12 replies to this topic

[milestone 11]

Anyone else getting dozens of rogue likes from what appears to be bots? I have 10 this morning from "members" that are inaccessible.

[Risil]

Interesting, this does happen from time to time. Especially to topic OPs. Could you PM me the names of the suspected bots so I can take a look at their bona fides (or lack thereof)?

[milestone 11]

Interesting, this does happen from time to time. Especially to topic OPs. Could you PM me the names of the suspected bots so I can take a look at their bona fides (or lack thereof)?

Screenshot sent though it's not visible in my PM's. There whilst creating post and in preview then vanishes when posted. As admin, you may be able to see it I assume.

[messy]

The 'accidentally rating threads' topic I started fairly randomly months ago still gets regular likes and when I look it's always from users who've either never posted, don't have their accounts activated etc. Damn, I liked feeling like literally the only thread I've ever started was doing well!!

[BRG]

The 'accidentally rating threads' topic I started fairly randomly months ago still gets regular likes and when I look it's always from users who've either never posted, don't have their accounts activated etc. Damn, I liked feeling like literally the only thread I've ever started was doing well!!

I took a peek at that thread, and it is intriguing.  About 40 "new members" all recently joined and all with similarly constructed usernames.  Very clearly bots, but why?  What possible benefit is gained from liking your thread (excellent though it obviously must be!)

[Vitesse2]

This should cease in future. When the likes system was introduced, nobody apparently thought to prevent newly registered - but not yet approved - members from using it. A lot of bots are what I would define as 'stage one drive-bys', which never get as far as confirming the registration. The 'second-stage drive-bys' do confirm, meaning they visit the site again; that's probably when this happens, as some sort of test to see if the account is active, but if we still had automatic approval (as was once the case) then they would be free to try to sell you all sorts of stuff like viagra, Australian breakdown services and dodgy crypto schemes.

 

That has now been fixed - we hope - so if it continues, please let either Risil or me know by PM, naming the 'likers' concerned, so we can investigate further.

 

We have had a few instances of long-dormant accounts which have been hacked as well. If you spot these - they generally post about dating services - then just use the report function and we'll zap them ASAP.

[milestone 11]

The bots have been really busy.
https://forums.autos...st-on-a-thread/

[Vitesse2]

Okay, I've done another bit of backroom tweaking. Let's see if that fixes it!

[milestone 11]

Okay, I've done another bit of backroom tweaking. Let's see if that fixes it!

I've had another like this morning from what appears to be a bot. Anthonywar. It's odd that it seems as though it is only happening on Website Feedback.

[YoungGun]

Had a rogue like this morning - MichaelBlers liked a post you made in Notifications.

[FirstnameLastname]

It’s usually zmeej for me, liking posts on random threads from years ago

[messy]

I'm still getting almost daily likes on 'accidentally rating threads', very strange. The bots love it!

[Slartibartfast]

I'm still getting almost daily likes on 'accidentally rating threads', very strange. The bots love it!

Either the bots select a thread alphabetically or they have a well-developed sense of irony.