# warbucket.com siezed by the DoJ. Is this for real?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 18, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353 "2003-03-18T19:34:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353/1 "2003-03-18T19:34:36Z")
Check out this link:
[http://www.warbucket.com/](http://www.warbucket.com/)
In a nutshell, it claims that the site has been siezed and shut down by the Department of Justice. I am not familiar with this website, but it was just pointed out to me on a blog I frequent. I know the Department of Justice siezed a couple of websites selling drug paraphenalia, but the pages they put up their place looked nothing like this one. Some of the wording strikes me as suspicious, too. For example:
> [@](#):
>
> Such violations include, but are not limited to: written commentary suggesting condemnation of actions by the United States, cartoon strips satirizing the nation’s role in foreign affairs, and improper display of the American flag.
None of which I thought were a crime.
Is this a hoax, or should I start digging a heavily fortified rec room for myself?
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### Author:  [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353/2 "2003-03-18T19:39:26Z")
Must be a hoax. When I follow your link, all I get is a brown page and a smiley-face.
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### Author:  [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353/3 "2003-03-18T19:41:45Z")
no text on site for me?
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353/4 "2003-03-18T19:46:56Z")
No text for me, either, just a purple smilie face and a brown page.
Seems to me that if the Feds really had shut down the website, it would be giving me a “Page Not Found” instead of a purple smilie face.
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353/5 "2003-03-18T19:51:15Z")
Maybe they got hacked or something … there’s just a big smilie there right now. (2:50 PM ET)
Isn’t Warbucket a Warcraft strategy site?
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353/6 "2003-03-18T19:57:30Z")
It’s a joke. Check out The In Clan, or just google for Warbucket – you can access the rest of the site from Google’s cache.
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### Author:  [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353/7 "2003-03-18T20:29:59Z")
OK. Mystery solved. It is, as I suspected, a hoax. It was presented to me as deadly serious Big Brother-type stuff. It sounded fishy to me, but these days, who knows? So naturally, I came to the SDMB–your online clearinghouse for all of your ignorance-fighting needs.
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### Author:  [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353/8 "2003-03-18T20:39:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*from [WARBUCKET DOT COM](http://warbucket.com/) \*
> Man, the [DOJ prank](http://www.war3.no/images/warbucket.gif) sh0t thought up of was just too hard to resist. 😛 To those of you who fell for it: \*it was a joke. . . . \*
At least that’s what I got a minute ago. Now I get a page of SQL errors and a note at the bottom saying they should have the site up in a few hours.
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### Author:  [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353/9 "2003-03-18T22:11:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \*
> \*\*No text for me, either, just a purple smilie face and a brown page.
>
> Seems to me that if the Feds really had shut down the website, it would be giving me a “Page Not Found” instead of a purple smilie face. \*\*
Not necessarily a “page not found”. I know of some cases where sites really were shut down, but they were allowed to put up a short, single page telling what happened.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353/10 "2003-03-18T23:15:41Z")
For those interested, [this](http://www.war3.no/images/warbucket.gif) is the image used for the practical joke. Does look pretty official and all. Heh.
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### Author:  [@winklerjj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/winklerjj)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2003, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warbucket-com-siezed-by-the-doj-is-this-for-real/162353/11 "2003-03-18T23:31:11Z")
The hoax is based on [Isonews.com](http://www.isonews.com), which really was shut down by the Department of Justice around a month ago.