More manipulation of OctoPrint's anonymous usage stats

Blog
18

I know it's quite surprising a script survived more than a year without attention, which was also why I felt opportunistic when OE was exposed as I was quite sure my script had been long dead. I'm attaching a screenshot that shows that offending VM (public ip 52.20.6.221) was created on May 18 2023.

Screenshot 2024-07-04 at 12.54.32 PM
Screenshot 2024-07-04 at 12.54.32 PM1631×869 112 KB

Not an excuse or shifting the blame to OE, as I know I am 100% responsible for my own action. I know I probably won't have anyone's benefit of doubt this time around, since I betrayed the one you previously gave me. Just so that you understand why I'm not revising my post.

My sincere apologies to Gina and the OctoPrint community!

  • Kenneth Jiang
19

This is really, really unfortunate. I placed a lot of trust in Obico and the spaghetti detective after their last misstep, but this has completely betrayed that. I think you did the right thing by dropping them as a sponsor. I'd like to encourage fellow users to speak with their wallets. This is a space where we are supposed to be working together, to make things and make them better. Unfortunately, people don't think about the consequences of their actions.

Gina, please know that you have a lot of the community behind you, and you are a great example of what can be done right. Please take your time and recharge, this sort of thing can definitely make you question what you've accomplished. However, I will say that your program brings a lot of joy and help to many people, and we appreciate it. Thank you for all that you've done and continue to do!

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20

Gina and all the regular OctoPrint contributors, thank you for your work on this amazing project. I'm back into printing after a sabbatical and your project has always been a crucial part of that setup.

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21

Keep fighting the good fight!

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22

This kind of behaviour is really annoying. We all stand behind you, Gina. I have raised my level a bit on Patreon. Thank you for your hard work.

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23

What happened is unacceptable, shame on you, Ubico and Octoeverywhere! It is not ethically correct for commercial software to profit from free and open source projects by exploiting tricks like these.
All my solidarity goes to Gina, and I can't help but contribute with a donation on GitHub.

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24

Wow - no words. Super deceiving . I will be avoiding both of these services.

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25

As a founding support of OE, an entrepreneur, and a business person starting a new 3d printing company with a pending Octoprint plugin --- I find this absolutely gross.

I'm going to DM Quinn now and ask him to remove my name from his website.

1 Like
26

I'm so sorry to hear about these instances of people purposefully manipulating things to their advantage. As a now-retired programmer/analyst/systems programmer I understand the extreme frustration you are feeling and know the feelings of sometimes just wanting to dump a project because of it.

I for one find Octoprint useful for me along with the bed mesh visualizer. I currently run it on a modified Chromebook (mrchromebox firmware, full Fedora workstation 40 running from a MicroSD card) connected to a recently acquired Anycubic Kobra 2 Neo. The instructions provided in the discussions made it a simple thing to do - once I understood the syntax in some Linux files.

2 Likes
27

I can't in good faith support Obico any longer after this, they lost my trust for good, I cancelled my subscription today and let them know why.

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28

For all of us who take ethics seriously, thank you Gina for always doing the right thing, it means a lot.

I suspect that these devs will have a lot of time on their hands to reflect on their actions, or lack thereof.
I'll stop there, but know that you have 110% support on your response, masterful!

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29

You know? i was actually subbing to one of these. im cancelling it. and removing the software, id suggest we all do the same and just learn how to set up the ability to log into your home network with NOT these two apps. sad...

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30

Jrdiver while in some ways I agree with you, I prefer to think of it in a different way.
Try this way for size... I believe in some ways it is more true, and it is certainly more agreeable as how to think of it.
This is how and why we have good things: because people like Gina exist.

1 Like
31

These last couple posts have been impressive, well-reasoned responses to bad actors. I've only been using OctoPrint for the past month or so but its tooling and plugins have drastically increased and improved my printer use. This is the kind of transparent development I am happy to support. Hope you continue to create high quality software!

4 Likes
32

Gina & OctoPrint - I just wanted to add my voice to this {insert term here: debacle, mess, drama, incident, cluster-f,…}

I have been following this event as it has played out, and I just want to add my two cents worth, for what that may be worth. (2 cents?:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:)

I am just a semi-novice 3D Printer dad. I purchased a MK3 kit to build with my 15 y/o son. We did (build it) and then added “stuff”. A Raspberry Pi 4 and Octoprint being the main attraction.

Gina, I want you to know how important, formative, integral and influential OctoPrint has been. Your bits(raw code), packaging (git), UI (including plugins), webfront, blog, forum, On-Air episodes (All of them) and you, personally, have been to him & I.

We have leveraged you and the Octoprint community countless times. I have been able to show my son, with clear real-world examples (you) how open source works and why it is so amazing of a concept.

Your ethics, commitment, passion and dedication cannot help but to shine from every portion of all that is Octoprint.

I cannot convey, in just words how much you have impacted my son and I. Now do some basic multiplication… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I was at first disheartened when news of OE broke.

I was enraged when news of Obico broke.

I was not able to purge all of those bits, cookies, cached web pages, logs, accounts and anything else tied to them fast enough. Our only message to both was “you screwed the pooch”.

So, to you Gina, my son and I offer our full support, whatever direction/path you may take. You matter, your work matters and you have made a difference that so many will confirm, we are sure.

We will continue to support you and increase as we can, when we can.

Thank you!

2 Likes
33

Thank you for all you do Gina.

I’ve also dropped my OctoEverywhere supporter status and I tried to spark a conversation about it in the OE Discord. I can’t fathom a legitimate reason Quinn is protecting an anonymous user with his name and reputation. This comes off as “uhhh he did it” and “trust me bro” rather than at least owning it like Kenneth did.

Sorry this happened Gina. Least I can do is refocus my support to someone who deserves it.

3 Likes
34

It's disheartening to see open source developers being victimized like this. Whether it's simple stats manipulation for monetary gain or large scale social engineering campaigns like with XZ Utils, these events discourage devs like Gina from continuing their important work.

With companies so often using open source projects without paying a single cent I think Gina would be justified in implementing some kind of monetization model where commercial plugins were required to pay a cut to Octoprint. I guess this would also discourage faking plugin installation as this would cause more costs for the plugin devs.

35

Because I am wanting to get a sense of closure and understand if things have changed, I have one question for @foosel as I approach my annual renewal date for one of the offending parties. I know it has been indicated that they have paid. My question is if it was paid in full or if they haggled.

Thank you.

36

I have heard from foosel directly that both parties paid in full without hesitation or haggling.

3 Likes
37

I wanted to extend my Obico subscription. Due to this, I won't. Ever. Even if they paid for the costs, I don't trust them any longer.