Hawkee - Feb 03, 2014

I found that we've been the target of a new spam technique where the spammer creates a spam account then they like a single script, snippet, etc. to get a link back to their profile. I wrote a script to delete these accounts, so you may notice your likes have gone down. These were spam likes, so they did not have any value. If you see this happening again please let me know and I'll run my script to clean things up again.

7 Responses

Hawkee - Feb 03, 2014

There were about 500 accounts/likes removed.

Hawkee - Feb 03, 2014

Seems like these are a regular thing. I might need to put this on the crontab. Anybody want to try to find out if there's a script that does this?

Laxus - Feb 04, 2014

I don't know, this doesn't look to possible. I know like every single spam script but this one :(

Sorasyn - Feb 04, 2014

@Hawkee : http://www.hawkee.com/profile/588581/ & http://www.hawkee.com/profile/588706/ & http://www.hawkee.com/profile/588890/

Got another one today on one of my snippets. I couldn't find anything in way of spam scripts that Hawkee is listed on... It's been awhile since I've created an account, but is it possible to toughen up account creation to prevent things like this?

Hawkee - Feb 06, 2014

@Sorasyn Thank you. I don't think you need to worry about tracking down these accounts anymore. My script makes quick work of them. It looks for accounts with a website who liked a single item on the site. I just deleted 81 spam accounts from the past day or two. I think I'll put this on the crontab to run every hour to discourage this sort of activity. I know it's far from ideal because it might delete a real account from time to time, but it's only a temporary solution.

I've started working on a new perk system where you earn the ability to like. It'll be based on your points which are a reflection of the likes you've earned. I want to offer more points for having snippets and projects liked as opposed to threads or comments. I'll eventually add more and more perks. I'm still working out the vocabulary and I'll start a new thread to open that up for discussion.

Sorasyn - Feb 06, 2014

Those were just accounts that targeted a few projects of mine.

Interesting to see what you work up regarding the perks system. I've noticed TomsHardware has badges you can earn on their forums as you post, answer questions, and help out over time. It's kind of a cool, unique mechanic.

Hawkee - Feb 06, 2014

I view perks and badges as two different things. Badges are more like trophies while perks earn you abilities. It's possible to have quite a few more badges than perks because there are only so many abilities you can earn. With badges the sky's the limit. I'd like to add badges someday down the road, but perks are more important to combat spam.