qlue's blog

'cos I haven't got a qlue

Fighting for blogger's rights

Tuesday, January 4, 2011 7:31:22 PM

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For those of you who haven't noticed, there has been a spate of spam/propaganda

For those of you who haven't noticed, there has been a spate of rather disturbing spam/propaganda lately. awww.
The spammer makes a 'comment' containing some flash content that puts propaganda banners all over the page. They then put this comment on as many posts as they can, making a major job to remove them all! scared.
The spammer has been banned, but I don't expect them to give vs that easily. awww.
So, as a precaution and pre-emptive measure, I'm turning comments on my blog to friends only. knight.
This is the only way I can fight this gross violation of blogger's rights. irked.
Sorry for those who are inconvenienced, but it's the only way. awww.

Walking tallChain letter pyramid schemes via email!

Comments

Mimis Mum (MM)mimi_s_mum Tuesday, January 4, 2011 7:45:35 PM

It is unfortunate that you and others have to do this. But necessary measure to defend your right to express yourself.

I'm right behind you, Aadil. knight

Mad Scientist (عادل)qlue Tuesday, January 4, 2011 7:59:42 PM

I recommend this course of action for everyone. left.
At least for a few weeks. awww.
This is too sophisticated for me to accept that this is the action of a lone individual. So expect a lot more of this over the next few weeks. scared.

KittyliciousZaphira Tuesday, January 4, 2011 8:46:28 PM

I hate spammers! mad

It's so annoying when they make you feel it's necessary to take steps like this.

Dark FurieFurie Tuesday, January 4, 2011 9:17:29 PM

You're more vulnerable if your shoutbox is active as you can't edit or delete items in there and they can effectively hack the page. It's been a known vulnerability since they released that feature (notice I rarely have it up) and someone's been taking advantage for a while now.

H82typ Tuesday, January 4, 2011 10:02:01 PM

Could you not acomplish the same thing by not allowing anonymous comments? At least they'd have to be logged in. sherlock

Mrs. HermitessHermitess Tuesday, January 4, 2011 10:39:12 PM

hmmmm....I've not seen this.

My saying that probably means my blog is being hacked and spammed right at this moment. doh

Mad Scientist (عادل)qlue Wednesday, January 5, 2011 5:35:49 AM

These are not 'anonymous' comments. And the one perpetrator that I am aware of has been banned. I expect them to register more accounts though. left.
One of the 'nice' things about My Opera is also a vulnerability, it's easy to sign up using a gmail/yahoo or similar email address. (I'm not sure, but I think it might even be possible to sign up without an email address? confused)
The point is, these people don't care if they get banned as it will take some period of time before they get reported, and then banned. irked.
The comments affect the way the blog page works because it contains an embedded flash object. scared.
To get rid of them, you have to use some sort of 'ad blocker' that blocks flash so that you can regain control of the page. Most people can do this without difficulty, but some people may struggle.
Also, they usually spam several pages per blog, and return (untill they get banned) to do it again when the comment is removed.
You can block the user in the mean time, but it's still a lot of extra blog maintenance to deal with. irked.
It's the political nature of this campaign that makes it more of a problem than 'normal' spam. These 'activists' have a zealous, martyr mentality, so they don't care about any attempt to stop them, but rather, they see this as 'proof' that they are the 'real victims'. rolleyes.

Mad Scientist (عادل)qlue Wednesday, January 5, 2011 5:39:44 AM

P.S: http://twitter.com/espenao/status/22291993816207360
The My Opera team is actively working to fix this problem. up.

H82typ Wednesday, January 5, 2011 5:57:50 AM

Ah,Ok. I see now. up

Sami Serolaserola Wednesday, January 5, 2011 7:27:07 AM

Yes, my blog was attacked spammed three times till I got enough and decided to limit the commenting to friends only.

H82typ Wednesday, January 5, 2011 7:51:42 AM

Bummer. sad

rania.h.qasemraniakasim Wednesday, January 5, 2011 11:51:23 AM

i'm so happy that i am one of those who ur willing to accept their comments , thanks Mad Scientist

r♡serose-marie Wednesday, January 5, 2011 11:56:08 AM

Hum. I haven't noticed this at all. Worse than the usual crap, then?

Mad Scientist (عادل)qlue Wednesday, January 5, 2011 3:09:31 PM

The spam comments put up flash videos on your page and cover the whole page with a layer that makes everything unclickable. Victims think their accounts have been hacked. scared.
The ad-blocker trick prevents the embedded object from manifesting and allows you to get controll of your page so that you can delete the offending comment. knight.

Mrs. HermitessHermitess Wednesday, January 5, 2011 3:56:40 PM

I think I'm going to change my comments to friends only for a while. This sounds like a pain in the rear to deal with. irked

Mad Scientist (عادل)qlue Wednesday, January 5, 2011 4:44:15 PM

Originally posted by Hermitess:

This sounds like a pain in the rear to deal with.


That's exactly what I was thinking! left.

Mimis Mum (MM)mimi_s_mum Wednesday, January 5, 2011 11:42:58 PM

We've noticed now HTML tags are being removed from new comments, at least in my blog. Is it just me or same here?

[Addendum]
It seems the same is the case here. Is this one of the measures they've put in to combat those spammers?

Mad Scientist (عادل)qlue Thursday, January 6, 2011 3:55:56 AM

I believe so. It should be effective because without html, you can't embed anything. up.
Sad though. awww.

Mimis Mum (MM)mimi_s_mum Thursday, January 6, 2011 4:01:32 AM

Originally posted by qlue:

Sad though.

I don't think I miss much. I hardly use HTML in commenting. The BBcode is good enough for fonts, images and links, at least for me. wink

Cleanclean Sunday, February 13, 2011 9:27:47 PM

When I flash it doesn't end up all over the page. Well, except that one time ...

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