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So I fight with my computer for...lessee, I started at noon-ish, got on sometime after six, so six hours give or take. I instant message one of my friends, who asks me if I've been on my account. Le conversation (taking out screen names for security reasons):

Friend: Have you been on your Harls account at all today?
Me: no.
Me: I have been fighting with the Internet program the school gave me. It requires computer updates to run, but the updates, ironically, were ONLINE, and it only stayed online for 30 minutes at a time, and kept erroring. I have been fighting with it since at least 12:00.
Me: Has [insert my other AIM name here]* been on today?
Friend: No. I mean on Gaia
Friend: Because your Harls account sent your friendslist a PM that was very out of character for you, and your avatar doesn't have your Joker hat...
Friend: And I've been worrying all day about it
Me: O_O
Me: No I haven't been on!
Me: ><
Me: hacked.
Friend: I was going to contact a mod but I think you have to. Can you try to log on?
Me: I'll try, but honestly. How am I going to prove it if I was?
Friend: Trade log

*I asked this question because I live on my own, but that screen name (which is also Harley Quinn-related) sometimes gets logged on accidentally at my parents' house, which is perfectly normal. Naturally, I didn't immediately assume my Gaia account.

...And so on and so forth, mainly the discussion turned to PM-ing a moderator, me announcing that I was checking my recent posts and trades (thank goodness only the PM message, which was off-color so it won't be repeated, and those of you who know me know I don't like off-color humor). Also, it used the domo. I NEVER use the domo emoticon. Well, turns out the trades were from obvious mule accounts whose joined dates MATCHED the hacked date (8/10/06). The accounts were Dirty Little Boy (O_O;; why would I be friends---or worse, trade---with someone with a username like that?!), Varillion, and Mild Insomnia, so if you see them around or see them selling stuff, don't buy.

Just some notes: I always delete emails with passwords in them, and I did use this account on a public computer once, but that was just to reply to a comment, and I logged off immediately after. And even if I did leave my account on a public computer, you can't trade unless you know my password anyway. No, I didn't fall for one of those scams (I frequent the Site Feedback, we rarely get "Make Gold Quick!" threads), so I'm guessing the hacker guessed my password (I'll be honest; it was pretty easy, but it worked since the day I joined Gaia. Until now, obviously, so I never thought much of it).

Stuff I'm missing: Really Jacked-Up Pants, Shirt, and Gloves, Jacked Belt, Guitar of Demona, and above all---MY PRECIOUS JOKER HAT! scream I quested for months for that thing, jerkheads! And I mentioned in the report I filled out that a lot of my recent SF posts (some now moved to the Avatar 3.0 Glitch are in Q&A) that I was mad that I couldn't change my avatar without losing my HQ outfit. Now why would I want to give up my JOKER HAT, the literal CROWN JEWEL of my avatar, if I wanted to be able to save, but remake the outfit again? Hopefully the mods take that into consideration.

Anyway, I'm not asking for sympathy, just need to rant. And try to tell myself that they're only pixels...but lovely pixels, darn it! scream

Edit: One upside. They left me my bouncies. ^^ Bouncy Antennae feel bad that their sister items were lost, but they are glad to get out of Harls' storage box and actually be used again. Poor Bouncies!

[/rant]

Hacking thread saved for reference: http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16576225&page=1