Spam Computers getting smarter and smarter
Click to embiggen
We had to show you the above spam comments caught in the filter, because we almost approved them. The spam computers are evolving rapidly, like SkyNet or those little alien do-dads in the under-appreciated Agent Mulder/Stifler/Julianne Moore laffer Evolution (a movie you’ve probably never seen that had a three-eyed smiley face for a poster).
The only reason we caught them, in fact, is because they came in at the same time, hitting different threads one after the other, saying almost the same thing. We were just about to approve the first one when we saw the other two below it and realized they were all trying to get linked to that Squidlyboo! site.
This is a great example of why we keep asking you get to avatars (but some of you still refuse to listen).
As smartly written as these spam comments are (whoever sent them knew this was a political site…and so the comments talk about Rahm Emanuel and the Mayor’s race so they seem legitimate at first…instead of the usual Asian spam in poor English talking about nonsense or lifting whole paragraphs from Jane Eyre or the encyclopedia to try to seem like English text), notice there are no avatars…just the automatically-generated ones from WordPress (which have switched to video game characters for some reason, as WP did an update and changed alot of things on the backstage area of the site).
Avatars would have taken care of these spam comments without us having to read them…and try to figure out if they were real or not.
This really was like taking a multiple choice test written by a very crafty professor.
We have to hand it to this spammer, because it was well-done. Still didn’t trick us, but he/she/it came damn close.
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UPDATE: Someone asked what happens if spam comments get through.
None of us are computer experts, so if we are wrong on this, please tell us in comments, but we believe that if spam like this gets through it’s a way for the spammer to trick people into coming to that Squidlyboo site.
Look in the screengrab and there’s that address the spammer wants you to go to. If someone clicks on the spammer’s name in the comment, then the person who clicks would be taken to that squiddlyboo site.
There might be a few reasons the spammer wants you to go there.
It could be that they are trying to drive hits to that Squid site because they need to increase their hit counts to get better ad revenue rates…where the more hits they get, the more they can make off the site (in case you are curious, WP does NOT allow ads so we make nothing off HB despite getting a lot of traffic…so it’s a massive lost opportunity for us here that makes us fund this out of pocket instead of getting that adstream).
It could also be that the spammer has that squid site set up as a data miner or malware promoter, so if you go there your computer gets infected.
It could also be a scam site like that Nigerian prince thing where idiots are tricked into giving them sensitive information and then they steal your identity or CC number. For instance, if someone was dumb enough to try to buy the Fisher Price toy that’s linked to in one of those posts, and that fool but his credit card in there, then this spammer now has your cc and will probably go wild with it.
There has to be some monetary reason these spammers keep trying to put all these links here all day. Something like 250,000 of these spam attempts have been stopped by the spam filter. There’s at least a couple hundred of these things sitting in the spam queue every single day. If we get busy and are running around Chicago and if Chrissy or Eric are busy on their coasts, then in just two or three days there are 1,500-2,000 messages for us to scroll through if someone is not sitting here deleting them every hour.
That’s why we keep asking nicely, again and again and again, for people who are being stubborn to get an avatar. The avatars let us just delete everything in the spam queue that we don’t automatically identify as a real and legitimate avatar. That means we don’t have to read things like the above and puzzle over whether they are live or memorex.
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Oh, Lord, I must have missed the avatar posts, sorry!
And I am Miss Tammy, my Gravatar account is under a different name, apparently.
I love the behind-the-scenes blogging tutorials. Spam and troll identification is great!
On the avatar thing…
I have a professional blog on WP. It has an avatar on it from my WP account. However, that is not who I post as, and for many reasons, I do not want to mix the two. When I got an avatar for this account, it showed up fine until I had to log out to get on the other account. When I logged back on to this one, the new avatar disappeared and I could never find it back.
Generating a new avatar every time I log off and log on again is time prohibitive. Then a couple times it said I was on one account and posted to the blog as my other account, so I couldn’t do that anymore. I’m really not trying to be contradictory or stubborn. I just can’t get the two accounts to work separately like I wish they would.
I have a Word Press avatar, but for some reason it doesn’t show up when I comments. Do any of you know how to correct that?
That was supposed to say “leave comments”. Sometimes my brain goes faster than my fingers!
did you get the avatar through Gravatar?
How do you get an avatar? can you direct me to your directions post if you have one posted.
http://hillbuzz.org/faqs/
Under FAQs, scroll down a bit and you will see “How to get yourself an avatar”
Okay, Uncle. I’ve gone to get myself an avatar. Here’s hoping this works. Love this blogsite!
Yea! It worked. I know, it’s not very original… but it was the best I could do on short notice
Thank you for finally getting one. You have no idea how much this helps us eliminate spam.
We don’t know how else to say this to get through to the people who are stubborn and just refuse to do it, but it eliminates literally hours of work for us every day so that we can write more and not be stuck reading spam, hitting DELETE, going to the next message to figure out if it is spam, hitting DELETE, doing that a thousand more times every day.
Literally, it saves us hours of time.
But some people just refuse to do this because “I don’t wanna’. AND, we notice that some of these are the first ones to complain if a post of their is in moderation for more than 15 minutes…yet they won’t do this one small thing to eliminate spam.
It is so bizarre.
I’m curious – if you had OK’d those 3 spams, what would’ve happened? Do they cause some kind of damage, or open the door to a lot of spammy drivel? Take up website space and raise expenses? What?
The spam comments themselves aren’t the problem, it’s the fact that they link to questionable sites that can get you spyware, viruses, all kinds of nasty stuff. That’s why they try to disguise themselves as legit, so you click on their links/names.
Thanks for answering my question. I have 4 children: (1) the published author of 2 books, (2) the computer genius who graduated from Berkeley with a double major in computer science and physics, (3) the 9-fingered herpetologist, (4) the daughter I have named “Tthe Virgin Slut” – 32 and never been kissed but with an enormous knowledge of sexual perversions, thanks to her 3 adopted post-molestation kids.
Guess which one I asked about this? So, Mr. High Tech says that spammers aren’t really trying to damage your site, but to improve hits on their own sites (reduces the noise/something ratio). Obviously he didn’t get his computer skills from ME!
He could’ve told me more, no doubt, but (a) anything more than that would’ve gone right over my non-tech head and (b) I interrupted a phone call he was already taking. So I’m telling you avatar-less people, if I could get an avatar (and in only 2 months of trying, too!), so can you.
I am just testing to see if I have an avatar after my recent computer problems.
Wait, the Nigerian prince things are not real? WTF? Now I know why my check never came in. Bummer.
Heh. Heh. Just wait until my share of the inheritance from my hitherto unknown relative gets here.
Paaarrrtaaay!!!
I’ve been assurred that, as soon as I remit the “nominal processing fee”, my check will be forthcoming immediately.
You know, I really wish I could have known Uncle Smedley. He seems like such a nice guy. And who knew that the Solaratovs had family in Nigeria?
Did you ever read the book by the guy to decided to scam the scammers? He wrote long letters to the Nigerian bankers, and suckered them into doing such stupid stuff. I’ve forgotten the title, but if anybody wants to read it, I’ll try and hunt it down. It was hilarious.
And mean. But not, I suppose, as mean as ripping people off the way they do.
There is a hilarious website where the guy did just that. Haven’t looked at it in ages, but if you are really bored and want a good laugh, you can easily lose a couple of hours. Okay, not as edifying as the White House one I referenced before, but fun.
http://quatloos.com/
Maybe same guy as wrote the book, I don’t know.
They have really changed their site, very interesting, but these are the fun letters between Brad and the scammers:
http://www.quatloos.com/brad-c/directory01.htm
I wonder why WordPress doesn’t allow ads? That seems odd to me since they have plugins directly related to being able to put up ads…
Whoa where did that picture come from????? I’m Michelle with the pink hair, btw…. posting from the laptop… strange.
Ironic that one of the spam is promoting Gizmo (of Gremlins fame) items sold thru Amazon.
Boyz, I hate to say it, but you got yourself a nasty gremlin problem there.
As for Squidward, they claim (and I’ll quote with small editorial license): Squidpoo is the popular publishing platform and community that makes it easy for you to create “lenses” online. Lenses are pages, kind of like flyers or signposts or overview articles, that gather everything you know about your topic of interest–and snap it all into focus. Like the lens of a camera, your perspective on something. (You’re looking at a lens right now).
Flyers, you mean like the spam I find occassionally on tucked under my windshield wiper???
updating info and avatar, finally.
Yeah!
there is another scam that comes through email. I have seen two versions of the same scam.
The latest came from someone that I know who lives in Texas. The man runs a traffic exchange.
The email claims that the person has been robbed. Then there is the request for money which is over $2500 to pay the hotel bills etc. etc. so that he or she can get home. This one claimed that the man was robbed in London.
The first time I saw this scam I was really surprised and thought it really had happened to the woman. However, this time I was sure that it was a scam.
The FEDEX email contains a nasty virus.
Okay I did it.. happy now?
HB,forgive me for asking, if you have answered this question before–have you though about deleting non-gravatared posts? Is there any reason why someone would absolutely refuse to get a gravatar? I’m asking if there is a potential security/virus issue, because I don’t understand why, after MONTHS of you asking, that some won’t. So I thought maybe there is another issue at hand (?). Besides, would that not save you precious time?
Speaking of time, the longer the essay, the better!
OK, you asked so I now have to respond.
First of all, to get a gravatar you have to join and give at least some information. I don’t join well or often.
2. If WP could accept my own pictures, I would gladly use one of those as an avi, but in all my looking at your site, I have yet to find a way to do this.
Lastly, you have a great site and exceptional content. Not a day goes by that you don’t make me laugh, cry, get outraged and vow to do more.
Thank you.