New type of off-topic Off Topic bots

[hilariousetc]

Noticed this one yesterday:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2317270    bebumbum

If you look at his posting history all of the posts seem to be off topic in the wrong threads. They seem to be copying a post from another spam megathread into another one, but obviously the posts stand out like a sore thumb as they're completely off topic:



The first two posts obviously should have been in the what do you do when you're bored shit thread. Third post was probably intended or from the where would you like to travel spamfest.

More ones spotted today:






Shouldn't be difficult to spot them so keep an eye out for them in off topic.

[1714100649]

1714100649

[1714100649]

1714100649

[1714100649]

1714100649

[TMAN]

oh my.. these fuckers need stabbing in the eye with hot pokers

[hilariousetc]

Ha. Doesn't really make sense to me for them to do this. It's far too easy to spot. You'd be better off just copying a post from the same thread, though they usually get caught for doing that as well.

I have previously suggested that all brand new users are essentially shadowbanned until their first post has been approved by a mod. Manually having to approve a user's first post or two will likely stop these bots before they even start and become something we have to deal with any way. We can also just nuke the 'great project' and haiku bots before they become an eyesore.

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Off topic but I have 1000 merit now. Wonder if I'll become Legendary now?

#meritruinslives

[Alex_Sr]

Noticed this one yesterday:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2317270    bebumbum

If you look at his posting history all of the posts seem to be off topic in the wrong threads. They seem to be copying a post from another spam megathread into another one, but obviously the posts stand out like a sore thumb as they're completely off topic:

I also do not like "farm accounts". Write the same type of shit stuffing the amount of activity.



https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1975531 -  Date Registered:   March 26, 2018, 12:55:21 PM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1975535 -  Date Registered:   March 26, 2018, 12:58:46 PM
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1975549 -  Date Registered:   March 26, 2018, 01:03:28 PM

And all posts are written in the same themes one after another

P.S. Sorry for my English

[Silent26]

That's funny 

I can't imagine how these spammers can do such things just to increase their posts and activity. They're posting in off-topic section but their posts are really literally off-topic. Wtf (ehem sorry).
I'm not so sure if these are really spam bots because (because if they were, they are definitely bumping ANN threads etc) what they were doing is more likely a work of a stupid person. 

Off-topic
-1 Politeness

[ibminer]

Maybe they are just angry and this is an attempt to annoy the mods since they realize they are not going to be ranking up? If so, they'll likely lose momentum quickly. Or, maybe the primary reason for those continuing is just to clutter the forum and make it useless as a Bitcoin resource. Sort of like an account-based DoS attack    ... but then why do it all in off-topic?  Ok I'm done trying to analyze the mind of demented people.  

Off topic but I have 1000 merit now. Wonder if I'll become Legendary now?
#meritruinslives

You've got the merit, but activity could be between 775 - 1030
#activityruinslives 

[TMAN]

Ha. Doesn't really make sense to me for them to do this. It's far too easy to spot. You'd be better off just copying a post from the same thread, though they usually get caught for doing that as well.

I have previously suggested that all brand new users are essentially shadowbanned until their first post has been approved by a mod. Manually having to approve a user's first post or two will likely stop these bots before they even start and become something we have to deal with any way. We can also just nuke the 'great project' and haiku bots before they become an eyesore.

--------

Off topic but I have 1000 merit now. Wonder if I'll become Legendary now?

#meritruinslives

I gave you 13 as I noticed the shortfall... wanted to be the legendary giver.. alas no change!

[Alone055]

Found some more.

1. Hpaqlmkp



His post history:




2. Apkliqpkh



His post history:




3. styyipoio



His post history:



The first two accounts have only a difference of 5 user accounts between them if we see their UIDs.
User: Hpaqlmkp - UID: 2325691
User: Apkliqpkh - UID: 2325685

And, the accounts are mostly named with random alphabets and in some cases mixed up with letters. Someone or maybe some people are creating random accounts in a sequence to do all this, although the reason is none understandable.

[Foxpup]

Yeah, I noticed and reported a whole bunch of these sorts of posts earlier today. I suspected a new bot, but I've been too lazy to investigate.

[Maus0728]

Why are these noobs never gets tired in posting shits? If these are bots then how can we stop generating new bitcointalk accounts which are being used as spamming/ bumping ANN threads? Investigating and Reporting can be an irritating routine if there is an endless registration of bots. 

[bitart]

Ha. Doesn't really make sense to me for them to do this. It's far too easy to spot. You'd be better off just copying a post from the same thread, though they usually get caught for doing that as well.

I have previously suggested that all brand new users are essentially shadowbanned until their first post has been approved by a mod. Manually having to approve a user's first post or two will likely stop these bots before they even start and become something we have to deal with any way. We can also just nuke the 'great project' and haiku bots before they become an eyesore.

--------

Off topic but I have 1000 merit now. Wonder if I'll become Legendary now?

#meritruinslives

Shadowban seems fine for the job, there also should be a priority list of threads, where mods check the first 1-2 post of the newbies, and the off topic and ANN should be at the end of that priority list...
This would really stop new spammer account, also it will raise the price of the existing ones...

-------------
Off: Your situation is much better, you have to wait only for the activity lottery Other hero members could have already reached their magic activity requirement, but because of the merit, they just long for becoming legendary one day...
So you have to wait only max. 7 or 8 activity period, which is only 2 months, that's peanuts

[hilariousetc]

Why are these noobs never gets tired in posting shits?

Bots don't get tired.

If these are bots then how can we stop generating new bitcointalk accounts which are being used as spamming/ bumping ANN threads? Investigating and Reporting can be an irritating routine if there is an endless registration of bots.  

Impossible to stop fully. Manually reviewing and whitelisting all new accounts would help and probably around 99% of bots would get caught in that trap then. A bit more work for staff but at least the forum doesn't become an eyesore and hopefully people will get the message that using bots is also a waste of time. Sadly, many bots are still slipping through the cracks and many of them even earn from campaigns, which is further reason why signatures from Juniors should be removed or at least make them require one merit to become a Junior which would help a lot in curbing abuse.  

[Taki]

Can anyone tell me what is the target of those people who stay such kind of posts? To me its illogical and simply has no sense.

[mdayonliner]

Can anyone tell me what is the target of those people who stay such kind of posts? To me its illogical and simply has no sense.

# Signature spamming
# Bumping topics
# Increasing activities
# Perhaps (wild imagination) earning some merits LOL
and many more....

[hilariousetc]

Can anyone tell me what is the target of those people who stay such kind of posts? To me its illogical and simply has no sense.

Account farming. Create hundreds or even thousands of accounts with bots, spam them to Junior Member rank than join a crapcoin ICO campaign and get paid to copy posts (they won't check so as long as you've made the posts you'll get paid at the end of it if you haven't been caught and banned by staff already). This shouldn't be staff's job though and is why there should be repercussions for those managers who do nothing other than pay people to spam or copy and paste whatever crap they can because they are directly facilitating this behaviour by paying for it which just encourages it even more.

[LoyceV]

Can anyone tell me what is the target of those people who stay such kind of posts? To me its illogical and simply has no sense.

To add to the list: Bump Bots. If they reach Jr. Member rank, they can't get caught through patrol anymore, and a higher rank means a higher fee for their bumping "services".

[Maus0728]

Sadly, many bots are still slipping through the cracks and many of them even earn from campaigns, which is further reason why signatures from Juniors should be removed or at least make them require one merit to become a Junior which would help a lot in curbing abuse.  

Then why theymos is still not implementing the 1 merit to achieve Jr. Member. If I am not mistaken, this has been talked about from the thread created by yahoo.

[hilariousandco]

Sadly, many bots are still slipping through the cracks and many of them even earn from campaigns, which is further reason why signatures from Juniors should be removed or at least make them require one merit to become a Junior which would help a lot in curbing abuse.  

Then why theymos is still not implementing the 1 merit to achieve Jr. Member. If I am not mistaken, this has been talked about from the thread created by yahoo.

Dunno. Maybe he will maybe he wont. I created a thread about it in the Staff board but 99% of threads in there get ignored by the admins.

[Alone055]

Then why theymos is still not implementing the 1 merit to achieve Jr. Member. If I am not mistaken, this has been talked about from the thread created by yahoo.

That is not a solution to this. Assuming they have high ranked accounts as well from the past, they can easily bypass 1 merit limit to reach the next level.
There should probably be something more practical to the cause, that should stop this for good, and I know it is not a piece of cake to come up with something that can tackle such actions, but there is no other choice.

[hilariousetc]

Then why theymos is still not implementing the 1 merit to achieve Jr. Member. If I am not mistaken, this has been talked about from the thread created by yahoo.

That is not a solution to this. Assuming they have high ranked accounts as well from the past, they can easily bypass 1 merit limit to reach the next level.

I disagree. I think requiring at least one merit requirement will go a long way to curbing bots and farmers from ranking up to Junior. Besides, if someone was abusing their merit in this way it would become very easy to spot the abuse once they started only meriting newbies or blatant bots with crap posts. Your merit source doesn't last long either and they'll soon run out, but I still think it will be more of a giveaway if they start meriting their own accounts rather than a hindrance.

There should probably be something more practical to the cause, that should stop this for good, and I know it is not a piece of cake to come up with something that can tackle such actions, but there is no other choice.

It's one of the better options we have, but without other suggestions I don't think you should shoot it down.