[Astronouth7303]

Quite a bit more trust would have been established if it had been hosted by FIRST, NEMO, a team, or some other group associated with FIRST. It would also have been helpful to say on the page who was handling this (FIRST, NEMO, a team, a state planning group, individuals, etc). The lack of these clues, in addition to the very large security hole (both for privacy and for the server), made many of us seriously question the validity of the whole setup.

Having said that, I wish to apologize to Steve Cremer and the FIRST community at large for playing a major role in taking down the server. By taking out a legitimate site, no matter what other good doing so did, I did wrong. Nothing I say above or below changes this.

(Detailed explanation deleted by Mike Aubry Team 47 Chief Delphi)



(Detailed explanation deleted by Mike Aubry Team 47 Chief Delphi)

Understand that at the time I had good interests in mind -- protecting the FIRST community from phishing attacks.

This is also a good lesson for all those involved - webmasters writing forms, PR people writing pages, and all of us keeping our eyes out. I misunderstood the intent of the website, partly from the lack of information on the site, partly from my lack of research. I learned about unintended consequences and Murphy's law (I try to do a good thing and it turns out I'm hindering another good thing and hurting my own community).

Again, none of this excuses the fact that I unknowingly attacked and took down a legitimate site trying to accomplish an honorable goal -- recognizing mentors. Everyone involved (which is almost everyone in FIRST) has a right to dislike me for it.

If you wish to talk to me more, I will be at championships.

PS - You'll find every spoofed team has a team number greater than or equal to 2500.