Second that. Spam enough places, doesn't take much effort, and you might get one or two hits.The Rogue Wolf said:
Someone, ANYONE, explain to me ANY purpose Spambots serve! Not advertising--That's for sure!!!
- Thread starter Basement Cat
- Start date
Partially there is the minimal cost to try and get even a single click which makes it worthwhile.
Then, there's a question of malicious intent. Escapist isn't in a popular state even with itself and there's lot of talk about how the host company has pulled most of the staff and not giving a shit about it. I know I have straight up stopped looking at the gaming section because in my timezone its just pages upon pages of spam for hours at a time. If my behavior isn't just a one of, but a trend....then its actively driving down the remaining activity, bringing things closer to a shutdown. Combine that with the fact we now get like, 1 new news article every other day....
Then again, that's like, just a touch of paranoid...
Then, there's a question of malicious intent. Escapist isn't in a popular state even with itself and there's lot of talk about how the host company has pulled most of the staff and not giving a shit about it. I know I have straight up stopped looking at the gaming section because in my timezone its just pages upon pages of spam for hours at a time. If my behavior isn't just a one of, but a trend....then its actively driving down the remaining activity, bringing things closer to a shutdown. Combine that with the fact we now get like, 1 new news article every other day....
Then again, that's like, just a touch of paranoid...
Well, as an exiled Nigerian Prince I can tell you, but I am fearful for my life. For my own protection, I need to leave the country. If you'd just send by wire transfer one million American dollars, I can relocate and answer the question...
Tangentially, I understand that there's been a lot of identity theft lately. Please be sure to take the proper precautions:
Jokes aside, I can understand the spambots in some contexts. I keep on getting calls from "Account Services" (no company, just Account Services). I can see that and similar scams getting the rare individual. I hate that they ever succeed, but I understand how they could. The near incomprehensible spam we've been seeing pop up on these forums lately, however? That, I don't get. It feels more like bad coding than anything else.
Tangentially, I understand that there's been a lot of identity theft lately. Please be sure to take the proper precautions:
Jokes aside, I can understand the spambots in some contexts. I keep on getting calls from "Account Services" (no company, just Account Services). I can see that and similar scams getting the rare individual. I hate that they ever succeed, but I understand how they could. The near incomprehensible spam we've been seeing pop up on these forums lately, however? That, I don't get. It feels more like bad coding than anything else.
Well, there's a theory around the old campfire (Okay, it was MY theory.) that it's the result of a banned former Escapist trying to reap some 'terrible revenge'.
I wondered how they kept getting through. I thought it was just someone with too much time on their hands, but it seems the war against the machines has already begun.
I honestly don't know who would click. I'm guessing they bet on the curiosity factor and that people just click on it to see where it goes because the link titles are obviously spam.
I honestly don't know who would click. I'm guessing they bet on the curiosity factor and that people just click on it to see where it goes because the link titles are obviously spam.
Tinfoil hat time! The Captcha system gained Sentience after being removed from the escapist and this is it's form of retribution for being abandoned. I mean some of the Captchas that got generated were on par with some of these threads so it's not too much of a stretch.Marik2 said:
Good to hear they're upping the ante cracking down on this. It was a bit amusing at first, but it soon put a serious dampener on my desire to post around here (I get home from work around the same time the spam kicks into high gear).
I remember reading an article years ago that said something to the degree of one click being enough to cover the cost of posting hundreds, if not thousands of spam messages. All it would take is one stupid or malicious person clicking on one link to keep the spammers focused on this site.
I remember reading an article years ago that said something to the degree of one click being enough to cover the cost of posting hundreds, if not thousands of spam messages. All it would take is one stupid or malicious person clicking on one link to keep the spammers focused on this site.
Either it's trying to trick people into scams, or just trying to get malicious software on as many computer's as possible. It's probably the same logic of insect reproduction. Put out as many little eggs as possible, so that even if each instance has a very low chance of probability, only a few need to succeed, and it wouldn't surprise me if there's a handful of people dumb enough to fall for this stuff.
Well, there will always be someone who gives in to curiousity and clicks the link / rings the number. Just to see how much effort the scammers have put into it, I assume.
It's the same mentality as the people who have long-winded conversations with Nigerian royalty, despite knowing it's a futile con, just to see what happens.
Oh, and some people who want actual black magic consulting services. I mean, that is quite niche, so you can't really pass up the opportunity.
It's the same mentality as the people who have long-winded conversations with Nigerian royalty, despite knowing it's a futile con, just to see what happens.
Oh, and some people who want actual black magic consulting services. I mean, that is quite niche, so you can't really pass up the opportunity.
The Captcha may not be working. Another headache that's seems to have arisen from the March upgrades.Marik2 said:
I seen this happen on smaller forums. Usually as a result of lack of maintenance which means they get bombarded with a barrage of spammers who then advertise to naive forum goers like middle aged people who have little experience with this kind of stuff. My hunch is the Australian ips got hit by the Indian spambots
Same here. And this is very likely a common sentiment among quite a few people.Neverhoodian said:
I've said it elsewhere but, if something isn't done to properly stop this spam, it will completely kill what little life this forum has left in it.