There seems to be some new kind of scam going on with WordPress. My spam filter is picking up comments from multiple accounts that only say “What?”
One of them got through last night, and I deleted it. What the hell kind of scam is that? I assume they want us to click on some nefarious link of some kind.
I have a better question for you, “Who?” As in who the hell spends all day loading a bot of some kind to go all over the internet and post this bullshit?
We all get bot spam, you know the kind, “I am I liking your post Lisa Burton Radio so much. Much important learning in wisdom in Lisa Burton Radio. I am saving it so I can read it over again and learn from your experience. By the way, discount viagra http://www.bullshitlinkofsomekind”
“What” seems to be something new. Do any of you have any insight?
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I dabbled on the writing front today. I didn’t accomplish a lot, but it seems to flow well with the story.
The lady who bought the bird is distraught. The bird is learning to talk, but with root monster words.
We also learned that Serang is a mean drunk. Noses were broken. One of the secondary characters seems interested, and I must avoid this path. Her character would lose something if there were a romantic interest for her. She works for me, not the other way around.
She got some private quarters in a storage part of the ship. This was sold as helping protect her modesty, but it was really to protect others from any drunken rampages.
I also went ahead and stuck the ship atop a gigantic jellyfish. The tropical storm is bearing down upon them, and there are problems on two fronts because of this.
I plan to have some crazy stuff happen before this section ends, but didn’t get that far today.
My work week starts tomorrow, and we’re going camping next weekend. I’ll take my iPad and a charger, but doubt I’ll have internet access for any updates. This doesn’t stop me from writing, or reading for that matter. Any new work will upload to the cloud once I’m back online.
I’ve been flooded by those ‘What?’ spams for the last 2 weeks. They go right into the filter, but they a lot more misleading than the others. Unlike the rest of the spam, they have avatars that make them look legit. Doesn’t work since it’s one word on a variety of posts, so I can’t figure out what the purpose is. I’m guessing either a virus, a site that the owner gets paid by the visits, or a spyware thing.
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Sounds about right.
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Reblogged this on Imagination and information for book's..
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Thank you, Michelle.
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Good luck with the work week.
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Thanks, John.
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Same on the What? bit.
I first noticed it on other people’s blogs about a month ago. The first one I saw was a reply to a compliment I paid someone. I liked her SoCS badge entry and wrote, “Nice!” and some dude asked me “What?”
Rude.
Since then I’ve had a few more on comments I’ve left. And I have them in my spam, too.
That jellyfish tho…
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We should feed the spammers to a giant jellyfish.
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YES.
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I’ve had the one-word response at my blog. And you know we’ve been bombarded at Story Empire. Just can’t figure why some people have nothing better to do.
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Me either. Some of them must work pretty hard at this stuff. They might even get insurance with a real job.
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Hi Craig! I’ll watch out for the what? Scam. If it’s not one thing it’s another. Have a great work week and camping trip next weekend.😊
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Thanks. hope you have a great week too.
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Thanks! 😀 xx
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The worst part is, they probably get paid more in a month for doing that rubbish than we make in a year on our books.
Anyway, good luck with the work week, and enjoy the camping trip.
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Thanks.
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I’ve been getting those responses for weeks. Today, something new – ‘id6660334.icsas.xyz liked your comment’. I had about 20 of those, all similar numbers and letters.
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Same here. There are multiple ones liking posts and comments. Judging from comments, everyone is getting them.
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I’ve been flooded with the “what?” imps for the last few weeks. This morning I’m getting likes on my comments on other blogs from IP addresses. Gah! Is there no end??!?!
In other news, I can’t wait to meet the root monsters 🙂
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This post brought the IP addresses out in droves it seems. The root monsters may need some polish in the next phase, right now they have no leash to govern their antics.
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I shared the spam problem I’m having in our group. Ever since GDPR went into effect, my online accounts have been hit by all kinds of crap.
The jellyfish is still giving me the willies!
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I suggested elsewhere that we feed all the spammers to the jellyfish. We could make a party of it, kind of like Jaba feeding Luke to the starfish/plant thing.
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I’m in! As long as I don’t have to get too close to the jellyfish. 😉
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Don’t worry, I’ll push them in.
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Same on the spam front for me, the damn “what” comments and dodgy site addresses are a giveaway. I say throw some blowfish at them…
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Good plan, they’re poisonous.
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Yup, that’s why I suggested it. These people really, really annoying me.
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Damn! So annoyed that I ended up causing a typo. Free.
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Yep. I’ve been flooded with the “What?” posts too. Thankfully, WordPress is catching them and throwing them in the SPAM folder. I’m deleting all. Sounds like your WIP is coming along.
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I’m having a good time with the new story. Don’t feel rushed, and simply enjoying it.
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Mine seem to come in groups of twenty at a time every couple of weeks or so, and all of them except one, is caught by the spam filter. every single time. 🙂
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I had one slip through recently too. Maybe WordPress will find a way to deal with these people. Otherwise, the spam filter seems to work pretty well.
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I think your ideas sound pretty terrific, Craig. Fairly unique too for a topic that is well traveled.
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Thanks. Fingers crossed that it comes out that way.
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I got – and still get – them too. They’re probably meant to look like real bloggers and to start with they were in answer to other people’s questions in my blog. They all went into Akismet (the spam filter) but I moderate all comments anyway. The worse thing was and is not the idiot bots but spam email followers. Thankfully the site gets rid of most of those soon after they arrive, but not before my own email has been flooded with notifications of them.
Are you still getting them, as your post was in June?
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They have toned down, but I still get bot followers, and sex related spam comments. It will never go completely away it seems.
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Nope. Probably never. I turned off search engine access on my blog and, while that wasn’t the reason for doing so, it still hasn’t stopped them and has in the past. The filter’s fairly good though.
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The filter is great. In fact it catches a friend more often that it lets garbage through. As an author, I need the search engines to find me, so I leave mine on.
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I understand.
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