Bitcoin Forum

Stumbled upon one shitposter churning out posts two minutes apart, reported their posts:
TheDonBuja (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851426) (temp-banned?)

Now there is a bunch of others:
Kamilaz (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851186) (temp-banned?)
benkhalil3 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2849606)
iwnlfr (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851743) (temp-banned?)
aiguy (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2664193) (temp-banned)
etc

Edit - a few more found by LoyceV:
KimberlyCon (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851272) (temp-banned?)
0nline (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2817255) (banned)

Found by GazetaBitcoin:
Lightz1337 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851193) (banned) [hf]
YikesAu (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2848953) (temp-banned?)
seocrush (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851568) (banned)
nathanaelung (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851549) (banned)
g2ingoin (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851756) (banned)
daviebcoys (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2850512) (banned)
MarkoAlonso (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2848699) (banned)
fernquaker (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851659) (banned)
arecoba20 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2849649) (banned)

Found by TheBeardedBaby:
proscratcher (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2579564) (banned)

These are kind of spammy but perhaps not as egregious as the spammers above:
FYeah (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1036983) [hf]
Sakhill (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851286) [hf]
FaceTehWind (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=803496) [hf]
aldanstep1 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2849542) (banned)
LeDonna (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2777309) (banned)
PhoNam (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2850878) (banned)
Detrix (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u= 833235)

Not sure what's going on, perhaps actmyname is testing our vigilance (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5133932) (Edit: apologies (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5274456.msg55159439#msg55159439) to Timelord2067 for an inappropriate joke), or the mythical AI is finally here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5263133) (one of the users is called "aiguy" LOL), or maybe just a bored shitposter trying to earn a merit through sheer volume. At any rate, reporting those posts individually seems like a massive waste of time for everyone involved so perhaps a mod or an admin could check patrol and nuke them, TYVM.

---

Edit
It turned out to be a (likely scammy) money-making "method" initiated on hackforums (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5274456.msg55169502#msg55169502). Users marked with [hf] above are suspected to have posted in the hackforums thread but most of the listed users are likely participants of the scheme.

I noticed them too:
On my Active users and top posters (https://loyce.club/active/) page they instantly stand out: several new users with more posts than anyone else. I was just considering creating a topic for it, but you beat me to it.

Off-topic seems to be a breeding ground for these new account farmers.
Maybe like Ivory Tower, off-topic should be locked for anyone with less than i dunno, 5 merit

This would result in spammers finding a new convenient board to spam, clogging up the rest of the forum, and putting more work load on mods/staffs.
Imo, it's better confined to the off topic section, every board already has its fair share of spam.

I reported six of aiguy's posts, which I believe were for necrobumping threads that were at least a couple of months old with shitposts.  I was starting to see that happening quite a bit, and it was annoying the hell out of me.

I doubt this is actmyname's doing (though I would never rule that out), nor do I think skynet has become self-aware yet.  More likely these are morons trying to boost their post count with garbage posts.  I'm not sure why the necrobumping happened, though.  It's not like there aren't hundreds of threads that are still active that a shitposter could hide one of their "gems" in, where it wouldn't get reported and probably wouldn't even get noticed.

Edit:

Huh.  You could very well be right, though I'd say if these posts were AI-written they're failing miserably on the forum so far. 

Related to the list suchmoon posted, I've noticed that Polo7 and spy100 have been creating threads that are incredibly spammy.  I even reported this post (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5274344.msg55154673#msg55154673) by Polo7 in which he asks for a donation, which is borderline begging IMO.

It could be a test-run: AI writing messages on Bitcointalk.org (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5263133.0).

Read this:
An AI test-run would actually explain why someone would spend $100+ on Copper Memberships!

This user alone has made about 64 posts today (mind you that the day is not over yet, so that number could still rise).
@aiguy already has 271 posts, and that users post history shows he started posting on September 4, 2020 (only four days ago) I don't know if he deleted previous posts as the account was created last year, btw this case looks far more than filling their post count (which is already filled, lol), looks more to me like spamming brazenly without remorse and on purpose, which imo should get them nuked.

The account was inactive until September 4. According to Loyce.club (https://loyce.club/archive/members/266/2664193.html), there is no post made by aiguy before September 04, 2020.
This user has made 282 posts so far. 6 of them have been deleted.

Detrix might be not part of that group, unless the "AI" speaks Romanian and has different velocity settings (fewer posts for that user).

TheDonBuja was the first one I noticed... 19 deleted posts was my attempt to clean it up. Added the other two to the OP.

I don't see a benefit from what they are doing right now. If they are trying to earn a merit with "sheer volume" I think they won't get any as one-liners especially the ones without sense won't be attracting any merits in their way, quality is always more important compared to the quantity of posts you are making in the forum. These might just be newbies who think that they can still rank up just by activity alone or they are just persons who have a lot of time and wasting it on senseless post.

It can't be him, because I reported one of the accounts (0nline) for plagiarism in nearly all of their posts in the Technical Discussion board. That account is nuked now.

Also, I don't think he'd be willing to blow ~0.016BTC on a bunch of copper memberships for an experiment.

Your proof @actmyname is behind these accounts is based on what exactly? (and you recon I make baseless accusations  ::) ) Time to put up ...

aiguy has been temp-banned: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5274516

Edit: for some reason the ban appeal topic vanished and the appeal account seems to have been nuked, see LoyceV's archive here (https://loyce.club/archive/topics/527/5274516.html) and here (https://loyce.club/archive/members/285/2851867.html).


I apologize for failing to consider your inability to grasp the joke. I have modified the OP to make it clear.

No proof offered.  Got it.

Fortunately I was able to archive your little "joke" for future reference.  Archive [1a (http://archive.vn/h66ev)], [1b (http://web.archive.org/web/20200909010957/https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5274456.0)]

Given how out of control the actual admin/mods are in deleting posts (especially ones about themselves) it's probably a good thing you don't have keys to the Forum otherwise we may never have had their alt's "I've been banned" posts to read.

I tried translating to Klingon, didn't help. No idea what you're talking about.

Do you have anything to contribute on the topic, e.g. find out who's sockpuppeting the spam accounts?

If you're inviting me to investigate, then sure I'll have a look for you.  I've just finished up this investigation https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2544574.msg55154010#msg55154010 perhaps you'd like to have a look at it first?

You've invited yourself. I would prefer that you stayed out of my threads but free speech and all that shit so at least try to be on topic.


I won't.

It's not a Copper Member either, so doesn't fit in.

I think I found a few more, all Copper Members:
FYeah (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1036983) (created in 2017)
Sakhill (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851286) (created 2 days ago)
FaceTehWind (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=803496) (created in 2016)

I only noticed those because they post a lot (https://loyce.club/active/). There could be many more that are "hiding" by only making a few posts.

I also found two profiles with the same pattern:

- Lightz1337 - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851193
- YikesAu - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2848953

Lightz1337 is not Copper Member indeed, but if you look at his posts, you'll see so many of them being posted just before / after a post of Kamilaz or aiguy. It may be connected to these accounts as well.

So what is this? A big farm of accounts sponsoring the forum by paying for Copper memberships at the price of spam? :)

If you going to maintain a list of those shitposters, I'm aslo throwing one, but got banned, anyway I think it's a parft of the same spamming crowd.
proscratcher https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2579564

Thanks to the LoyceVs lists (https://loyce.club/active/7d.html) those are easly exposed.

But if the newbies could have a limitation of 10 posts per day and/or with an interval of an hour before they can post is I guess the better choice to lessen such shitposters and spammers. This had been a problem back then with a lot of users that either agrees with a topic, posts a single sentence, necro-bumping megathreads and cliche topics, and even posting topics (mostly in Bitcoin Discussion and Beginners&Help board) that are already posted a thousand times.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851426;sa=showPosts lol this user's post in off-topic only have 2mins interval and indeed spamming the forum. Theymos and the management must have a stronger rules against newbies. Though it might be rude for such newcomers to learn, everything (most knowledge) are already on the forum. Hence I don't found any single excuse for newbies to ask again and again.

Newbies already have to wait 6 minutes between posts, but Copper Membership reduces this limit. Until yesterday, Newbie trolls with Copper Membership were a rare thing. Once these get banned, it'll be quite expensive to continue making many new Copper Members, so I expect it to end soon.

And there's this:

So everyone who register and write something in offtopic is spammer?
You are funny, ok I understand if someone make 300 post in one day, but you are funny  ;D

But yeah anyway, I know that I don't break any forum rule so I'm fine, but good luck with your "investigation"

I think Sakhill was smart and, for going more undercover, he didn't register just Copper accounts. I just found 5 more accounts writing in the same way and their posts are usually just above / below the ones of Kamilaz, aiguy or Lightz.

- aldanstep1 - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2849542
- LeDonna - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2777309
- seocrush - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851568
- proscratcher - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2579564
- DavidBut - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851580

These should be added to other three accounts, mentioned by LoyceV in the spambusters topic:
- Detrix - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=833235
- TheDonBuja - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851426

Edit: I found two three more possible linked accounts:
- nathanaelung - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851549
- cutdecrap - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851131
- g2ingoin - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851756

You didn't answer on my question, is everyone who register now and start answering in threads in offtopic a spammer and come her to scam someone?
I mean it's funny, I can do with my money what I want so I buy copper, why not, guys who write normal post are fine for me, keep forum more active, as I said I don't agree with this ones who just posting in all threads with LQ posts, I know that my posts are not HQ but they are not LQ as well, what with people who was over years make a thousands of post in offtopic, are they all spammers...
I mean it's funny, but yeah, there has to be internet cops.

I expect of you that next answer will be that all these accounts are mine and that I try to defend them, but I don't care, just answer on my question above.

Cheers

Yes. When you post that many replies within a small frametime, yes, you are a spammer. Especially when all your posts have zero value.


No, it's not. You give hours of work to the people trying to keep the forum clean: the reporters and the moderators.


Guys who write normal posts are fine for anyone; if the posts have value it's even better. Unfortunately, this is not the case here.


Yes, they are LQ.


Yes, all are spammers.


Yes, otherwise normal users would be overwhelmed by spammers like you and the bunch of recent discovered accounts.


You guessed right here, that's exactly what I'm thinking.


Actualy, you are breaking the forum rules - two rules. Actually, one of the rules you're breaking is the very first rule of the forum: 1. No zero or low value, pointless or uninteresting posts or threads. The other rule is the 32th one: 32. Posting multiple posts in a row (excluding bumps and reserved posts by the thread starter) is not allowed.


Thanks! You'll need it too.

So we have discussion now here, and we can clarify that this is a spam as well, but let me tell you something, if you are call all of us spammer as we write posts in offtopic, why is that section open?
What should I write if someone want to know opinion about mouse, headphones, electric car etc.
Don't be funny, maybe they have 0 value to you, but maybe they are interesting for someone, you can't just go there and said that my post about that how I lose my weight (for eg.) it's zero value or useless, I mean if you sit with 100+kg on the front of your pc and play internet cop all day I know that is not interesting for you, but maybe for someone who want get out and lose some weight is interesting and he will have more question.

If I can be on forum let's say 1h a day, and I want answer in few thread of course I will write my answers in a row, that rule is more for that if you write in same thread 5 answers in 5 different posts, so I don't break any rule if I answering on questions.

As I said, I agree with you in one thing, and that's if someone make 300 posts a day, that's unreal and obviously 90% of this 300 posts are 0 value, but go through my post and then comment as I said, maybe for you they are 0 value, maybe for someone is interesting, you are not judge who can say what is interesting for people what is not.

If I break any rule and admin and moderators notice that I accept my punishment in advance.

I have updated the OP with the latest findings. I separated a few accounts as being less likely part of the same group or at least less spammy. I realize it's arbitrary and subjective and perhaps it just looks that way to me because a lot of their posts got reported and deleted by the time I looked at them... but I was mostly concerned about those one-lining idiots who were posting every few minutes.


Nobody needs your "answer" on page 5 of a garbage thread like BTC is Going to "DEAD....!" Need Discussion..... (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5273562.msg55150708#msg55150708). Not only that, the actual content of your posts is vapid generic word salad devoid of any attempt to engage in a discussion and clearly shows that you haven't read anything that was posted earlier in the thread. AKA shitposting.

Having said that, you managed more than one line of vapid generic word salad in some cases so I put you in the less egregious list.

Anyway who care about your list?
If someone do that specially there is no way to stop it, just with a lot of limitation which will never happen as will affect forum to much.

If there is 5 pages of potato posts, why just me or few other profiles should be on your list :D
Don't get me wrong, but if you want stop it the best way is just to close offtopic, did you ask yourself why admins and moderator tolerate this?

Why admins/moderators doesn't close all these threads straight away then?

Personally I'm person who like to discuss, so if I see some thread interesting to me, and it's open, why I shouldn't post there.
There is a lot of other popular forums which in some way "force" you to post daily, did you ask yourself why?

I don't want to defend spammers but all these what I read here is funny for me. (I mean on that how you describe posts in offtopic)
Anyway good luck to anyone who want stop them.

Most probably, yes. Why would anyone join any forum only to post in Off-topic? I can think of many reasons to join Bitcointalk, just not this.

Before the Merit system, Off-topic was used by account farmers to "build accounts". Somehow some Newbies still don't know that's futile.

It's a honeypot to keep the serious boards free from spam.

Allow me to answer this with a different question: What would you write on - say - Pet Mouse Fanciers Forum (https://www.petmousefanciers.com/) if you want to talk about your electric car?
I haven't seen this on any forum other than Bitcointalk: you don't go to a specialized forum to discuss something that belongs on another specialized forum, if you can go to the correct forum to start with. Even better: why would you join the wrong forum if it charges you $20 for your account?

Well I'm here few days, why do you think that I will post just in offtopic?
Maybe I have a lot of knowledge which I can share in te future.

I don't care about merit, even I didn't read what they are all about.



Then just avoid that section if you don't like it.


?

I don't have electric car but like to discuss about them.
Maybe I have a lot of money and just like to spent it randomly?
Well if that thread is allowed here, that's mean that I'm not on wrong forum, most of forums have place where you are allowed to talk about everything, same story with this forum.

I was spent time to check that spam profiles and I can agree that most of them are just maked for spam, but anyway some of them are ok for me, but I'm not here to make decision who will stay who will not, and doesn't wanna involve myself into that, reason why I'm here because someone was link my profile and talk crap about that, so I feel that I have to include myself into that and make discussion.

And yet you are defending spammers with a bunch of fallacies. The existence of shitty topics is not an invitation for you to contribute more shit to this forum. Moderators act when posts get reported to them and usually people don't bother reporting an occasional shitpost but when someone like you starts bumping multiple threads into our watchlists by posting eye-watering depressing garbage - you will get reported and hopefully banned eventually.

tl;dr: stop looking for excuses to post shit.

Well just avoid it then, I check your post half of that what I was check is garbage and spam, and they are not interested for me at all. Should I report that because I don't like them? No I just don't read them.
As I said all of these is funny, and I know that you want that I get banned but I will not since I don't break any rule as I said, so sadly for you, you will continue watch when we start discuss which type of salad is better for my garden and which chemical tablets are better for my pool if you get me.

And btw. I'm not that one who bumping threads  :-*

I'm not bad person as you that I wish something bad for someone, so I wish you all the best and stay good and enjoy in internet cop job, I'm always here ready for any discussion.

Rules are pinned at the top of this board and you should really read them. At least the first one.

Oh well, I lived enough to see that too: the spammer has guts and is patronizing DT members. Good Lord! We'll see after mods take care of the reports if they consider the salad-related et al posts to have anything in common with Bitcoin.


I told him that as well, but it seems he is reading only the salad-related posts.

---

Excepting these, suchmoon, I think you slipped a few profiles after rearranging the OP. If you want, I can give you the full list of the discovered accounts.

I had deliberately skipped Detrix who doesn't seem to fit the pattern of other shitposters. I've added them to the second part of the list now. Anyone else I'm missing? I have now added the usernames to the links to make it easier to see who's who.

Jesus, this is what I was waiting for :D
"I'm here on forum 2,3,5,10 (doesn't matter) years and I have right to do what I want, I know everything and everyone should listen me".

I'm person who doesn't care about ranks, and I don't care who you are and what you do.
I sort people in 2 group, good and bad, and that's it.

I see where this is going so I will finish with you mr. internet cops guys, I'm too old for that potato games.
I wish you all the best, do what you want to do and enjoy.

As I said if I break any rule, send me notice and punish me if I deserve it.

Have a nice day lads.

I'm guessing all these copper members are getting divorced to participate in subscription companies. Oddly enough, this has happened more than once. They hope that Copper Member will grant them separate privileges.
The most "talkative" profile will surely be remembered by many. To everyone else, we can say: “No matter how cunning you are here, sooner or later everyone is wrong.”
This is natural, and then in case of blocking you will start screaming about your innocence. We will wait. :)

Not sure what you mean by "divorced" but yeah there is clearly at least one part of the pattern here with Copper accounts (probably as an attempt to bypass post frequency limitations and/or hoping to look more credible than Newbie) trying to fly under the radar in Off Topic and other garbage boards. They're probably not aware of LoyceV's site (https://loyce.club/active/) where they stick out like a Christmas tree in July, and the fact that some people have even the garbage boards on their watchlists so making posts across multiple boards won't evade detection either.

If suchmoon posts "garbage and spam" that doesn't fit the forum rules (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=703657.0), then by all means: report those posts!

Isn't that a good thing? I like to hear why they post this way, I don't mind being patronized, and being on DT doesn't matter at all when it comes to spam.

Not really, this forum gives you the freedom to say pretty much anything you like.

May I suggest a third group: "undecided"? When it comes to this forum, I've seen some good people, many bad people, but by far the largest category are people I know nothing about.

That's up to the Mods if posts get reported. Thanks for stopping by :)

Until recently, those Christmas tree Newbies were mostly posting in Russian, so I couldn't really tell if they were spamming or not.

Like this one?

Jenevani (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2838501;sa=showPosts)

I'm pretty sure it's all garbage. Google translation:

https://meem.link/i/a/Yc12PT.jpg
Edited 2020-11-30 to fix a broken image

(gotta love how Google decided to translate number 5 as "five").

Yes, Detrix seems to not be AI :)


As you know, when you come to Romania you have to set your time 50 years back, as we are behind to everything by ~50 years. It is possible that the Romanian AI to work at the speed of Guttenberg's printing press :)

Regarding the missing ones, I found two more following the pattern (the latest still posts a lot, but he uses more diverse boards -- maybe the AI got smarter ???):
- g2ingoin - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851756
- PhoNam - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2850878

Besides, there were two other Newbies with two posts each - DavidBut and another one (I lost this one in translation), but I don't think anymore that they're part of the same group. They had just two posts each and the number didn't increase at all. So just those two are missing.

Added. PhoNam seems to make longer and more human-like posts and even got a merit ::) so I put this user under the less egregious.

So far it looks like the few bans on copper accounts cooled this wave off.

He has only 8 posts remaining today. It seems someone reported him though. He appears as Brand New.


Uhm... Just a part of the wave. FaceTehWind, FYeah and benkhalil3 kept posting since yesterday. I reported today what other posts they made in the meanwhile.
Besides, nathanaelung, seocrush and Lightz1337 seem to be nuked. Or someone reported all their posts and all of them were deleted.

The only one fully active is YikesAu, but I'm starting to report his posts now. The other ones mentioned in OP as banned / temp-banned look so indeed.

I also observed that 23 posts of Sakhill, which I reported yesterday, got deleted.


@Sakhil: as of now, you have 11 posts left (soon to be just 10), these being the only posts of yours which were not spam: 9 posts made inside this topic and 1 in the Beginners & Help board. I hope that in the future you'll refrain from spamming as you just noticed that your spam posts get deleted.

are they out already? if not then what are the mods doing on that section? if yes then Good Enough.

---

From.what I know spamming may also lead to Tempo Ban right?

It seems so, considering that Kamilaz, iwnlfr, aiguy, KimberlyCon, nathanaelung, seocrush and Lightz1337 seem to be nuked or temp-banned, while 0nline and proscratcher seem to be banned. It's either that or they just suddenly stopped posting spam.

Quite a few of them are perma-banned/nuked. I have updated the OP with the latest status. Whoever has the patience to report them - good job.

Here some more, this time just a newbies but look like from the same crowd :

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851659
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2849649

Maybe they ran out of money for Copper's :)

As I've checked the links and their history,...
That was indeed... a Bounty Hunter. Am sure of it, and surely after they reach the activity someone from the shadows will give them 1 Merit to get them joined on Bounty Campaigns.

Would you just look at that... https://hackforums.net/showthread.php?tid=6107119 (registration required)

The link was provided to me by a user who prefers to remain anonymous.

Some highlights:

• It's a "method" to make $1500-$2000 a month and it involves spamming on Bitcointalk but I'm not sure what the actual source of revenue is.
• The OP claims to have hired 50+ users. The OP is "Wang Tang" on hackforums, my source claims the user is "djordjamayna" here on Bitcointalk but I haven't verified it.
• Some of the users mentioned in this thread are clearly there, including our buddy Sakhill.

I'll try to figure out how to post a full archive of the thread. Here's a small excerpt:

https://meem.link/i/a/5rexzZ.jpg
Edited 2020-11-30 to fix a broken image

I received the same link, but can't open it through Tor, and don't really want to register there.

The only thing I can think of is someone holds a grudge and tries to damage Bitcointalk. So Sakhill is expected to get paid in 2-3 days, I still don't get it though: if they're not paid upfront, why would they risk creating that many Copper Members?

I was able to get through after a few new circuits. Registering is not a big deal with a throwaway e-mail.


$20 copper fee to make $2000 per month... may sound very lucrative to some kid who doesn't know how Bitcointalk works. Keep in mind that those "methods" are supposed to be secret so it's not like they can openly discuss and critique them. If you think Bitcointalk is favorable to scams you should really register on hackforums  ;D

fair enough to risk $20 LoL. but the thing is, they didn't even think twice for this. Maybe they had the money upfront or the employer gave them this $20. 🤔🤔🤔
wouldn't it be more easy for them if they just hired a hacker and attempt a DDOS, if they need this forum to go down, that is...

There is no "employer" and I don't think it's an attack. There is a scammer selling a "method" for $175, I'm quite sure it's bullshit, but some idiots pay for it... so $20 on top of that is not a huge deal I guess.

---

I couldn't figure out a good way to archive the thread so I printed it into a PDF:

https://www.docdroid.net/lYSPYyB/hf-pdf

A bit lame but somewhat readable. The scheme begins to unravel around page 35 of the PDF.

And there I thought I could join this :D I'm posting a lot already, so why not make an extra $2000 per month :P

You're way too greedy for an AI. You'll even surpass the Foxhole if you have been in that scheme 😂

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https://i.ibb.co/qC358PV/Screenshot-20200910-235455-Edge.jpg
Nailed it. 😅

It's only $175, don't be cheap. I think at one point it was even discounted down to $150, a real bargain.

Seriously though, it a somewhat optimistic outcome I think. The good news - it's not AI (no offense). And stupid schemes like that appear to be fairly easy to spot and to bust. Greedy idiots losing money may or may not be a good thing depending on circumstances, i.e. whether the "method" was a total lie or if it required the participants to break the rules knowingly. If someone who purchased this "method" would like to open a scam accusation and post the details that would be great.

Edit - two new posts on hackforums:

https://meem.link/i/a/1lTGQc.jpg
Edited 2020-11-30 to fix a broken image

Thank you, suchmoon.

It was I the one who reported yesterday and today
- 18 posts of iwnlfr
- 23 posts of KimberlyCon
- 302 posts of Kamilaz
- 147 posts of benkhalil3
- 2 posts of LeDonna
- 62 posts of FYeah
- 38 posts of FaceTehWind
- 46 posts of TheDonBuja
- 25 posts of Sakhill
- 20 posts of g2ingoin
- 15 posts of aldanstep1
- 270 posts of YikesAu
- 40 posts of MarkoAlonso
- 60 posts of daviebcoys
Total: 1068 posts reported in less than 24h.

Today I also planned to take care of nathanaelung, seocrush and Lightz1337, but when I woke up they were nuked already. Damn :)

The latest ones, daviebcoys (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2850512) and MarkoAlonso (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2848699) I just discovered today.

I'll take care tomorrow of the two new ones found - fernquaker (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851659) and arecoba20 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2849649).

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Oh, no... So after all he's not interested in salads and soups? Damn... And the naive me... Almost that my counscience broke me today after I reported his posts... Can this be real ??? Nah, I'm kidding, my conscience is very well.

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I don't have too much time today to proper analyze all the new material found, but I'll research it tomorrow.

Later edit: as Einstein said, "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe". Curiously, a similar idea was brought by a Romanian writer, Ion Creanga (he lived before Einstein, thus he didn't copy Einstein lol): "I'm not smart. But when I look around, I become courageous".

That being said, I'm almost shocked about the imbecility of some people, including Sakhill or FaceTehWind. How in the name of God are you going to make a scam / spam / a cheat of any system, when you use the same username on two forums? I sincerely believe that these guys' intellect is far lower than andulolika's or hacker's, although I never could imagine I'll ever say that. Oh well, I said it. I found people more imbecile that those two. And which where hoping to win 2000$. All good.

Hacker, andulolika, it's party time! Officially, you are not anymore the dumbest people I've seen in my life! Hooray!

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What do you know?! The spammers broke the rules annd call Wang Tang's method scam. Can you believe it? On the other hand, we should be careful, as this guy clearly said that "I will help everyone that gothit by the ban wave to be able to earn with the method until their account is restored". This guy may have strong connection on the forum, if he can promise such thing.

To be fair, hackforums is not indexed by Google (AFAIK) so the chances of them being exposed aren't that high, particularly since they're going out of their way to not mention Bitcointalk over there. On the other hand we busted them without even knowing that the scheme originated on hackforums so they were doomed either way.

Are you sure? I'm asking because I'm thinking that any website from the clearweb (such as hackforums is) is indexed by search engines, as far as I know. Maybe I'm wrong though, but I don't know how a search engine could not index a site from clearweb... Oh well, this is less important in this case anyway.


That's what matters! Great job to everyone involved in this busting process!

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It seems it was not needed anymore. When I woke up today I found that both were nuked. Either someone reported all their posts and the mods already deleted them, or the mods directly nuked the two accounts without waiting for us to report their posts.

Heads-up about other accounts:
- YikesAu (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2848953) was not nuked, but almost all the posts I reported were deleted. This account has now just 16 posts left out of 270 I reported. These ones appear as unhandled on my reports list. I also reported 2 more of his posts which, somehow, weren't already reported by me before.
- MarkoAlonso (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2848699) was nuked
- FaceTehWind (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=803496) was not nuked and still has 10 posts
- benkhalil3 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2849606) still has 163 posts but I reported them all and all appear as Good in my report list, but they don't appear with strikethrough, indicating they were not deleted yet; probably this will happen soon from now on // I just reported 47 posts more that he made yesterday, after I previously reported the batch of 164 posts. It seems that this guy is unstoppable!
- FYeah (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1036983) has 9 posts not deleted
- g2ingoin (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851756) is nuked
- TheDonBuja (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2851426) is also nuked.

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Quick question: what means the "[hf]" tag added to some of the profiles from OP? :)

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Now why would he do that? Lol. It would be interesting to see how things develop and how the AI would look for mercy = )))

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Besides all, I think we should carefully look for all the remaining accounts as there are still several (if not many) uncovered yet. During this research, I saw many times that some older users (with low ranks though) posted in as many topic as this bunch of newbies. It is possible to have also older users enrolled in the 150-170$-for-2000$ deal. Such example is Lorence.xD (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=967596). Look at how many zero value posts he / she made during past few days in the Offtopic / Beginners & Help boards. And the posts are just before / above the posts of the discovered newbies. 83 posts since September 1st, from which 42 since September 7th, when all this began. And besides this user I also spotted others: newbies which registered in February, August etc.; Jr. Members, Members...

You can't access that thread without making an account. Google won't do that, just like the Investigations (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=227.0) board. They also follow the requests in robots.txt (https://loyce.club/robots.txt)

See:

He didn't, only Mods can delete topics.

Thanks for the kind explanations, LoyceV!


Lol, it would have been nice to watch how he would try to defend himself :)

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Besides all these, I think I found a few more members of the gang:

- Fbranislav - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2834304
- OlezhaMiner - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2843274
- @Abdul10012 - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2841631
- icardi9 - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2852712
- charlixo - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2754386

From all these, I am almost sure for the last two that they are part of the gang. The others may not be part of the invasion, but still, they spam with zero value posts and contribute to resurrecting old topics.

I see that thread is old and sorry for necrobumping this thread, but I have read some of the posts you guys wrote here, and you were wrong. Some guy came to other forums like yours and under the section of a work offer, he offered members of those forums to pay them to post on this forum. There wasn't any description of what for, he just said that he will pay for writing legit posts on this forum. I can show you proof if MODs are interested.

Wrong about what? Did you read the whole thread? We may have not known what it was initially but then someone pointed us to the hackforums thread.

And those spam posts weren't "legit" at all.

Wrong about people who posted are the part of "gang" probably 90% of them just saw that "work offer" and thinking what is wrong to post on a forum and earn money from it. As I said, if you are interested and if you are MOD I can show you his "job offer" which looks legit and nothing suspicious about it.

I don't see how any of this matters. The posts were shit and got deleted and a bunch of users got banned. Trying to whitewash this after a year is bizarre to say the least.

But if you insist, post the offer here. There is nothing "MOD"-special about it, spam get reported by regular users.

This is his "job offer" asking the members of some other forums to post no-spam posts and get paid for that.

https://prnt.sc/1v5v5ey

In your eyes there is literally nothing suspicious about paying a bunch of guys to spam a forum? Furthermore, in your eyes it is everything okay to spam a forum for a payment? To be paid to harm? You also don't have any idea what ridiculous things those "employees" used to post here in those days. And you also can't see anymore, as they were nuked. But one of them, which was caught stirring the shit (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5274456.msg55169502#msg55169502) on hackforums, also tried to prove here his innocence while debating on the Bitcoin Forum about what salads he likes. His zero-value proof can be found between posts #23 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5274456.msg55161918#msg55161918) and #37 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5274456.msg55163506#msg55163506), within this topic.


I don't see any relevance of this. Are you defending the spammers...? Or what's the point of this discussion?

250 posts per day LOL

That's a huge red flag right there.

https://meem.link/i/3qqgqnx9.png

What is very interesting is that the employer specified that "Post (n.b. - should have been "Posts", not "Post", but it doesn't matter) must not be spam/notted". This implies the contractor of the spammers had good intentions though (/s, of course)? With other words, they wanted sort of high educated individuals, able to write 250 posts in a day which were not spam? What would they be? I am sure not even a Cypherpunk would be able to write that many of constructive posts in a day O0

Another thing which caught my attention was the line from the job ad related to English knowledge. Let's read this again:

"You must have a decent English level)" - this sounds decent to me :) However, there is an add-on, saying "(not that much)". Not that much what? So you are required to have decency in English. But wait, on the other hand, you are also required to not be that much decent in English. How comes that? I am confused.

And at the end it seems the employer was scamming the job applicants too :) He says that "You can get $50-100$ a day". How? For 100-250 posts in a day the payment was 20 cents per post. If we multiply 0.2$ with 250 the result is 50$ so how could anyone earn 100$? Oh man, you can't even spam anymore as in good old days, because the employer of spammers is scammer. Oh no...

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Excepting all these, my question to Lemono22 is still unanswered:

I don't see anything suspicious, because I am a member of some of these forums and I see plenty of similar job offers, like making a specific number of emails, or posting. Since we can post every 5 minutes here (I am a long time member on some of these and there we can post once per 30 seconds for example) I don't see how can it be dangerous or let's say harming if you post 5-20 posts per day? As you can see from his image, he didn't specify that you must post 250 per day, but you can also post one or two and get paid 0.15 for each.

Excepting all these, my question to Lemono22 is still unanswered:


Nope, I do not defend them, but what I defend is "they are a scamming gang" which is not the truth. I just found this and wanted to explain what is behind that. If you guys are not interested then nothing, I thought you would be.

You don't understand... Did you read my post from above (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5274456.msg58122331#msg58122331)? Did you check what ridiculous defense Sakhill invoked within this topic? Do you realize that they were talking about salads and make-up for salads on a Bitcoin Forum? Does this seem as not spam? I say once more: discussion about salads (among other zero-value posts) on a Bitcoin Forum. If you still can't see how ridiculous this sound, read it again.

Regarding posting rules on here and on other forums: each forum has it own rules, which should be respected by all users.

Excepting these, as I also said in my post from above which it seems you did not read, you can't properly evaluate the spam if you can't see what they really posted here. And you can't see because all of them were nuked. As a consequence, how can you say they did not post spam, when you even did not see what they posted? Based on what is not spam? Furthermore if they salad-related academic discussion was not spam, why did mods delete their posts? Because mods are abusing their powers, right? :)


That's right, he didn't, but he said you may post up to 250 posts, which implies if someone would spam -- sorry, engage in an academic debate over salads, then if that individual would spam make very interesting 250 posts about salad on Bitcoin Forum that person would be paid, right? Now imagine how Bitcoin Forum would look like (and I keep repeating this name as it seems you don't get the connection) to have 3 users writing 750 posts per day about salads.


There is nothing harming, if you make constructive posts. But, as I wrote above (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5274456.msg58122788#msg58122788), not even a Cypherpunk would be able to make 250 constructive posts per day. Meaning a tech savvy. No tech savvy would have that much to discuss in a day.

Excepting that, no matter if you make 1 post or 20, spam is spam even at just one post. Do you understand that salad-related posts (especially in high numbers) don't belong on a Bitcoin Forum?


How can you say it was not true since you didn't even read their posts? How?


Perhaps you are just doing a similar job now, but trying to look smart?

"Can" doesn't mean "should" or "won't be banned for shitposting". As GB said, you can't possibly make that many posts without breaking the rules, and the offer said $50-$100 per day, so no, they obviously didn't mean 5-20 posts which would be $0.75-$3.00.

Anyway, the fact is those users that I listed in the OP started spamming like crazy and got caught. If someone did indeed make 5 constructive posts and got paid $0.75 - I have no problem with that nor do I care, that's not what this topic is about.

So many chipmixer signatures in this thread...  At a quick glance I'm not sure who the shitposters in this topic are but I do know who in this thread is paying the most money as a result and who is getting paid the most money to continue participating.  Strange how those things always seem to be the same regardless of what drama is being created or if there is any real basis behind it (not saying this isn't a legitimate case of shitposting, just saying it's almost always the same players getting paid for their role in participating in the discussion).  

Maybe stirring up drama and keeping it in the light for money isn't the best incentive to increase the usefulness of this forum and retain legitimate members with good intentions?

I totally second what @ogNasty said, and I just wanna add, on a public forum like this, we should not expect everyone to be perfect in posting habit or to like immediately know how to follow the rules of the forum, a baby does not start walking the same day he or she was given birth to, they take time to learn, for some, the process is short, and for the others, it's a long process which requires the parents to be patient with the child.

Those we condemn today as shit posters might turn out to become great contributors to this great forum later in the future if given a second chance, I bet that some of us here were once like those on the OPs list when it comes posting here some years back.

Am not trying to justify their posting habit or to say what they do is right, all am trying to say is that, in one way or the other, we can help this guys become better instead of sending them away through reporting and banning.

If mods delete a few of your posts and you realize that you're doing something wrong - that's how you "become better". The other option is to read the rules and look around - perhaps even read the thread - before posting but nobody does that.

Maybe this is because these people were the most involved in stopping the spam attack. In the moment when the spammers spawned here I, myself, reported 1000+ spam posts (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5274456.msg55171531#msg55171531) in ~24h. If others could do it they had the chance to do it as well.


This is true - everybody may change in better. And the spammers from here received a second chance. Most of them were just nuked or temp-banned. In case they really wanted to become good posters - which they did not - they could keep posting. But, if you check the profiles listed in OP, you'll see that most of them stopped using those accounts immediately after they were caught. A few continued to use them but also stopped after a few weeks / months. So why do you say they did not receive a second chance?


Reading the rules is like reading a contract before signing it - who does that? :) And reading the thread before posting? Aw, cmon...
Most of the newbies looking to rank-up just start spamming, believing they can rank-up just with a big number of posts... This is sad, but this is what I see. The above line was an attempt to put in a funny way the sad situation happening.

@Fivestar4everMVP: But anyway, this was certainly not the case with the users mentioned in OP. These did not want to rank-up, nor to make any coherent discussion. They came targeted to do their "job".