OK, what's with the idiot spammer(s)?

[WaterMonkey314]

Of course, I really have to wonder what sort of hydrocephalic chimp would actually be stupid enough to click on anything that goes 'wow gold' or whatever the come on link is. Seriously, how many million spams would you have to send out in order to get any responses whatsoever? I'm assuming it will immediately place some form of malware on your system as it directs you to their server out in lower east Slobbovia where 'Peggy' will try to sell you something, just give me your CC number . . . You'd have to have an IQ somewhere between a beet and a radish to click on something as transparently stupid as that.

I have to confess to being tempted to click out of curiousity.

The fact that I'm using a Windows PC though keeps me from actually clicking, but perhaps others are not so restrained?

[Oberon]

Seriously, how many million spams would you have to send out in order to get any responses whatsoever?

See now, you have identified the business model. Sending snail mail costs money. Advertizing in magazines or newspapers costs money. Using a bot to post your message to any young and nubile message board without a proper chaperone is very nearly free. And it gets more free with every iteration. A %.0001 success rate means you earn profit.

The human race has an average IQ of 100, and a strong susceptibility to pitches which target their weaknesses. Enzite will make your penis larger (Really? Without making any other part of your body larger?); the competing claims of the "sell us your worthless gold jewelry" and "gold is the only safe investment" crowd (really? Because gold is both at $1,600.00 per oz and we'll buy it from you for pennies on the dollar, and at the same time gold is the only way to save yourself from the Apocalypse and we'll be happy to sell it to you for your worthless cash); etc, etc. This way to the egress. The carnymancers will rule the world. For a short period of time, before everyone dies because the carnymancers were allowed to rule the world...

[Beeskee]

The carnymancers will rule the world. For a short period of time, before everyone dies because the carnymancers were allowed to rule the world...

I think you got it right on the money.

I was kind of hoping we'd become a Type 1 civilization before that happened, but I'm not sure if we'll make it or not.


So I guess I'll just say get a bigger pen fifteen two day.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Meh, someone, forgot who, made the plausible suggestion that spammers aren't, exactly, after your clicks. I mean, there's one born every minute, but the real thing that matters is that search engine crawlers follow the links. In the hopes that certain sites get bumped up in rankings.

Incidentally, user mnopsomething has recently posted (links scrubbed)

Swancourt said very hastily, endeavouring to dodging substantiate to his novel status with the air of a man who had not touched at all. 'The fact is I was so cursed in profound reflection that I forgot whereabouts we were.' And in a min the vicar was ventilation again. That eve, existence the worst, seemed to put an extraordinary inferiority of feeling over Writer Sculpturer, and the repeated injunctions of the vicar.

What the hell is it with T. Hardy's "A pair of blue eyes"? Are spammers, actually, promoting literature?

And innovative translations?

[drachefly]

Aargh. I just even gave one of them a clickthrough by accident - I reported the post, and when done reporting it returned me to the thread. I clicked on the Everything Else Erfworld link, but just at that moment the browser shifted down to the reported post, and the link-click hit one of the spam links.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Aye, I know the annoyance. So far browser shifts have not resulted in me clicking on a spam link, but I hate 'em when they happen- it's only a matter of time.

[Sieggy]

<Sigh> Would it be possible to set up one of those 'Please Enter The Wriggley Letters' (or take a stab at it) antirobo devices? Or a picture of one of the Erf characters that you have to identify like when voting for your favorite comic (which for whatever reason this doesn't appear to be on the list . . .)? This botspam is REALLY annoying . . .

[the_tick_rules]

most of the spammers i see are trying to sell WoW gold. But those are more like bots.

[BLANDCorporatio]

I got moved to put this



into the "Greetings Every body" topic. But since it will likely disappear, I'd thought I'd share why here instead.

Basically, "Greetings Every body" starts innocuously:

Hiya All people, Just joined up with www.erfworld.com. I'm hoping this is the appropriate place to share our feelings as well as the views. By the way is "Everything Else Erfworld" is the accurate place to post introduction topic?

Ok, some miscapping there, but this is a human introducing themselves, with an important message:

When we discuss about safe and sound sex we do not mean to eliminate the enthusiasm and intimacy from your life. It essentially usually means preventing and protecting you from the sexually transmitted ailments and reducing the risk of acquiring the infection. Protected sex protects you towards unintended pregnancy and some frequent STDs that can be transmitted throughout intercourse, for example chlamydia and gonorrhoea. HIV infection is transmitted predominantly as a result of vaginal or anal intercourse without having a condom. Harmless sex prevents you from sexually transmitted health conditions and HIV.

It goes on. Waaaaay on. 19 paragraphs later, we get to (link scrubbed, replaced by emphasis):

The escorts london subsequent solution is to use a condom. A condom is a skinny latex sheath that addresses the penis and stops the make contact with of genital fluids by acting as a barrier involving them. Male condoms are really low-cost and readily available in all drug suppliers and even vending devices. There are also female condoms that cover the overall vaginal wall but these are high priced and not very easily accessible. The use of condoms cuts the threat of contacting a ailment by 90% and and that of pregnancy by 95%.

Two more, but linkless paragraphs follow, and the message ends with a signature that is another link to the escort service.

Now, spam is sometimes weird and incomprehensible. But this, in my opinion, takes the odd cake. Well done.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Whoah. Not even a day has passed, and I stand corrected. Check this piece (which contained NO links at the time of quoting):

Hi,
Very good and nice forum.

Здесь можно размещать разные ссылки? Если нет - удалите этот пост и мой профиль. {Google translate makes this to be: You can post different links? If not - delete this post and my profile.}

I want to spam any links here, if you dont want it please delete this post and my profile.

Thank you and sorry.

Hey, politeness is cool. Welcome!

[drachefly]

Okay, that's, umm, different. Also, I can verify that Google translated it right. Of course, given what they said immediately in english, that wasn't really at issue.

[BLANDCorporatio]

And we're back to the usual spam fare. Most of the stuff I've noticed was completely unremarkable, and for that matter, so is the one recent message that was any good (quoted, partially, below). Not quite as surreal as I'd hope, but still a few awkward turns of phrase (probably a mistranslation of a tourist brochure to English) produces a few linguistic gems.

We row-boat up outstanding surroundings, spectacular views, unrivalled cuisine, and anomalous leaning commingle to invite the underlying memories someone is concerned your intermingling or one and only event. Featuring lakeside ceremony/chapel on Lake Ronkonkoma, with chimerical sunsets, breathtaking sea juicer views, appealing gardens, waterfalls and uncountable other photo opportunities.

Gosh, I wonder what a chimerical sunset is like, and how you can row-boat through cuisine. At least the gardens aren't appalling.

[BLANDCorporatio]

No, wait, there's also this. Still not as fun as the better outings I know of, but please admire the focused approach to advertising

cash advance discover at walmart
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{snip}

The commercial banks must,
Charcoal briquettes cost more than propane gas. Is it formed upon creation operate of a latest cumulative or unsecured loan? the S. financial plans some firms try to sell. A second Staff-led education session focussed on the accounting approach for the composite margin release to profit. D, cash advance discover at walmart Some of them are subject to the floor amount, as borrowers are coming to realize they have a greater moral responsibility to their families, Where labor was plentiful, How do I know if a payday cash advance is convenient for me?

or the casual, almost "as-if-spoken", style:

The website is very comprehensive. We need to buy you one. Wrong. A top welder at Erie Shipbuilding earns $18.

[BLANDCorporatio]

And here's me further hijacking this thread. Not for a particularly juicy bit of spam, alas, but for a curious phenomenon. Now, remember, the next quoted text has been snipped without notice. The only things left in are references to "Blu Ray".

Blu-Ray
Blu bar
Blu shaft
Blue glimmer
Blu gleam
Blu pencil
Morose glimmer

Why is this? The phenomenon manifests itself in the spam text as well: luxurious use of synonyms, some of them very advanced in semantic connection: rip, tear, steal, pilfer. I don't know about you, but the translation making the connection between "ripping" a film, and "stealing" it, is something I'd think is beyond what usually passes for translation software. So automatic translator, or a human one wishing to avoid clumsy repetition?

[WaterMonkey314]

And here's me further hijacking this thread. Not for a particularly juicy bit of spam, alas, but for a curious phenomenon. Now, remember, the next quoted text has been snipped without notice. The only things left in are references to "Blu Ray".

Blu-Ray
Blu bar
Blu shaft
Blue glimmer
Blu gleam
Blu pencil
Morose glimmer

Why is this? The phenomenon manifests itself in the spam text as well: luxurious use of synonyms, some of them very advanced in semantic connection: rip, tear, steal, pilfer. I don't know about you, but the translation making the connection between "ripping" a film, and "stealing" it, is something I'd think is beyond what usually passes for translation software. So automatic translator, or a human one wishing to avoid clumsy repetition?

I actually think it might be a translation run through a synonym-generator. (Automatic thesaurus? Synonymizer? Thesaurizer?) Presumably the fancier words are meant to fool Google.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Here is an interesting post- rules-wise, not for content.

It's not the only thing I've seen of the kind, but cannot find the other example. And there'll be a question for mods with this one.

So in short:

1) Said post (barely) qualifies as fitting the thread. Yes its content is nigh zero, but I can imagine it being an appropriate response. Heck, I've made posts like that.
2) Said post contains, as a sig, a link to someplace. Several posters have links to their webcomics, or videos on youtube, or whatever. Why would whatever that sig is, be different?
3) Said poster is, at least for now, really not prolific. Unlike your typical spammer, who'll flood each forum part with posts, the poster I linked to is content to post once in a blue moon.

So my spam-sense is tingling but ... I dunno, on actual analysis, this particular poster doesn't seem harmful (unless that link is to unwanted crap). So, Mods, advise.

EDIT: Found the other, and context is crucial to establish the MO I've illustrated:

The linear guild returns...

That would have made me happy awhile ago, but since they abandoned Leaky Windstaff I don't like them anymore.

This is a message with the topic "OotS". NOT spam by any measure.

Yay! I thought they'd be coming back! But it looks like there's no chance of seeing Hylda, though.

A reply from an established poster. Nothing special to see here yet ...

I dont think they are, what with the fall after pride usually being fatal and all.

Another reply, notice that it fits the conversation. BUT: the sig is (link scrubbed) "wholesale Ralph Lauren". The account was set up within the last few days. As of this EDIT, it has 3 posts.

(Also notice, to be fair, that Sandis links to their own blog/journal; but I've always taken that to be kosher)

[Beeskee]

That person (in the post you linked to) only posted once so far, and "yeap" is sort of the way Big Macintosh says "yes". But the link seems to be for some sort of cement company, and Chrome had to translate the page from Polish. I didn't get any of the usual spam popup garbage. I'm honestly not sure if they are a spammer or if that just happens to be a place they work at or own.

Their link is broken but I searched it on Google.

[Beeskee]

We've had a flood of spammers recently. I suggest adding some 'human only' type questions to the signup, more than just the "read the weird text" variety. The phpbb forums have an excellent thread on how to block them from registering.

[BLANDCorporatio]

I think some of the spammers are human. Heh, eat that Alan Turing, what your test descended to.

The way some (even if few) of the spamsts seem relevant to the topic in which they appear indicates this. Not a foolproof indicator, and indeed, "some of the spammers are human" is such a weak position so as to be trivial. Surely from among the horders, there's a human or two plugging for their shady business.

Still, my hunch (that's all it is) is that a sizeable fraction (maybe a third?) are human.

[drachefly]

The funny thing is, captchas can be forwarded to real live humans broswing other web sites… unless they incorporate domain knowledge, like the one I gave above

"Which of these are major Erfworld characters? Gonzo, Wanda, Ebenezer, Parson, Celia, Stanley, Ansom, Howard, Kilroy, Maggie"

checkbox on each. Makes it 2^N times harder to sign up without knowing what you're talking about.