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Archive.today has been caught intentionally using JS in the past to target others maliciously, so probably better not to give them the benefit of the doubt: https://www.tomshardware.com/software/search-engines/archive...

by RobotToaster30 minutes ago|

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In that case he was targeting someone who was attempting to dox him to get him arrested. What would be the motivation in this case?

by bulder6 minutes ago|

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Same kind of spite that led them to block the entire country of Finland? The site owner clearly isn't above attacks based on existing in the same country as someone who's slighted them.

by Ukv6 hours ago|

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Seems unlikely to be the case here if what one of the mods said is true:

> We verified this isn't just us or just this source (it's a link in a NYT article to a PDF anyway, about the most safe combo I can think of)

Might be able to find the article in question by looking for NYT links posted to the subreddit recently (if the presumably-deleted archive link was posted separately as a reply).

by avidruntime6 hours ago|

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Perhaps, but it could also just be "take our word for it" devolving into more "take our extended word for it". Being prepared to make an alarming enough claim that it sparks discussion outside of the sub but being unwilling to provide evidence remains suspicious.

That suspicion becomes more grounded when the conversation with the subreddits mod regarding why the claim was made without a willingness to provide evidence looks like this:

>If you're going to make an allegation like this, it's necessary to be specific. Specifically, what is the malware, and what is the evidence that it was "injected"? This is "consult a security researcher" and "speak to the media" territory, not "mod announcement" territory.

>>No it's not. These archive sites are a legal gray area anyway. We don't have to consult anyone to decide not to allow the links. No we are not talking to the media, we're not providing research, or a proof. I'm not calling the mayor. We are reddit mods . This is purely about community management.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/1xhf6qp/archivetod...

by Ukv6 hours ago|

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Found it: archive[.]is/jXv3A

Originally posted here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/1xh57il/removed_by...

The "filed on Tuesday" link seems to go to gullible-thanks[.]com, which redirects to random shady sites.

by avidruntime5 hours ago|

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Reproduced on my end too.

by 3 hours ago|

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deleted

by lysace6 hours ago|

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It looks like some reddit mods on a power trip. Zero actual evidence presented.

Edit: Now there is something here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/1xhf6qp/comment/19...

by avidruntime6 hours ago|

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Is it a power trip stemming from a technical misunderstanding (archive.today exploited to deliver malware =/= archive.today attempting to deliver malware) or is it something else? In any case, reading the comments on reddit, seems like the mods are going out of their way to appeal to hysterics.

Unbelievable that the comment asking for evidence sits at -24 upvotes in that thread as of now. https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/1xhf6qp/archivetod...

by tyrabound1 hours ago|

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As much effort that has been put into trying to subjugate and control archive.today, it makes me immediately leery of believing any of this was some kind of deliberate thing on behalf of archive.today.

It’s not to say it’s not so, but people are fools to just chomp down on the bait.

by mahboi6 hours ago|

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Seems like the moderators don't know what's going on and are blacklisting it out of abundance of caution. Cause whether the malware comes from the archived site or the archiver itself, it means the archiver isn't safe in a way. Which is fine. It's just ridiculous that someone is asking for details and getting ostracized as a result.

by avidruntime6 hours ago|

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I disagree with your characterization of that the mods don't know what's going on.

The moderators seem to be making it quite clear: they do know what is going on and the onus is not on them to prove it, only to notify actions have been taken in response. https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/1xhf6qp/archivetod...

This attitude is extended when someone else asks a question about evidence, instead of replying to the question, the moderator sarcastically calls out the commentor for posting in the sub for the first time: https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/1xhf6qp/archivetod...

The moderator conflates questions about evidence and requests for more details as "making demands" https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/1xhf6qp/archivetod...

Its unusual and arguably suspicious because this attitude is antithetical to the stated point of the thread: To make a PSA to the community. They've also limited the comment section to only flaired users, which seems quite unusual given that this thread is ground-zero for a newsworthy claim.

by mahboi5 hours ago|

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Eh, still think simplest explanation is most likely here, which is that there's no secret motive, but the mods and some users over there are just dumb. I don't mean because they're nontechnical or don't have randomly specific web knowledge (one of them actually does), it's about how they responded to people.

by avidruntime5 hours ago|

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Now that the evidence is shared and reproducible, I agree with you. This should be an embarrassing moment for the r/seattle mods, but I somewhat doubt it will be. Glad a more level headed conversation found its way to HN.

by Arainach5 hours ago|

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What's to be embarassed? These are busy community moderators, not whitehat hackers. They don't owe anyone a writeup of technical vulnerabilities. They owe the community clear communication of rule changes and most people expect explanation of why rules were changed, and they delivered both.

by mahboi4 hours ago|

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They did actually made a technical claim, which is fine, but then when someone said this is serious and asked for details, they responded with attitude and defensiveness. The mods don't need to be white-hat hackers, and even if they were, they're still dumb. They could've just said, all we know at the moment is we kept getting redirected to this malware site, so we're blocking this.

The craziest part is the guy asking even apologized, probably cause he was getting downvoted too much and actually cares about appeasing them.

by Arainach2 hours ago|

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Community moderator is a stressful thankless job, especially on a subreddit with a reasonable amount of (often political) content, PARTICULARLY on one regularly brigaded by trolls and antagonists from a competing subreddit, so I'm going to cut a lot of slack to the unpaid volunteers who put up with a lot of hate directed at them.

by jrflowers5 hours ago|

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> This should be an embarrassing moment for the r/seattle mods, but I somewhat doubt it will be.

Imagine the shame of blocking the spread of malware before attempting to appease somebody that’s falsely accusing of you hysterics.

Every day I wake up and shake my head that another mod on the internet did something without my, the Grand Regent of Online, say so