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Late night spam bots

Heh, I hit F5 on 'Whats New' and saw a wall of Kanji.
*all hands to battle stations*

Actually, it's pretty easy to kill a spammer, a couple of clicks. The smarter ones lay low for a while before posting, then it takes a super mod like Mike to ban them.
 
JohnMc said:
Heh, I hit F5 on 'Whats New' and saw a wall of Kanji.
*all hands to battle stations*

Actually, it's pretty easy to kill a spammer, a couple of clicks. The smarter ones lay low for a while before posting, then it takes a super mod like Mike to ban them.
Click to expand...
I was a mod once. Just sayin'
 
I've always been curious what they actually post, but by the time I see it, there's nothing left. Everything is cleaned up, floor mopped, dishes put away. (Thank you, moderators.) But in case anyone else is likewise curious...

Tonight's spray of crap has nothing to do with an ability to edit. The pattern I see is a brand new user (today's date) who is spewing a new post approx every 3 or 4 minutes. Like clockwork. (See attachment 1.) The oldest one was edited after it had been there ~15 minutes. A brand new one (~1 minute ago) has not been edited (yet.) Those 2 appear to be approximately the same character length... so this is not a situation of "post 2 characters and then go back in and add more."

The weird part is there doesn't seem to be any link. Whoever it is, they're not trying to get people to click on anything, they're just spewing garbage. It's like they have nothing better to do than make someone's life miserable? I grabbed a partial translation, see attachment 2.

Cannot tell whether this is a bot or a human, although most humans aren't so rigid with their timestamps. No idea whether this creature will ever come back and see if anyone responded. But just in case, why the heck not? :cool: I added a comment in Chinese. The translation of what I wrote: "Why do you do this? Why are you dumping your garbage here? Maybe you think Americans and Chinese are supposed to be enemies, but not all of us believe that. Can't you be nice?"

I'm not expecting anything will come of this... but ya never know what someone thinks until you reach across the aisle.

Screen Shot 2024-04-13 at 12.12.41 AM.pngScreen Shot 2024-04-13 at 12.14.20 AM.png
 
Toybox said:
The weird part is there doesn't seem to be any link. Whoever it is, they're not trying to get people to click on anything, they're just spewing garbage. It's like they have nothing better to do than make someone's life miserable? I grabbed a partial translation, see attachment 2.
Click to expand...
I think this was brought up before, but there not being a link is probably a way around anti-spam software, but they probably don't even need it.

In every one of the Kanji spam messages (and the messages are usually all the same), there's a recurring number - it's a WeChat number and the message is requesting that you call them on it to discuss getting a fake degree to impress your parents and so you can get a job.

I was curious if it would be possible to block that specific number in phrase, and prevent it from being posted? It's common to all the spambot messages and there would be no reason for a legitimate TB user to use a WeChat number in a post.
 
fatcatbestcat said:
I was curious if it would be possible to block that specific number in phrase, and prevent it from being posted?
Click to expand...
Interesting idea. A quick web search reveals that 707091118 is being spammed in forums all over the place. It does not seem to be a Volvo part number, so it ought to be fair game to block.

But how do you block it in a way that doesn't alert the spammer? It's a classic cat-n-mouse game -- you don't want them to realize they need to find a way around it. Can the moderators' current actions be programmed? For example, a chronjob that runs every hour looking for that specific number, nukes every brand new instance and the account? (Or at least bans it?)

What about just a programmed search for a string of Simplified Chinese hanji (yes, I just ran down a rabbit hole to realize it's different than kanji) because the vast majority of our American- and Euro-centric members won't be using those characters? You wouldn't want to eliminate a small sampling in case a member is attempting to demonstrate something legitimate... Although why anyone here would post 你好 in the middle of English is beyond me.
 
One of the west coast mods needs to get insomnia or a terrible work schedule to ban these guys. How am I supposed to heckle recent posts if it's all Chinese
 
James M said:
One of the west coast mods needs to get insomnia or a terrible work schedule to ban these guys.
Click to expand...
Not really. What is needed is an Aussie or Kiwi moderator, where it's not that late at night when they strike.

(The Ying Tong Spam Bot Songs all begin at about 17:30 Australian Eastern Standard Time).
 
James M said:
One of the west coast mods needs to get insomnia or a terrible work schedule to ban these guys. How am I supposed to heckle recent posts if it's all Chinese
Click to expand...
My childhood diagnosed insomnia kicked in and I was up until to 3am. I saw the spam manifest in real time.

I also have past experience being previously employed as a moderator.

"whoever fights spambots should see to it that in the process he does not become a spambot"
 
bgpzfm142 said:
Not really. What is needed is an Aussie or Kiwi moderator, where it's not that late at night when they strike.

(The Ying Tong Spam Bot Songs all begin at about 17:30 Australian Eastern Standard Time).
Click to expand...
Turbobrickers must unite
c1a2967f-6005-4d98-b271-7e0f2ada00be_text.gif
 
James M said:
One of the west coast mods needs to get insomnia or a terrible work schedule to ban these guys. How am I supposed to heckle recent posts if it's all Chinese
Click to expand...

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ftsa&q=translate+english+to+chinese&ia=web

我不认为这非常困难...... :lol:

But seriously, I'm not sure I would. After I politely asked him/her/it to be nice, not one single new post appeared, and then 1/2 hr later the posts disappeared which is obviously the result of a moderator. But I can't explain the time delay. Is it even remotely possible that him/her/it actually paid attention to my translated Chinese??? On the other hand, I later realized I could have set myself up to be a target. I have no idea what their actual hacker capabilities are, but I do recall how much fun the college hazing rituals could be if you were on the top side of the equation. (Sad to admit.) It might be best to not provoke.
 
if Dana or Michael wants to make me a mod, I could help. I watch them happen in real time also. I just ignore the user so I don’t see their posts right now cause I can’t actually band the user now.
 
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