Skeptomania - Paranormal / UFOs, etc.

enigma · Deputy Dawg

every other time I log in, it says at the bottom of the screen that Vic Daring is the newest registered member? Other times it will have a different name, then Vic shows up again the next time. Does the guy keep re-registering or am I taking my pain meds too often?

Anonymouse · Living impaired

If I were to hazard a guess, Vic Daring is the newest member who isn't/wasn't obviously a spammer. When the newer spammer accounts get deleted, forumwise picks out the latest account of the currently registered members.

Yaish · Intel Chief

Yeah, that's me at work, previously Grendel.

Vic is an actual poster. For some reason lots of spammers like to register, though I am sure it is actually bots doing it. There are some obvious clues to a spammers profile though so when I see it, and if it is not accompanied by a post I delete it.

chefkathleen

What exactly is a bot and how does it work. I think I know what it is but would rather hear from the pros.

Please and thank you.

Anonymouse · Living impaired

A "bot" can refer to any program made to go through the internet and interact with things. They can be made to do a bunch of annoying or helpful things. Search engines use bots to find web pages, some bots spam message boards, some bots are for entertainment (like jabberwacky).

Yaish · Intel Chief

Yeah, a botis really just a little program that automates a process that otherwise has to be done by hand.

Did you ever have to log in to a site where it made you retype some text that was displayed all funky, wavy and whatnot? Thats to prevent bots from being able to log in, since they arent very good at pattern recognition compared to people.
Otherwise, scalpers could use bots to log in to ticketmaster, buy all the Cher World Tour tickets, and then sell them for big bucks on the street.

One of the most common malicious use for bots is to harvest email addresses from the web. If you post your email address on a public website (like here, or your homepage, blog, etc...) a bot can come by and collect it, then send the addresses it finds to the spammer who sent it out. The spammer can then add that address to his mailing list to sell Viagra and low cost refinancing. One simple and effective way to prevent that is to spell your email out rather than post it correctly, for example
thechef at hotmail dot com. Any people who need it can figure it out, and some sophisticated bots can too, but the simpler and more common ones wont.

enigma · Deputy Dawg

OK, thanks guys. Thought maybe I was in worse shape than I thought...
makes perfect sense now...

chefkathleen

No wonder I get viagra and other shit in my inbox all the time. How do I stop them from sending stuff to me once they start?

Thegatekeepers

Send it to me kathy!

chefkathleen

does thegatekeeper need a little peckerupper? I mean pickerupper!

Anonymouse · Living impaired

You can either get a program to filter some of it out, or get a new email address reserved for important things.

Yaish · Intel Chief

Another important thing to help control the flood of spam, is NEVER click on any of those spam ads, EVER. If you use an email program like Outlook that lets you preview messages, dont use that feature either.

Often the emails will contain images, sometimes even just a single pixel sized image the same color as the background in the message. When you read the email that image loads from their server, and they can see what email addresses are responding and asking for that image. That then lets the spammer know he has a valid email address, and it becomes that much more valuable and can be sold to the next spammer down the line.

There is another thing to remember about spam, and that some spam is allowed to be sent. If you establish any sort of relationship with a company, they and their partners (usually spelled out somewhere in the TOS, or Terms Of Service) are allowed to send you emails about products and services they think might interest you.

For example, I made a purchase from Sierra Trading Post online, and now I get about two emails a week from them on sales and special offers. Since I am a customer of theirs, they can send me those as much as they like and it doesnt fall under the unsolicited email rules. I do believe they must also provide a link in the email to unsubscribe however.

The way around that of course, is to use multiple email addresses. Use one soley for making online purchases and corresponding with companies whose services you might be using. You might want to use that same one for registering for websites, memberships, etc...

Use a different email for corresponding with friends and family, and its probably a good idea yet again to use another for work related emails. Friends and family have a bad habit of letting your email out to the world, and then you start getting spam. Not good for business to have to sift through dozens of emails to get to the important ones.

Personally I have five email addresses, across multiple services. I get a ton of spam to one, and virtually none to any of the others because I am careful who gets those addresses in the first place.

Retro

Sigh. This stuff gets so confusing. I still think bad fairies do it.

chefkathleen

Thanks Yaish. I have 4 now but every so often I or my better half let one slip through to our main addy. Then we start getting all kinds of shit in there. I had a friend who told me to NOT opt out or unsubscribe that that only gave them conformation that it was a real or good addy and they would still send stuff. To just ignore it and they'd quit sending stuff. True?