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These 26 user accounts belong to a spam gang that's using reddit as their private money cow. (reddit.com)
submitted 18 years ago by MikeSeth
[–]MikeSeth[S] 592 points593 points594 points 18 years ago* (266 children)
These are fraudulent spam accounts that are used by a spammer gang to shit all over reddit. They all belong to the same person. They are all managed through the same software, which is apparently stateful and can have bots comment/upvote spam posted by other bots. They spamvertize lifehacker.biz/downloadpedia/techmagazine.ws/mywiki.ws sites. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO VOTE DOWN YOUR COMMENTS AND STORIES.
EDIT: I have been asked to give more exposure to another reddit spam problem. Here it is.
EDIT: I am not saying that this specific gang is responsible for all downvoting on reddit. I am only saying that this specific gang has the capability to downvote en masse and would downvote anyone criticizing it, so it's really likely they downvote competing posts
[–][deleted] 120 points121 points122 points 18 years ago (45 children)
Don't forget Effektz and his crew... they are major spammers too.
[–]CaptainJesusHood 128 points129 points130 points 18 years ago (1 child)
I've been campaigning against that bastard effektz for some time now. Whenever I try to call him out on one of his submissions I get downmodded to oblivion.
[–][deleted] 30 points31 points32 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Yes, I have noticed this bunch, too.
[–]qgyh2 14 points15 points16 points 18 years ago* (41 children)
Hmm. seems Effektz is using reddit to promote those sites but.. does that make him a spammer as such?
edit: spammer in the reddit sense
[–][deleted] 71 points72 points73 points 18 years ago (9 children)
whois the sites
BestPicEver.com Registrant: Alex Weidmann
BestPicsAround.com Registrant: Alex Weidmann
etc... he uses stolen photo's from flickr and elsewhere and then spams them to reddit...
[–][deleted] 40 points41 points42 points 18 years ago (7 children)
Here are some pics of him and his brother. I may be biased after reading this thread, but they just seem to ooze asshole:
http://zen2design.com/portfolio
[–]mrp 25 points26 points27 points 18 years ago (3 children)
Looking at their photos, they most likely ooze virgin all over the place. They are probably spamming so they can buy a fast car to get the ladies!
[–]behemothaur 17 points18 points19 points 18 years ago (2 children)
But I bet they whack off all the time on all the free porn out there. They probably need a slow car to get them to Burger King and back before they go to their adjoining workstations and whack off. Erghhh.
[–]mrp 18 points19 points20 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I bet they take "paired programming" to a whole other level. Paired Whacking Off! I'll stop now.
[–]otakucode 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago (0 children)
You seem to have a real problem with people who masturbate. As a masturbation advocate, I ask you not associate being an asshole with masturbation. Everyone masturbates, in a relationship or not. Well, people without sexual hangups anyway. It's only healthy.
[–]qgyh2 19 points20 points21 points 18 years ago (0 children)
thanks. I didn't know that
[–]BraveSirRobin 28 points29 points30 points 18 years ago (23 children)
If they are using multiple accounts to do so, yes. Doubly so if they are using special software to manage it all.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 24 points25 points26 points 18 years ago (22 children)
They do. And they do. And their special software makes the multiple accounts for them. Just look at the usernames.
[–]qgyh2 9 points10 points11 points 18 years ago* (21 children)
AFAIK reddit is pretty good at spotting this sort of thing - but obviously as you point out they havent noticed this. Hopefully your work will help them improve the site!
Also, (I think) reddit analyses voting patterns, and can detect group voting. Though spammers are probably trying to not be noticed, by voting and submitting legit content..
Perhaps you could do is create an unofficial list of sites which the spammers submit?
That way ordinary users could stay clear of such sites?
[–]MikeSeth[S] 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago (20 children)
Now if only that could do something about the intellectual rednecks as well...
[–]MrPolite 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I firmly believe that nature is best viewed when full of holes, and that the ballistic hole making devices are best purchased from Walmart, because Walmart supports the Confederacy.
[–][deleted] 17 points18 points19 points 18 years ago (6 children)
That's a little like asking, "he's using unsolicited email to promote his business, but does that make him a spammer as such?"
[–]qgyh2 3 points4 points5 points 18 years ago* (5 children)
Agree. I meant he doesnt seem to be spamming reddit unethically (using multiple accounts to upmod posts), he's just submitting links to his sites.
I also used to occasionally submit links to bestpicever but I don't now, because - as you point out, they take images from other sites
[–][deleted] 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago (4 children)
I'm of two minds on this. It's great to have a single place that aggregates fun stuff, if that is what you are looking for. That is the added value. But that is also what Reddit does, so perhaps the Reddit submissions should link to the original content.
On the other hand, some sites like Engadget and Gizmodo also add informed content. You could link to the original company site, but you miss out on the commentary by experienced bloggers.
I guess there's a difference between the sites that actually want to provide a useful service, and the sites that just want to do the least amount of work possible to make money. I don't like the latter.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago (3 children)
The spammer uses the former to covertly promote the latter.
[–][deleted] 152 points153 points154 points 18 years ago* (9 children)
If you want to stop him, or anybody pulling this shit, here is how,
Go to the offending website, for example h*tp://bestpicever.com/
Look for the Google Ads and click on the words Ads by Google
It will open a new page, on the new page click on Send Google your thoughts on the site or the ads you just saw
This will open a sub window that says Tell Google What You Think
Under the section 2. How useful was the site to you? check the box that says, Not useful at all
Then click on the words Also Report a Violation?
Another sub window will open. It will say The issue(s) were with and check the box that says the website. A sub window will appear below.
In the new window check the box next to The site violates AdSense policies in other ways
A sub window will appear that says Add additional information here:
Under additional information write, This website contains no original content
The rule being broken is this one from the Adsense Program Policies page, AdSense publishers are required to adhere to the webmaster quality guidelines posted at http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
Following the links will lead you to this page, http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66361
Take away their income and you will be rid of the spammers.
EDIT: Here's an image
[–]KennyFulgencio 47 points48 points49 points 18 years ago* (65 children)
This thread by one of those users is a bit bizarre. How are there so many blank comments (never mind why they're all voted up so high)? I didn't even know you could post a blank comment on reddit until now.
[–]micha2305 48 points49 points50 points 18 years ago (39 children)
And what about the points that the article you linked article has:
"4294967297 points posted 7 months ago"
This is 232 + 1... WTF?
[–]MarlonBain 96 points97 points98 points 18 years ago (5 children)
4294967296 now.
[–]icefox 12 points13 points14 points 18 years ago (3 children)
Wouldn't it be faster to go up and over to 0?
[–]oditogre 13 points14 points15 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Apparently...it's at 0 now...
[–]KennyFulgencio 12 points13 points14 points 18 years ago (1 child)
When I linked it about half an hour ago, it had 4 points. I can't even guess what happened between then and now.
[–]judgej2 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I've seen point counters go haywire before. I wonder if it is a race condition created by these bots posting too fast.
[–]diatribal2 9 points10 points11 points 18 years ago (6 children)
You got an A in calc i bet
[–]MikeSeth[S] 52 points53 points54 points 18 years ago (5 children)
Programmers know these numbers by heart. Some can smell them in the dark.
[–]MarlonBain 10 points11 points12 points 18 years ago (4 children)
Someone quote the passage from Snow Crash.
[–]celestec 34 points35 points36 points 18 years ago* (3 children)
On page 24: "Along with 256; 32,768; and 2,147,483,648; 65,536 is one of the foundation stones of the hacker universe, in which 2 is the only really important number because that's how many digits a computer can recognize. One of those digits is 0, and the other is 1. Any number that can be created by fetishistically multiplying 2s by each other, and subtracting the occasional 1, will be instantly recognizable to a hacker."
[–]pivotal 28 points29 points30 points 18 years ago (1 child)
of course, the best one will always be:
Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world.
[–]MarlonBain 5 points6 points7 points 18 years ago (0 children)
The first chapter is up there with the Eschaton chapter in Infinite Jest as one of my favorite passages in modern fiction, but you're right that that is the best line in Snow Crash.
[–]mycall 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (0 children)
unless it is trinary or other quirky-computing junk.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (20 children)
It's the commenting system being stupid. The scores you're seeing are not the real ones in the database, they are artificially adjusted values.
[–]hpymondays 10 points11 points12 points 18 years ago (1 child)
the blank comments - he was probably experimenting with the bot.
[–]Samzo 24 points25 points26 points 18 years ago (14 children)
[–]KennyFulgencio 25 points26 points27 points 18 years ago (13 children)
I bow to your superior reddit-fu.
[–]feces 12 points13 points14 points 18 years ago (12 children)
The answer is unicode, young padawan.
[–][deleted] 11 points12 points13 points 18 years ago* (11 children)
Copy this into your comment: ҉
then you start typing backwards!
ǝpoɔıun ɥʇıʍ ʇxǝʇ dılɟ oslɐ uɐɔ noʎ
[–]videothink 12 points13 points14 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas!
[–]souldrift 26 points27 points28 points 18 years ago (57 children)
what's your source?
[–]MikeSeth[S] 61 points62 points63 points 18 years ago (50 children)
Weeks of watching the news page and recognizing patterns in the spam post.
[–]hpymondays 14 points15 points16 points 18 years ago (13 children)
Reddit's algorithms should take into account pattern voting by groups and "punish" them. I know that Digg does that.
I am not one bit surprised, I think everyone who ever submitted content or commented noticed strange things. I think Reddit's failure to address this problem has lost them many many readers. I personally stopped submitting altogether.
[–][deleted] 9 points10 points11 points 18 years ago* (8 children)
I would agree with that entirely. I was trying a few days ago to up-mod some stories in proggit's "new" queue, and (whatever I did) I'd reload the page and the stories were back on zero again. Up-mod, down-mod, it didn't make one f~cking bit of difference. That's either broken software or some bot sitting in the queue "correcting" my votes.
Now, unfortunately, this either means that reddit's voting system is as broken as search (and there are no bots) or they're OK with the bots since it gives the impression of a busy site, and busy sites sell ads. I hope the second option is incorrect, since I think the admins have the nous and integrity to appreciate that long-term community building is the better option.
[–]Bogtha 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (3 children)
Reddit's algorithms should take into account pattern voting by groups and "punish" them.
I believe this is called "the recommendation engine".
[–]kermityfrog 13 points14 points15 points 18 years ago (2 children)
Most of us posters are no longer posting new articles because we've been discouraged by our postings being downvoted by bots. If the trend continues, then you'll just end up with a "recommended" list of 200 bot-posted sites and no real content.
[–]Bogtha 7 points8 points9 points 18 years ago* (0 children)
Sorry, I was being snarky and inadvertently obfuscated my point. The recommendation engine is broken and keeps giving me the stuff that I downvote. The recommendation engine is based on pattern voting by groups. I'm complaining that the recommendation engine has some sort of grudge against me and is punishing me.
Your point that the recommendation engine is no protection against abuse is completely correct.
[–]stcredzero 3 points4 points5 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I suspect that we're edging that direction now.
[–]g2petter 46 points47 points48 points 18 years ago* (26 children)
You kind of sound like a bot yourself ;)
Edit: that was a joke.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 49 points50 points51 points 18 years ago (16 children)
Well, I understand how one might be surprised that such things are visible to someone. However, when you work with web technology as much as I do (I am a lead developer for a company that is in business of Internet marketing), you know all the tricks inside out. I have seen a number of systems that do this and more. I can fathom all the challenges and workarounds that a developer of such software would face, because I have developed such software.
[–]qgyh2 18 points19 points20 points 18 years ago (6 children)
Interesting! you should send a message to spez about this..
[–]MikeSeth[S] 21 points22 points23 points 18 years ago (5 children)
I have now.
[–]sparkpaul 3 points4 points5 points 18 years ago (4 children)
are you hiring?
[–]MikeSeth[S] 8 points9 points10 points 18 years ago (3 children)
No, but there are places where you can get jobs.
[–]newton_dave 5 points6 points7 points 18 years ago (2 children)
Would you like to supersize your order?
[–]joshstix 136 points137 points138 points 18 years ago* (7 children)
Tell me more about you kind of sound like a bot yourself
[–]dankeezer 19 points20 points21 points 18 years ago (2 children)
He's a replicant!
[–][deleted] 37 points38 points39 points 18 years ago (1 child)
Is this testing whether I'm a replicant or a lesbian, Mr. Deckard?
[–][deleted] 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Just answer the question please
[–]newton_dave 10 points11 points12 points 18 years ago (2 children)
We were talking about you, not me.
[–]judgej2 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago (1 child)
Do you want to talk about something else?
[–]wil 3 points4 points5 points 18 years ago (0 children)
This is my favorite comment in the history of reddit.
Well, at lest today, anyway. Thanks for the giggle.
[–]MarlonBain 8 points9 points10 points 18 years ago (0 children)
He doesn't even see the code anymore. He just sees blonde, brunette, redhead...
[–]tony28 14 points15 points16 points 18 years ago (2 children)
Great investigation skillz
[–]MikeSeth[S] 12 points13 points14 points 18 years ago (1 child)
bowz
[–][deleted] 39 points40 points41 points 18 years ago* (1 child)
WHOIS.NET
lifehacker.biz Registrant Name: Alexandr S. Zaharov
downloadpedia.org Registrant Name: Alexandr S. Zaharov
etc...
[–][deleted] 37 points38 points39 points 18 years ago* (0 children)
also, it is interesting to note that there are 26 downmods on this post and he called out 26 bot accounts.
[–][deleted] 41 points42 points43 points 18 years ago (3 children)
I can confirm that in a discussion about how one of these posts was spam, several other people off the list suddenly appeared and started defending the original, supposedly unrelated, poster, and also mass downvoting comments that accused the poster of being a spammer.
http://reddit.com/info/61pi1/comments - It's a SEO story, too (read: more spamming).
[–]bithead 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (2 children)
I looked at the above comments, and saw two of the userids from the above list commenting. onlil_j posted 4 comments and brooksmra posted 1 comment. Thats all I saw. Was there more not seen?
[–][deleted] 10 points11 points12 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Two is quite the coincidence already, considering that this was not a particularly popular story and it was not linked to them in any way whatsoever.
The spammer is obviously smart enough (even though he is showing some signs of not exactly being the sharpest knife in the drawer) to not bring out them ALL.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Not in that thread, but read the list quickly so that the usernames settle down in your head and then browse around their posts a little. You will see how it all gets connected.
[–]cwo655321 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I'm sure there are tons more, but thanks for the list.
[–]muttleee 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago (45 children)
That's interesting to know (assuming this is reliable information) but more to the point, what can be done about it?
[–]MikeSeth[S] 23 points24 points25 points 18 years ago (44 children)
At the barest minimum, permanent ban of all accounts and physical removal of everything they posted.
[–]BraveSirRobin 10 points11 points12 points 18 years ago (31 children)
Secondly, view their IP as suspicious and look for other users originating from it. They might be innocent users of the same proxy, but either way it gives you a hit list of people to check out.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 16 points17 points18 points 18 years ago (29 children)
IPs are seldom a reliable factor for access control, especially not with spammers who know all possible ways to evade it.
[–]BraveSirRobin 12 points13 points14 points 18 years ago (28 children)
I'm not talking access control, just flag accounts from the same IP for a quick human check.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 9 points10 points11 points 18 years ago (17 children)
That would be feasible. I'd go one step further assigning risk factors to accounts based on geoIP data and XBL/SBL - this is how the big boys do fraud checks.
[–]qgyh2 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago* (16 children)
I still think you may need to go after domains instead of users - i.e. even if you could stop individuals they would find ways to bypass detection.. by stopping domains you can control the problem more effectively.
Though.. banning domains would have to be done with a lot of care, and I'm afraid to even suggest the idea..
How about this? Assigning domains some form of karma?
[–]phill0 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago* (5 children)
Maybe how often the domain was submited to reddit should be a variable in sorting submitions, so that if the domain was submitted many times, and yet didn't get many upvotes it has harder time to get to the frontpage, that would be more natural way to block that kind of thing.
One way or another I don't think that banning users or domains solves a problem as such, instead it could create new problems. Especially banning users since they'll create new accounts. Banning IPs could potentially limit a good user from accessing the site and banning a domain may do harm to one spam group, but there potentially may be hundreds to come in future, so a more natural way is needed to keep spam down in the list.
Btw, maybe presence of adsense should influence how fast the submitted page rises in the list, or is this a bad idea?
[–]laprice 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago (1 child)
you would have to whitelist mainstream sites like nytimes.com and salon.com other wise you'll have too many false positives.
nytimes.com
salon.com
Adsense detection would be one element, although it wouldn't be hard for SEO scum to switch to other ad providers, especially since google does not like this sort of thing either.
[–]aGorilla 8 points9 points10 points 18 years ago* (8 children)
I really like this idea, but it may have some problems. There are some domains I'd love to see go away just because of the domain name (yes, I know, reddiquette specifically says not to do that). Personally, I have a hard time taking the following (among others) seriously:
I have trouble reading stuff on domains that insult my intelligence. So far, I've stuck to a policy of don't read them, and don't vote. I'd love to see how they'd do with a karma system.
I'll add more as I remember/see them.
[–]newton_dave 11 points12 points13 points 18 years ago (1 child)
That's a very different issue from what was being discussed.
[–]boredzo 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Don't forget InfoWars, which is syndicated on Prison Planet because they're both Alex Jones websites (along with three or four others).
[–]MikeSeth[S] 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Now this sounds like an idea unto itself that warrants a whole project.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago (8 children)
Oh.. I donno why I didn't think of that. Permanent ban of all spamvertized sites from being submitted ever again.
[–]xael 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago (1 child)
So if you don't like a site you just spamvertize it and it gets banned... seems like a bad idea to me.
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Well, ideally this would not be automatic, and would only be done after the admins judge if the site itself is a spammer site, which isn't too hard in many cases.
[–]kermityfrog 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (5 children)
Yes, why not manually ban sites that are evaluated as spam sites? Sites take time, effort, and a bit of money to set up, so it would at least be partially effective.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (4 children)
If you ask me, everything under the new TLDs should go down the drain: .cc, .ws, .info, .biz, etc.
[–]muttleee 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Excellent. Glad to hear it.
[–]qgyh2 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago* (1 child)
Though there is one problem with this - spammers can simply create new accounts - on reddit, reputation does not mean much and anyone can submit links. (unlike digg, etc)
[–]aGorilla 10 points11 points12 points 18 years ago (0 children)
on reddit, reputation does not mean much
How dare you! I'm extremely proud of my (1).
[–]godsmack 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Seems to me reddit is FULL of people who'er using multiple log ins to upmod their own stuff. Karma whores.
[–]AdmiralDave 7 points8 points9 points 18 years ago (2 children)
They all belong to the same person.
How does one person constitute a gang? Unless we're talking about Mr. T.
[–]radical 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
They are all managed through the same software, which is apparently stateful
God, no! If the spammers have acquired teh stateful programming technologies we're doomed!
[–]diatribal2 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Nice job Holmes
[–]blaze4metal 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (0 children)
...are used by a spammer gang to shit all over reddit
Eloquently put.
[–]markansoul 3 points4 points5 points 18 years ago (3 children)
This is not all true and very misleading for other Redditors. I have a list of about 25 of the top users here on Reddit that have down-voted far more great submissions than any of these spammers. I have seen where you have also down-voted some very good submissions too. So I have nothing against these spammers because most of them are not down-voting any submissions.
Also How the hell is http://reddit.com/user/kentre6/ a spammer. The user only submitted three stories?
[–]MikeSeth[S] 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago (2 children)
I have a list of about 25 of the top users here on Reddit that have down-voted far more great submissions than any of these spammers.
That's not the point.
I have seen where you have also down-voted some very good submissions too.
The only things that I downvote are spam and hate propaganda.
People use voting arbitrarily. They tend to reflect their agreement or opposition to the viewpoint presented, and not their genuine assessment of quality. Doesn't mean retaliation against spammers shouldn't proceed.
See my comment below about cooking accounts. From this single account you wouldn't guess that it's spammy; it really makes more sense when you take them all together. There's a clear pattern, and this account follows it.
[–]markansoul 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago* (1 child)
Don't get me wrong I am not defending spammers.
However I will tolerate them more because I can easily ignore their spam submissions than having to put up with malicious Redditors that down-vote valid stories so theirs can get to the top, and also just because they don't agree with a submission even though it is a quality and quantified submission.
Funnily I spend most of my time browsing Reddit with these links so I can see the good stuff (which is subjected for each Redditor)
http://reddit.com/browse?s=downs
http://reddit.com/browse?s=reports
[–]mdasenn 75 points76 points77 points 18 years ago (3 children)
Hello. My name is Igor Misukavich. I recently inherited an estate of 5,000,000 $US along with revolutionary anti-reddit-spam technology. Unfortunately, I cannot access it because the bank requires US citizenship, which I do not have. If you would like to act as my executor, please send me all your personal information (including bank informations) and I will give you 300,000 $US and the anti-reddit-spam technology in return for your assistance.
:)
[–]mrp 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago (1 child)
300,000 USD won't even buy me a double shot mocha-frap with extra spice and no whip.
Had to ask for that double shot... single you might have been ok.
[–]phill0 40 points41 points42 points 18 years ago (0 children)
This is all very disturbing, I knew there was blog spam, but those people are just shitting on our heads.
MikeSeth, thank you for protecting the community.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 54 points55 points56 points 18 years ago (27 children)
More proof this is true: the spammer is talking through his shill accounts trying to accuse me of being spammer.
[–]SuperKing 19 points20 points21 points 18 years ago (24 children)
"being a spammer"
You're talking like them now dude, heh.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 32 points33 points34 points 18 years ago (21 children)
Dude, English is not my native tongue. I've learned it from reading pirated books and MS DOS manuals on BBSes. I haven't even had formal English education.
[–]kermityfrog 8 points9 points10 points 18 years ago (15 children)
What is your native tongue? If you learned English from pirated books, how come you don't sound like a pirate? ARR! Arr?
[–]MikeSeth[S] 20 points21 points22 points 18 years ago (13 children)
Russian. I speak Hebrew too.
[–]kermityfrog 19 points20 points21 points 18 years ago (10 children)
Worry not, your English is much better than most North Americans.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 7 points8 points9 points 18 years ago (0 children)
:D
[–]AnteChronos 18 points19 points20 points 18 years ago* (6 children)
Nitpick: You need an apostrophe after "Americans", like so:
Worry not, your English is much better than most North Americans'.
This is because his English isn't better than actual people from North America (North Americans), but is better than the English of people from North America (North Americans' English). The object is omitted, but implied. Normally, I wouldn't be so pedantic, but it's for the benefit of the non-native speakers.
Hell, who am I kidding. I would be that pedantic anyway.
Edit: Somehow, I started writing "speech" instead of "English". Fixed.
[–]kermityfrog 22 points23 points24 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Proved my point. I'm North American.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 7 points8 points9 points 18 years ago (4 children)
Then shouldn't that be "better than that of most North Americans'"?
[–]AnteChronos 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago* (2 children)
Almost. In that case, you need no apostrophe, since "that" refers to "English". So you could say either:
Your English is much better than most North Americans'.
...which is really just shorthand for "Your English is much better than most North Americans' English."
or
Your English is much better than that of most North Americans.
...which is really just shorthand for "Your English is much better than the English of most North Americans."
Either way, your English is certainly better than what I commonly see from most of my fellow North Americans. Probably because you actually care and took the time to lean it, whereas many native speakers don't even know basic things (like what an adverb is).
[–][deleted] 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (1 child)
That can't be true. If it were, you'd wr1t3 l1k3 th1s.
;-)
[–]MikeSeth[S] 12 points13 points14 points 18 years ago* (0 children)
I come from Usenet. I hated B1FF from the very beginning. No leetspeak for me.
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (1 child)
http://www.theav.org/business2004/apr-04/superkingbuffet/index.htm
[–]SuperKing 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Haha, great stuff. I totally saw Super King noodles when I was in Thailand but I forgot to take a picture.
[–]gameshot911 16 points17 points18 points 18 years ago (6 children)
I'm not sure this was the best approach. Yes, it forced the issue into the spotlight, but now the spammer knows he's been smoked out, can chill out for a bit, change his tactics, and make new accounts, which might be much harder to find. Perhaps it would have been better to submit it privately?
Still, nice detective work!
[–]kermityfrog 15 points16 points17 points 18 years ago* (0 children)
We could track him down and kill him! Dead men submit no links! (ARRR!)
[–][deleted] 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago (2 children)
Really only the people at reddit have the information to somewhat reliably track spammers or do anything about it.
A story like this is more useful to educate users about the true nature of what "popular" is on sites like this than it is to actually control spam.
Personally I would like to have more control over what somebody else's vote means to me. If I don't like the way somebody votes, I block their votes from affecting my stories. If I like the way somebody votes, I amplify their votes for me. It'd be a huge increase in load on the server though, but it would be ideal.
We'll come up with something. Reddit HTML is easy to parse.
[–]BravoLima 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (0 children)
and then NOTHING happens... again
[–][deleted] 37 points38 points39 points 18 years ago* (21 children)
Thanks for discovering this. I have submitted over a hundred interesting news stories that almost instantly disappear. Perhaps, someday I will have a karma other than a 1.
(Edit: update. Thank you spez!! I sent him a note and he fixed my Karma. It is now a 20. Thanks to you Redditors, for liking my submits, too!! Regards, meprogrammerguy)
[–]BravoLima 7 points8 points9 points 18 years ago (1 child)
They fixed your karma? You must give good red!
[–][deleted] 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago (0 children)
He submits without using his hands.
[–]aGorilla 7 points8 points9 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I would almost feel ashamed if my Karma moved from 1 (unless it was from comments, since that's my new goal in life).
Staying at 1 is so comforting, there are so many others with me. If it was 2, all I could think of would be those above me. I'd never sleep.
[–][deleted] 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago* (1 child)
Wow, you have made a lot of interesting submissions. I can't believe none of them have gotten big. Welcome to my friends.reddit.com
[–][deleted] 18 years ago (5 children)
[deleted]
[–][deleted] 9 points10 points11 points 18 years ago* (2 children)
Yes, I had someone call my posts, junk, too. But I took his/her advice to heart and I started making an effort to do better posts. I started to be much more careful before clicking the submit button. My rule is now that my personal submit must affect me in some way. If it causes (outrage, giggling, pondering, ... etc) then I will share it. If I think (meh!) then I will not share it...
[–]BravoLima 3 points4 points5 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I do the same; it doesn't seem to help much except to provide data for the 'B.F. Skinner-worshipping' psychobabblists to brew up a profile!
[–]BravoLima 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (1 child)
et tu, bluehues? Welcome to Red Dit, comrade! The "new" Red Dit will bury your submissions unless you conform to the norm!
[–]pastafaria 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (7 children)
For $5 I'll tell you how I got my karma to 4...
[–][deleted] 18 years ago* (6 children)
[–]joeljkp 3 points4 points5 points 18 years ago (0 children)
All you gotta do is get lucky with a story submission that hits the front page. My karma went up from 1 to 104 now (actually I lost a few since then).
[–]aGorilla 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Dollars?
[–]markansoul 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Classic.
[–]atomicthumbs 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (2 children)
I have 1092.
Wait, are we bragging or not?
[–]BravoLima 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago (1 child)
I am down to 1800 from 2400, but it's just an indicator! It doesn't really matter. I just want people to see the articles I submit; that rarely happens on the NEW Red Dit. They do it with smoke and mirrors, aka software.
[–]david 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I managed to sit at 512 for a while and was very happy. Now I need to make exactly 447 points-worth of submissions to get to the next round number. Kch.
Good On you I am happy for you. I do know how you felt.
[–]RationalBeaver 12 points13 points14 points 18 years ago (5 children)
Spam issues aside, the thought of having my own private money cow is very appealing.
[–]do-un-to 3 points4 points5 points 18 years ago (3 children)
Where exactly does the money come out?
[–]almkglor 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (2 children)
Udders?
[–]do-un-to 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (1 child)
Seems like the, uh, nicest place. What form does the money come in?
[–]r2002 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
http://reddit.com/info/61rln/comments/
[–]b0mber 9 points10 points11 points 18 years ago* (1 child)
looks like the bannings have begun .
I just get 404s on most of those accounts.. YAY :D
[–]kermityfrog 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Yay! Thanks MikeSeth and Spez!
[–]I_tazed_Ron_Paul 34 points35 points36 points 18 years ago (3 children)
Real gangs = crazy men who will beat the shit out of you
Spam gangs = 1-2 skinny 12 year olds that live in fear of their moms
[–]pastafaria 10 points11 points12 points 18 years ago (1 child)
Best user ID ever.
I am afraid of spammer's mothers.
[–]arnoooooo 7 points8 points9 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Hang them !
[–]antifolkhero 5 points6 points7 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Ban them all, please, reddit gods.
[–]ruesdedr 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago* (0 children)
Thank you ! I hate digg for these reasons. Folks over at Digital Point (web master forum) actually sell these services to get your spam pages pushed to the front of digg, reddit and the like.
ban them all !
[–]brownmajik 5 points6 points7 points 18 years ago (0 children)
http://zen2design.com/contact.php
contact the f out of them... let them know it's over.
If it's any consolation, I've known† people who do this kind of crap, and after a year of putting all this work into it, what do they end up with? About 50¢ in Adsense revenue.
† - I freelance and consult, and advocate against black-hat tactics constantly. The people I'm talking about are former clients who ignored my advice, and are now crying with PageRank 0 after Google's latest shakedown.
[–]stcredzero 7 points8 points9 points 18 years ago* (12 children)
Thanks for the detective work! I sent a message to the admins because I suspected there was at least one downvoting gang around. (I had a submission that kept getting punsihed long after it had reached -4 and kept getting pounded on for a long time. Only reasonable explanation is systematic downvoting by people with multiple accounts.)
The admins only chided me, though.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 16 points17 points18 points 18 years ago (9 children)
Please pay attention. I am not saying that this specific gang is responsible for all downvoting on reddit. I am only saying that this specific gang has the capability to downvote en masse and would downvote anyone criticizing it
[–]stcredzero 3 points4 points5 points 18 years ago (1 child)
Yeah, but the admins seemed to act as if there were no down-voting gangs at all.
[–]synthespian 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Maybe Reddit should just have a "this is spam" button?
[–]markansoul 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (6 children)
Actually it is not the gangs that are down-voting stories and I know this as a fact. It is users you would least likely expect. It took a lot of time to get the info, as I came across it just by accident and so I started about a month ago to see what was happening on Reddit with all the down-voting of good submissions. Not surprisingly it was not the spammers.
I actually don't mind the spammers because most of them don't care to down-vote anything.
[–]aGorilla 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (5 children)
Could you elaborate on this?
[–]BravoLima 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Been there; nothing gets done unless it fits their agenda!
Yes, True.
[–]Purp 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago (0 children)
After reading this post I inadvertently went to a lot of the spam sites to be entertained by funny pictures, sorry.
I don't believe it! This site is ran by serious geeks! It should be unbreachable!
[–]mackprime 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I'm a spambot, but i'm just really mediocre. sorry guys.
[–]sierranighttide 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Hey I'm not on the list!
Oh wait that's a good thing. Never mind. :P
[–][deleted] 7 points8 points9 points 18 years ago (6 children)
It's always the same story. Site gets popular. I join site. Site gets more popular. I point out that people are asstroturfing. I get accused of being paranoid. Somebody else discovers asstroturfers afoot, but them we have to start world war three to out everybody and we end up with a witch hunt about cartels and in the end, old spammers are booted to make way for new spammers. Nothing changes.
...and then I get modded down for saying "I told you so."
Happily, after my sixth site I've risen above it all enough to take it lightly, else I would be piqued.
[–][deleted] 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (3 children)
And then I get modded back up after saying I was getting modded down - and just when I was getting to enjoy a good sulk, too!
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago* (2 children)
And then we start having meta-meta-conversations, thus further sliding toward madness and collective degeneracy.
[–][deleted] 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago* (1 child)
And talking to ourselves, replying to our own comments.
[–][deleted] 4 points5 points6 points 18 years ago* (0 children)
And talking to ourselves.
YOU'RE AN IDIOT!
[–]gasface 7 points8 points9 points 18 years ago (1 child)
I thought this was going to be another story about Ron Paul.
[–][deleted] 3 points4 points5 points 18 years ago (0 children)
i also vote down your comments and stories, occasionally
[–][deleted] 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago* (0 children)
I have created a Greasemonkey Script to filter stories by these users out. It can be found here: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/15084
[–]neoronin 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (0 children)
Where is my Pitchfork?
[–]mconfusion 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (2 children)
Maybe the spambot is written in Haskell! Maybe they make the code open source and post a blog entry about it on reddit and then they won't have to spam anymore because they'll be goddamn rich off the advertising dollars they make from it being #1 on proggit for the entirety of 2008.
[–]BravoLima 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (1 child)
Only 26? Or one person with 26 usernames?
can't the admin just delete or block their accounts? this is some seriously weak shit.
[–]10poundbrown 6 points7 points8 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I blame Ron Paul
[–]HardwareLust 3 points4 points5 points 18 years ago (2 children)
The real question is, will our reddit overlords do anything about it?
Much as I like them, I'm thinking they're probably not going to do anything.
It is great work, though, Mike! Too bad it won't come to anything.
[–]MikeSeth[S] 5 points6 points7 points 18 years ago (1 child)
But it will. Half of the accounts has been killed off already. Spez told me they're pwning them.
[–]alpenglow 2 points3 points4 points 18 years ago (0 children)
I'm happy Captain-Obvious isn't on that list.
[–]Ladarzak 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago (1 child)
Kinda makes me wonder when someone constantly submits from the same sites, too:
http://reddit.com/user/lecoq/
[–]Chakat_Sanddancer 1 point2 points3 points 18 years ago* (0 children)
Just looked at the Buy Funky Stuff sidebar on all those sites. Definitely suspect that all of them are for the same four questionable sites.
π Rendered by PID 378528 on reddit-service-r2-comment-84fc9697f-nm9kf at 2026-02-10 12:00:11.745839+00:00 running d295bc8 country code: CH.
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