Moron spammer screws up

[rconner]

(tracking link)

Bulker software should carry warning labels against operation while under the influence. Moron does a spam run but forgets to replace what appears to be a "specimen" URL ("replaceme dot com") with his own. As a result, he points zillions of people to an apparently unrelated domain. Domain owner has to get up a page repudiating the spam.

-- rick

[Geek]

LOL!

I've had a few of those

Cheers!

[Farelf]

replaceme dot com = 72.9.226.50 = anonymity dot com (Anonymity Test, Link Anonymizer, OpenID Anonymity) - maybe it's just an ultra-clever marketing ploy. To paraphrase Clarke's Law, "A sufficiently subtle ploy may be indistinguishable from a laughable botch-up." Or, shades of the wheelbarrow smuggler. Just thinking out loud ... Of course I don't see the 'repudiation page', given only the bare bones of the story.

[Farelf]

Ah yes, I see the redirection now:

HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently

Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:42:17 GMT

Server: Apache/2.2.9 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.9 OpenSSL/0.9.7a mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635

X-Powered-By: PHP/4.4.8

Vary: Host

Location: http://unixtime.info/replaceme.html

Searching for replaceme dot com results in links to anonymity dot com but clicking an actual replaceme dot com link (thanks for the tracker) follows the redirection. An even cleverer ploy than I imagined!

[rconner]

Searching for replaceme dot com results in links to anonymity dot com but clicking an actual replaceme dot com link (thanks for the tracker) follows the redirection. An even cleverer ploy than I imagined!

My impression, unencumbered by facts, is that the owner of replaceme dot com is white hat -- in his disclaimer page he actually advises people NOT to click on spam links. The redirect comes about simply because he redirected from the domain name to the location of the disclaimer page on the unixtime.info server, maybe this was more convenient.

-- rick

[Farelf]

My impression, unencumbered by facts, is that the owner of replaceme dot com is white hat -- in his disclaimer page he actually advises people NOT to click on spam links. The redirect comes about simply because he redirected from the domain name to the location of the disclaimer page on the unixtime.info server, maybe this was more convenient.

Yep, my impression is 'white hat' too. I think he is probably using the unixtime.info server (instead of anonymity dot com), in part, so people wouldn't jump to the conclusion that the whole thing was actually a ploy. My "An even cleverer ploy than I imagined! " comment was entirely facetious. The efficiency, as a ploy, with the disclaimer on a different server, would obviously be very low indeed so the probability (of a ploy) recedes towards zero.

I've gotta stop being facetious. There could be all sorts of 'white hat' reasons why the owner of replaceme dot com chose to register that domain, ranging from pure altruism (if he knew spamkits include it as a default) through to pure business (if he knew, for instance, mainstream/legitimate web utilities use it as a default) - in the latter case the spam could be very inconveniencing for him because the redirect to unixtime.info will divert more appropriate business from the intended target.

Just a little unsure of domains using logical (but non-standard) 'default' domains. F'rinstance .invalid is a reserved tld like .example and .test. While example.com, example.net, etc. are also reserved domains, invalid.com is not (only the .invalid tld). Of course many people mistakenly use invalid.com addresses for newsgroup posts, etc. (instead of user[at]domain.invalid, whatever) and I'm not at all sure what to make of the home page there at invalid.com .

[ReplaceMe]

Hi,

I have a lot of domains and whichever are not used I point to anonymity.com rather than letting the traffic go to waste. 3 or 4 of those domains are in the vein of the one in question. They get some traffic and (presumably) PR from various links people make as examples in forums and the like, but it's been a hassle too as evidenced.

I was notified of the issue by my registrar as well as normal people e-mailing me through the anonymity.com e-mail (from the contact page) wishing to 'unsubscribe', at which time I created the warning page and pointed the domain there instead. I put it on unixtime.info because that site haven't got any ads anywhere, and I also don't want this traffic confusing my stats on sites that get real traffic.

As mentioned, hassle..My hosting acount got pulled for approx. 14 hours because they didn't investigate the complaint, which would have lead them to the page explaining the issue. They restored it when I got them to read and understand, but it's not a good feeling to have such drastic measure taken on you over the actions of some stranger. My registrar was pretty belligerent as well but having a notice before they did anything enabled me to explain this to them.

In any case, no white hat trickery. Just what I suppose must be an inevitability when owning this type of domain. Point taken and I will try to sell them to someone able to handle this.

[Farelf]

...I have a lot of domains and whichever are not used I point to anonymity.com rather than letting the traffic go to waste. 3 or 4 of those domains are in the vein of the one in question. They get some traffic and (presumably) PR from various links people make as examples in forums and the like, but it's been a hassle too as evidenced. ...

Thanks indeed for dropping by and clearing that up, ReplaceMe. Good to hear from you and much appreciated.

[ReplaceMe]

Somewhat on topic, an e-mail conversation regarding this affair.

Subject: Just to let you know

That I got spammed on a watch website; clicked on a link and got your unixtime "Greetings" Website with the: "Thanks for reading, but in the future, don't click on links in unsolicited e-mails" Who the fu** do you think you are, an Internet God? You are a stroker, almost as bad as the vermin who set this up...

I'm sorry, are you actually angry with me that I don't sell viagra or fake rolexes?

No I'm angry with you for telling me how to use my mouse

self righteous twat

Thousands of people clicked through after some spammer sent out a viagra e-mail with my domain name in the link, so obviously it was needed advice. Regardless, I write whatever the hell I want on my own site.

I think your complete unreasonableness and asshattery is due to the touchy subject of your dysfunctioning manhood as well as some kind of persecution complex where you felt subconsciously that I somehow called you out on it across the intertubes because I said to go away, no viagra here.

If it's any consolation, I sympathize with you.

Wonder if he'll respond.

[Telarin]

Thanks for that, I love a good laugh at some moron's expense in the morning Makes you wonder how people like that have managed to survive this long, doesn't it?

[rconner]

No I'm angry with you for telling me how to use my mouse

self righteous twat

Oh, dear, you caught the guy shopping for 'meat additives' so he felt compelled to lash out.

I get these from time to time. Once, someone threatened to put the police on to me because I posted and analyzed stock spams on my website -- he figured that I had planted one of my pages two years in advance just to short a stock that he just bought. Thing is, he freely owned that pennystocks are risky, but he still felt compelled to pass the buck to someone else for his loss.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing what the late Paul Harvey used to call "The REST of the story"

-- rick

[ReplaceMe]

There's nothing wrong with my cock, quite the opposite in fact but that's really none of your business.

I'm REALLY glad a spammer targeted you, just goes to show what you know about web anonymity you odious little repugnant urchin. He has probably been a victim of your sanctimonious ramblings on your extremely sh** website.

Do you have a huge beard and a Honda Goldwing?

I'm not a native English speaker so I'll freely admit that my (ab)use of which may come off stilted, or whatever set you off.

However, I wish you the best in your quest for fake watches...or that other thing. As you said, none of my concern. May I however suggest that you consult a price comparison web site? Chances are that'll do you more good than clicking random solicitations in your inbox.

Have a nice weekend.

PS: Beards are awesome.

[rconner]

I sometimes think that many people regard the web as a form of television -- that is, a one way push of content from anonymous corporate forces. When they do get evidence that there are real individual people behind the sites they slag away at, it puts them off balance.

To this we must add the desensitizing or depersonalizing effects of internet communication, which I think have been studied to the extent of having earned a name (which I forget at the moment). People will say things to strangers via e-mail etc. that they would never dream of uttering in public.

-- rick

[Farelf]

...To this we must add the desensitizing or depersonalizing effects of internet communication, which I think have been studied to the extent of having earned a name (which I forget at the moment). People will say things to strangers via e-mail etc. that they would never dream of uttering in public.

True, but the point is the real and virtual worlds probably *do* cross over/'learn' from each other as well - and that seems an asymmetric process. Which is to say revolting things are more often uttered in public by young and old alike without any trace of reticence, head stomping and similar 'exuberance' in brawls has become routine ... etc. {sigh} all the effort I made to 'clean up my act' after formative years years spent in rough company - I needn't have bothered . Not that I was ever a head stomper, honest.

Contrary indications (no, no, not about the head-stomping):

...shyness was associated with increased intimate socializing over the Internet, indicating that traditional and Internet communication are not functionally equivalent. ...research found that CMC (Computer-mediated communication) was primarily honest, creative, and positive ... CMC appears to facilitate social interaction. ...Some recent studies have found Internet use to be associated with increased local and distant social circles and face-to-face interactions with friends and family (Boneva, Kraut, & Frohlich, 2001; Kraut et al., 2002). In line with the "rich get richer" model rather than the "social compensation" model, increased family communication was associated with Internet use among those with greater social support. Increased community involvement was associated with Internet use among extroverts rather than introverts. ..etc

But "This study investigated the relationship of traditional social behavior to social communication via the Internet in a completely wired campus" which is arguably not the 'real world'. Still, thesis - antithesis.

[Miss Betsy]

Because of netiquette, the virtual world is more polite than offline. Even though people can, and do express themselves in ways they wouldn't in person. The difference is that if you call someone names in person, he is likely to use violence to retaliate. Online, you can just ignore it. You can't force anyone online to do what they don't want to do whereas offline, it is possible to force someone to do something they don't want to do. That's why so many people want laws online. Actually, I hope maybe the netiquette will cross over to offline where people realize that it is possible to get along with different people without forcing them to be the same.

MIss Betsy

[rconner]

I think I may have posted this before, but I once heard that the internet was a place where the men were men, the women were men, and the children were F.B.I. agents.

-- rick

[Farelf]

I think I may have posted this before, but I once heard that the internet was a place where the men were men, the women were men, and the children were F.B.I. agents.

I must have missed it then.