Have You Noticed...?

[Happy-Hangman]

I feel a little like Shaw Taylor (one for the kids, there), posting this,...but have you noticed a number of recent sign-ups to the forum who appear to do little or nothing but cut-and-paste other poster's comments, often wildly out of context. Occasionally an innocuous photo-link will be appended, but not always.

Now, there are all manner of strange people out there who express themselves in a wild and wonderful way, and we're not likely to start chopping new members willy-nilly just because they are a bit odd. Yes (before Count Libido says it, your willies are safe from the Hangman's chopper...for now. Half the forum, myself included, could be termed 'a bit odd', but if this is some form of spam-by-the-back-door strategy (now there's a thought), it really is a bit counter-intuitive, as it makes them stand out far more than those spammers who have recently tried to sell us everything from scaffolding (in Sydney, no less) and bootlegged Bollywood movies to organic vegetables and keep-fit equipment (oh, how little they know us on that last one...I, personally, am more likely to go for the Sydney scaffolding)...as we immediately notice someone posting our own words back at us.. And them when the first spam starts to appear, it's readily chopped and canned.

No-names and no pack-drill, folks - if you have suspicions regarding a member's true intentions you know how to light the Mod-Signal - but has anyone noticed any other odd patterns of behaviour?

Potentially more fun, can you suggest a reason why our words are eerily coming back on us. Is it a form of digital indigestion, perhaps, or has the internet started to gain mass...and generating an echo only evident when a thread is as empty as the average spammer's head?

[Takeshi Kovacs]

It's an emergent spambot tactic. Advances in Turing-type AI today are in spam filters and spam bots. As Neal Stephenson said, “I saw the best minds of my generation writing spam-filters.”

There's an interesting post at the Nielson-Hayden's site Making Light today by one of their mods, titled "An Hour In Sp@m

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight...es/013617.html

There's an xkcd about it somewhere that makes the point that eventually spambots will make intelligent, relevant contributions to online discussions. And at that point, the only odd posts will be by human beings.

[allun]

It could be a sign of the approaching Singularity. If so let me be the first to welcome our new computer overlords.

[DaveC]

Another reason could be for creating users who could post links for Search Engine Optimization. It's strange that many of these Spambots don't even seem to Spam so I'm guessing the engine behind them is piling up cookies for a subsequent campaigns

I'm thinking the reason for posting stuff that's already been posted is trying to hide the fact their posting has little relevancy to the topic being discussed

[Clown Asylum]

Can't say I've noticed anything. ***GENUINE EGYPTIAN LOVESPOONS, ONLY $19.99 PER PACK!***

I feel a little like Shaw Taylor (one for the kids, there), posting this,...but have you noticed a number of recent sign-ups to the forum who appear to do little or nothing but cut-and-paste other poster's comments, often wildly out of context. Occasionally an innocuous photo-link will be appended, but not always.

Now, there are all manner of strange people out there who express themselves in a wild and wonderful way, and we're not likely to start chopping new members willy-nilly just because they are a bit odd. Yes (before Count Libido says it, your willies are safe from the Hangman's chopper...for now. Half the forum, myself included, could be termed 'a bit odd', but if this is some form of spam-by-the-back-door strategy (now there's a thought), it really is a bit counter-intuitive, as it makes them stand out far more than those spammers who have recently tried to sell us everything from scaffolding (in Sydney, no less) and bootlegged Bollywood movies to organic vegetables and keep-fit equipment (oh, how little they know us on that last one...I, personally, am more likely to go for the Sydney scaffolding)...as we immediately notice someone posting our own words back at us.. And them when the first spam starts to appear, it's readily chopped and canned.

No-names and no pack-drill, folks - if you have suspicions regarding a member's true intentions you know how to light the Mod-Signal - but has anyone noticed any other odd patterns of behaviour?

Potentially more fun, can you suggest a reason why our words are eerily coming back on us. Is it a form of digital indigestion, perhaps, or has the internet started to gain mass...and generating an echo only evident when a thread is as empty as the average spammer's head?

[Happy-Hangman]

Clown Asylum is a spam Sleeper....? Jesus, but his cover was perfect!! Just odd enough to pass for human.

[Veela Magnet]

Originally Posted by Happy-Hangman

Just odd enough to pass for human.

Well he did have a strange use for those spoons...

[count_libido]

Chopper.

[Selkie]

Originally Posted by Clown Asylum

***GENUINE EGYPTIAN LOVESPOONS, ONLY $19.99 PER PACK!***

ah see, you can tell this wasn't the work of a genuine spammer... only the one exclamation mark? really? do your homework next time ^_~

[Australis]

Half the forum, myself included, could be termed 'a bit odd'

Only half? Seems a bit low.

The words coming back. I think it's camouflage. They try to blend in by using a typical piece of text that appears on the forum, so as to limit. Talking just about spoons or scaffolding will just attract attention straight away, whereas talking about Who or Trek or how low we're feeling will, they hope, let them slip through the filters.