Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5188557-20130226001108/@comment--20130226171247

Hi, I would like to clarify some things already said in this forum thread.

"Hacking" is a word with a number of different meanings, so let's all get on the same page.

To 'hack a website' would mean to gain code and shell access to a server and it's data, meaning the hacker would have complete control over how a site functions and all of its user data. I can not reiterate enough that this has never happened on Wikia.

To 'hack an account' would mean that one user gains access to another user's account through some form of a technical account. We often hear claims from users they were 'hacked'. Honestly, usually the user in question simply forgot to log out of their computer at a public space OR had a very guessable password OR was reckless enough to give someone access to their email account which of course allows you to reset a password. Wikia has what are called 'HTML sanitation' & password hash methods in place to prevent users from activating code on the wiki itself to gain access to other users' accounts. As far as I am aware, no user has ever gained access to another users' account because of something they read/edited on a Wikia wiki.

To 'hack' a piece of software usually means to add extra features to it or to insert extra code to make a basic part of the software function differently. In that sense, Monchoman45's Chat tools are called "Chat Hacks" because the snippets of JavaScript significantly change how Wikia's Chat portal functions and acts. It does NOT mean that Monchoman has figured out a way to hack into and gain access to the server.

Yesterday, we had a few minutes of downtime on Wikia and, as a result, Chat, because of a general server traffic glitch. Nothing related to account or server security was responsible for that downtime.