chinaSMACK, the darling (or scourge) of China’s English blogosphere, appears to be under a Denial of Service (DoS) attack, and has largely been inaccessible since Friday.
If you're lucky, you might see this screen of chinaSMACK's unofficial (official?) mascot.
For those who unfamiliar with what a DoS attack is, it basically involves a ton of computers simultaneously and repeatedly accessing a website. This artificial high traffic overwhelms the website’s server, gobbling up the server’s resources, and effectively “crowds out” real legitimate visitors. Think of it as you walking towards a magazine stand to buy a magazine only to have a crowd of people rush in front of you to grab every available copy. Unlike real people who buy the magazine to actually read it, these are essentially robots whose sole purpose is to stop you from getting a copy. The person controlling these robots simply doesn’t want you to see this magazine.
If you're unlucky, you'll see this 500 Internal Server Error or a 503 Temporarily Unavailable Error screen.
While certain people have suggested that this is chinaSMACK getting GFWed (Great Firewalled), I am not personally aware of the Chinese government censors using DoS attacks to restrict content they find objectionable. They usually just block the website’s IP or specific sensitive keywords. DoS attacks instead are usually caused by individuals with an axe to grind, a grudge, or an agenda. The easy suspect in this case might be some hypernationalistic Chinese fenqing who might think chinaSMACK portrays China in a light they do not appreciate. However, the suspect really could be anyone. Maybe a jilted but tech-savvy ex-lover? Who knows.
All we know is that the website remains inaccessible and has been down longer than it ever has before (I think). Although a bit narcissistic, it is always something of a shame when one of our “own” is subject to such censorship, intimidation, or harassment. This is especially so when the victim in this case is a Chinese national who has spent much time and money building up what many of us consider to be a great destination for learning just a wee bit more about a wee different side of China and its people. Beyond time and money, when (and if) this DoS attack ends, it will have cost chinaSMACK a ton of traffic. For a website that has climbed up to Danwei and Shanghaiist levels, that’s a huge setback.
Then again, maybe it is because chinaSMACK has grown so large that it has gotten on the radar of those who would rather see it dead.
Is this the end of chinaSMACK?
Adam J. Schokora’s 56minus1 (now officially Fifty5?) just reported on this as well.
June 4, 2009 UPDATE: After nearly a week of being inaccessible, chinaSMACK is back up, with a new post about the “massacre” of dogs in China.
Haha. Fauna’s ex-lover killing the site.
Hopefully whoever is doing this will post about it online. Then Fauna can translate it for us when it’s back. :)
LoL, yeah, stranger things have happened…as chinaSMACK was a testament to!
That’s so meta.
Dude…what?
I can’t proof it, but it’s Edison Chen.
Big Fan of the site.
Sad to see it down. Like most DOS attacks, it is always possible to find the culprit. I’m betting it is someone from China. Which would be weird.
SLANDER! You all know, I’m not that tech savy.
You all realize that this is only going to make the site even more popular. Goodbye Danwai and Shanghai list… (joking)
maybe its from the CCP trying to censor the truth!!!!!
Why a Chinese fenqing? Can’t it just be some individual with an ax to grind? The mindless, automatic assumption is unhealthy and limits one’s view.
Right, I just said that would be the easy suspect. It could be anyone with any kind of motive.
I don’ t know about you guys but the site has felt like it’s been under a DoS attack since Feburary. I’ve never been able to connect during the day on the US east coast, it only seems to work at night. Also, loading the site has been painfully slow for months now, it’s a mess.
If Chinasmut have something intelligent to discuss about, then maybe someone will not have an axe to grind with them.
I’m very diappointed that this has happened to this site as I always am interested in reading about China and its people. As a friend of the CHinese people and a HOng KOng resident, I found this site to be informative and a gateway to the poeple of CHina. Please bring it back!
OMG! Kai what will you do with your time now!?
seriously i miss chinasmack and always wondered why it didn’t get shut down sooner. great expose. good work.
LoL, shin, I don’t know! I’m twiddling my thumbs in abject boredom! I absolutely must wrangle some of my chinaSMACK arch-enemies here to continue the never-ending war! ;)
For our sake, let’s hope chinaSMACK doesn’t get shut down permanently. I’ve got my fingers crossed for the DoS to subside sometime after June 4th (hopefully soon after). Then again, that’s just blind hope that the DoS has anything to do with the anniversary at all. Blah. Cheers, mate.
I’ve got withdrawal symptoms also.
That said I personally suspect it’s one of the many trolls, who used to like to post there – finally having blown a fuse.
LoL! Which troll? smickno? That’s the only one I can think of that reveled in his self-professed trollness. Somehow I don’t think he’s that tech-savvy though.
The only one? Come on there were LOADS of them. It’s just most of them weren’t very memorable –
Think about it a bit, it’s doesn’t have to be the troll in person
I’ve found a way of sort of accessing ChinaSmack. If you look at the front page using GoogleCache, you can then navigate away to the normal links. So maybe it’s just the front page that’s being screwed up.
On the story Chinese Study Abroad Students Told Not To Come Home
“CHINASMACK COMMENTS TRANSLATED INTO CHINESE PUT ON ANTI-CNN.COM”
Sorry clicked on “Submit Comment” before I finished, so my last comment makes even less sense that usual. Thus you can eliminate me from your enquiries straight away. I’m not tech savy.
The only one? Come on there were LOADS of them. It’s just most of them weren’t very memorable – stupid names making short stupid comments.
Think about it a bit, it’s doesn’t have to be the troll in person. They could go onto another website, complain about ChinaSmack, and let someone else do all the work.
I’ve found a way of sort of accessing ChinaSmack. If you look at the front page using GoogleCache, you can then navigate away to the normal links. So maybe it’s just the front page that’s being screwed up.
On the story Chinese Study Abroad Students Told Not To Come Home there is a comment:
“CHINASMACK COMMENTS TRANSLATED INTO CHINESE PUT ON ANTI-CNN.COM”
Maybe this could have something to do with attack instead.
LoL, yes, I think your suggestion is reasonable, but there’s just no way we could know for certain. Are the people on Anti-CNN that evil? I haven’t seen what chinaSMACK comments were translated into Chinese onto their website, but I can definitely entertain some hyper-nationalist tech-savvy fenqing on there deciding he didn’t like the crowd on chinaSMACK and engage in some guerrilla warfare!
hey
heads up
might be my connection, but you never know…
just can’t access it right now,
probably just the weather….
YO,
another update,
looks like ChinaSmack is down again!
I just got back from Beijing the Midi festival was 牛B
I miss the SMACK!