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http://blog.disqus.net/2009/02/02/regarding-the-recent-spam/ -
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I don't care if I get those complements like "Great post, I'm adding you to my RSS" even from my regular readers. Watch for phrases like that, see if users are posting on more than one site in a day, watch to see if they are posting the same phrases on several blogs, give us better flagging tools that add up across the system to weed them out. Give us variable sign up that allow us as site owners to put stricter controls on how much info a comment needs before we allow it on our site. Allow us to whitelist members into our community. Allow us to only allow people to sign up via Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect or some other trusted source to make sure these people are real. Or make Disqus the trusted source, but have a stricter sign up method that proves their identity. Don't allow a member to post a link until they have proven themselves with <n> number of real posts, i.e. figure out why they are posting and take away the incentive.
The email controls are nice, but not if I am getting 20 or so complement spams in one setting. I know it won't be easy, but I am sure you guys can figure it out. I am looking forward to your solution because the future of your business depends upon you figuring out how to deal with this threat.
There's a slippery slope between comments and comment spam, but intent is what matters. If someone leaves a comment saying "I love your site and will add it to my rss feed", they might be actual fans, or they might be SEO page rank harvesters, looking to coast along on your hard-earned status. It's up to all of us to decide which bin to put them in!
I've noticed that many of these comments are verbatim copies of each other, though, and I'll sometimes get the same comment from the same "person" on multiple posts. Now that's definitely spam!
There's a slippery slope between comments and comment spam, but intent is what matters. If someone leaves a comment saying "I love your site and will add it to my rss feed", they might be actual fans, or they might be SEO page rank harvesters, looking to coast along on your hard-earned status. It's up to all of us to decide which bin to put them in!
I've noticed that many of these comments are verbatim copies of each other, though, and I'll sometimes get the same comment from the same "person" on multiple posts. Now that's definitely spam!
=)
Giannii
DISQUS
Community Manager
help@disqus.com
this guy is stealing our personal domain data and needs to be stopped
Atriks and Brian Haberstroh were major spammers (google them)
The good news is his email business failed but his distributed network of PC’s which is under his other company www.greenhorse .com is still active
Essentially Mr. Haberstroh has gone postal
Here is the story
First you must give credit to Atriks partner James Rascoe of Dunbarton NH he is the inventor of www.greenhorse.com and code writer extraordinaire his talents are routinely put to use in scraping corporate data from websites and bypassing spam filters. And has gone to great lengths to hide his association with Mr. Haberstroh although he owns 49% of Atriks.
The facts are as follows
In the process of sending spam for other companies Atriks would steal part of their clients data file which they would then use the file they created to send spam with the “tickerbar” software embedded in it, the unsuspecting recipient would then open and unknowingly download the “tickerbar” software which would then give Atriks the ability to control the user’s PC.
As of 2008 they had aprox 5000 PC’s with the “tickerbar” software installed aprox half of which are unaware it is running on their system and the naïve users that knowingly downloaded the software do not receive any compensation
Mr. Haberstroh through his other company www.domaincow.com convinced VeriSign the he is running DNS servers and therefore needs the “zone transfer file” this file identifies every .com and .net domain name registered.
Upon receipt of the file he is able to select out every new .com and .net domain registered on a daily basis
With a file of all new domain registrations in hand he then feeds the file into the www.greenhorse.com system the 5000 PC’s the PC’s then query the “whois” lookup on websites controlled by VeriSign
www.whois.net
Because the queries are coming from 5000 different IP addresses he is able to bypass basic security
And obtain all of the “whois “ information (postal, telephone, email)
The email addresses are sold to spam operations and the postal and telephone numbers are
Provided to list brokers www.marketforcecorporation.com and www.infinite-media.com who then sell it to many large reputable corporations who are unaware of the source of the data filling our mailboxes with postal junk
The bottom line is VeriSign is aware of Mr. Haberstroh and what he is doing and despite the agreement Mr. Haberstroh signed with VeriSign to receive the “zone transfer file” which specifically restricts any mass electronic queries of the “whois “ data base and the use of the data for marketing purposes. VeriSign chose not to suspend Mr. Haberstroh's access to the “zone transfer file” thereby permitting the wholesale theft of personal information.
You may respond to this email with any questions
Regards
=)
Giannii
DISQUS
Community Manager
giannii@disqus.com
I'm seriously considering moving back to Wordpress' default comments simply because Disqus' comment spam feature is so anemic. It doesn't catch a lot and doesn't allow features you would expect from a networked system.
I'm seriously considering moving back to Wordpress' default comments simply because Disqus' comment spam feature is so anemic. It doesn't catch a lot and doesn't allow features you would expect from a networked system.
I'm seriously considering moving back to Wordpress' default comments simply because Disqus' comment spam feature is so anemic. It doesn't catch a lot and doesn't allow features you would expect from a networked system.
I don't care if I get those complements like "Great post, I'm adding you to my RSS" even from my regular readers. Watch for phrases like that, see if users are posting on more than one site in a day, watch to see if they are posting the same phrases on several blogs, give us better flagging tools that add up across the system to weed them out. Give us variable sign up that allow us as site owners to put stricter controls on how much info a comment needs before we allow it on our site. Allow us to whitelist members into our community. Allow us to only allow people to sign up via Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect or some other trusted source to make sure these people are real. Or make Disqus the trusted source, but have a stricter sign up method that proves their identity. Don't allow a member to post a link until they have proven themselves with <n> number of real posts, i.e. figure out why they are posting and take away the incentive.
The email controls are nice, but not if I am getting 20 or so complement spams in one setting. I know it won't be easy, but I am sure you guys can figure it out. I am looking forward to your solution because the future of your business depends upon you figuring out how to deal with this threat.
It seems to be getting worse. It's not relevant, but it's usually a comment like "nice post good job"... no links, no hidden message or promotion...
But it's still SPAM.
--Kyle
It seems to be getting worse. It's not relevant, but it's usually a comment like "nice post good job"... no links, no hidden message or promotion...
But it's still SPAM.
--Kyle
I've removed Disqus until this gets figured out and it really annoys me because there are so many reasons to like it, but I don't want my site plagued with spam, particularly spam that Akismet catches in one second.
I've removed Disqus until this gets figured out and it really annoys me because there are so many reasons to like it, but I don't want my site plagued with spam, particularly spam that Akismet catches in one second.
I've removed Disqus until this gets figured out and it really annoys me because there are so many reasons to like it, but I don't want my site plagued with spam, particularly spam that Akismet catches in one second.
That kind of transparency in a hosted service that is free is really excellent. Many thanks.
I've removed Disqus until this gets figured out and it really annoys me because there are so many reasons to like it, but I don't want my site plagued with spam, particularly spam that Akismet catches in one second.
- the spam comment is not displayed under the blog post - that's good
- but it is still listed in the "recent comments" widget in my sidebar, which is really, really bad
I'm also getting close to removing DISQUS :-(
The recent comments widget refreshes every 15 minutes and that spam
comment was most likely cached before you hit mark as spam. Which
comment is it? If it is still lurking I will look into it.
Giannii
DISQUS
Community Manager
giannii@disqus.com
The recent comments widget refreshes every 15 minutes and that spam
comment was most likely cached before you hit mark as spam. Which
comment is it? If it is still lurking I will look into it.
Giannii
DISQUS
Community Manager
giannii@disqus.com
It's more then just the widget, it's WP not seeing what DISQUS marked as SPAM. Sent you email with details.
It's more then just the widget, it's WP not seeing what DISQUS marked as SPAM. Sent you email with details.
<a href="http://www.marblehost.com rel="nofollow">Marble Host
<a href="http://www.marblehost.com rel="nofollow">Marble Host
Marble Host
raimo1@hot.ee
EZB krise
"Zu spät, zu zögerlich"
Der DGB ging die EZB dagegen scharf an. "Sie reagiert zu spät und zu zögerlich auf die historische Wirtschaftskrise", sagte der Chefvolkswirt der Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes (DGB), Dierk Hirschel.
"Sie hätte sich ein Beispiel an den angelsächsischen Banken nehmen und die Zinsen schnell und drastisch senken sollen." In den USA liegt der Leitzins nahe null Prozent.
Vor der EZB hatte am Mittag bereits die Bank von England ihren Leitzins auf das historische Tief von 0,5 Prozent gekappt und den Ankauf von Staatsanleihen angekündigt um zusätzlich Milliarden in die Wirtschaft zu pumpen.
raimo1@hot.ee
EZB krise
"Zu spät, zu zögerlich"
Der DGB ging die EZB dagegen scharf an. "Sie reagiert zu spät und zu zögerlich auf die historische Wirtschaftskrise", sagte der Chefvolkswirt der Deutschen Gewerkschaftsbundes (DGB), Dierk Hirschel.
"Sie hätte sich ein Beispiel an den angelsächsischen Banken nehmen und die Zinsen schnell und drastisch senken sollen." In den USA liegt der Leitzins nahe null Prozent.
Vor der EZB hatte am Mittag bereits die Bank von England ihren Leitzins auf das historische Tief von 0,5 Prozent gekappt und den Ankauf von Staatsanleihen angekündigt um zusätzlich Milliarden in die Wirtschaft zu pumpen.
Can i link this post to my blog and copy a snippet?
God bless and good luck!
look for you.
Giannii
DISQUS
Community Manager
help@disqus.com
http://twitter.com/giannii
look for you.
Giannii
DISQUS
Community Manager
giannii@disqus.com
http://twitter.com/giannii
thanks for sharing. really helped a lot here.
--------------------------------------------------
Ugg Boots | Uggs
- the spam comment is not displayed under the blog post - that's good
- but it is still listed in the "recent comments" widget in my sidebar, which is really, really bad
I'm also getting close to removing DISQUS :-(
The recent comments widget refreshes every 15 minutes and that spam
comment was most likely cached before you hit mark as spam. Which
comment is it? If it is still lurking I will look into it.
Giannii
DISQUS
Community Manager
help@disqus.com
It's more then just the widget, it's WP not seeing what DISQUS marked as SPAM. Sent you email with details.