Behold, the story of Spyware and Digdeeper, from nothing to the community split (and beyond!), 2nd edition. In the beginning there was a unknown "spyware" XMPP MUC which existed for an unknown period of time, likely in the early days of the "Online Spyware Watchdog" circa 2017 (though this is not confirmed). Following this were two rooms titled "digdeeper" and they were hosted at RiseUp and Disroot. They traded places as the main one, because of, at certain points, instability of one or the other. The last one of these two to be designated as main was the Disroot based MUC in late 2019. Following instability at Disroot, a new "Spyware" MUC was made by user "tom" in late 2019 (? I'm not 100% sure of the date but let's roll with it) and it was used for a brief period of time before returning to Disroot. However, shortly after this, the "Pissroot" protests of late 2019 occurred in the Disroot based MUC and a mass walk out to the Nuegia MUC happened. This became the main MUC for the community. After the revelation in early 2020/late 2019 that OMEMO (jokingly called OMEME) encryption was not designed or intended for public MUCs, a new MUC was created, hosted at Nuegia, and members only. It was often referred to as "[redacted]", and sometimes as "pepper", "HardCore" or "HC". It's official name is and was classified. While ultimately OMEMO was deemed too difficult to use even in a smaller members only MUC, due to the requirement that everyone be added to everyone else's roster and that some refused to do so. The members only room increased in size as well thought of community members were added to it's ranks over time. It grew to have immense power over the goings on of Spyware and the wider community. Also occurring in this time: - The handover of "The Online Spyware Watchdog" from the original owner to digdeeper (the person), and again from digdeeper to a secretive group called "The Shadow" which itself was headquartered in the HC. - Kompowiec banned from Spyware - nCoV-2019/COVID-19 pandemic begins - The BLM/Antifa/Floyd riots of 2020 begin At some point in November 2020 digdeeper became absent due to medical reasons. It was during this time Tom became the main admin, and others, namely Samanto and Czar were appointed to admin (Czar needs confirmation). Czar did not last as admin and went on to create Discordia, which became referred to as "saltr", a place where people banned from Spyware went. This was a reference to I2P-IRC, where it was said that people banned from #pepper and #salt all went to #saltr. In July 2020, during which digdeeper was present, the christianbob occurrence happened, leading to lots of memes. See the "cb logs" for more on this. During one event early in HC's history a user named M16 was added. However, tom did not like this person and removed him from HC as well as demoted metheperson from admin. Later on in HC's history, M16 was re-added to HC. But after an event in HC occurred involving potential suicide (details will remain classified) he was removed again and left or was banned/muted from Spyware (versions of this event differ). Sometime after this metheperson was made admin again. Baobab and Czar were promoted at the same time. Another user, known as TAJ ("theanonymousjoker") joined somewhere in this time frame, but was disliked and banned after they suggested they may have been responsible for a new era of Spyware. There were other issues some had with them too, including being "pro-CCP"/Shayna and talking about smartphones too much. It was proposed at some point that rules be adopted for the MUC, to govern when someone is banned. This was vetoed for being able to be used against the moderators. Baobab and Elda were appointed admins of Spyware, baobab later owner. A user named Duion joined in mid 2021. They were known for typing a lot of text. Some felt they were irrational. They were banned. Digdeeper, who had now returned for a long time, was getting tired of all the banning and Duion was the straw that broke the camel's back. Furious at the continued banning, he responded by unbanning everyone. This lead to unease among the incumbent admins. By this point baobab had been appointed Owner (and had been for a while) as tom had demoted himself to admin. Keep in mind tom in the host of the server and thusly wields considerable power. Tom having Duion blocked, saw TAJ respond to Duion with a sentence out of context. Incredulous about what he perceived as racism, he banned TAJ exclaiming "why did you unban that asshole!?". Pressure mounted as the HC was at an impasse. Some supported the ban, and others did not. An attempt was made for a mumble meeting between baobab, tom, metheperson and digdeeper. All except digdeeper were on board, who refused. After PMs between metheperson and digdeeper took place, a new "digdeeper" room was founded at RetroImages (which user Diego hosted), where digdeeper became admin, and he resigned as Owner/Admin of Spyware. An excerpt from HC: 08/27/2021 | 01:12:38 AM metheperson: Behold, the words of digdeeper mean as follows! "Spyware", as in #spyware@conference.nuegia.net shall be left to those who wish to continue the concept of chat quality. Do as you please! Digdeeper will move operations to #digdeeper@muc.retroimages.net ! 08/27/2021 | 01:12:38 AM Diego: its over 08/27/2021 | 01:13:07 AM (GNUmerologist): Lol nice 08/27/2021 | 01:13:09 AM Baobab: metheperson, that doesn't make any sense See this quote from Elda for context: 08/27/2021 | 04:40:24 AM (GNUmerologist): Well there was an issue of TAJ and Duion being in the MUC, We wanted to hold a meeting about it with DD, Tom, Metheperson, and Baobab. Attempted 3 times. 3 times failed. DD understanding there is a rift in the chat, stepped down. No meeting ever took place. PMs by DD and Meth took place. DD made his own chat, stepped down as owner, and Baobab moved me into his place. Thus the community split. A few days later, baobab, speaking in the HC announced the deprecation of the HC. A new MUC, known as "HS" and "red pepper" was created to replace it, hosted on RetroImages. 4 months have passed since the split, and new culture has already emerged as a result, largely stemming from the newly christened rocksalt (digdeeper) MUC. Notable events include the creation of the iceberg and all the events listed therein, the continuation of the "Muslim theology club arc", and the cementing of Howard Price and Dixon lawnmower based memes. Jokes including spamming the word "Dixon" over and over, and joking that a given person is "Howard Pricing it", usually at a late hour such as 4AM, have become common. On 11/29/2021 an event known as the "golden zipper event" occurred, a giant dong was posted in the spyware MUC by member Diego, with the words: 11/29/2021 | 02:50:05 AM Diego: i did not harass you (dumb american lol) and also baobab was being really rude about that mute and you know it, but anyway mr. adult if you wanna drop it, sure, it must be very convenient ... i will do that for you, not without a little gift to close this with a golden zipper however : □□□□□□□□□□□□▄▄██▄██▄▄ □□□□□□□□□□▄█□□□□█□□□□█▄ □□□□□□□□□▄█□□□□□□□□□□□█▄ □□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□█▄□□□□□█□□□□□▄█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□▄▄▄□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□□□▄████▄█□□□□□□□□□□□█▄████▄ □□▄█□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□█▄ □█□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□█ █□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□█ █□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□█ █□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□█ █□□□□□□□□□□□□□▄▄█▄▄□□□□□□□□□□□□□█ □█□□□□□□□□□□□█□□□□□█□□□□□□□□□□□█ □□█▄□□□□□□□▄█□□□□□□□█▄□□□□□□□▄█ □□□□█▄▄▄▄▄█□□□□□□□□□□□█▄▄▄▄▄█ This followed the banning and muting, and evasion of said banning and muting by various sock puppets of Diego, the owner of RetroImages, the host of rocksalt. The event stemmed from a disagreement regarding federation of Nuegia to RetroImages over Tor, where owners Tom of Nuegia and Diego of RetroImages accused each other of failing to fix the federation issue. The RetroImages position was that normally, on Tor, TLS certs are not used. The Nuegia position was that it is necessary to prove identity with a certificate. Nuegia has this requirement for it's S2S federation. RetroImages had this disabled. The Plot thickened when when the Nuegia administration was falsely accused of participating in gay furry sex orgies in California or Oregon. Diego later admitted to spreading the rumors and retracted and apologized. Somewhere in the middle of all this, and towards the beginning, RetroImages enabled TLS certs, and federation worked again. It was not until a month or two after this that communication attempts where made by Diego to Tom, who along with Baobab claimed Diego was incompetent and nasty. Eventually Diego was unbanned by Tom at the request of Baobab, the day after a Mumble meeting between Baobab, Metheperson, Tom, and DeprecatedFeline. It is unclear if this Mumble meeting had any effect on the decision. RetroImages since the beginning has also supported I2P, and is as of yet the only known clearnet available server that officially does (kallist sort of does, but Tor is "preferred"). The legend known as Genetica purportedly returned on 12/17/2021, who was cast out from Spyware and falsely accused of 4chanery following the Genetic Whore incident. For another take, from the perspective of Elda, check out: https://eldritchdata.neocities.org/MISC/TheTaleOfSpywareChat.html