The art of Revenge

This is a copy of the Frequently Asked Questions of Revenge. This is an unedited version, and should remain that way.

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THE ALT.REVENGE FAQ
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Written by The Last Viking.
Revision 1.30 - http://www.ekran.no/html/revenge/

This document may be copied and distributed aslong as it is done without any
charge, any kind of alternation and aslong as the distributor regulary check
the home-web-address [above] for new versions and thus update any old ones.

Assisted by:
Steven Schultz, Duncan McCardle, Cyberknight, Sideshow and What's Up Doc?
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"If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you
poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"
-- William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

"Oh people, know that you have committed great sins. If you ask me what proof I
have for these words, I say it is because I am the punishment of God. If you
had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me
upon you!" -- Genghis Khan, Bukhara 1220

"To refrain from imitation is the best revenge."
-- Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher, mid 100AD

"Follow me if I advance, kill me if I retreat, avenge me if I die."
-- Mary Matalin

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for
it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."
-- Romans 12:19

"Our sense of revenge is as exact as our mathematical faculty, and until both
terms of the equations are satisfied we can not get over the sense of
something left undone." -- Inazo Nitobe, Bushido

"If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgement; I will
render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me."
-- Deuteronomy, Ch.32, V.41

"Sad is the man without friends, but sadder still is the man without enemies"
-- Jose Marti

"To win a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the highest excellence;
the highest excellence is to subdue the enemy's army without fighting at all"
-- Sun-tzu

"Swift vengeance waits; and art subdues the strong!" -- Alexander Pope

"To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in [due]
time: for the day of their calamity [is] at hand, and the things that shall
come upon them make haste." -- Deuteronomy, ch.32, v.35

"A man's greatest work is to break his enemies, to drive them before him, to
take from them all the things that have been theirs, to hear the weeping of
those that cherished them, to take their horses between his knees and press in
his arms the most desirable of their women." -- Genghis Kahn

"The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance; he shall wash his
feet in the blood of the wicked." -- Psalms, Ch.58, V.10

"When we are struck at without a reason, we should stike back again very hard;
I am sure we should--so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do
it again." --Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte

"Illigitimi Noncarborundum -- Don't let the bastards wear you down!"
-- Grandmother Jeanne
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CONTEXT
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1.0 THE NEWSGROUP ALT.REVENGE
1.01 What is alt.revenge about?
1.02 What is alt.revenge not about?
1.03 What should I think about before posting in alt.revenge?
1.04 How do I present my problem in the newsgroup?
1.05 What kind of ethic codes should I follow in alt.revenge?
1.06 What is the difference between revenge and pranks?

2.0 GENERAL REVENGE THINKING
2.01 How do I plan my revenge?
2.02 When should I avoid revenge?
2.03 How do I avoid getting caught?
2.04 How long should I wait before I get even?
2.05 How do I find someone's social security number, address, phone number?

3.0 REVENGE ON THE INTERNET
3.01 How can I use Internet for revenge purposes?
3.02 How do I trace a forged article or email?
3.03 What is mailbombing and how do I mailbomb someone?
3.04 How do I deal with internet crime and harassment?
3.05 Where do I find search-engines and anonymous-remailers on the net?

4.0 GETTING MORE INFORMATION
4.01 Where can I find revenge related material on the Internet?
4.02 Where can I find revenge related material in the real world?

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THE NEWSGROUP ALT.REVENGE
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1.01 What is alt.revenge about?

The purpose of the newsgroup alt.revenge is to discuss means and methods of
revenge. We write about revenge schemes, exchange ideas and solve problems
related to this issue. We often have people posting an articles describing a
special problem that they might have. We then try to help them solve the
problem, or to get even with their mark. We strive to bring out the creativity
in ourselves, and to make revenge look a bit a more like an art form rather
than the ol'childish cut his tires, kill him, steal or destroy his property
style tactics.

1.02 What is alt.revenge not about?

Alt.revenge is not a newsgroup that was meant to be put on a long cross-
posting list. It sometimes happens just because the original sender thinks
that we "mean" avengers will stirr things up. We really do hate that! So,
before you answer an article, make sure to trim the newsgroups line if it
contain other newsgroups than alt.revenge. If you still want to send to all
the newsgroups in a crossposting thread, then we suggest that you write a
followup-to: line in the header, where you exclude alt.revenge.

Alt.revenge is not a newsgroup with people who wish to do your revenge. You
have to do your own revenge yourself. To hear that someone made trouble for
your mark doesn't really make you feel much better. We sometimes get request
about mail-bombing other user's account. We will not do that.

Alt.revenge is not an advertising forum. It is nice to know about revenge
related books and surplus, but there is really where the limit goes. The usual
way to respond to spam are described in The Avenger's Handbook.

Alt.revenge is not a newsgroup where we should fight flame wars. There are
often users who deserves a pranky comment, really "beggin" to be flamed, but
it is still not our main purpose to do so.

Alt.revenge is not a place where you should post articles like, "I forgot to
logout, please flame me." Put those articles in alt.flame or somewhere else,
we really don't care about them.

Alt.revenge is not a newsgroup for discussion of how to kill or seriously
injure people [or animals.] Although some of our suggestion wanderer in the
shadowland of right and wrong [from the law's view] it doesn't mean that we
want to break it all the time. Actually it's much more fun to make your mark
embarrased in front of his friends. Also remember that things, like cars and
houses, are often insured and protected, and if the mark get the money back,
there are no real loss on his behalf.

Alt.revenge is not a group for prankers. We sometimes get inspiration and
ideas from prankers, but there is a big difference between revenge and pranks.
For prankers we recomend alt.shenaningans.

Alt.revenge is not a group for people who want to make bombs to blow up
people. If you're seeking knowledge in making bombs, then we suggest you take
a look into one of the pyrotechnics groups. One of the reasons why we don't
recommend making bombs is because explosives are considered unstable at best,
and you never know who it's going to hit. Another thing is that if you start
making bombs, you go from being an avenger to becoming a terrorist.

1.03 What should I think about before posting in alt.revenge?

The first thing you should think about is that there could be thousands of
people reading what you write. If you article isn't about a revenge
scheme/tactic or some sort of problem, then you should make sure it's an
article with a text that people who read the newsgroup would want to read.

If you wish to comment an article in a way that only the originator would
benefit from reading, then write to him personally [email] instead of posting
articles that the rest of the group wouldn't want to read anyway.

SPAM, i.e. articles from people who're trying to sell their services, not
related to the newsgroup, and make money fast schemes, should be dealt with by
complaining to the system administrator at the site of the article's origin.
Make sure you've got the right origin site, as spammers are evil when it comes
to forging other people's email addresses. Do not post a complaint followup to
the newsgroup! There are also regulars in the newsgroup who will cancel spam
on sight, and we would prefer if you ignore the problem, instead of escalating
it.

Flamers, i.e. obnoxious teenagers who never got enough attention while being
children, are dealth with by ignoring them. The term troll is also commonly
used when a user is trying to stirr up things by writing something offensive
or obnoxious in a newsgroup. Exceptions here could be when someone write
something real stupid [on topic], and you just can't let things go by without
a smart-ass comment.

You also should be aware that some threads might be crossposted. That means
that they're being sent to multiple newsgroups. Take a look at the header, in
the "newsgroups:" line. Make sure it's limited to only relevant newsgroups.

1.04 How do I present my problem in the newsgroup?

Many people come to alt.revenge with an article like this, "I am pissed at my
brother/sister/ex-girl or boyfriend, any suggestions for a good revenge?" then
they post it. The problem with this is that we have no clue who your mark is,
what he is doing, where he is working, if he has a girl/boy-friend, if he has
some strange habits or if he sits on his room all day and play the guitar [like
my brother] So, please people, give us a clue about who your mark is. Tell us
what he has done, and give us as much relevant information about him as
possible.

You don't have to write a whole book about it, some clues should be sufficient
and would give more response than the long/short messages. Ideally it should
be on about 5-15 lines long.

Also check out The Avenger's Handbook, it contains loads of schemes, maybe
you'll find one that suits you?

1.05 What kind of ethic codes should I follow in alt.revenge?

It is hard to discuss ethic when we talk about revenge. Often the payback
becomes a bit harder than the cause - maybe to prevent it from happening
again, or because it's done hastily or in bitterness? We still try to follow a
few rules, one that we don't severely hurt someone by means of terrorist like
actions, another rule is that we don't plot revenge against dogs, cats, or any
other animals. Our advice in such situations is to aim your complaints to the
owner, as an animal has no idea of what is wrong or right. The last and maybe
the hardest rule to follow, is to never involve a third innocent person. Often
revenge schemes involves 3'rd parties, but in those cases we recommend that
you use a secondary mark.

1.06 What is the difference between revenge and pranks?

This might seem like an odd thing to put into a FAQ, but the truth is that we
often get request from pranksters to who want a little piece of our
creativity. So, here's for everyone who want it in with a spoon:

The difference between revenge and pranks might sometimes be a bit confusing.
The actions which the avenger and the prankster performs, are often very
similar. Yet, the avenger will always have a different motive, and in most
cases the magnitude of his actions is more wide and intense.

The motive of the avenger is to retrieve justice for something that has
wrongly been done to him, or someone close to him. The motive of the prankster
is to annoy people to the point where it amuses the prankster, or atleast
until he gets a kick out of it.

Some people say that avenger's are evil and that pranksters are mostly nice.
If you forget about motive, then it's often right. Yet, if you bring motive
into it, you will have a situation where the pranksters are the evil ones who
can't let innocent people alone, whilst the avengers are the good ones who're
trying to bring an issue to justice.

Pranksters should leave alt.revenge and join alt.shenanigans.

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GENERAL REVENGE THINKING
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2.01 How do I plan my revenge?

As you plan your revenge you should consider several things. First of all you
should think about if you are solving the problem, or making it a bigger
problem. If there a way you can talk to the mark to make the problem stop?
Will the mark understand that the revenge is enforced upon him due to
something he has done wrong, and is it likely that he will do it again?

If you are still consistent on getting even, you should start to collect
information about your mark. The more information you have about him, the
better you can get at him. Name, address, phone number, SS [oh, my. If you
have this, you're in business!], credit card info, habits, workplace, age,
sexual orientation, etc.

Now after you've gathered enough information, you can start thinking up a
plan. You can also take a look at TAFP, ask in the newsgroup or buy a good
book on this subject. Yet, the best way of getting even at someone, is if you
find a tailor made scheme for yourself. An important thing is to try to make
the revenge fit whatever reason there is to get even.

Now before you do anything else, spare some thoughts for the consequences of
your actions. Deacon put it well when he wrote, "Be prepared to do the time
for the crime." Nomatter how many precautions you may take, there will always
be a slight chance of getting caught.

Afterwards when you've done whatever you did. Never brag about what you've
done, and never admit doing anything. All you should do is shut up, watch and
listen to whatever happens.

2.02 When should I avoid revenge?

There are situations where you should avoid revenge. What you choose to do is
your own business.

One situation is very typically, "My girlfriend broke up with me". So, what?
She broke up with you? Maybe you're not good enough for her? Anyway, doesn't
she, as an individual, have the right to do that? Now, the matter might be
different if she was screwing around, or if she did something real inpolite
like throwing you out of the house on Christmas eve. My point is, you are
hurt, but it doesn't always make things right to get even. There will always
be a time to settle things, and the law system has no sense of humor when it
comes to revenge.

Another situation might be if you are thinking about bringing matters into
court, or to any other authority [SysAdm!] If you want to do that, then you
really should be careful about what you say and do. Things that are said or
done will usually surface later in such sitations. If you get, for example a
threatening email, contact the sysadm/root and complain to him about it. If
you reply in a manner that breaks the net.etiquette then it might be used
against you later.

A third situation might be if there is a war going on. You and your mark have
been playing pranks on each-other for a long time, and it might have developed
into more serious things. Whatever you do, he does back, maybe even worse.
Nobody usually win in a war, so it's probably best to be mature and call it
quit, or you can try talking to the guy. Ofcourse if this doesn't work, then
really scare him off would be a solution.

A fourth situation it might be that the mark doesn't know he's bothering you.
Like if he is doing something that is really annoying you and you don't say
anything. The best to do in this situation is probably again to talk to the
person and try to find a solution. A solution is almost always better than
revenge.

One thing you also should consider is the time-span between the offence and
the payback. An old known Sicilian proverb says, "Revenge is a dish best
served cold" - And they really did know what they were talking about. Striking
when the iron is hot is foolish for two reasons. The first is that you can't
make logical decisions if you are emotional about the subject. This may cause
you to enact revenge on someone - and then later regret it, or make major
mistakes in enacting your revenge. The second reason is that if you are still
hot about it, you will be the most likely suspect.

One way of dealing with marks is to make a list, and then put each mark on the
list as new mark's appear. This will give you several advantages, one is that
there always be a time-span between the offence and the revenge, hence you get
time to plan and let things cool down. When a period has passed, you can
re-evaluate if your mark still need your vengeance, and then you will have a
list with more than one name, there you can play the two marks up against
eachother. Just make sure that it's not possible to put two and two together
and trace it back to you. Here's a more visual model:

[add to list] -> [wait some months/years] <--> [rethink] -> [plan] -> [execute]

2.03 How do I avoid getting caught?

When the things you're about to do is getting more and more serious, then the
importance of not getting caught becomes a relevant issue. Things you really
should think about are:

- Never use your own phone [It can be traced]
- Never use your own computer account. [It can be traced]
- Never drive to your mark's house with your own car. [Park some blocks away]
- Never work with bare your hands uncovered. [Use gloves]
- Never let anyone see you. [Sneak in, sneak out]
- Never talk to anyone about what you have done. [No bragging!]
- Never steal anything. [As it might connect you with the crime]
- Never use your own hand writing or your own printer. [It can be traced]
- Never involve a 3'rd person. [People who directly help you are okay]
- Never threat your mark. [He'll be prepared for something to happen]
- Never mail a letter from or near your home city/town, workplace, etc.
- Never use saliva on stamp/letter. [People has been conviced because of this]
- Never buy revenge supplies from a local dealer.
- Never use credit cards or personal checks to purchase revenge supplies.

Okay, this might be a bit paranoid. Yet, if you take many precautions you will
minimize the risk of ending up in the big house.

2.04 How long should I wait before I get even?

Generally I would say that most of the avengers are caught because they did it
to short after the crime. Even if the police can't find any proof, the mark
will know it was you, and that might lead him to retaliation. The time-slot
between crime and revenge should therefore be wide enough to have let things
cool down and made the mark unsuspicious. Another factor is the severity of
the revenge. The more severe the revenge is, the more you should wait.

It is hard to set a specific time span, but most of the lighter actions
require about 1-2 months, ranging up to 5-6, and with the more severe and
direct you should do fine by waiting, even for years.

2.05 How do I find someone's social security number, address, phone number?

Search engines on the Internet is always a good place to start. You can find
the major ones at the avenger's front page.

Information about your mark can be sought in many different ways, you just
have to use your imagination and all the available resources. For instance,
social security numbers, bank account information and other relevant
information can often be found on papers that your mark has thrown into the
trash. Actually you can find out a lot about your mark by just going through
his trash, like eating habbits and so on.

If going through your mark's trash doesn't sound appealing [or too risky] then
there are always small companies that wants to earn som bucks on other
people's need for information. One large group are members of the "Individual
Reference Services Group" which includes databases, places like Lexis-Nexis
and Information America. You've also got credit report places like Equifax,
Experian and Trans Union. Just be careful while dealing with these [you don't
want to leave a trace.] The information you might retrive from these places
are social security number, DOB, mother's maiden name, medical records, credit
history, unlisted phone and addresses, etc.

References: www.knowx.com, www.infoam.com, www.lexis-nexis.com.

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REVENGE ON THE INTERNET
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3.01 How can I use Internet for revenge purposes?

It is possible to use internet for revenge purposes, but it's not recommended
for people who doesn't have advanced skills in Internet usage. Everything you
do on your VAX. PC or UNIX account are usually audit filed. That means that
your system-administrator can monitor and check whatever you do. This simple
fact makes revenge on the Internet difficult.

The best way of gaining anonymous, untraceable access is to use an open
system, like one at a library with a free unlimited access or at an Internet
cafe. The trick is to get on to the net without giving away any password or
login name. Do not surf through your own home site, and to be completely safe,
avoid surfing in at a site which you plan to involve, from your own personal
account. Also remember that the things that you do will traced back to where
you sit, and eventually the provider of that access you're using, will become
a secondary mark or an innocent victim.

3.02 How do I trace a forged article or email?

Good forgeries are almost impossible to trace, and if anonymous-remailers has
been used, the task becomes harder.

The first things you should do is to save the article/mail with the complete
headers. If the message was sent by an anon-remailer/gateway sysadm, then you
should contact the administrator at that system [postmaster@..] - this might
work, but usually it doesn't.

Things you should start looking for in the header of the message are the
Message-Id, the NNTP-Posting-Host line and that Path. Both the Path and the
Message-Id are fairly easy to forge, but the NNTP-server's NNTP-Posting-Host
line, is a bit harder to get around, unless the one issuing the forgery has
root/administrator acces, and knows how to set up his own NNTP server.

Another way to trace the origin of the message is to look at the Path: line.
It is possible to triangulate the origin of the message by comparing messages
at different NNTP-Servers. You may want to ask in news.admin.net-abuse.misc
about this.

If you are looking at an email message you will see that there's a list of
lines saying "Received from:" - the last of these lines will give you a
further indication on where the message is sent from.

Tracking forgeries on the net is difficult for the one who doesn't know how
the NNTP or SMTP works. In such situations you should consult your own
system-administrator, or someone in the said newsgroup.

3.03 What is mailbombing and how do I mailbomb someone?

Mailbombing is a term that we use for sending quantities of junk mail to a
specific user. This can be done by either sending the user many short emails,
or you can send the user some fewer large emails. If you send him, say, 350
messages saying "You've messed with the wrong gal!", then he will have to
delete all of the messages, which would be both tiresome and annoying in the
lenght. The other way of doing this is to send him a few really huge messages.
This might either trigger his disc-quota or/and it might mean that he has to
download the whole message to read it [POP3/IMAP accounts]. This cost money
and time.

Mail-bombing is usually done by using dedicated mail-bombing programs, or by
applying the mark's name several times in the To:, CC: and BCC: line.

Yet, before you try any of this, remember that you're audited and that it will
be traced back to you. Source code to help you send big quantities of email
can be found at the avenger's front page.

3.04 How do I deal with internet crime and harassment?

The best way of dealing with crime and harrassment on the Net is to complain
directly to the user's system-administrator. It is imporant that you behave
correct, and that you're not flaming when you write the complaint.

The administration can usually be reached at root@domain, staff@domain,
abuse@domain or postmaster@domain. The safest assumption would be to post
directly to postmaster, as he's the one usually being in charge of email and
news abuse.

If the complaint is filed due to an article/mail of a particular threatening
nature you should extend the complaints a bit; contact your local police and
their local police, contact their school's security dept. and the Dean of
Student Affairs at their campus or their employer.

If your mark's message is of a threatening nature that makes references to
your race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, you may also want to contact
organizations like The American Civil Liberties Union or one of various
group-oriented civil rights groups like the NAACP, JDL, ADL, Americans with
Disabilities, ACTU-UP, or any similar group.

If their message is a pyramid scheme, contact their service providers, and
also contact the FBI and/or the US Treasury Department, or the departments
serving the same purposes in your country.

3.05 Where do I find search-engines and anonymous-remailers on the net?

There will always be links to these sources from the avenger's front page.

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GETTING MORE INFORMATION
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4.01 Where can I find revenge related material on the Internet?

The best schemes posted in alt.revenge are being collected in a big text file
called The Avenger's Handbook. You can get this file in several ways, but the
easiest one is probably by sending a mail to the responder at [email protected]
this will automatically trigger a response message being sent back to you.

The Avenger's Handbook can also be retrived from the avenger's front page at
http://www.ekran.no/html/revenge/ - where you will find a other related files
as well.

There are also some other newsgroups that might be of interest. The first I'd
like to mention is alt.shenanigans, a group for pranksters and shens. Not
quite alt.revenge, but many of their methods and schemes might suit your
cause. There are also quite a few net.abuse groups. If your mark is spamming
you or a newsgroup, you should check news.admin.net-abuse.misc or
alt.current-events.net-abuse. Other newgroups of interest might be
rec.pyrotechnics or alt.2600.

4.02 Where can I find revenge related material in the real world?

If you are looking for books about revenge, then you should start checking out
books by George Hayduke [Getting Even, Getting Even II, Advanced Back-
stabbing and Mudslinging Techniques, Make'em Pay, Make My Day, Revenge
Techniques from the Master, Righteous Revenge], also check out books like
Gaslightning and The Black Book of Revenge by John Jackson.

There are some references to bookstores that sell revenge-related books, at
the avenger's front page.

----------------------------------------------- Norway, Tromsø, 12. April 1998

--(.)------------------T-H-E---L-A-S-T---V-I-K-I-N-G-------------------v7.61
   W p | any message to [email protected] will bounce | *information wants
/|\| |         back my real email address!!!         |          to be free
() |   | visit my home page at: http://www.ekran.no/ | *revenge is justice
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