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Rankk.org Topic - My story

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My story
Posted by Pha. Sphinx 6553 from on 2006-10-20 11:06:26
I started with the then Cyberarmy challenges (zebulun). It was a great site. I remember I was crashed by the Javascript Guess-a-number game. I was shocked and felt a little "cheated". I didn't return to the site until a couple of months later, when I had a little more time to spare. I was also just starting to use Linux and was in an adventurous mood to try that crashing game again.
I figured that game out and that was how the journey began for me.
I then went on to Lameindustries (Hybrid). It wasn't as addictive as Zebulun but it was still fun and provided a good training ground.
How did it start for you?
Share your story.
14 +votes | 2 −votes
Huuuuuuu
My story
Posted by Nob. Spoodle58 1648 from on 2006-10-20 19:04:34 Reply
My story goes the same.

Was it 6, 7 years ago. Wow.

Cyberarmy at first, Eliza wrecked havoc in Zeb, (should have one of those here)

Then that .su challenge was tricky. There server went down big then. (Around the time I made Kernal)

Never really went back there. (it just wasn't the same & there was a lot of challenge cheating going on & command changes.)

Went to lame around the same time, never spent much time there though.

Joined up with this lot then till the pyramid went offline.
Made it to Pharaoh, top of the list due length of time being on the site.
Didn't use a computer for almost 2 years then.
At the moment I'd rather walk up steep, remote, beautiful mountains than use a computer.
and I'm still stuck on R2.
Good to be back here though.
:)
8 +votes | 1 −votes
Apod
- Re^2: My story
  Posted by Pha. Sphinx 6553 from on 2006-10-20 20:15:29 Reply
  I remember solving Eliza around 2.30 a.m. after some 4-5 hours of "talking to her". I almost couldn't believe it when I got it. The feeling was great and I even went to the fridge to get a beer to celebrate.
  Two years without a computer is a rather long time. Did something happen?
  Good luck on R2 :)
  6 +votes | 2 −votes
  Huuuuuuu
- - Two years without a computer. Did something happen?
    Posted by Nob. Spoodle58 1648 from on 2006-10-20 22:16:46 Reply
    Two years without a computer. Did something happen?
    A week after the cd drive blew the processor blew.
    I saw it as a chance to get away for a while.
    Thats basically what happened.
    8 +votes | 1 −votes
    Apod
  - Re^3: My story
    Posted by Nob. Spoodle58 1648 from on 2006-10-21 01:16:26 Reply
    Thank Ra I'm not on R2 anymore, I answered very similar to that straight away, but close doesn't get any points.
    I'm off for the weekend now.
    Hope you all have a good one.
    7 +votes | 1 −votes
    Apod
  - Re^3: My story
    Posted by Geb. mithmith 897 from on 2023-11-16 22:16:22 Reply
    beer is for girls! Sphinxes should have Rum
    1 +votes | 0 −votes
    beware...pompom has grown up!
    www.net-force.nl
  - - Re^4: My story
      Posted by Pha. Sphinx 6553 from on 2023-11-25 20:26:19 Reply
      Wow moon years ago ;)
      0 +votes | 0 −votes
      Huuuuuuu
My story ( a very brief version)
Posted by Scr. i_need_help 319 from on 2006-10-20 20:57:37 Reply
Well for me it began several years ago when I took my first SANS class (www.sans.org). I was looking for some legal way to learn more about how people do malicious things with computers and found this fledgling thing called CyberArmy. I began doing the zebulun challenges and having completed all the ones that were done began submitting ideas and helping to code some new ones.
I made my way up to General and really enjoyed watching people "talk" to eliza. However people started posting answers to the challenges and all the challenges had to be recoded to be as random as possible. Soon after this the political games which led to the brigades began. Not wanting to be a part of the "stupid" political games I faded away into the background.
After many years of doing Sys. Admin and Security related work I was wondering what happened to the old CA. I created an account looked around for a week and decided that I did not want to be a part of it again.
And then a couple of weeks ago I got an email saying the pyramid was back. Challenges without the "stupid" political games, this is what I like and so I have been hanging out here lately.
9 +votes | 1 −votes
Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots, So far, the Universe is winning --Rich Cook
www.xanga.com/duane909/
- Re^2: My story ( a very brief version)
  Posted by Pha. Sphinx 6553 from on 2006-10-20 21:04:25 Reply
  Wow, a General ;)
  I was a Lt. Kernel. Tried the Kernel challenge for a couple of weeks but just couldn't make any headway.
  5 +votes | 2 −votes
  Huuuuuuu
My story
Posted by Nob. Intelos 175 from on 2006-10-20 21:43:50 Reply
got picked into ca by an irl pal several years back, but i found it unsuitable for me. the people i met there, drew me into some other sites mainly pyramid, ozane and sers. fled from the scene after the latter went down and havnt looked back until i got an email from about this place.
9 +votes | 1 −votes
- Re^2: My story
  Posted by Nob. Spoodle58 1648 from on 2006-10-20 22:24:02 Reply
  I would say a lot of us here, haven't been on the scene in a while either. Hopefully it will be informative to be around here again.
  6 +votes | 1 −votes
  Apod
- - Re^3: My story
    Posted by Mer. crabbo_1 164 from on 2006-10-21 00:33:49 Reply
    Same here.was a Lt.Ker on CA until all the trouble started then gave up.not been on any challenge sites till the email came for this one.
    5 +votes | 1 −votes
My story
Posted by Art. MadDog 285 from on 2006-10-21 00:32:30 Reply
Actually I started with "The Pyramid" three years ago in Sept. (about three weeks before the site shut down) I was using the nickname Maniac back then and was able to get to the rank of Vizier before I got stuck talking to Eliza and ran out of time. I guess I was just a couple of challenges short of making it to Geb.

Of course by then I was addicted to online puzzle challenges so I went searching for another fix, and found CyberArmy. However, CA just didn't have the same "flavor" as Pyramid and I never really got into it. I then went to www.hackthissite.org and played there for awhile. I think I also tried Lameindustries for awhile too, and since then I haven't done anything with online challenges.

Sphinx, I would just like to say Thank You to you and Bio for bringing the Pyramid back. It promises to be even Bigger and Better than ever, with all of the new challenges you are planning. Of course the real challenge is for you and Bio to come up with all of these challenges, get them coded and arranged in the proper order of difficulty. This is complicated by the fact that you don't have all of them identified yet. I just hope you don't make it too difficult to make it to the top. I still have some illusion of making it to GEB this time. ;)

6 +votes | 1 −votes
There are 10 kinds of people in the world; Those who understand binary, and those who don't.
- Re^2: My story
  Posted by Pha. Sphinx 6553 from on 2006-10-21 01:04:32 Reply
  Wow, didn't think that the Pyramid would leave such an impression ;)
  I've been through a couple of challenges so I know how it feels. . .It can be frustrating not knowing what's going on.
  Most challenges here are doable with some research, creativity, lots of perseverance and a bit of luck. The skills I've learnt from Zebulun have proven useful and it's in this light that we're hoping that the knowledge and skills you gain from Rankk will become useful to you in one way or another. At the very least, it's an exercise of the mind - to sharpen the saw.
  Yes, we've put careful thought into the sequence of challenges. A latter challenge should be harder and solveable with knowledge of an earlier challenge. But it's not always possible to sequence the challenges that way. Firstly, difficulty is relative and subjective. Secondly, sometimes an idea came too late but was too good to be excluded.
  In short, most challenges before Level 40 should be doable. After that, there's no guarantee that the challenges make sense any more ;)
  6 +votes | 2 −votes
  Huuuuuuu
My story
Posted by Nob. silverknight 135 from on 2006-10-21 01:39:28 Reply
How did I get started? A friend of mine hacked Yahoo!, lol. This was 5-6 years ago and didn’t know anything about computers or the internet. Went to an old friends house and he edited the HTML on Yahoo! Index page. I freaked out thinking it was for everyone to see. After that I learned HTML to do the same tricks. ;)
Soon after learning HTML he introduced me to CyberArmy and how to beat the first level. From then on I felt it was a competition to best him through whatever means in CA. Eventually learning enough to reach rank LtK while misleading him in every other challenge. After trying to complete that mission for a few weeks I went to look for another site…some how I managed to come across a strange green and digimon rank based challenge site that I thought looked interesting.
9 +votes | 1 −votes
- Re^2: My story
  Posted by Nob. Intelos 175 from on 2006-10-21 05:27:51 Reply
  the digimons rocked.
  6 +votes | 1 −votes
Re: My story
Posted by Viz. yai2k3 404 from on 2006-10-23 06:48:17 Reply
For me, it all started back in '02. I was looking for information on classical cryptography, and came across Electrica. It looked interesting, so I registered and tried to solve some of the things there. Silly me, starting with the most difficult challenge site out there.
When I finally ran up against a wall -- reversemes, which still make me go :P -- I decided to check out links to other similar sites. Slyfx, Mod-X, Arcanum, et cetera; places I'm sure are familiar to most people reading this. Two sites stood out for me: +Ma's and The Pyramid. Maybe it was the people, maybe it was the forums, perhaps it was the lack of recruiting fervour that occurs on some other challenge sites, but I really liked it there. That, and the challenges were fun!
Mid-2003, though, life got a little interesting for me -- drama that I don't want to go into. It meant I couldn't visit challenge sites. I didn't again until late '05. Most sites were still there, in one form or another, but the Pyramid was just. gone, and asking about it on various challenge sites garnered no useful response. I wanted to solve that last Geb challenge, darn it!
Then I got the e-mail from Sphinx, and here I am. Thanks for bringing the site back! :)
8 +votes | 1 −votes
596f 7520 6d75 7374 2062 6520 626f 7265 642e 203b 290a
- Re^2: Re: My story
  Posted by Pha. Sphinx 6553 from on 2006-10-23 09:13:23 Reply
  This time round, Rankk will be around for as long as the Great Pyramid of Giza is around ;)
  And where's ToeJam?
  
  5 +votes | 1 −votes
  Huuuuuuu
- - Re^3: Re: My story
    Posted by Pha. Sapr0 1354 from on 2006-10-26 21:17:33 Reply
    Yeeeah thats a very goood question . i miss TJ and his MOTM
    Btw good to be back and finally post something.
    As far as the story of this thread . simple started with CA while googling around. couldn't get passed Eliza and moved to other sites . HQ went next and then Pyramid where i got stuck at Soldier and moved to other type of sites. But when i camed back to pyramid a few weeks later after some advancement in HQ . i skiped from Soldier to Pharaoh and then Geb**** :D
    Btw i still remember you banning me and Black0pz for solving the code book . but i cracked tit and b0pz just gave me the inspiration on how to and foolishly he didn't used his hex code when entering the solution.
    Now i manly do TBS (Blacksheep site's) 336 challenges some good some crappy some extremly hard
    7 +votes | 1 −votes
    Death Comes To All !!!
    www.theguardians.ro
  - - Re^4: Re: My story
      Posted by Pha. Sphinx 6553 from on 2006-10-26 21:27:11 Reply
      Welcome back, Sapr0 :)
      Most of those who were active on Pyramid have been back except our Dear TJ. . .
      5 +votes | 1 −votes
      Huuuuuuu
    - Re^4: Re: My story
      Posted by Viz. blackopz 682 from on 2007-01-18 12:12:45 Reply
      i have TJ's email and his wifes email i don't know if they use them any more tho
      7 +votes | 1 −votes
My story
Posted by Viz. justonp6 955 from on 2007-01-18 12:56:52 Reply
I just realized I anxiously logged in to post the answer to a challenge that I think I just solved!
EDIT: Solved! :D

Anyway, it actually started for me here at the pyramid. One day I was playing a snes emulator and I played some game that allowed you to upgrade your equipment and rank and stuff and I liked it a lot so I went on google and typed in something to the effect of "rank up game" or something similar and the pyramid came up. At first I was dissapointed that it was not a "console" game :p.
When I signed up I almost litterally knew nothing about computers so I have no idea why I stayed around. I did not even know about source code! I can surely say that if it were not for the forum and it's members ( I like the old style board better because there were always threads like this) then I would have not have even stuck around for anything at all. I learned and learned and I did not even know there were other sites around like this so I think that's what helped me out the most because it made me concentrate. After the pyramid went down I tried other sites but nothing ever came close to the enjoyment of the pyramid. In fact, I did not even get an e-mail about the new pyramid. One day recently I was talking to Rothmic on AIM and talking about old memories and stuff from the pyramid and I googled the cache of the page or something and I found the new site!

I still have, at least it seems, more trouble with challenges in general then most people but I don't give up and people really take the time to point you in the right direction! (without giving anything away of course because that would not be fun and you would not get any satisfaction of doing it yourself, and it's cheating.)

Here I am now, at my favorite site on the internet! All it's missing is the old style board IMO!
8 +votes | 1 −votes
so I feel I stay on the 1% side. I bet the same is true for the majority of you, since you are reading Fravia's pages. If not, carry on and study some more essays, you will surely change your status.
- Re^2: My story
  Posted by Pha. Sphinx 6553 from on 2007-01-18 18:40:57 Reply
  Great to know that you like it as much as the old one. Yes, perseverance is the key ;)
  7 +votes | 1 −votes
  Huuuuuuu
My story
Posted by Mer. alimay 34 from on 2007-01-18 17:43:30 Reply
it started for me a couple of weeks ago.. i was sitting in my room as usual and a friend of mine told me about a challange here, probably #23. since then the nightmare mixed with the heavenly dream started.(o yea) i started from the beginning. i had a little programming background so it was somehow hard for me to put all my strenght in it. however, i've learnt so many things while fighting with these challenges, ranging from PGP tech to java and it gave me some kind of pleasure knowing that it is not just waste of time. so i really am thankful to my friend who pulled me in this site and destroyed my GPA and to Sphinx for taking me out from those boring nites. i know i may not be able to be a Noble or Phroah in later stages with my current knowledge but it still is beautiful to be a part of this. ye ye ye.
10 +votes | 1 −votes
hm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
- Re^2: My story
  Posted by Pha. Sphinx 6553 from on 2007-01-18 18:35:34 Reply
  It's really encouraging to hear that the site has been fun and useful. Thanks and cheers!
  6 +votes | 1 −votes
  Huuuuuuu
My story
Posted by Viz. alpha 546 from on 2007-01-19 01:03:39 Reply
It all started couple months ago when I found this website in google. Solved 1-10 pretty fast, then took a break (a LONG one). After that I returned and in a few days (um, or was it weeks ?) i've done 12-30. Now I'm 8th in ranking, guess it's not bad for a complete newb.
11 +votes | 1 −votes
~~
Posted by Pha. aib42 89 from on 2007-01-19 08:19:41 Reply
I started out with Zebulun as well. I remember that I liked the story aspect very much.
I also remember that Eliza had me stuck for quite a while. I ended up writing a program to "dictionary attack" her to see if any keyword got an unusual response. Cyberarmy now has Sered, and Eliza is back up. No way I'm wasting my time with her again, though.
I was stuck at Lt. Ker as well; I couldn't find any .ru or .su proxies. Come to think of it, I've never found a working proxy online.

So far, I'm loving this site. Keep the challenges coming!
9 +votes | 2 −votes
My story
Posted by Viz. punkman 36 from on 2007-01-20 05:36:35 Reply
Like most people, I started with Zeb. I think the next one that I did was Electrica (Caesum's challenges). It's still around, and has some excellent problems at www.caesum.com/game. I was actually on that site within a few weeks of its opening. Then I was also doing +Ma's challenges (now at 3564020356.org), also within a few weeks of opening.

Then, I was wandering for a while. Hackerslab, Slyfx, Arcanum, Mod-X, Net-Force, Lameindustries, theblacksheep, mathschallenge (Project Euler), The Pyramid, and basically anything and everything that you've heard of.

Justonp6 told me that there was a new incarnation of the Pyramid, and so I'm back.
7 +votes | 2 −votes
Math? Noise!
www.myspace.com/muffinfucker

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