Candleblog

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Thursday, July 21 2005 @ 05:41 PM

We are currently under attack by spammers in the comments. I am researching IP tracking and blocking and should have it dealt with soon. The comments are mostly in old posts but there are a lot of them and they're obviously from the same bot. This is the first time I've had to deal with this so I apologize if things get weird around here as I fix the problem. Stay tuned...

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The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.

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Authored by: JIMO on Thursday, July 21 2005 @ 06:47 PM

Sick 'em, Bill. Kill. KILL.

Old posts? Think it's a clever spam trying to sneak in under the radar, or a really stupid one that doesn't know where to get more notice?

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There's always gotta be a reason for something.

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Authored by: billsimmon on Thursday, July 21 2005 @ 08:12 PM

The spam comments in question are filled with hyperlinks and I think the plan is to spam older blog pages in an attempt to increase the spammer's google rating. Google sees the links but ideally the bloggers don't becasue the comments are buried in old posts. Candleblog runs a "what's new" feature so I see all new comments, even on old posts, so I'm very aware of the attack.

Unfortunately, all of the tech stuff involved in blocking the spam is way over my head. I just read the instructions for installing SpamX in my geeklog files and my head almost exploded. Maybe I'll hire someone to do it for me. My brain hurts. I'm a sci fi geek, not a computer geek.

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Authored by: Ntodd on Thursday, July 21 2005 @ 09:09 PM

Great site you have here! Have you seen this? I learned a lot.

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Don't mess with a man with a Wayback Machine. I can make it so you were never born.

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Authored by: billsimmon on Thursday, July 21 2005 @ 09:13 PM

You joke, NTodd, but watch out because I may prevail upon your expertise for help. With membership comes responsibilty. Time to do your part to help earn Candleblog's Daysie.

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Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, July 21 2005 @ 09:19 PM

I thought that membership had it's privileges! Where is karl Malden when you need him (See what I did there? I combined two credit card referances to make a funny.)

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Authored by: Brian Brown on Friday, July 22 2005 @ 12:40 AM

Several sites I know got spammed today. My site, iBurlington, my buddie's, myRichmondvt.com, and some other friends at iPutney.com and iManchester.net.

I got rid of the threat pretty quickly using a program simply called "ban." It blocks visitors by their IP address and I don't believe SpamX does this.

Let me know if you need a hand, always happy to help.

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Authored by: billsimmon on Friday, July 22 2005 @ 02:07 AM

I actually have an IP address filter through my ISP but I don't know how to identify the offending IP addresses!!! How are you accomplishing this?

Are all of the sites you mentioned Geeklog sites?

Thanks for your help!

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Authored by: evening on Friday, July 22 2005 @ 07:39 AM

Is there no feature in geekblog that shows the comment with the commentor and some info? That is one thing that is nice with WP -- it gives you the IP right with the comment in the admin section.

if not, you could try checking your log files and look at the time when the comments were left and try to find it that way.

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Authored by: DanZ on Friday, July 22 2005 @ 08:19 AM

More from the ignorant savages: Bill, to post a "story" a blogger has to have an account on CandleBlog. To post a "comment" anyone can post anonymously. Can't you change that setting so that an account is required? As long as it requires a login it would prevent bot postings, right? I've visited a number of tech sites where I can view comments but not post to w/out an account.

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Authored by: Ntodd on Friday, July 22 2005 @ 09:13 AM

You don't need to prevail on my expertise. This is not the NTodd you're looking for. But I can offer you 3.2% on a second mortgage!

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Don't mess with a man with a Wayback Machine. I can make it so you were never born.

Ack!

Authored by: evening on Friday, July 22 2005 @ 09:50 AM

good idea, DanZ.

Another way around is to get rid of the Submit button and force people to preview the comment. I don't think the bots will get past that.

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Authored by: Spine on Friday, July 22 2005 @ 02:36 PM

Personally, I enjoy hearing about discount pharmaceuticals. Plus, the so-
called "spammers" did say they enjoyed Candleblog and had bookmarked
it, so I'm not sure what you're so indignant about.

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Authored by: Ntodd on Friday, July 22 2005 @ 05:13 PM

My penis gets even bigger each time I read one of those spam comments!

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Don't mess with a man with a Wayback Machine. I can make it so you were never born.

Ack!

Authored by: JIMO on Friday, July 22 2005 @ 06:10 PM

I actually have an IP address filter through my ISP but I don't know how to identify the offending IP addresses!!! How are you accomplishing this?

Geeklog MUST store visitors' IP's somewhere, either in the site's database, or in a file somewhere. Whenever I design a JSP/Servlet site, I do a "request.getRemoteAddress()" for each Web hit and store it in the database, but of course that's Java, not Geeklog, but they must be doing something similar. Email them, and ask where Web addresses from individual hits are stored.

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There's always gotta be a reason for something.

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Authored by: MarkS on Friday, July 22 2005 @ 10:34 PM

Weird! My breasts are getting bigger!

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Thursday, July 21 2005 @ 05:41 PM

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