Sunday, December 16th, 2007
Issue: 53   Editor: Nyxxiekins


How MSN ruined Bootleggers bubbabubba
On first glance at the title of this article one may think, is this guy nuts? How could an Internet feature that allows people from all over the world to converse in a quick, effective manner be bad? Some people have went as far as creating a whole new MSN address simply for the use on Bootleggers, adding tens to nearly hundreds of users to talk too. So, how did MSN ruin Bootleggers? Here’s the single greatest reason.

“Sent Mail Syndrome”

For the uninformed Bootleggers out there, you should all be aware of this new trend; it’s called the “Sent Mail Syndrome.” Everyone is probably aware that a Moderator can read any users mail at any time. Along that same line, most people are probably aware that once a message is deleted from your inbox it is in fact “gone.” However, what’s not gone (and what most may be unaware of) is that the original mail in fact does still exist: in that original users “sent mail folder.” (Insert gasping noises and/or many wtf’s here)

SMS Description

“Sent Mail Syndrome” begins with an anonymous user simply ranking, banking and buying bullets at a quick pace. An infection begins to develop when the user becomes ill and lets his anonymity slip to an old friend. That friend in turn accidentally refers to that user by their previous name or some previous history via bootmail that inadvertently reveals the identity of that user. Being on the nosy side, a Moderator quickly scans that players ‘sent mail’ folder with no other intention than finding valuable information they can pass on to others. Once that information is found, an outside source (MSN) is used to confirm the find of the disease. Before long, SMS has claimed the life of another unsuspecting victim; more than likely loaded with millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of bullets.

SMS Treatments

At current time, no known treatments for SMS have been made available for public use.

SMS End Results

Next time you decide to create an anonymous account, be a crew bullet holder, crew money/point holder--don’t be so sure you’re as anonymous as you think you are, because fact is you’re not anonymous at all. The days of anonymity on Bootleggers have come and gone. Just like it’s been stated on here before, “you are not anonymous to us,” that statement now has a little more meaning than it’s original intention.

When MSN was in it’s Bootleggers hay-days it was used by crew council members for serious discussion meetings, war strategies, killing sprees and other highly game-related material. It was a place for users to get together, plan, strategize and implement those plans that no game feature offers. However, while that situation is still currently used, MSN has also quickly become a way for information, that normally should be kept private, to be passed onto others for use at their own discretion.

When will this current syndrome end? Hopefully once someone sheds some serious light on this situation—as was the single intention of this article.