Spammers are winning

bdp522 · Post by **bdp522** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:29 am

I just zapped three of his posts! He just keeps putting them back and I just keep zapping!

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:46 am

And I keep getting the SAME links to the SAME threads that are from 2005 with no new information in them. You guys probably zapped them before I had a chance to see there was spam in them. GOOD WORK!!!

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 1:33 pm

nomad wrote:I can't believe a SPAMMER actually took the time to register here.

Well, things aren't always quite as they seem. All these posts could be real spam, or could it be that they are supported by determined adversaries of cpaptalk. What is obvious enough is that the spammers reacted vehemently to having their free ride taken away.

So . . ., this alone makes me wonder if the purpose of our spammers isn't quite what it appears. Perhaps the real purpose is to annoy the participants here and drive them away. Since we know there is a feedback loop which caused these spammers to multiply their efforts many-fold in response to members here simply deleting their posts, it would seem that same feedback would have caused real spammers to simply go to where the fields are more fertile.

Just my thoughts of course. Perhaps someone has another theory though which accounts for the recent changes.

Regards,
Bill

Amigo · Post by **Amigo** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 2:36 pm

I agree that something is going on here. True, it may be just the juvenile minds of the spammers trying to "get even," or it may be a concerted effort to create real havoc here.

There are currently three pages of notes from which spam notes were deleted cluttering up the so-called "View posts since last visit."

I'm afraid that more drastic steps need to be taken before there's just too much "old" crap to bother wading through.

MandoJohnny · Post by **MandoJohnny** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 2:36 pm

All these posts could be real spam, or could it be that they are supported by determined adversaries of cpaptalk.

Spam is spam. No matter what the source or the purpose, it has the same effect and has to be dealt with the same way. Also, I am still seeing lots of spam. I just deleted one on another thread and I have deleted a couple in the last few days. I know others have to.

I have said it before and will say it again. Of the many message boards I am on, this is the only one that has spam, ever. I don't see that anyone is being served by allowing it here.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:42 pm

NightHawkeye wrote:All these posts could be real spam, or could it be that they are supported by determined adversaries of cpaptalk.

I've had the same thought. Can spammers be on someone's payroll? Why cpaptalk and why now? Spammers know we're on to them, DMEs know we're on to them, and Resmed knows we're on to them. Cpaptalk's direct competitors know this place is growing as they are waning. We are a well-educated and vocal group. We are a thorn in the side of a lot of people in this industry. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that some person, or some group, or some entity, or some corporation would make a concerted effort to stop the free exchange of information and ideas here. While they have no legitimate recourse to prevent us from spreading the truth, there are insidious ways to make it more difficult for us to do so. Attempting to gum up the forum with garbage would be one of those ways.

Regardless of it's ultimate source, we refuse to be put off by the stuff. Fortunately, our resolve increases proportionately with the spam.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:46 pm

Addendum: On the other hand, I suppose it's randomly possible this is just a random sudden onslaught of random spam. Maybe I'm being paranoid... Then again, maybe I'm not. (I'd ask the people who are always following me, but they keep hiding every time I turn around.)

Sleepless on LI · Post by **Sleepless on LI** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:47 pm

I don't think any amount of spam or anything that these alleged "conspirators" can do will stop the members of this forum from staying right where they are and supporting this site. It's been a real lifesaver for so many people that no matter how much sabotage occurs, I don't think anyone really thinks about leaving. There's no where comparable to go. We might get annoyed by the nuissance it creates, but that's about it.

Keep on zapping!!!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:59 pm

Nuisance? Yes. Enough of a nuisance to stop reading the information here? No way.

LDuyer · Post by **LDuyer** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 5:39 pm

Sites are spammed because, well, they can be spammed.
Apparently websites everywhere have had to fight spam and put a lot of effort to try and eliminate it. Spammers come here because they can, they go anywhere they can. They don't single any site out, they get in because they can, they try all the sites and get in where there isn't the added protection. I understand they attempt to spam many internet sites at once. Other sites may not be getting spammed or much of it because they've put a lot of programming into it or limited usage to registered members. But I suspect spammers love the challenge and they can still get through.

Liam1965 · Post by **Liam1965** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:09 pm

NightHawkeye wrote:All these posts could be real spam, or could it be that they are supported by determined adversaries of cpaptalk.

It's possible, although I've been wondering if maybe this is actually the result of a spammer trying to actually be courteous.

Follow my logic here... Suppose you wrote a "spam bot" program to go out and post spam messages, but in order not to be TOO much of a nuisance, you had the program first scan to see if some form of the message it was posting had been recently posted, and not post again in the same topic if it had been.

Now add in the new capability the CPAPtalk crew gave us to immediately make them go away. Good for us, but suddenly the same bot program that crawls through finding places to spam sees an updated thread and its own message NOT there, so it posts again. While it's doing that, some good CPAPTalker has deleted the last one it did, so when it finishes it sees THAT thread as newly updated and not having its message... etc.

I don't know, but I tend not to ascribe to malice what can much more easily be ascribed to poor programming. Perhaps that's because I'm a poor programmer by trade.

Liam, so full of bugs he has to have weekly de-lousings.

LDuyer · Post by **LDuyer** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 3:58 pm

Liam?????? Liam is back????

Wow!

So, back to your spamming theory of courtesy. Does this make it a kind of bot loop? Interesting theory, this "Courteous Spammer." Spammers are people too, I suppose. lol

Great to see ya, Liam!

Linda

Liam1965 · Post by **Liam1965** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 5:18 am

LDuyer wrote:So, back to your spamming theory of courtesy. Does this make it a kind of bot loop? Interesting theory, this "Courteous Spammer." Spammers are people too, I suppose. lol

"Courteous Spammer" does sound like an oxymoron, but it depends on your intentions for spamming.

I mean, think about it, generally it IS an attempt to drive up traffic. And while spam is annoying, a small amount of spam is less so than a large amount, and too much repeated spam will drive away even the few people out there who might be inclined to follow the links.

On my own blogs, I enabled comment moderation when I started getting a lot of comments of the form "Great blog! When you get a chance, check out my <link to totally unrelated subject> blog!" which were clearly just spam. But the interesting thing is, I'd get one or two a week before I changed to moderating comments and not posting them, and that increased to several per day when they stopped actually showing up on the blog.

Might be a coincidence, but that's what formed my opinion.

Liam, shocked that he's now posted TWO serious posts in a row this morning. The world must be ending.

Machine	Mask

Machine	Mask

Spammers are winning

Re: VERY INTRESTING...