A popular Chinese web-based forum has plunged its visitors into a state of confusion as there are now, not one, but three sites bearing its name and logo.

The website, known as Kopitiam ('coffee shop' in Hokkien dialect) among its users, has generated a substantial following since it was launched two years ago.

Thousands of visitors have sent comments, mostly on domestic politics, which are automatically posted on the unmoderated website.

When contacted, website founder Teh Hon Seng said he had already relinquished control over Kopitiam "a long time ago".

According to him, the website was originally hosted by a local server of information technology company PUC Founder, of which he was the general manager.

However, given that the website was not commercially viable, the company subsequently decided to give up Kopitiam altogether.

"Someone approached me in early June and took the contents of Kopitiam to a US-based server. Since then I have nothing to do with the forum," he said, adding that he did not know this person since they only communicated via e-mail.

The site claimed to have received an average of 300,000 monthly hits in the past couple of months, with a marked increase in postings condemning MCA for taking over Nanyang Press Holdings, publisher of dailies Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press .

MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik recently accused Internet discussion forums such as Kopitiam of launching personal attacks and baseless allegations against him.

Tampered

Teh told malaysiakini that he gave Kopitiam to the anonymous individual in early June, who subsequently changed the address from www.founder.net/kopitiam to [#1] www.kopitiam-malaysia.com [/#].

However, two weeks later, readers saw a sudden change to the layout of the website and discovered that its archive was also erased, invoking speculation that Kopitiam might have been "hacked" by intruders.

The confusion was heightened by the sudden presence of a different website ([#2] www.kopitiam-malaysian.com [/#]) - malaysian.com instead of malaysia.com - which appeared around the same time.

Last week, the situation took another strange twist.

Visitors to the "imposter" website were shocked when they find parts of their previous messages being posted with personal particulars such as their e-mail addresses and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

A message calling on Kopitiam 's original founder Teh to apologise to readers for giving information to an "idiot" was left on the website's main page.

This has unnerved many readers as most of them used pseudonyms when submitting the messages.

The posting of the personal details renewed fears that the site has been tampered with, resulting in readers staying away from both the old and new versions as they were worried about the confidentiality of the websites.

But this is not the end of the story.

Four days ago, another Kopitiam - version III - was launched ([#3] www.oldkopitiam.com [/#]). This time, the anonymous webmaster claimed that the website was the "genuine" Kopitiam forum.

While tempted by its seemingly original look - the website also contains Kopitiam 's original archive - many readers are nevertheless staying away from the discussion forum.

All three websites are currently operating simultaneously.

Doubts

Teh's explanation to all this confusion: he was told that the new owner of Kopitiam set up the second site after the original one was 'hacked' by intruders, which resulted in its archive being deleted and its layout altered.

However, his second site was also later taken over by unknown individuals with troubling confidential particulars of users being posted.

As the new owner could not access the site nor rectify the 'problem', he set up the third site - supposedly the 'genuine' one - using a back-up copy of Kopitiam 's old contents.

However, some readers have expressed doubts over Teh's version of events.

According to them, the "hijacking" of the first two Kopitiams could be a plan for Teh to disassociate himself completely from the "highly sensitive" and controversial website.

Teh's involvement in Kopitiam was said to have caused some 'problems' for his company when negotiating business deals with local authorities.

But Teh strenuously refuted such accusations.

"I have done my part to explain the situation. If people still do not believe what I said, then they will have to produce evidence to prove me wrong."

Though sources close to Kopitiam thought it was likely that Teh still has a hand in operating the original forum, oldkopitiam.com, many believed that the earlier two websites were indeed hacked.

"Teh would not have exposed the users' names and e-mail addresses like what was done in the second website," said one of them.