Out of curiosity

L

LynnLaFrance

Guest
Does anyone know (Mods, Griff, others) who the "Guests" are that are logged on to the Forum?  Sometimes there are more Guests than members.

Just wondering.
 
Chuck

Chuck

Moderator (One of the Men in Black!)
Staff member
Actually, yes I do! They are the "Enemy at The Gates" so to speak. For the most part, they are the Attack Bots that once plagued our forum. There isn't any reason to hang around as guest other than during the registration process, because there's nothing to do unless you are a registered user.

I check the IP addresses routinely and and have found them to be SPAM Bots. One or 2 might be someone going through the registration process, but the vast majority are SPAM Bots.
 
L

LynnLaFrance

Guest
Actually, yes I do! They are the "Enemy at The Gates" so to speak. For the most part, they are the Attack Bots that once plagued our forum. There isn't any reason to hang around as guest other than during the registration process, because there's nothing to do unless you are a registered user.

I check the IP addresses routinely and and have found them to be SPAM Bots. One or 2 might be someone going through the registration process, but the vast majority are SPAM Bots.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is interesting.  Thanks Chuck!!
 
PapaRaptor

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
Actually, yes I do! They are the "Enemy at The Gates" so to speak. For the most part, they are the Attack Bots that once plagued our forum. There isn't any reason to hang around as guest other than during the registration process, because there's nothing to do unless you are a registered user.

I check the IP addresses routinely and and have found them to be SPAM Bots. One or 2 might be someone going through the registration process, but the vast majority are SPAM Bots.
Click to expand...

Wow, that is interesting.  Thanks Chuck!!
Click to expand...

Pesky little critters, too!  I used to host our company website out of our office.  We used to get hammered by bots trying to get into the PC that ran it.  I eventually installed lockouts on our FTP and secure shell logins.  Before I set up the lockouts, there was so much bot activity trying to crack our logins that it was using well over 75% of our available bandwidth.
 
Mickey Duane

Mickey Duane

Used To Be A Rock Star
what are the spam bots trying to do? it is a forum - it's not like we have big secrets or credit cards numbers flying around.

Not sure what a spam bot is

thanks

peace
 
Chuck

Chuck

Moderator (One of the Men in Black!)
Staff member
what are the spam bots trying to do? it is a forum - it's not like we have big secrets or credit cards numbers flying around.

Not sure what a spam bot is

thanks

peace
Click to expand...

That is the same question we had when the forum was attacked initially! The authors of such programming are nothing more than cyber thieves and terrorist. They are looking for ways to disrupt our lives and/or take our money!
 
Mickey Duane

Mickey Duane

Used To Be A Rock Star
oh - well, I don't have any money - the bank just took the house -- I don't think they can find me - I don't even know where we are going to live.

still have a couple of guitars and a great wife!!

Peace
 
MikeR

MikeR

Guitar Challenged
Staff member
They're often mass advertising bots as well.  I created a small forum years ago that didn't require a login and one day every topic had the same ad posted on it.   ::)
 
Silicon Valley Tom

Silicon Valley Tom

It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
what are the spam bots trying to do? it is a forum - it's not like we have big secrets or credit cards numbers flying around.

Not sure what a spam bot is

thanks

peace
Click to expand...


Members of forums are subject to spambots which is something that good forum administrators do everything possible to prevent.  A mild form of such activity consists of harvesting eMail addresses to send the owners SPAM (not the kind you eat). 

Others direct you to pornographic websites or a site that seems harmless (like – download guitar tabs for free!) and you end up with a trojan that can harvest your credit card information, and any other personal information, or just simply ruin your computer.  Even having a program like Norton (etc.) will not save you if you click on what seems like a harmless link.  You could end up spending a large amount of time resolving such issues.

Just imagine the joy received by the individuals who invest his/her time in such activities?  They laugh at everyone on the Internet while we try to live our lives without hurting others.  Oh well, everyone is different.     :-[  

Tom
 
Mickey Duane

Mickey Duane

Used To Be A Rock Star
what are the spam bots trying to do? it is a forum - it's not like we have big secrets or credit cards numbers flying around.

Not sure what a spam bot is

thanks

peace
Click to expand...


Members of forums are subject to spambots which is something that good forum administrators do everything possible to prevent.  A mild form of such activity consists of harvesting eMail addresses to send the owners SPAM (not the kind you eat). 

Others direct you to pornographic websites or a site that seems harmless (like – download guitar tabs for free!) and you end up with a trojan that can harvest your credit card information, and any other personal information, or just simply ruin your computer.  Even having a program like Norton (etc.) will not save you if you click on what seems like a harmless link.  You could end up spending a large amount of time resolving such issues.

Just imagine the joy received by the individuals who invest his/her time in such activities?  They laugh at everyone on the Internet while we try to live our lives without hurting others.  Oh well, everyone is different.     :-[  

Tom
Click to expand...

/thanks Tom - now I get it

Peace
 
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