Oolite Bulletins

Oh it was picked up. Thanks for the tips.

marcusrg wrote:

Just for curiosity, how do you people suspect that a new entry on BB is a spammer? What are the points that indicate a spammer in the new profile?

I wrote an answer to this, but paranoia got the better of me. What if spammers trawl for threads like this, looking for tips? So now my answer is: intuition. (Although I will say that spambots that get through end up in a first-post moderation queue, and get deleted without normal users seeing their trash.)

OK, thanks all! That's us clear again, but obviously the lazy days are over ... can I ask the Spam Assassins to also keep an eye on the BB's Member List ... if you can keep an eye on the member number of the latest legitimate member, and flag up any bots who might sneak in behind by registering later.

There were a LOT of highly compromised IP addresses being used in that last batch, after checking them out with Stop Forum Spam (a useful resource, even for checking user names and - if available - email addresses). Most were from Eastern Europe (with the Ukraine as the standout), but not all: one of the worse, with 1000+ hits on SFS, was French. Those with hits in the multiple hundreds – 400+ – and flagged on SFS as high-activity, I've IP banned. The rest have got email bans, which is only of limited utility.

It looks like whatever botnet or collection of fetid weasels that had been out of action for the last few months has respawned or been replaced. So sharpen those swords, dust off those mini-guns, and freshen up those landmines!

Disembodied wrote:

... collection of fetid weasels

Do I sense a certain antipathy there, Big D?

El Viejo wrote:

Do I sense a certain antipathy there, Big D?

No, it's just a technical term.

<smivs chuckles>

*

arridaytyptog
https://bb.oolite.space/memberlist.p ... le&u=19145
Another one for the gallows.
No hits on SFS or google, but ICQ link points at an unrelated profile.

* * * * *
This nights catch:

wawSonajews
https://bb.oolite.space/memberlist.p ... le&u=19153
Profile gives sufficient grounds for deletion.

epheptids
https://bb.oolite.space/memberlist.p ... le&u=19155
Profile uses Cyrillic letters.
ICQ profile does not match
No hits on SFS, but google reveals same username on another rather dubious forum.

Xxxxxxx
Registered, but never logged on. Many indirect hits on SFS (CalibanXXX). Too many hits on google to make any sense of it.
One to watch closely.Valid, disregard please.

Coclaksislosy
https://bb.oolite.space/memberlist.p ... le&u=19158
No hits on SFS or google. No profile data.
Username and time on-line makes this another one to watch.

Libalatiste
https://bb.oolite.space/memberlist.p ... le&u=19159
Profile gives sufficient grounds for deletion.

boroman
https://bb.oolite.space/memberlist.p ... le&u=19160
201 hits on SFS and many more on google.

Caliban is valid, chatted on IRC

Rese249er wrote:

Caliban is valid, chatted on IRC

Thank you, list amended appropriately.
Caliban is used as part of the username for quite a few spammers, but since it is a common and pronounceable user-name, I set it to watch only.

Unfortunately I lost my internet connection for much of yesterday

Unfortunately the spammers didn't

Fortunately Gimi didn't either

Gimi wrote:

Thank you, list amended appropriately.

Not a problem. Blast if I'll let someone make the same mistake I did.

Rese249er wrote:

Blast if I'll let someone make the same mistake I did.

I have been there and done that. The odd error is bound to happen. If you look through this thread you will find a few false positives in our tagging.

Ooh, ooh! Where's mine?

They're coming thick and fast now - it's as if a tap had been turned back on!