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Facebook Australia Idle News

Teen Cancels Party After 200,000 RSVP On Facebook 191

Posted by samzenpus from the we're-going-to-need-a-bigger-hors-d'oeuvre-tray dept.
autospa writes "An Australian teen who had to shut down an event page on Facebook after more than 200,000 people RSVP'd for her sweet 16 party now has more than 70,000 people signed up to attend her new party. The girl named Jess called police Monday to say her Facebook account had been hijacked after thousands said they'd attend her birthday party in Chatswood March 26."

*

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Teen Cancels Party After 200,000 RSVP On Facebook More

Teen Cancels Party After 200,000 RSVP On Facebook

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  • News For Nerds (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @06:21PM (#35510058)

    What the fuck has happened to this site? Yet another inane story that happens on Facebook is "stuff that matters"???

    This place has really gone the tubes. It was once sort of cutting edge and look how far it has fallen.

    • Re:News For Nerds (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @06:23PM (#35510092)
      You missed the point. The 'news for nerds' isn't the Facebook hijinks, it's the party at a 16 year-old girls house.

      C'mon, ya neckbeards! JB ahoy!

      • Re:News For Nerds (Score:5, Funny)

        by MachDelta ( 704883 ) on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @06:49PM (#35510354)

        16? Eh, that's really more of a 4chan thing.

        Now if it was a LAN party... well! This is the perfect place to come for ideas on setting up a 100,000 client network!

        • Re:News For Nerds (Score:4, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @07:12PM (#35510586)

          This is the perfect place to come for ideas on setting up a 100,000 client network!

          two words.....token ring

        • It's more so that we all missed the invitation, because of the lack of a Facebook presence we have. Missing parties is what nerds are very good at, and this time a quarter million people knew about it before the nerds at slashdot did. At least now we can all complain about it and feel important once again.

        • Re:News For Nerds (Score:4, Interesting)

          by vlueboy ( 1799360 ) on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @10:10PM (#35512080)

          Aah, thought experiments: How deep would the router tree be? Let's raffle it so "every nth guest brings a 4 port router". For a base four [wikipedia.org] tree we have about 8.30 levels of depth, so 4 ^8.30 approaches 100,000. [bing.com] (4 port routers, mean binary-like trees but with branches of four at each node)

          If using 16-port routers, the tree would be slightly over 4.15 levels [bing.com]. Those routers are expensive, but we'll save on cabling, admin time and power costs. This way we can get to the actual gameplay quickly... instead of troubleshooting what slightly drunk slashdotter inevitably misrouted [wikipedia.org] a few of the runs at the last minute)

          I'm leaving to someone else the hard work of figuring out what is the number of routers to be purchased. I, um, forgot how to work that out. It goes without saying that in the real world the routers would need to be switches, and DHCP overheads, collisions, broadcasts, factoring in wireless routers, bridges and whether we'll allow them and their own interference/collisions ... and all that jazz would make this current topology prohibitive, but it's still fun to think about. After all, we always talk about infinite monkeys writing Shakespeare or valid OSs randomly. But SOMEONE has practice designing their LAN unless you'd rather "sneakernet" to each screen and find who's actually got the winning file!

          Oh, and... parent poster told me he's bringing all the cat 5 and power strips, even if it's just monkeys there ;)

          • How would WLAN do under these circumstances? ... assuming you can cram these people in a hall.

            • Poorly. You'd need the APs distributed sufficiently to prevent overlap. You'd be better having everybody paying $15 to join and buying managed switches and hiring cable monkeys to wire it all up.

              $60 routers between 4 will be horrible, but $1.5m of enterprise networking gear?

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by flosofl ( 626809 )
              For 100,000 wireless clients? In a relatively small area? Even requiring them to use 5GHz 802.11n would be a nightmare to set up. You'd need a centralized RF switch(es) to manage all of the APs. You'd have to use fairly beefy APs so you can leave a lot of the VLAN work on the edge devices. Then you'd have to do a client density analysis to determine how many APs need to be deployed and where for the most efficient coverage. Tuning the antenna gain, making sure adjacent and overlapping RF fields are far apar

          • Wait, did you just post Bing search results on a Microsoft-bashing site? If I had mod points....

        • 16? Eh, that's really more of a 4chan thing.

          No, 12 is more 4chan's preferred age group.

        • 16? Eh, that's really more of a 4chan thing.

          Actually, you're very correct.

          It was on 4chan... I saw this thread float to the top a few times (I'm testing out my "mAny-Feed" project that gives you an RSS feed for any site even if they don't have one; 4chan == good stress test for article deduplication code). That's in-part how she got so many followers. I'm sure it wasn't "just" 4chan, but probably threads posted on multiple online forums specifically to troll the Facebook event -- although, I wouldn't underestimate the number of trolls 4chan can g

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by adolf ( 21054 )

          16 looks legal in, at least, some parts of .au. [avert.org]

          IIRC, it was rather lower (14?) not too many years ago. (Someone will correct me on this whether I am wrong or not.)

        • What, you mean that 700,000 people with their iPhones can't access a single 802.11g connection hooked up to a DSL line? I thought wireless gave you 54Mbps of bandwidth!

      • The story should be more about how these people have no idea when it comes to technology. I mean, what did she expect to happen? More likely, she never even thought about the obvious outcome, then goes crying when the obvious happens. If one wants to control how many people get invited to your party, maybe try sending paper invitations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_invitation [wikipedia.org] . I reference this link as proof they exist, which some might need to believe me. If ever there was a story for my "society

        • Re:News For Nerds (Score:4, Insightful)

          by N1AK ( 864906 ) on Thursday March 17, 2011 @04:57AM (#35514016) Homepage
          Calling the police was easily the smartest thing she did. 99.9% of Facebook events work perfectly well, it's the rare exceptions that some group of 'tards decide to crash. Given the number of people who said they were coming, even if she 'cancels' the event there's a good chance a lot of univited people are going to turn up at her door. Making the police aware in advance makes it easier for them to respond should anything happen, and ensures she isn't suspected of encouraging it if it does.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by crovira ( 10242 )

        She had a golden opportunity to hold it at an outdoor arena, charge $20 a head, control, (viz: soak the idiots who'd show up,) the flow of liquor and beer (after all this IS Australia,) and she DIDN'T BLOODY DO IT?

        I'd call the mental ward and tell them to make a pickup.

      • Re:News For Nerds (Score:4, Funny)

        by syousef ( 465911 ) on Thursday March 17, 2011 @12:15AM (#35512794) Journal

        You missed the point. The 'news for nerds' isn't the Facebook hijinks, it's the party at a 16 year-old girls house.

        It's not the party at all. The news is there's a girl.

    • Re:News For Nerds (Score:5, Funny)

      by MrEricSir ( 398214 ) on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @06:37PM (#35510234) Homepage

      This place has really gone the tubes.

      Has it gone a series of tubes, perhaps?

    • Yeah, it's not the most interesting story, but I do find it vaguely interesting that anonymous (i.e. a random group of dudes not getting laid) would do this. Was this just a prank or perhaps trying to prove some kind of point. I think this would actually be a pretty interesting study of how the event would propagate to so many people.

      At what point did this party reach the threshold between "why would I want to RSVP to this stupid thing" to "haha - it'll be funny if I say I'm going".

      I would imagine
      • From what I saw over the past week, there have been a lot of status updates from random people I know (oddly, around the 20-25 mark and female mostly) going "who the fuck is jess, lol, well i'm going to her party". I doubt she was "hacked" at all, more like some people jumped on it.

        Still can't believe this made it to slashdot, it was bad enough seeing it on my morning news.

    • Re:News For Nerds (Score:5, Interesting)

      by sarysa ( 1089739 ) on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @06:42PM (#35510274)
      As a nerd I think there's plenty of angles to this story...4chan's alleged "hijacking" of the event, the way the internet changes the dynamics of an open invitation event, but most importantly the way that the Aussie government is handling what most of us would consider a prank. It's also amusing to see how misinterpreted the notion of one's account h(ij)acked is by less seasoned users.

      Also, it's very, very funny.
      • The quote at the bottom of this site:
        Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
        • Seems like a less stylish way to requote Napoleon : Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Minwee ( 522556 )

            It's a variation of Occam's Razor, and he "requoted" it four hundred years before Napoleon was born.

            Personally I'm fond of Heinlein's version: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. But don't rule out malice."

      • I'm thinking Wikileaks blackpage faxes as I write this.
        The FBI can't exactly raid all 200,000+ homes worldwide, even though virtually every FB account has public names* had lots more raidable than 4chan. Funny, Anonymous won because it wasn't so Anonymous --it's because it's obvious that something now has to be done with thousands of prankers.

        * Plus addresses, GPS data from phone users and other random leads that with statistical certainty some thousands of those kids forgot to hide prior to the party raid

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by syousef ( 465911 )

        As a nerd I think there's plenty of angles to this story...4chan's alleged "hijacking" of the event, the way the internet changes the dynamics of an open invitation event, but most importantly the way that the Aussie government is handling what most of us would consider a prank. It's also amusing to see how misinterpreted the notion of one's account h(ij)acked is by less seasoned users.

        Also, it's very, very funny.

        You have to understand it in context. It's funny to think about, but a 200,000 person event in a suburban back yard results in a very large price tag in damage for the family, and a very unsafe event for anyone silly enough to show up. Just Google: facebook party trashed house

      • Well said! It's about reading between the lines.

        I find it annoying how so many claim their accounts have been 'hijacked' or 'hacked', while they obviously meant 'password-post-it-on-my-monitor' or a 'ID-10-T' error.

    • Yeah, too bad i dont have point, i would have given you all 5 as underrated...
      I gotta say to cmdtaco, your site sucks now because too many inane people are deciding on what stories should be viewed and you are losing your focus as to what this site meant for all its main users....you get one lone columnist who thinks he will be clever and talk about facebook yet again to get the page ranking up for slashdot.....hey wait, i guess that must be it, the more they write about slashdot, the better the ranking on

  • Who's responsible... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Tigger's Pet ( 130655 ) on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @06:21PM (#35510066) Homepage

    It says, in TFA, that "A 17-year-old boy was charged today for hijacking the invitation". I wonder what he has actually been charged with? Hijacking of an on-line invite seems a little over-exuberant by the Aussie police.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by ron_ivi ( 607351 )

      If you read TFA, they also suggest that the hacker group anonymous is behind it.

      Perhaps they hired HB Gary to do their research for them.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by MightyMartian ( 840721 )

        Ah, Anonymous. Self-righteous destructive fucktards of the world unite! "We'll piss in your pool to save you!"

        • Re:Who's responsible... (Score:4, Informative)

          by MooseMuffin ( 799896 ) on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @07:01PM (#35510490)
          Good to see that after all the high profile stuff Anonymous has been linked to lately, they haven't forgotten to continue doing petty, immature stuff for the lulz.

        • Ah, Anonymous. Self-righteous destructive fucktards of the world unite! "We'll piss in your pool to save you!"

          And that was the last we ever heard of MightyMartian.....

          I have wondered how many members of Anonymous are Slashdotters?

      • WTF. Now whenever anyone signs off with 'anonymous' it means they're part of some mythical group invented by the media.

    • And, to make it worse, TFA seem to indicate that she shut the event down on FB after more than 200k people RSVPed, then created a new event which more than 70k people have replied to. Don't people ever learn? This is why evolution should dictate that she can't breed.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by JimboG ( 1467977 )
      He was charged with using a carriage service to harass - same as if he had called her up and abuse her. Fair enough I think.

      • Yeah. A weak-minded person's feelings might get hurt. Can't have that!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cynyr ( 703126 )

        idk, it's not like she lost the use of her facebook account, or phone during those signups. It is mildly harrassing, but isn't there a way to make an event invite only on facebook?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by JimboG ( 1467977 )
          Yes, she should have made the event private. But 16 year olds do stupid things. I really don't think the NSW police will take the 17 year old to court over this. He'll get a slap on the wrist. The cops in NSW are the 'look like they are doing something without actually doing anything' type. As long as people can read the papers and see there is something being done it all seems to be good enough. Nothing will come from this, except a chuckle.
    • You guys sure that she just wasn't dumb and left the invitation open to the public and this dude just put it up on a blog or something? That sounds pretty damn reasonable.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mangu ( 126918 )

      I wonder what he has actually been charged with?

      Bringing Goatse candy [break.com] to the party.

    • Re:Who's responsible... (Score:4, Informative)

      by Hecatonchires ( 231908 ) on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @08:12PM (#35511038) Homepage

      He cloned the invite page and reupped it after she closed hers. Along with home address, phone etc.

      From The Australian [theaustralian.com.au] Newspaper

      A police statement released to Associated Press today said a 17-year-old boy had been charged with using a telecommunications carrier to harass or offend someone.

      He is due in court in April.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HJED ( 1304957 )
      The original event was posted by the girl, but when she took it down he created a fake account and recreated the invite. The original invite got 2,000 or somthing rsvps but the fake event got about 300,000.
  • Her account wasn't hijacked. Her parents found out about the party and put the kibosh on it.
  • We have the fucking best parties!
  • 1) Not news for nerds, and definitely not something that matters.
    2) Solved simply by not allowing strangers; make a list of allowed people and anyone not on the list stays on the street.
    • I would say that it IS worthless. But you can't say it's not mildly entertaining to hear about (or tell someone else about).

    • And 3) No booze since it's an underage party. Why bother at all?

    • 1) Not news for nerds, and definitely not something that matters.

      2) Solved simply by not allowing strangers; make a list of allowed people and anyone not on the list stays on the street.

      She claims her account was hacked. The article says it may have been done by Anonymous, and 270,000 people you don't know with a 16-year-old girl's home address is a Bad Thing. It has some level of relevance to the /. audience as we all have an opinion about Anonymous, and we all have an opinion about privacy.

      • She claims her account was hacked.

        Rather, she's looking for an excuse OR someone knows/guessed her extremely insecure password.

        The article says it may have been done by Anonymous

        OH NO, NOT ANONYMOUS.

        and 270,000 people you don't know with a 16-year-old girl's home address is a Bad Thing.

        More like, the vast majority of people don't give a shit and thought the huge number was amusing. Oh and I suggest taking your number out of the phone book, if people you don't know having your address is a bad thing.

        It has s

    • Yes. The Southpark episode [southparkstudios.com] was much better even...at least that had a Tron reference!

      Not news for nerds, geeks, or even someone outside of Australia. I mean what am I going to do...get a plane ticket to attend that party?!?! Let's be real here...

  • Doesn't anyone remember Kate's party? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @06:27PM (#35510142)

    It was less than spectacular. [encycloped...matica.com]

  • What the Hell!? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The party is cancelled!? I already bought plane tickets and a present!

  • SlashFACEBOOKdot, the new look (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Nyder ( 754090 ) on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @06:36PM (#35510216) Journal

    Do we really need news about facebook every day?

    I took a break from slashdot for a few years, came back a year ago, and seriously, this site is sucking even more now.

    facebook is anything but nerd like. It's way too fucking popular. it's programed in a style most of us would never do, and honestly, the site probably offends most of us.

    Unless the story is facebook crashes and burns and someone forgot to make backups, please spare us.

    Seriously, fuck facebook and it's stupid news stories that shouldn't be on this site.

    No, Fuck YOU SLASHDOT for being a lame fucking site these days.

    News for nerds? You even know what a fucking nerd is?

    Do you even know what NEWS is?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dhall ( 1252 )

      This is the second ispyce article I've seen show up on Slashdot in the last few days.
      I didn't think it was possible for an editor to be worse than kdawson...
      The site is a known link spammer and the editors here should known better than to send them any traffic.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Tim C ( 15259 )

      It's simple - the slashdot hive mind* hates Facebook.

      This story is evidence of Facebook being bad.

      Therefore, it gets posted, in the hopes of lots of "zomg lol Facebook is teh l4m3!!!" comments. Simple.

      (* Oh yes there is one, in so far as certain opinions are in the overwhelming majority here amongst posters and moderators alike; yes, there are always dissenting opinions, but they are in the minority)

  • these times, they are a changin'
  • This seems to be one of the rare hilarious events that may happen on facebook.

    if anonymous was behind this, they just got a few more approval points in my book. its downright hilarious.

  • I know! (Score:5, Funny)

    by blair1q ( 305137 ) on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @06:51PM (#35510374) Journal

    Let's slashdot it!

  • Some actual news stories about this (Score:4, Informative)

    by thehossman ( 198379 ) on Wednesday March 16, 2011 @07:00PM (#35510468)

    If a random blogger is going to submission spam slashdot with all of his two paragraph blogs plagiarizing news articles, the least he could do is actually LINK to some genuinely useful coverage of the story on a reputable sites...

  • She should have said,"Bring your own food, and bring me a present if you can afford it." 200,000 presents could be interesting.
  • I quit Facebook a few months ago so don't really know if it is still the case, but back then I noticed that if someone you were friends with responded to an invite, even if that invite wasn't originally to "me" I could everyone who was invited and their comments to the event. It happened to be one of those "I forgot my phone number" events and I couldn't believe how many people just posted their phone numbers for anyone in the world to see. Let the friends that I actually knew know that their info was pub
  • I think you got some Idle on your front page.

  • This was a meme in 2010 [knowyourmeme.com]. The new 'party' is a repeat

  • I'm not complaining about the news / not news content of this, but it's at least 3 days old (for us here in Oz, even on the other side like I am). What's happened to /.'s timeliness?

  • The girl made an open invitation to her school, said that people were free to invite others and now that the thing went viral (well d'uh) she's saying that it was hijacked? Then what does she do? She cancels the Facebook event and opens another one and did the same thing, now she's surprised that it's happening again.

    Your invite wasn't hijacked you moron, you made it open!

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