Random penname changes on inactive accounts?

[Guest strange things]

So, there’s an author who was once fairly well known in the Lumione/Snamione ship of HP: Snape’s Goddess, or as she was known here, Snapes_Goddess. Her pen name, after nearly a decade of no activity, has been changed to solderisgirl0709: https://members.adult-fanfiction.org/profile.php?no=1296830063

Now, I know that’s a user’s prerogative and all. But it’s odd, and it’s not just her. WildKitsune’s name was changed “dweek”: https://members.adult-fanfiction.org/profile.php?no=1296842334 with about four years of inactivity on that account.

You can see on WildKitsune’s profile that her image still shows the original pen name. And she’s still writing under WildKitsune on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildKitsune/pseuds/WildKitsune/works, so it’s odd that she would change her name here and not there, or at least list the name under ‘pseuds’ if she had really been the one to change it.

Is it possible that this is related to the thing you’re having to fix with the disclaimers being changed to links?

That thing, since I know my vague description is wholly unhelpful. Sorry.

Also, is there a reason that a number of older HP stories with “Hermione” in the summary have “Herm” as a story tag when it doesn’t apply? (See above profiles for examples.) And is there a way to fix that?

[Guest strange things]

Another inactive account, this one with no new posts since 2012, where the name has been changed.

https://members.adult-fanfiction.org/profile.php?no=1296895002

Original user name was jaspersluv1863. The current pen name is jsu1660n.

It’s too odd to be coincidental that these name changes have shown up after / around the same time as that hack to redirect story links.

[Guest strange things]

More:

https://members.adult-fanfiction.org/profile.php?no=1296780550: originally Ms_Velvela (the LJ link with the same name is still on the profile). Now “witch”.

https://members.adult-fanfiction.org/profile.php?no=1296870161: originally Lady_Moonwolf. Now “christineyoung”.

https://members.adult-fanfiction.org/profile.php?no=1296889004: originally Abyss. Now “NinjaVampirex3”.

https://members.adult-fanfiction.org/profile.php?no=1296862243: originally cosette.x. Now “francesk15”.

I’m sure there are many more. I’ve only found one that is plausible the account holder changed the user name: https://members.adult-fanfiction.org/profile.php?no=1296902509&view=story&zone=hp, originally “Navarro09”, now “shsa0702”.

I don’t know if this has happened in any other archives as I don’t read as extensively in them and am unlikely to remember individual author’s names.

[BronxWench]

These random name changes may well be a result of the injection attack on the site earlier this month. I’m tagging our code queen @manta2g and @DemonGoddess regarding this issue. I’ve seen a few random name changes myself, but at the moment, with the archive in read-only mode, there’s not anything I can do myself to address the issue.

[Guest Matt01]

At the moment, due to it being in read only. It’s effectively locked down, until the site is fixed.

[BronxWench]

I believe profiles are now fixed. The amazing @manta2g tells us that any page with a green bar at the top of the page is fixed and working. If I click on my own archive profile, I can edit my bio, update my pen name or email address, and add to various fields.

However, if pen names were changed at random, the authors would need to be aware that the name has changed. In the case of older accounts where the author hasn’t been active in some time, it could be an issue.

Edited September 30, 2022 by BronxWench

[DemonGoddess]

Yes, this was all part of the sql injection.  First the site needs to be completely secured.  THEN I can start going through individual members and fixing wherever that was changed.

[Guest strange things]

I was about to freak out about no profiles coming up at all until I realized it’s every profile on the site / in the archives, not just the ones linked in this thread. Boy, that was scary. But I don’t imagine you’ve deleted your own accounts, and your profiles are coming up with the same “This Members has no profile set up” message [btw: typo – “Members” should be “member”], so heart attack averted. (Or at least postponed.)

[manta2g]

Sorry this was my bad, between haste and fatigue I uploaded the wrong version… Fixed now.