While recording the latest episode of OctoPrint on Air on June 25th, I noticed that something was up with the stats. Going through the graphs on data.octoprint.org and commenting on them, I saw a quite irregular amount of instances running a very old version. I figured I had an issue with my data queries and decided to investigate the next day.
Sounds very fishy.
Before reading the answer from OctoEveywhere i thought: "hm looks like their marketing wanted to kick Obico out and place them to place 1"
After reading their response which includes: "A community member was it".
hm yeah sure...
Sounds more than: "Damn they caught us, we need a fast explaination" ...
Hey Daniel! I'm the developer behind OctoEverywhere; I'm happy to answer any questions you have.
I had a more detailed conversation with the individual, but they requested that I leave them anonymous, so I wanted to respect their wishes. However, I can assure you that they now understand the scope of what they were doing and the impact it had, and they were very sorry.
OctoEverywhere is a community project that occupies most of my nights and weekends. I have a full-time job, family, etc, that keeps me busy. I choose to continue OctoEverywhere only because it's my way of contributing back to the community. I have said this before (check my Reddit comments), but I'm more than happy to see anyone use whatever tool works best for them. For some users that's Tailscail, a VPN, Obico, Print Nany, or many others.
I entered the 3D printing community about 5 years ago and was blown away by how open and welcoming it is. I want nothing more than to further that feeling by contributing what I can to the community.
I'm an open book, so please feel free to ask any more questions. If you want to chat privately, please use the support system on my website; I answer all the questions posted there.
The thing what makes me believe you is that someone who wrote a software like OctoEverywhere wouldn't be that dumb to kick out the competitors.
Youngsters, which this seems like it may be if indeed true, need to learn that there are repercussions to their actions. This user should be put on blast to teach them a lesson, otherwise they will never learn from their mistakes.
If I’m able to speculate a little, the writing was a little immature, which leads me to believe they were young or something. I think they learned their lesson from the sound of their response. I won’t disclose their info because I was asked not to, and I have to respect that. I’m usually a “people deserve a second chance” kind of guy, but…. idk in this case.
I guess my question is why? Was it for some gain on his part or just because I can?
Agree - what was the motive?
They may have thought they were helping by getting OctoEverywhere higher and more popular on the plugin list, but their method of fake instances is unethical and harmful to OctoPrint as a whole.
"hm looks like their marketing wanted to kick Obico out and place them to place 1"
ok obico did it / or did it, too.
what a twist and s. show.
If you've identified an individual that did something wrong, they do not get a free pass with anonymity. Fessing up is part of any 'real' apology.
If this is part of your "fix" for the problem, you are part of the bigger problem, which you still haven't identified.
I wonder about the reason for this.
It is possible that the plugin(s) that gain more attention/users from this have some serious security holes , backdoor, or can be otherwise abused - making them useful for someone?
To be honest. this is one of the reasons that I have always turned off Anonymous Data, and why I don't use these 3rd Party plugins. Perhaps I am over thinking it or worrying about my data being used for the wrong reasons, since its supposedly "Anonymous" but this stuff always bugs me. I worry just how safe my data is, and if someone could manipulate the data to get my personal info.. Don't know, but until it's clear why this person did what they did, my fears aren't going to lessen any, which is sad for those that put their life into these apps. However, until I feel safe, I will continue to do it safe, and only use a plugin that mines and parses my data locally.
Gina goes through great lengths to make sure the data that she receives is anonymous. OctoPrint development is her full-time job, so she takes it very seriously as it's her livelihood.
I feel compelled to weigh in on this.
Having used but no longer using OcotoEverywhere due to lack of support and dragging their feet, I can't help but think this is their own making,
Just an FYI as well, you can get remote access via an implementation of Zero Trust that the dev team kindly implemented on a whim with amazing execution may I add.
If they can polish webcam access on the app, we can all sleep sound and kick this dodgy act to the kerb for the cost of domain (which is about $20 a year)
Keep up the good work.