In case you don't know, over the weekend WWE.com launched WWE Fan Nation, a social networking site. The network lets people create personal profiles to communicate with other WWE fans. So far, the network has garnered over 7,000 registered users. You can check out WWE's answer to MySpace and Facebook at Fans.WWE.com.
The WWE Fan Nation also features a message board for fans to discuss WWE and other aspects of professional wrestling. However, on Saturday night/Sunday morning, the forums were infiltrated with tons of spam and other nonsense by a few vicious users looking to wreak havoc on WWE's social networking site. The forums were closed on Sunday to clean out all the "graffiti" left by the attackers. WWE hopes to have the forums back online again next week after Backlash. In the meantime, they are in the process of adding new security measures to the site to help prevent further violations and to make the forums a friendly place to go to for WWE fans.
On Sunday, one of the heads of the WWE Fan Nation released the following statement regarding the cyber attack:
So, have you visited the Forums lately? Thought so...
First, thank you to the more than 4,000 new WWE Fan Nation members that joined our new online community, eager to participate in debate and discussion with fellow fans from around the world. They've created new fan groups, written excellent blog posts and participated in animated Forums discussion threads. We at Fan Nation thank you all for the great start. Please keep up the great work!
However...yesterday, we experienced a coordinated attack from (what was claimed to be) a competing wrestling forum community that wreaked havoc on our Forums, filling them with spam and other vile diatribes.
Thank you to all of the WWE Fan Nation users that filed Abuse Reports quickly on those 100 or so user accounts created Saturday with the specific purpose of ruining the rapidly growing Fan Nation community. The moderation team has temporarily frozen the Forums section, and is currently scrubbing the section clean of all "graffiti" left by the attackers. We hope the Forums will be ready to return before Backlash.
They will also be banning all the user accounts that participated in said activity. We will not be issuing warnings or suspensions. Sorry, but martial law is in effect as of now.
We are in the process of adding new security to the site, to help prevent further violations of WWE.com's Terms of Usage, and to keep the Forums a friendly place to play. More on those details to come.
Until then, you stay classy Fan Nation. Keep your eyes peeled on photos and blogs for inappropriate material, and file Abuse Reports on such items to alert moderators. We'll continue to grow, and will overcome this early attempt to ruin the soon-to-be largest WWE community on the Internet.
Thanks, enjoy King of the Ring tomorrow night on Raw!
Anyway, one of the cyber attackers will not go without being punished for his vicious attack on the WWE fan forum. According to the website of RTE -- Ireland's National Television and Radio Broadcaster -- police managed to track down and arrest one of the attackers, a man from Dublin, Ireland. In accordance with the Communications Regulation Act from 2002, the Dublin man has been detained by police.
A number of users were involved in the cyber attack, but so far, only one person has been charged. However, WWE's looking to take action against the other individuals involved in the cyber attack. WWE's in the process of tracking down the cyber attackers and forwarding their information to law enforcement agencies.
Regarding the attack, WWE spokesman Gary Davis said, "certain postings made on the WWE Fan Nation Forum were unacceptable and against the rules set down by WWE. The users who made these postings have been traced and their information has been forwarded to the appropriate law enforcement agencies."
Davis believes that many of the rogue users acted independently, however, a certain number of them coordinated their attacks through a rival wrestling fan forum, believed to be that of
www.f4wonline.com, Figure Four Weekly Online. WWE plans on taking some form of legal action against other individuals involved in the cyber attack before the end of the week.
A few of the controversial postings were said to be pornographic. As you would imagine, this is a huge concern to World Wrestling Entertainment as their fanbase largely consists of children and teenagers.
Regarding the cyber attacker in question, the person is known as Dave Anchorking, a frequent poster at the
www.f4wonline.com forums who posts under the name 'mr_anchorking'. Anchorking is believed to be a resident of the Blanchardstown area of Dublin. RTE attempted to contact the man's family for comment, but were unsuccessful.
Don't mess with the WWE's forum.