Spam?

chadvone · 2019-01-04T00:38:36.000Z

Couple more spams just popped up. Someone beat me to it.

sb56637 · 2019-01-04T00:53:00.000Z

chadvone:

Couple more spams just popped up. Someone beat me to it.

Yep, that was me this time with my admin hammer. Thanks to everyone for their vigilance. They are more determined than I expected, but it will end sooner rather than later. I’m also playing with a few other tricks to try to mitigate it. Really sorry for the hassle.

Jerommel · 2019-01-04T00:56:12.000Z

We will fight the enemy together SB.
Unfortunately i missed the action again…

BlueSwordM · 2019-01-04T00:58:20.000Z

I do wonder why they even try to post here.

Do they try to selectively attack sites, or do they just spam on every forum in existence?

sb56637 · 2019-01-04T01:02:51.000Z

BlueSwordM:

I do wonder why they even try to post here.

Do they try to selectively attack sites, or do they just spam on every forum in existence?

I suspect it has something to do with our Google search ranking within our genre, which is rather high. There is always a certain level of drive-by automated spamming attempts, but this current attack is obviously targeted.

tatasal · 2019-01-04T01:42:05.000Z

BlueSwordM:

I do wonder why they even try to post here.

Haha, perhaps they think of us as kids who keep on buying flashlights as undergraduate-types, so they’re trying to sell diplomas!

264 · 2019-01-04T01:40:36.000Z

We all kicked spamer butt last night. Well done all.

chadvone · 2019-01-04T01:50:58.000Z

I have to work in the morning, so I won’t be on duty tonight.

tatasal · 2019-01-04T02:19:30.000Z

chadvone:

I have to work in the morning, so I won’t be on duty tonight.

Don’t worry, my time zone is opposite yours, we will man the fort.

Let’s just hope they have not regrouped and doubled their artillery for another carpet-bombing.

chadvone · 2019-01-04T03:07:51.000Z

bang bang, another one.

Edit, SB is on it.

hank · 2019-01-04T03:30:30.000Z

Damn bots.

Intelligencer – 26 Dec 18

How Much of the Internet Is Fake?

Turns out, a lot of it, actually.

https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=19/01/03/1221205

“Studies generally suggest that, year after year, less than 60 percent of web traffic is human; some years, according to some researchers, a healthy majority of it is bot. For a period of time in 2013, the Times reported this year, a full half of YouTube traffic was ”bots masquerading as people”……

Lightbringer · 2019-01-04T03:48:17.000Z

hank:

“Studies generally suggest that, year after year, less than 60 percent of web traffic is human; some years, according to some researchers, a healthy majority of it is bot. For a period of time in 2013, the Times reported this year, a full half of YouTube traffic was ”bots masquerading as people”……

I don’t get that last part… so Skynet is lolling around watching cat-videos all day?

chadvone · 2019-01-04T03:55:13.000Z

Lightbringer:

hank:

“Studies generally suggest that, year after year, less than 60 percent of web traffic is human; some years, according to some researchers, a healthy majority of it is bot. For a period of time in 2013, the Times reported this year, a full half of YouTube traffic was ”bots masquerading as people”……

I don’t get that last part… so Skynet is lolling around watching cat-videos all day?

LOL> as I close my cat videos tab

hank · 2019-01-04T04:45:29.000Z

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-ab&q=youtube+bot+click+ads

‘Biggest Ad Fraud Ever’: Hackers Make $5M A Day By Faking 300M Video Views

Forbes

'Biggest Ad Fraud Ever': Hackers Make $5M A Day By Faking 300M Video Views

'Methbot' makes record criminal funds by gaming the automated ad bidding market, claims security company.

How Much of the Internet Is Fake? Turns Out, a Lot of It, Actually.
https://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/30/98#subj3

Some were sent to browse the Internet to gather tracking cookies from other
websites, just as a human visitor would have done through regular behavior.
Fake people with fake cookies and fake social-media accounts, fake-moving
their fake cursors, fake-clicking on fake websites—the fraudsters had
essentially created a simulacrum of the Internet, where the only real things
were the ads.

How much of the Internet is fake? Studies generally suggest that, year after
year, less than 60 percent of web traffic is human; some years, according to
some researchers, a healthy majority of it is bot.

Follow the money.

chadvone · 2019-01-04T05:02:40.000Z

Incomming

BlueSwordM · 2019-01-04T05:03:33.000Z

HOLY CRAP.

chadvone · 2019-01-04T05:07:37.000Z

I think SB should adjust the count for users with less then 100 post.

Like 1 or 2 mark as spams take them out

RobertB · 2019-01-04T05:27:48.000Z

Who’s on Spam patrol tonight?

264 · 2019-01-04T06:11:04.000Z

The spam is gone now. I must have missed the attack.

ToyKeeper · 2019-01-04T06:20:53.000Z

tatasal:

BlueSwordM:

I do wonder why they even try to post here.

Haha, perhaps they think of us as kids who keep on buying flashlights as undergraduate-types, so they’re trying to sell diplomas!

The spam isn’t for us to read… it’s for search engines to read. As far as search engines are concerned, every link here is an endorsement of the link’s destination.

The way pagerank algorithms work, higher-ranking sites get heavier weights in the search scoring calculations. A single link on a high-ranked site is worth thousands or even millions of links on Joe Random’s blog. So if spammers can get a link to “stick” on a popular site like BLF, it has a relatively high reward. This makes it worth a relatively large amount of effort.