4-11 incident
Copy of the MNN aritcle by Liam Sinclair
The 4-11 Incident refers to the malicious deletion of the national discussion forums of the United Republic of Tymaria by two of its citizens, Philip Locke and William Jesmer. It is named for the date on which the act occurred - during the evening (GMT) of April 11, 2002. During the crisis, the forums of the Tymarian Defense Forces were made available by the Chief of the Defense Staff, Liam Sinclair, for government operations and as a place of refuge for the Tymarian population.
After it was discovered that the boards had been deleted, the Defense Forces quickly set out to facilitate a secure environment for the Tymarian government to operate in (at the TDF forums) and work with the civilian authorities to determine those responsible for the action. Erik Metzler was quickly able to confirm the involvement of both Locke and Jesmer. The deletion were performed less than twenty-four hours after Jesmer had been given administrative powers over the forums following his elevation to Minister of Home Affairs. According to administrative logs, the entire operation was completed within forty-five minutes.
Labeled as "terrorists" by the Tymarian population and various other micronations, both individuals later claimed credit for the deletions without showing any remorse. In a conversation with Atteran officials on the day of the deletion, Jesmer stated, "I deleted it because we need a new centerplace [sic], a new beginning for [micronations]. A new Tymaria." Locke took the opportunity to point out that Tymaria lacked a strong intelligence agency since the TYSOG Incident left the existence of such an organization highly unpopular amongst Tymarian citizens.
The forums were restored by Ezboard Inc. on April 12; however, due to a lack of recent backups being available, one month of information was lost from the forum record.
On April 12, 2003, Philip Locke, now a high-ranking and respected citizen of Shireroth, bragged about his involvement in the incident one-year prior noting that "one year ago yesterday, Micras was shocked by the sudden and complete destruction of the Tymarian [forums] by the Minister of Home Affairs (Jesmer) and the Prime Executive's personal agent (Locke)."
