case studies

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 11:24 am

Actually, we (the mods) can do that across the board now.

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 11:31 am

Chai Guy wrote:Actually, we (the mods) can do that across the board now.

Yay!! Go mod, go mod. It's your birthday. Churn the butter. Ooo Ooo!

Thank for the hard work guys and gals.

emily sparkle · Post by **emily sparkle** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 6:38 am

EvilDustBooger wrote:Still here I believe, buried somewhere. I`d keep a close watch on where these are hiding.

Spam Topics:

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12526

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12517

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12516

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12430

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12407

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12343

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12340

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12337

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12222

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12173

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12165

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=11995

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=11873

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=11864

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=11845

For historical reference:
[http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=11712]The day it all started to get cyrrillic.....

got 'em. thanks.

DVD Burner · Post by **DVD Burner** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 1:17 am

any thoughts on this thread?

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... 826#217826

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 10:41 am

Yeah, it's real borderline for me. I don't like it very much.

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 8:00 pm

I would like to know why one of the master sock puppets, Acext, is being allowed to operate on this board and continue making sock accounts?

Surely the admins have enough evidence of spam accounts tied to that ID to take action with....or will the bogus accounts be allowed to keep piling up?

emily sparkle · Post by **emily sparkle** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:02 am

hmm... well let me see if i can explain a little. there's really NO way for me to associate the 'sock masters' you identify with other user accounts unless there are posts by those IDs. IP addresses are not captured and logged when someone creates an account, (at least not that I have any access to through the Admin Panels) only when they post in a thread. until they post, there is no way for me to associate ids. most of these accounts have zero posts because they're really just hoping to fool google's link popularity algorithm with their url in their profile.

i appreciate you guys identifying the sock 'masters' and 'puppets' but sometimes it's really not so obvious that you're correct. i've deleted two accounts so far that users have come back and said 'hey, i created an account, now it's gone' and i want to avoid that as much as possible.

i'm doing my best, really i am. i look for clear patterns in the registrations and profiles, and i've managed to get over 5000 spam accounts cleaned out of the system since the first round of mods were installed. i've asked spanky to install the visual verify mods just as all of you have so we can stop this, but resources are tight, and things have to be prioritized.

i know it's not happening the way you would prefer, but believe me when i say i'm doing the best i can with the limited resources and time i have to devote to this right now.

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 6:38 pm

Commerce:

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... ht=#220891
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... ht=#220892

emily sparkle · Post by **emily sparkle** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:30 am

Kinetic IV wrote:Commerce:

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... ht=#220891
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... ht=#220892

these have both been removed.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 9:11 am

emily sparkle wrote:hmm... well let me see if i can explain a little. there's really NO way for me to associate the 'sock masters' you identify with other user accounts unless there are posts by those IDs. IP addresses are not captured and logged when someone creates an account, (at least not that I have any access to through the Admin Panels) only when they post in a thread. until they post, there is no way for me to associate ids. most of these accounts have zero posts because they're really just hoping to fool google's link popularity algorithm with their url in their profile.

i appreciate you guys identifying the sock 'masters' and 'puppets' but sometimes it's really not so obvious that you're correct. i've deleted two accounts so far that users have come back and said 'hey, i created an account, now it's gone' and i want to avoid that as much as possible.

i'm doing my best, really i am. i look for clear patterns in the registrations and profiles, and i've managed to get over 5000 spam accounts cleaned out of the system since the first round of mods were installed. i've asked spanky to install the visual verify mods just as all of you have so we can stop this, but resources are tight, and things have to be prioritized.

i know it's not happening the way you would prefer, but believe me when i say i'm doing the best i can with the limited resources and time i have to devote to this right now.

Part of what we can see, and how our "team" identifies the sockmasters, is when certain people are logged on (oppenheimer.de, or Acext, to name a couple blatant ones) there is a pattern when they (1) log in (2) log out and when (3) the socks appear - it's fairly solid, and provable from the front end, if not from the back. The problem is, you have to be here consistantly (and an awful lot) to see these patterns, and monitor the heck out of the board. A few of us have that luxury, and I know a lot of the others (because of the huge bounds being made elsewhere in the BRC IT world) DON'T... just not enough resource or time. A few of us also have the opportunity to monitor this thing (through being self-employed or having a fairly relaxesd work environment) for hours at a time.

I know it's not your fault... the problem is the situation causes a lot of frustration among us who do have the means to actively (and in real time) monitor such things yet have no power whatsoever to deal with the problem.

You do mention that people you've bumped have come back and said, hey, I'm not a sock... and that's fine. They can always re-instate themselves. On MOST boards (and I'm not familiar enough with phpBB to know the answer) they can be un-bumped. But how many have you pulled and not had a comeback? A bunch, I'd bet. Why? Because they're socks.

I think the main thing is, tho, a lot of us have genuine feelings for this forum, and don't like someone coming in and frat-boy-ing themselves here. Yes, it's a public space, but it's also topically relevant to itself (through it's rules, AKA the TOS), and should be monitored aand (pardon the use of the word) policed - Just like the Transbay Terminal (the local big bus terminal in downtown SF) is public space, yet they don't allow people to build campfires in the middle of the bulding or use the benches for commodes... >grins< and if the rules are broken, without good explanation, they get their hands slapped and banned from the building.

When I was a listmom I used to have a few stock "form letters" I'd send to people who were bumped and why they were bumped; do we do that here? It doesn't even have to be a flowery nice letter - mine were sometimes pretty businesslike and maybe even a taste caustic, depending on the circumstance - but that way they knew why they were being bumped or axed or suspended or whatever. I usually gave them a 15 day window to respond in the letter, in reality it was indefinite, but usually if I heard back from someone it was immediate-ish.

Sorry to go on and on... but the big thing is, at least for me, when I see the same masters building the socks over and over and over and nothing is done, it makes me want to say "Aw fuck it" and go do other things - whether that's playing elsewhere on the ePlaya, or just not participating at all. And I'm not saying I want an active hand in controlling this mess (tried for that and was shot down, ergo not gonna kick that dead horse anymore!!)... just realize that those of us tryng to ID these socks and their builders are on YOUR side, and the sockmasters AREN'T. (And there are a helluva lot more people on these sock generation teams than there are protecting this board - either actively or directly!!!)

Hugs 2 you... and thanks for putting up the good fight!

bb

Kinetic IV · Post by **Kinetic IV** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 1:45 pm

Commerce / Blatant SPAM:

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... fc4#221207

EvilDustBooger · Post by **EvilDustBooger** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 7:32 am

Commerce:

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12673

emily sparkle · Post by **emily sparkle** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 11:25 am

EvilDustBooger wrote:Commerce:

http://eplaya.burningman.org/./viewtopic.php?t=12673

got it... and one of the mods got the one K pointed out.

emily sparkle · Post by **emily sparkle** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 11:58 am

Bay Bridge Sue wrote:... But how many have you pulled and not had a comeback? A bunch, I'd bet. Why? Because they're socks.

more than 5,000 since the multi-delete tools were installed. out of those only 2 came back. i apologized, they re-did the process. no problem.

Bay Bridge Sue wrote:When I was a listmom I used to have a few stock "form letters" I'd send to people who were bumped and why they were bumped; do we do that here?

I have form letters for commerce, cross posting and many other things. I have not been sending them out in this process due to the sheer volume (and time that would require). Besides, most of them are bots anyway. They never even read the emails going to the fake gmail accounts they create.

Bay Bridge Sue wrote:Sorry to go on and on... Hugs 2 you... and thanks for putting up the good fight!

No Sue, it's really important that you feel passionate about this. I'm VERY glad you've done so much to help us with this process. I feel like I've definitely made a major dent in the ones already identified and I scrape a bunch everyday that don't show up in the puppets or masters lists. In a few months, I'll feel more free to delete those that have registered but put no offending information in their profile or have any of the obvious spammer traits after a few months of them being dead accounts.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 9:32 am

Emily, you rock, hon!!!

Now, for something totally disgusting - wish he'd become his screen name... PURE COMMERCE...

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... 708#222708

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 2:43 pm

I deleted it.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 4:57 pm

Damnit - I saw this sock and didn't mention anything.

Commerce Post:

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=12759

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 5:01 pm

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... 069#226069
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=12760

He's in full blown spam mode - another Alfredriko.

joel the ornery · Post by **joel the ornery** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 1:11 pm

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... 402#226402

commerce?

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 4:01 pm

undoubtedly. dirty squish the bug commerce.

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 4:17 pm

Deleted, and that 's the second time that company tried that crap. It's called "playa" something, so I'm wondering if the bots just search out the word "playa"??

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 4:36 pm

That's my guess. Like those things that show up in tribe that coincide with the thread topic. Only I guess in reverse.

Lassen Forge · Post by **Lassen Forge** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:33 am

COMMERCE JUST POSTED...

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=12775

emily sparkle · Post by **emily sparkle** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:27 pm

Bay Bridge Sue wrote:COMMERCE JUST POSTED...

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=12775

got it.

blueniteowl · Post by **blueniteowl** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 12:42 pm

Spam

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... 669#227669

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 1:44 pm

well disguised indeed...

blueniteowl · Post by **blueniteowl** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 1:51 pm

And we've seen it before, though the previous time they were trying to let us know that we could have great jobs with the company too. And I believe that it was posted by a different screen name.

emily sparkle · Post by **emily sparkle** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 4:44 pm

were they jobqueen things?

i just deleted the two new users with that url in their profile, and i've seen jobqueen before. unfortunately i can't restrict what urls people put into their profiles and these users are always registered with gmail or hotmail accounts, so i can't ban their email hosts.

spectabillis, next time you delete one of these before i see it can you send me the IP address of the guy so i can put that on the ban list?

thanks!

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 6:07 pm

yep, will do, sorry for my happy trigger finger.

emily sparkle · Post by **emily sparkle** » Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:27 am

heh. no worries! i'm GLAD you can zap those now.