BS: Calling all computer folks.

Subject: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: Peace
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 03:51 AM

The recent glut of spam on the site prompts me to ask the following.

Given that the spammers never seem to hit a thread that is 'in operation'--that is, the threads that get hit are from somewhere in the bowels of Mudcat and not on the current page--would it be possible to take some of the old threads and put something there on some threads that have been dormant for a while (at least two months, because from what I've seen today, spam is not hitting threads newer than that) that would 'follow' the poster back to from whence he came or latch onto him as he is posting? If this is a stupid idea, please pardon me. I am truly ignorant as to how computers work.

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: Peace
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:00 AM

Also I have another question. How the heck does a spammer/spam machine find stuff like LyrAdd threads. OK, I'm not too bright, but after about three or four years here--except when Joe kicked me out for periods of time--I can never find jackshit for old threads. Or even stuff on the DT which doesn't work for some reason. So, what gives? Does the fact that a spammer can locate all this stuff mean that it is originating from someone who holds membership?

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: JennyO
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 05:33 AM

Peace - anyone, not just a member, could find, for instance, Lyr Add by putting those words into the filter, and setting the time back for whenever. I doubt that's how the spammers did it though. My technical knowledge is not all that great, but I'll bet it's done in a more impersonal way than that - probably not even a real person.

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: bfdk
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 05:58 AM

If you go to Google and type 'site:www.mudcat.org "lyr add"' in the searchbox, Google will search only on Mudcat and for pages containing the phrase "Lyr Add" - though not necessarily in the heading.

Making such a search today gives an approximate 18,500 hits..

Best wishes,

Bente

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: ragdall
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 06:14 AM

Peace,
One reason that Mudcat is a target is that it allows guests to post. The same posts are likely being made on other unprotected sites around the internet by people who truly expect to profit from the advertising. (No, it's not likely to be from a member.) Some spammers do become members of sites, in order to post ads. Registration slows them down quite a bit, but it isn't foolproof.

I think that the most anyone would be able to get from a spammer is the IP number of the modem at the internet service provider through which the post was made. They can be tracked to the company which supplies the internet connection, but determining which customer was online through a particular modem at a particular time, would be very time consuming.

A lot of spam I've seen lately has originated from ISPs in China, or an eastern European country. It's very unlikely that the service provider there gives a rodent's butt that some site in the eastern USA has been getting a few naughty ads posted on it.

To further complicate matters, it's possible to fake an IP number so what you see may not be the real number. If you block them, they'll just get a different number.

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 06:18 AM

1. It depends on how they are working.

2. No.

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: Mr Yellow
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 12:33 PM

What the BBC do is impose a 3 minute delay on all posts.

I would bet it is easy enough to have a 'bot on the 'Cat that looked for new posts with links - and the Joe clones probably have access to similar lists. The rest has to be a manual decision by the nature of things. If tracing via TCP/IP was any use it would be part of that 'bot s/w, I am sure.

Add a delay to GUEST's posts is my suggestion. If it bothers us we will click-in our memberships from wherever we are - it has to be less irksome that reading adverts.

A free society is not always free in our own personal terms - viz Walkman sound leakage and Mobile Phones.

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 12:51 PM

3 mins isn't long enough for here. Would need 3 days at least for the clones to keep up.

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: GUEST,gleaner
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:33 PM

Having seen the term "clone" used in Mudcat posts, I am unsure whether the term refers to a kind of software or to personnel performing certain functions.

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:38 PM

Volunteer personnel.

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:40 PM

They're real people. Hey, this is a folk site, after all!

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: Peace
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:45 PM

OK. I figured they were stupid questions on my part but I had to ask anyway. Thanks, all.

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: Amos
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 07:36 PM

Not stupid at all.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: GUEST,gleaner
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 08:29 PM

If personal email addresses were published on the site along with posts, every address could be a target for spam or other undesirable communications; the email addresses aren't required or asked for as post information. Those who post to Mudcat and choose to use names given at birth, or acquired by legal means, have the perfect right to do so, but some of them have been unduly critical of some posters who post as GUEST, even trying to raise a courage issue. Perhaps those who assert a superior courageousness or integrity thereby could find a way to expose all of their address and contact data and earn special praise for valor. Oh, but even the brave have to draw the line somewhere, don't they.

There are respectable reasons for using self-created or pen names, and most posters to Mudcat, including most members, use them. And most of us could not match very many self-created or pen names to "real names."

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 08:31 PM

You can if you are here a while.

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: Wolfgang
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 10:03 AM

One way to make the job easier for the clones would be to include a "spam" link in tha link line below all posts (or only below all GUEST posts). Anyone stumbling upon a spam post could just click on "spam" and the message would be transferred automatically to a spam thread that is accessible only for clones.

They would have all the spam posts on one spot (which makes erasing them easier and could retransfer all the posts to the original thread which mistakenly or out of ill will have been designated as "spam".

No need anymore to advertise spam in the help forum, just click it away.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Calling all computer folks.
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Dec 06 - 11:24 AM

And anyone out for a bit of mischief would have a field day, Wolfgang. Plus I wouldn't be at all surprised if such a system dind't get used by some to hide posts they felt were offensive.

I think I'd look into having a graphic image to copy text from and enter in a form field as the "able to post in the forum" level of defence.