Caught in a Crossfire Hurricane

* Note - the opening line below used to link to a thread on Patchou's forum regarding the MVP issue. It was mostly comprised of teenagers swearing at people from the security community, but was removed after a few regulars from that community started to question whether Patchou's involvement with Lop was really worth it. Coincidence? Who knows. Still, I have the entire thread saved because I'm awesome. You can see some extracts from what went down here, because other awesome people saved it too.

Okay, it's not often I'm called a noob by a thirteen year old but whatever.

As news of Patchou being removed from the MVP Program has spread, the inevitable fallout has taken place and lots of angry forum nerds are looking for somewhere to start shovelling their anger. In the process, both Sandi and I are taking some flak. Word to the wise - I can't speak for Sandi, but if you come around here with shovels, you better believe I'm going to chaingun your face to the floor and do a Riverdance on your impromptu grave. And steal your shoes.

With that in mind, let's clean up some misconceptions that are starting to drift over from the Msgplus forum in relation to any number of articles relating to this. The below quotes are extracts from the (now deleted) thread on the Msgplus forums that (as I've already mentioned) has been saved due to amazing powers of awesomeness. Oh, and people keeping backups.

1) "I blame Sandi"

Yes, Sandi who.....had nothing to do with anything except being linked to from a number of articles (including mine) because she is the most knowledgeable person on the subject of Msgplus that I know.

Anyone claiming this has anything to do with Sandi needs to be smacked with the Beatdown stick.

2) "All this happend because, as far as my eyes can see, two MVPs (namely Sandi Hardmeier and Christopher Boyd) complained and threathened to withdraw themselves from re-evaluation if Patchou kept his MVP status"

....so Microsoft relented and removed Patchou because they feared the all-powerful Chris Boyd threatened to leave the program?

Wow, wrong! Considering people keep turning up here accusing me of inventing lies, you're doing a real fine job of pulling works of fiction out of your brains. I threatened to withdraw my MVP Status unless Microsoft complied with my "demands" that Patchou be removed? Really? Is that what:

As for my own MVP Status, my first knee jerk reaction is telling me to tell MS to shove it. My second knee jerk reaction is jumping ship is basically giving the boobs of the world a green-light to hijack the program.

...means? Or does it say that I'm considering my position as a Security MVP, depending on what Microsoft does with someone that uses Adware we regularly come into conflict with? I think I have the right to do that. That's a personal choice, and me leaving the MVP program would NOT have influenced Microsoft's decision to keep or remove Patchou. Anyone claiming this is a fool - you think Microsoft is gonna' jump up and say OH NOES, CHRIS BOYD IS TEH LEAVING US? WE MUST REMOVE TEH PATCHOU!!!!12

...lol. Sorry kids, but Microsoft wouldn't have cared. I never "demanded" anything from Microsoft, nor did I formally or informally contact anyone from Microsoft about this. Well done for completely misinterpreting what I said, though.

Also, please point to where Sandi says anywhere that she "threatened to withdraw". Can you? Can you do that? No? Oh well.

Finally, in case you hadn't guessed, Microsoft faced something approaching a mini-revolt amongst a whole spectrum of MVPs when news of this became common knowledge - it's hardly Chris Boyd and Sandi walking into a lobby, Matrix style and unloading a bunch of shells in Bill Gates' face unless Patchou takes a running jump.

3) Those two did start it, ever heard of followers?

It's time for Lex Luthor, kids!

Microsoft started it when they gave Patchou an award - I wrote about it, because - and this may shock and amaze you - that's what I do. I write about breaking security news and amazingly enough, this was considered breaking security news. If people pick up what I say and use it in the press, that ain't my problem. And again - what on Earth did Sandi have to do with anything? Did she even write about this when the news broke? No? Whoops, wrong again.

4) How is something optional and not selected on install pushy?

At the risk of being some sort of lamer who uses a dictionary definition....here's a dictionary definition:

v. pushed, push·ing, push·es
To extend or enlarge
To promote or sell (a product)
To apply pressure against for the purpose of moving

Numbers one and two already sealed the deal, but that last one is particularly interesting. From the install doodah:

"I refuse to give my support".

Mmm, emotional blackmail! Nice! And not pushy at all!

In conclusion, if you don't like how I write, too bad. Though resorting to semantics to "win" a debate is pretty lame anyway.

5) "The Sponsor is optional, and the Adware isn't really a problem".

To everyone that says this - do you actually have the sponsor installed? Do you live with it on a day to day basis? Or did you say no? If you didn't actually install it yourself...why not? Is that how the "Adware isn't a problem"?

6) it is that the MVP status is awarded to people who support and evangelise Microsoft products voluntarily

...nope, I don't evangelise any MS products. I simply got my award because I hunt down and expose Malware losers, Botnet operators and UA pr0n scumbags on a daily basis. In actual fact, I got my award on the basis of this work, the basis of which is a Linux server hack. If someone screws up, they'll get both barrells. Doesn't matter to me whether it's an Adware vendor, one of the major search engines, Microsoft or Barney the Dinosaur. So please don't level accusations of being an MS Fanboi at me, because John Dvorak did, and he tasted the pain.

Hey John, did that whole Avalanche thing you accused me of pimping at the expense of BitTorrent ever come true? No? Then a winner is me, I guess.

7) "I think all the other mvps were jealous just like traxor wrote. They were looking for a reason to remove that mvp, microsoft needed to stop people from focusing on the malware"

This makes no sense. Why would I be jealous of an MVP, when I'm already....an MVP? And wait...stop focusing on Malware? Yeah, okay. Hey everyone that works in the security field, stop focusing on the Malware, double quick!

Bottom line is this: nobody is disputing that Patchou's program is a good one. It obviously is. And I'm certainly not "insulting" him, because I'm not calling him names or ripping on him as an individual. However, as a Security MVP I cannot ignore the fact that his program spreads LOP, sponsorship deal or no sponsorship deal. And ultimately, it makes no sense that Microsoft would "endorse" somebody that helps distribute something that a sizeable majority of their userbase become hijacked with every single day - Adware! And before anyone seizes upon that with frothing mouths and rolling eyes, I'm talking about Adware in the general sense, and also incorporating Mal and Spyware into that description - I'm not just talking about LOP. Ultimately, Microsoft screwed up bad and they'll need to have steps in place to ensure this does not happen again.

But seriously - stop with the "It's Sandi's fault" garbage, because it's simply not true.