Comment Spam

Just in case a bunch of old entries got hit with a new wave of comment spam today (my blog got hit with eight overnight), I just updated our master list of the blacklist file this morning.

I thought y'all should know.

Comments

Might as well use this thread for updates. I've upgraded MT-Blacklist to v1.63rc1, and imported the latest master list. We're still running MT 2.64, though, even though they're up to 2.661.

That was kinda my thought when I made the entry, Ryan. Our very own clearinghouse bucket.

FYI, I found over 100 attempts to spam my blog in the space of 20 minutes day before yesterday; all but four were blocked by the blacklist. Amazing what it does, but also amazing to look at the activity log once in a while. ;)

Who is rapatterson@earthlink.net and why did I get a zip file attachment from him/her addressed to steve@hawaiistories.com? Anyone got any ideas? I ain't opening any zip file from someone I can't identify, but if it's legit I'd like to know.

It may be a new e-mail worm. I received a few messages from a state government address, and even feedback-AT-star-bulletin-DOT-com mailed it to me. The spam catcher I use on my shell account nabbed it, and I summarily nuked it with the trusty pine.

It's definitely the latest big virus. I've gotten it everywhere (using dozens of originator e-mail addresses), including in accounts I know I've never used anywhere online (like the one that came with my Verizon account), so it's probably doing all kinds of address variation as it propagates.

That's the conclusion I came to as well; thanks. I got three more today; I didn't even know that address worked. Ryan, it must be configured to auto-forward, huh?

Here's more info, including the fact that it typically gets past virus-checkers because it's in zip format.

what's comment spam? is that the guy who commented really racist stuff on my old blog?

yj, it's typically a completely inane comment to a really old post, like this:

"Name: Perlov George

Email Address: pamela_woodlake@yahoo.com
URL: http://COMMERCIAL WEBSITE HERE

Comments:

What's on your mind, if you will allow the overstatement?"

The intent is to get the link up onto the web in order to raise its Google rank.

Just updated the list again. 1016 items in it now.

I read the Blacklist guy is so taken with TypeKey, he figures he'll drop Blacklist when TypeKey is running.

I'm one of the many skeptics of TypeKey, and hope that if Blacklist isn't kept running, that an alternative hub for a master blacklist is developed.

Jay is now saying he may keep it up a little longer. Read the comments in his post about it, including his link to the Typekey FAQs put out by the Trotts.

I just updated the file again. It now has 1117 possible source URLs.

Ok, now they've gone too far. When a post about comment spam is itself spammed...

Have you seen this before? It's a number guessing game: http://www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/guessthenumber.html. I guessed 74854, and it got it right! Pretty neat.

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