Opus 2022-090: A New Strategy

The spam bots have found me again.  Where did I go wrong?

Then I put on my tin foil hat.  It really helps me think.  I wonder if this is a new plot by social media.  Instead of banning us they have decided to change their algorithm to start sending ridiculous responses to guilty parties.  At least it isn’t offers of generic Viagra or Russian brides, or at least not yet.

Am I being paranoid or are they really after me?  Could it be both?

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-131: Spam Bots in Vulture Mode

Being out of the loop did interesting things to my page views.  I don’t get into all the different nuances of telling how many people visit my site.  I check what Google gives me in the stats every once in awhile but what I saw today just reinforces how meaningless it is.

I wondered how not publishing for a week would effect the numbers.  Would it be lower because people stopped reading or higher because they kept checking to see if I was back in business?  What happened seems to be that the bots thought they had discovered a site gone defunct and they went crazy.  My page views for July went off the charts.  It was like a teen age block party with free booze. 

The lesson to learn is not to get too egotistical about this blogging thing.  I have already accepted that I will not get a call from NPR to replace the Prairie Home Companion nor will the L.A. Times contact me about a column.  Maybe if I stick with it I will be banned by blogger for my insensitive posts.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-053: Dear Anonymous

I will take a chance that you are real.  Starting a blog is easy.  If you look at my blog you will see a button that says “Create blog” in the upper right hand corner.  Click on it and follow the directions from there.  Then when you leave comments it will not be from “Anonymous” any more.  It might be from Asimov.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-312: Spam: I Am Awesome

I love the terms used to describe my post:  Astounding, clarity, spectacular, expert, and gratifying.  I was a bit concerned that he wanted to “clutch” my RSS feed though.  I did have a question before I deleted the comment:  Why did it take the spambot six years to find this wonderful bit of writing?

Spam.  The original fake news.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-306: What Is French for Spam?

Spam gets more creative all the time.  One made it through my filter but was all in French.  It had a name and everything.  The name?  acheter Levitra.  Being of a suspicious nature I did some Google searches and even had Google translate a page for me.  The key words were “erectile dysfunction” on a pharmacy site.  Since I didn’t want to cause any anxiety in potential readers, I marked it as spam.

The adventure of the internet is ever ending and I keep asking myself, “Don’t these people have something better to do with their time?”

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-433: Chairman Mao Wants You

I was flipping through the stats on my blog and noticed something interesting.  At this point I have about 90,000 pageviews.  That is not what got my attention.  What I found interesting is that one post had 20,000.  Spambots are awesome, and persistent.  If I could find out what attracts them to that post I could become the internet king overnight.

That in itself was not what I really found interesting.  What got my attention was that when I clicked on “all time” three countries stood out as sources.  China, Russia and Brazil with China being the darkest of the three.  When I click on “month” China disappears but Russia and Brazil remain with Russia darkest. 

When you hear about how China and Russia are working hard on cyber attacks you might like to understand that you are also a target of those attacks.  It isn’t just the government they are after.  They want access to everyone and that means you.

You might redo that war time poster that says, “Uncle Sam wants you” and replace it with one saying “Chairman Mao wants you.”

Keep your firewall up.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-369: The Prince Has Moved to Manila

When I arrived at school and checked my e-mail I was surprised to learn that the parents of one of my students were stranded in Manila and needed me to send them money ASAP so they could get home.  Why was I suspicious?

First, I had seen the parent on Friday and the e-mail was dated on Saturday.  Not being geographically challenged and having done more traveling than LA to Las Vegas, it seemed unlikely that she could have gotten to Manila in time to send the message.

Second, the lady who supposedly sent the message is pretty sharp.  The e-mail said that she had lost her money and credit cards because the airlines had lost her luggage.  How many people who can figure out which bathroom to use would put their money and credit cards in their check-in luggage?

So it seems the Prince of Nigeria that had a fortune for us has moved to Manila, or Virginia, which is where she told me the hacker had been traced to.

If you get such an e-mail and are tempted, I would ask you to send me the money instead and trust me to forward it to them.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-140: Spam Wisdom

I love the way some spam feeds my ego.  How about this bit of wisdom,

“My brother recommended I might like this web site. He was totally right. This post actually made my day.”

The spam bot got that far before it descended into obvious misspellings and the inevitable invitation to visit its website.

No thank you.  Since I am not stupid enough to believe the praise, I am also not stupid enough to visit the website. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-324: A New Flavor of Spam

I had an interesting piece of spam today.  There was only one and it started like it was a genuine post.  I keep thinking that a legitimate comment might get shuffled over.  I was again disappointed.

The robot told me that some of my pictures were not loading well and suggested that he might have a solution for me at his web site.  The big problem with this is that I have not yet tried to put pictures on my blog.  I am thinking about it but life is too short to learn new skills.

So if you do have pictures, be aware that all helpful comments are not helpful comments.

homo unius libri