This is probably the most amusing thing I've seen on Bitcointalk this year

[awesome31312]

This guy posts a link to a paid URL shortener.

And in case you have been living in North Korea for the past couple of years, what that means is that it takes a link, shortens it, and seeks to redirect you to a longer link, but with an advertisement in the middle, the revenue of which goes to whoever used the service to shorten the link.

So, he links to a paid URL shortener on the forum with the subject, "Can I get some users to visit this link and tell me if it works"

That's actually a very good way to get lots of clicks. 10/10

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1616292

[Kprawn]

The problem is nobody apart from the people in North Korea who do not know about it, still click on those URL shortener links. Most of

these links redirect you to viruses and other bad sites. So, this should not be very effective, if people know what they doing. Nice try, but

no... we do not fall for this anymore... when it was new.. yes, but not anymore. 

[Milkduds]

Amusing till you see it showing up all over the forum. Personally have a tendency to click very few things that redirect me somewhere off the forum. Used to trust certain posters but accounts get hacked and those individuals are usually the prime targets. So I do not find the humor in the thread topic but I may be a glass half full guy on those things.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

The problem is nobody apart from the people in North Korea who do not know about it, still click on those URL shortener links. Most of

these links redirect you to viruses and other bad sites. So, this should not be very effective, if people know what they doing. Nice try, but

no... we do not fall for this anymore... when it was new.. yes, but not anymore. 

Except people do still fall for this shit, and he knows it.  There is no shortage of suckers on this forum and scammers will do anything to draw them into their web.  Sad but true.

[Yakamoto]

The problem is nobody apart from the people in North Korea who do not know about it, still click on those URL shortener links. Most of

these links redirect you to viruses and other bad sites. So, this should not be very effective, if people know what they doing. Nice try, but

no... we do not fall for this anymore... when it was new.. yes, but not anymore. 

Except people do still fall for this shit, and he knows it.  There is no shortage of suckers on this forum and scammers will do anything to draw them into their web.  Sad but true.

It's true, though, there are far too many people who either don't know about anything aside from the basics of Bitcoin and still manage to fall for everything that the average scammer or social engineer hs been doing for years. I'm surprised that anyone even bothers to do stuff like that anymore to be honest, but then again people can just be like that and still fall for their things.

[dc1a0]

Well, at least I don't have to worry about clicking on shortened links. Between, NoScript, AdBlockPlus, and Ghostery, most of those short links don't work for me anyway.  Nor anyone else who's asked my advice about security, since I suggest that combination to anyone to help avoid hijackers and ransomware scripts.

[hasiramasenju]

it is not allowed in this forum and fortunately the moderator has working pretty fast and those thread doesn't exist any longer

[calkob]

Yeah only a moron would click on those links especially on this site where most people are informed. 

[smho_16]

Well as long as I am in a Linux environment and I know it's not compromised I always click those links for fun. But not when someone is asking, only when they pop up when I want to watch a soccer game online. If I want to watch that soccer game I am forced to click them. I never had problems as I watch the games in my PC which I keep the electrum wallet and so far so good.

When you click those links in a Windows environment no matter you may have antivirus and antispyware on your system , you are still prone to malicious attack and risk to lose all of your coins.

[awesome31312]

Well as long as I am in a Linux environment and I know it's not compromised I always click those links for fun. But not when someone is asking, only when they pop up when I want to watch a soccer game online. If I want to watch that soccer game I am forced to click them. I never had problems as I watch the games in my PC which I keep the electrum wallet and so far so good.

Until you realize that, if you are using Firefox/Chrome/Javascript, the same vulnerabilities that exist in Windows can be used to compromise your system. Your cookies can still be tracked, your packets can be intercepted, MITM attacks, it goes on and on. Don't think you're invincible because of a Linux Operating System.

[gentlemand]

I'm rather dim when it comes to this stuff. How does visiting a website infect you if you don't download anything? Let's assume I'm adblocked and antivirused up too.

[dc1a0]

I'm rather dim when it comes to this stuff. How does visiting a website infect you if you don't download anything? Let's assume I'm adblocked and antivirused up too.

Just about everything you see on your computer when surfing the web is downloaded to your computer. Generally put in a temp file/folder which is continuously rewritten (without getting too technical about the speciffics.) Scripts can tell your computer to move content from that temporary area to another spot on your computer if it isn't super strict on permissions. Ad blockers help because they stop it from displaying, antivirus only works if it finds it. But a script blocker and a cookie blocker helps by stopping those things from staying in your temporary area long enough to do anything malicious.

I don't know how to explain it any better without getting more technical, but that's about the gist of it.

[awesome31312]

I'm rather dim when it comes to this stuff. How does visiting a website infect you if you don't download anything? Let's assume I'm adblocked and antivirused up too.

I know that at least one instance would require you loading a Java applet on your computer, and that would be enough for your device to be compromised on a Windows system. It's called a "Java drive-by".

However, the link in the post wasn't malicious, it was only spam/clickbait.

[HabBear]

There's a lot of URL link promotion going on in the forum. This example sounds like a really obnoxious and obvious type of promotion. Most people are like "check out my article" or "check out my blog" or "check out this new product".

Every time you click on a link on the internet, someone is getting paid something for it. Don't be to upset, just be more judicious with where you devote your attention. Links can have malware and whatnot too, this place is like the wild west...always gotta be careful.

[awesome31312]

There's a lot of URL link promotion going on in the forum. This example sounds like a really obnoxious and obvious type of promotion. Most people are like "check out my article" or "check out my blog" or "check out this new product".

Every time you click on a link on the internet, someone is getting paid something for it. Don't be to upset, just be more judicious with where you devote your attention. Links can have malware and whatnot too, this place is like the wild west...always gotta be careful.

Oh I know all this already, I wasn't upset, I just found it amusing, and clever. I was also surprised nobody else pointed it out.

[Daneric]

This guy posts a link to a paid URL shortener.

And in case you have been living in North Korea for the past couple of years, what that means is that it takes a link, shortens it, and seeks to redirect you to a longer link, but with an advertisement in the middle, the revenue of which goes to whoever used the service to shorten the link.

So, he links to a paid URL shortener on the forum with the subject, "Can I get some users to visit this link and tell me if it works"

That's actually a very good way to get lots of clicks. 10/10

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1616292

It is really amusing. I never thought of that as I was about to click on the link and see if it works. What I can say is that the guy is smart. he thought of a clever way to get the clicks.

[xJuturna]

I dunno bro there's some pretty amusing posts there in the services / marketplace sections. Wasn't a guy selling his girlfriend's panties for BTC a while back? Also the cam show postings 4 BTC postings are pretty amusing for me as well. Oh the world we live in 

[Carlton Banks]

I'm rather dim when it comes to this stuff. How does visiting a website infect you if you don't download anything?

Uh, it's literally impossible to access any website without downloading the front page of the website. Where do you think that BBC News homepage is coming from everyday if not?

Let's assume I'm adblocked and antivirused up too.

Assumptions like that could get you and your BTC into trouble. I'm a little surprised that you've not been one of the wailing "HACKED FOR EVERYTHING I HAD, BITCOIN IS DEAD" contingent. Windows users are the lowest hanging fruit of all, so don't be a sucker. Computer security (and hence Bitcoin security) is going to work much better for you if you understand why you've been given the Adblock/Anti-Virus prescription.

[gentlemand]

Assumptions like that could get you and your BTC into trouble.

I don't use a Windows machine for anything Bitcoin or cyrpto related. Ever. Apart from this forum of course. I subjected myself to linux for as long as it took on a nuked machine.

[steven0021]

I wish you people didn't throw accusations like that without actually trying it. I was the first replier to that thread and the URL doesn't have any ad whatsoever and it redirected me to bitcointalk right after I cleared the captcha. And the URL shorterner is owned by the creator of that thread. I mean he got a thread here announcing the site.