markhers]

Well, pm, we all take our NDAs quite seriously around here, so until the big Kahuna drops the knowledge on you, you will have to understand that we are working to get them back up. No timetable as yet, but we're working on it.

If you want to get down to legalities and all that, Apple is not allowed to limit free speech. AppleInsider's fora are free speech, just as much as SlashDot, so you don't have to worry about that.

markhers,
I’m not doubting you (and your co-workers) to do good and hard work.

But with these rumors around, I would advise to give a reasonable explanation. Because if not, there is a whole bunch of mac enthusiast scared, misled, confused. And that’ll damage the reputation of Apple and Appleinsider too.

I’m totally aware that Apple is not in the state to shut mouth to anybody in any direct manner. But they could, in an indirect way, obstruct communication on Apple by being very harsh and small-minded in legal affairs. If they wanted to.



[This message has been edited by pmG3/300 (edited 03-31-2000).]

[mkbhatia]

If you don't see AppleInsider boards up in a few hours, come back or just email me. I will give you the status.

[markhers]

On cue, the big Kahuna drops knowledge on the masses.

[mkbhatia]

it's now working for those who care

m.

[markhers]

Everything (99% anyway) of all posts are now restored. See! No Apple intervention! You just had to trust me on things like that.

[gyc]

I guess some people just need a sense of humor (or be less naive) ;^)

markhers & mkbhatia,
all right, everything’s ok. You’ve done a good job.
I was wrong I must admit, but information politics were bad too. At least one has to ring the big alarm bell to get the burning match blown out.

Thanks for posting information here. :=)

gyc,
as far as I can see, there was no joke intended, so what would a sense of humor be good for? Less naive - a better argument, but say that right in the face of the people who were »attacked« by Apple legal. Property and trademark protection is a major issue these days, and bad, misleading or unauthorized rumors are too. Governments and companies are going to face these problems more and more, as the internet is almost uncontrollable today for them and can convert from a supporting media into an enemy in seconds. Naive - that would be to believe things to remain as they are, to believe that there will be no attempt to controll the net and/or its contents.

I have not seen any of this (been very busy the past couple of days) but let me tell you somthing: sites and portions of sites go down all the time. Could be a problem, could be maintainance, but it happens.

True, given the current climate and the closing of Mac Cards, I can see how someone would see this as being somewhat sinister, but a host of sites I have checked and people I have spoken with assure me that nothing of what you fear is happening.

Heck, if they wanted to close up shops all over the place, would not MacNN and MacAddict be on the hit list?

Sounds to me like a case of bad timing/bad joke

------------------
"May the Open Source be with you...Always"

[markhers]

Two things:

One, I'm all about consoling those who are feeling paranoid about some of the recent shutdowns, but come on people, Apple wasn't completely wrong. It is their brand, they did spend billions of dollars to create their brand name through the length of time the company has been in existence. They paid millions of dollars to come up with the grammatically incorrect "Think Different". They created the plastics that shaped modern perception of a cool computer. They've done a whole hell of a lot. And if they decide that someone is infringing on their hard work, no matter the nobility of the venture, they have a legal right and responsibility to their shareholders to do what the feel is necessary.

Second, if what you say is true and they really are out to quash rumours, why is that MOSR, the single most amazing parody of a site on the web, is still around? Why does AppleInsider still thrive? Heck, MacNN posts news items from "sources" and which say "Apple is expected to announce". Does that mean that MacNN should be shut down? No. Why? Because the circumstances of shutting down MacCards are completely and totally different.

In short, I get where you're coming from, but come on, think of the bigger picture.

[blizaine]

Woo that was weird... I just got done reading this thread and decided to hope over to MOSR and it wont load! Server is probably just down or something, but still freaky.