Mother's Day Sale on the TAW SHOP.
Up to 60% off all products!
This offer will end on Sunday 4th of May 2014.
USE THE CODE: MOMMYIOUSALE
Make sure you check when using the code if your product is eligible for the sale.
Some of the products are already discounted automatically so the code is not required check the price to see if it is already reduced.
All profits from the Shop are directly placed in to the Treasury to fund the costs of running TAW.
All products are shiped from California, in the United States. we are looking into a second alternative for EU members if ordering from the US is not a option for you.
-CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE TAW SHOP-
The GFX Team wishes you a happy mothers day!
Over the years of TAW pretty much everyone has wondered how to get a tab, and where to get them. For the last few years tabs have been a behind the scenes thing as the request was quite low, but with TAW Hitting 2014 now Tabs are accessible to everyone TFO above to request. Bear in mind Tabs are the lowest form of request able commendation's that do not require TFO approval.
If you want a tab for your division head to the google doc below.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GVFCNkqKV7UsMp4qRgWBLKhj_SGdqd0TXzbG_KVWqVk/viewform
As you may have heard, the format for TAW's official newsletter, 'From the Battlefield' is changing. For the May 10th edition, we are focusing on "The People of TAW". We're looking for actual pictures of members to include on the front cover in a collage
the people of TAW.
We'd like actual headshots of you :) and your permission to use in our publication. Please make sure photo's follow TAW's acceptable use guidelines. We thank you for your anticipated contributions to this outstanding edition.
If your interested contact either Neseroth or Smypm
Disclaimer : This blog post will be long and full of technical information! It is interesting and informative, but long and very technical - read at your own risk.
As many of you might have heard, a rather serious security breach was found on what was believed one of the most secure protocols in existence. I'm talking of course about the infamous "heart bleed" bug. I do wish to clarify one thing, the "heart bleed" in itself is not a form of attack, but rather a bug - a rather serious one in the engine of the famous cryptographic software library - openSSL. The bug in itself allows the the abuser of the bug to retrieve more information from the server than he is entitled to. To explain a little, imagine a world in which when I asked you a question, I had to to tell you how many characters you response should hold, and you were bound to answer that exact amount of characters, even if the answer to my question had less than that. Now normally if I asked to retrieve a string of information that I know in advance is 50 Characters, but I tell the server that I'm expecting 51 characters, the server would drop the request as the information request would be suspicious.. But what if some bug caused the server not to verify the length? The server would simply give me all 51 characters, or 500 or however many characters I'd request - Basically I could get the Entire server dump from any page that used open SSL! That is in essence the bug that is referred to as "heart bleed". For more information, you can follow this link.
Now that you all know a bit more about it, It's time to relax you all a little, I've spoken to Juvix, our security is not compromised as the SSL solution we use is not subjected to the "heart bleed" bug so our information along with your passwords, eMail addresses, messaged and everything else on the website is safe and sound! That said, having a secure password is always useful and helpful, not only for you but for the entire community, and I think that it's only fair that I told you how it worked . Most servers stores the passwords in an encrypted form using a one way encryption key. One way encryption basically means that the key used to encrypt the string will not decode it correctly - Truth be told, in most cases, it can't be decoded at all! That is why most servers allow you to change the password if you forgot it, but not to simply retrieve it. The Authentication is done in the following matter:
With all the previous information at hand there is always the risk of reverse engineering - basically engineering a key that would take the encrypted string and decode it, or some of it. To make it harder to decode there are some rules that can help you create a password this is extremely hard to decode.
You can check the strength of your password here.
Tax Day Deal: 10.40% OFF ALL ORDERS ON THE TAW SHOP!
Offer Ends Tuesday 15th of April 2014
Use Code: 2014TAXDEALZ
If you have any Designs that you would like to see as part of the TAW SHOP
contact Calico@taw.net or Necrocoil@taw.net
-CLICK TO ENTER TAW SHOP-
Minecraft is a diverse and never ending game. From playing alone to multiplayer, building to PvP there are hundreds of ways to enjoy the game, one way we in the Minecraft division like to enjoy the game is by playing mini-games, some of which are created by members outside of TAW. One of the many games we like to play is called Eris created by Jeven and on Sunday April 6th 2014 we were lucky enough to have him visit a Minecraft practice event to play his game with him!
What kind of Skill set is required to be a member of your team/division?
Many members believe you have to be a good news writer to be in newsletter. The truth is, many of our fine divisions submit information and we are simply the editor and vehicle for publication. With that said, there is a basic knowledge of grammar, spelling etc that are required. In addition, lay out and html are helpful. Most of our staff spend time bouncing around divisions getting news and/or writing pieces for the monthly editions.
Roughly, how much time does working in this team/division take?
It really depends on what time of the month it is. Between the submission deadline of the 5th and the publication date of the 10th it can be very busy. After the 10th there are a few meetings setting the theme for the next edition and assigning tasks. Between that time and the 5th, its just getting what we need and visiting with our community.
What are your meeting/attendance requirements?
There are weekly OS meetings on Saturday's and we require a steady presence in TeamSpeak. TeamSpeak is where we get our work done and make sure we're all firing on all cylinders. If a member is struggling, we provide support and leadership during those times.
In website development people with multiple skill sets work together to deliver a quality web site. Not everything we have to do requires Ninja coding skills, although we welcome that!
For the core coding team we are looking for experienced developers with some of the following skills:
• PHP development
• WordPress site administration, development or customization.
• Multi-user DEVOPS source control workflows and publishing with Git/SVN
• Experience with databases (MySQL or similar)
• Web page design with HTML and potentially CSS
If these are not your cup of tea, don’t worry, we have some other tasks that are just as important! We also need help in the following areas:
• Testing web sites- this is important, we will need quality focused individuals to break this new site.
• UI web page workflow and user experience design.
• Graphic and theme design
• Role Base Access Control (RBAC) systems
• Experience creating design and functional specifications for software
Some tasks can be easily put down and picked up later, or broken up into small pieces that are easy to complete in isolation. In general software engineering work is NOT like that and requires a good chunk of dedicated time to get into the problem and solve it. Most tasks would therefore be several hours in length, so if you can spare 4-6 hours in an average week to focus on something that's probably enough time to make a dent in our task list. Of course when we are at launch time things will get a bit more busy.
We respect that everyone has school and/or work schedules and other personal commitments. We do not currently have required weekly meetings. What is more important is to get involved by signing up for work items, delivering tasks and reporting back progress to drive the project forward.. We will have working meetings in smaller groups and the occasional required all hands but have not set a recurring schedule.
What's your callsign?
HeyManNiceShot
What is your OS Team/Division
Devop
Who are the members of this Team/Division?
Bamsen, LTC Cutthroat, GEN DirtyDozen, MAJ HotFuzz, PFC QuinoaAOC, COL
What does your Team/Division do in OS?
In short, we write and maintain the code behind the TAW web site that is there to service the member community and provide tools for the divisions to efficiently operate.
Devops (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DevOps) is an appropriate name for our division because it is our goal to create an environment where we can quickly and efficiently get updates and new features to the web site at high quality and stability.
Tell us your History in TAW
I originally joined up when playing Quakewars with some folks you might remember - Hook, Bravehardt, Icarus, Rhinehart, Dawnthorn and others. Yes I was the original rocket noob and changed my callsign to Beartooth for a while which befuddled the web site admins. After it leaked out I knew a thing or two about software and servers I ended up helping out with server admin for a while and then the new web site that was getting close to launching. With Icarus driving the project, the dev team I was part of took the site over the finish line. I took a break from Gaming and TAW for a while and then came back to see what was next in our evolution.
What made you decide to volunteer to work in this team/division
I have worked professionally in a number of fields and the most fascinating and technically challenging to me is software engineering. It is a lot of fun to be in the ground floor of a startup solving real problems. The TAW stock options are not great but if you don't launch on time at least you don't end up holding a sign out at the off ramp because your investors got cold feet.
Having a good skill set within graphic design is a plus together with the ability to work with other members, everything else we can teach you. The time we put into it can change from day to day, one minute we have nothing to do, the next we have 10 people requesting some kind of graphic. The not knowing what will happen tomorrow is great and it is not for the fainthearted since it can be a little stressful sometimes.
One thing that is special about OS is that we don't really have a attendance requirement, we just call for a meeting when it is necessary to update the whole team about something. otherwise we use emails.
Accounting and taxes are at the top of our list now-a-days. Having a strong set of writing skills and negotiating helps as well. Recording keeping skills to ensure their is a proper paper trail for audit purposes. Last but not least good communication skills since we talk to all levels of TAW determine what they need us to procure.
Sunday's weekly treasury report can take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours depending on the number of transactions (donations, expenses and currency exchanges) to reconcile. During the week the time varies as we are on call 24/7 depending on when a division needs to purchase something or cancel a server. Canceling a server is typically a 5 minutes process. Order a new server can take up to 1 hour from start to finish.
We don't have any set meeting times as we operate on a 24/7 schedule serving the divisions whenever they need help. For this reason there are two of us in TREASURY on each side of the world to ensure coverage 24/7 as TAW never sleeps. 98% of our communication orders via email with the divisions and between TBone and myself. The 2% is being at TFO, CC and TAW Inc. meetings.
Jedi
Treasury
Gen. Jedi - Treasury Support Commander Gen. TBone - Treasury Support Lt. Commander
We handle the finances of TAW. We buy everything the divisions may need from game servers, dedicated servers, tournament prizes such a t-shirts, game cards, computer hardware and software, etc. We also handle all server cancellations and talk to game providers to get discounts for multi-server purchases on the same account. On a weekly basis we provide the DC/DOs with a report showing the financial status of their division, the number of donations that came in, and expenses.
I joined TAW on 18 JUL 2003 to play Battlefield 1942 (BF42) I worked my way up the ranks in BF42 until on 12 OCT 2004 I was given command of the BF42 division. On 02 OCT 2005 I left the BF42 division to start up the War College (WC) as the War College Commandant. The WC was to be the central repository of TAW policy, TAW training files, and TAW History. On 12 FEB 2006 the WC was moved under the Central Command Office (CCO) and I was promoted to BGN Gen. On 14 JAN 2007 I was promoted to LGN and assigned the position of Senior Commander of Administration (SCA) what is now know as Support Lt. Commander. On 16 SEP 2007 I was promoted to GEN and assigned the position of Executive Commander of Administration (ECA) what is now know as Support Commander. On 27 JUL 2010 the newly created position of Treasury Support Commander was created for me to focus 100% of my time to handling TAW's finances which I had been doing since dual roles since 2007 in terms of doing financial work, TAW policy and overseeing the administrative side of TAW's house. Since then my time has been devoted to TREASURY.
I did not volunteer for this position. It was entrusted to me since I am the keeper of policy. I became the keeper of policy in 2005 as the War College Commandant and in 2007 the duties of the treasury were assigned to me by TFO.
Anything else/extra you'd like to add?
Don't be afraid to stop by and say Hi to us if you find us on TeamSpeak. While the majority of our time is spend working on numbers we do occasionally play older games. Jedi is still playing Battlefield 2.
TehCamelz
SOCOP
Divison Commander LTC.Icewhynd Streaming GSG.TehCamelz Cat of all Trades and Wikis MAJ.Kinare Liaison with Army Divisions 2LT.Semtext
The SOCOP Division manages all aspects of TAW's external media. This includes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Twitch. We promote TAW related events, and interact with the community through these websites.
I joined TAW on the 11th of August 2013 and was a member of the PlanetSide 2 division. I joined because a friend of mine wanted me to play PlanetSide with him, and was a member of TAW, but as soon as I joined, I knew I wanted to stay. I was in the PlanetSide division until the 17th of October 2013, when I decided to transfer to the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive division. I was playing CS a lot during that time and met some really good friends there, I still talk to them all now. After a while, I decided that I wanted to help TAW in some way, so I became a Server Technician for my division, this meant that I could still enjoy playing the game, but help out with managing the game servers at the same time. After a while in the ST position, I was promoted to SA, this meant spending a lot more time managing and less time playing, but that was fine with me because managing servers and creating software to work with them is something I love to do. I still had time to play with my friends, it just meant spending more time helping TAW. I was managing the servers for just over 4 months, and then I saw a new division in OS called SOCOP. I asked around and was immediately interested when I heard what the division was about, I had talked to a few members in OS about media things previously, and had been interested for a while, so I talked to Icewhynd and Ekis, and told them about my interest. I was allowed to transfer into the division to manage the Twitch channel. I am currently still in SOCOP, and although it is a new division, we are coming along quickly. My job in SOCOP is managing the Twitch.tv channel, I haven't been doing it for long, but I am enjoying it so far, and hope to be here for a long time. I have met a few new friends and hope to get to know them even more in the next few months.
To be a member of the SOCOP division, you need to actively look for new news and events, and find out details about them to share with the community. This usually means interacting with new people, and getting to know people you wouldn't usually get to know. For this reason, I believe you need to be quite a social person, and have quite a lot of free time. You also need to know a good amount about social media, and how to promote events and interact with people using social media. And because SOCOP manages all aspects of TAW's external media, you need to be professional and organised at all times. Having good spelling and grammar is also a good thing, but isn't necessarily required, it just helps a lot with communicating and when posting media externally, makes you seem more professional.
This one is difficult to answer, it really depends on what Events are happening within TAW. If there are events happening, it takes a minimum of around 3 hours per day. Otherwise, it takes whatever amount of time you're willing to put in. Personally, I put most of my spare time into managing the Twitch channel, but I could put a lot less time in and still run things well.
Personally, I love streaming my gameplay, and have been a streamer for quite some time. I took a break for a long time, and had recently gotten back into it. I also have previous experience of managing social media, I have worked for YouTube networks before, so know what I'm doing when it comes to managing video. Being a streamer, and having experience in management, this position was perfect for me, so I applied as soon as I heard it was available.
As a member of SOCOP, you are required to be active in TeamSpeak whenever you're online so that you can be contacted. Other than that, because we're such a small team, we don't have any fixed meetings, as we're usually online at the same times anyway, and all of our work is logged on Trello (Project management system).
Nope
For their time, effort and dedication, this member will be awarded our In-The-Scope member tab for completing the interview.
Juvix
Information Security Command
Information Security Commander MGN.Juvix Information Security Lieutenant Commander MGN.SuperTreky
The Information Security Office is primarily responsible for the management and maintenance of TAW's infrastructure. We perform various system administration tasks involving: Operating system and application updates and patching, security audits, system upgrades, security auditing, and responding to network threats. We do our best to ensure that TAW's critical services are up and running with little downtime.
My history in TAW started with the Counter-Strike division. I was recruited by Jankles via a public forum thread that I came across. In the CS:GO Division, I was quickly promoted to an XO, and then to a CO shortly thereafter. As my first division in TAW, I've met a lot of great people and developed lifelong friendships. It was a rewarding experience taking a leadership role in the division and developing relationships with the officers and members. About 9 months later I inquired, and was approved for dual membership to operations support for ISC under General Bones. This started my TAW career within OS. A couple months later, OS was able to snatch me up full time to make use of my skillset in systems administration and security. Here is my service record: Recruited by Jankles on 02-25-2013 Admitted TAW by RogueOp on 02-25-2013 Promoted to Executive Officer for Counter Strike: Global Offensive by RogueOp. Served from 03-10-2013 to 04-21-2013 Promoted to Commanding Officer for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on 04-21-2013 by the Division Office - Jankles/RogueOp Approved for dual membership to OS - Information Security Command by Bones/Ekis on 10-05-2013 Transferred to OS - Information Security Command full-time on 12-19-2013 Promoted to Division Commander of Information Security by General Bones on 12-20-2013 Promoted to Information Security Lt. Commander by General Ekis on 02-15-2014 Promoted to Information Security Commander by General Ekis on 03-02-2014 (Still serving)
The Security Operations Division is looking for individuals who have experience in systems administration and/or system security with knowledge of network topology and protocols (basic routing/switching). My core manages and maintains all aspects of TAW infrastructure to ensure 99% or higher uptime. Job duties include Security patching and auditing, responding to network threats, analyzing network traffic and system utilization reports for issues, monitoring uploaded media for copyright issues, and various other systems administration tasks. Candidates should be well versed in both Windows and Linux operating systems. If you have someone who is interested, please send them my way and I will be happy to talk with them and gauge both their interest and skill level.
The Information Security team can be a demanding position only at times when the server is impacted. We are on-call 24 hours a day to respond to network and system emergencies. Outside of an outage, we work towards the completion of open projects and miscellaneous tasks. Roughly 10 hours a week is necessary
I decided to volunteer in Operating Support because of my skillset in systems administration. This is not new territory for me, as I already do this as a career. I saw that TAW could benefit from some of my expertise and wanted to assist Bones/Cutthroat/Ekis in building a team and a solid foundation in TAW's infrastructure.
I normally hold meetings with my team once per week on a weekend with some optional trainings which are posted from time to time. The weekly meetings are a time when the team gathers to discuss open action items for projects, follow up on outstanding issues in the environment, and provide a general overview for the direction of Information Security / Security Operations.
Absolutely not :-)
Calico
GFX
Division Commander- MGN.Deadxon Division Officer- MAJ.Marc Staff Officer- CPT.Calico Graphics member- GSG.Necrocoil
Graphic Design, the name of the division is a dead give away ;) We also run the TAW Shop.
I joined TAW the 15th of january 2013, as a member of Arma 2, once becoming a full member i applied to become a Training instructor for Arma, but merely a few weeks been a TI i took on the role of the Training specialist, i had the great privilege of working with some amazing people, but sadly real life came into play and i had to step down due to work conflicting with mandatory practices. Not wanting to leave TAW but not able to meet the requirements to stay as a Army member, i decided to join Operation Support Media as a graphics member, this place truly is what i was looking for and showing myself worthy i was offered the Support Team Assistant position. on October the 8th 2013 i moved into the role of Support Team Leader due to the previous leader stepping down for personal reasons, but then just a month after also myself taking a honorable discharge due to not having the time to take care of duties because i was moving to the UK. now settled in the UK and having the time to take on the busy world of TAW's Operation Support again i have returned to the newly formed Division of Graphics [GFX] previously known as [OSM] to become the Staff Officer to help out TAW in every way possible.
The possibility to stay in a wonderful community, while giving back to it with great designs. There is nothing better then a member in TAW thanking you for your work. even though sometimes they don't know what we do exactly ^^
OS is a real eye opener to how TAW works and runs, you will have days you love and days you just wish you left. but at the end of the day what other community or work place in the world doesn't have that problem ;) and if you are good at graphics hey! why not join the team? we dont bite.... hard... ^^