| Author | Thread |
|
|
01/21/2013 03:28:19 PM · #1 |
Interesting tidbit of odd information...
I saw a newbie on DPC so went to his profile to see if he were a candidate for a free membership from UBUNTU.
He wasn't (yet), but then I thought I'd just change the member number in the address line and see others who had signed up near that same time to see if I could find a deserving recipient.
Well... what I found is what appears to be TENS OF THOUSANDS of what appear to be "fake" new members.
Someone has entered names, but no age or sex or location or email addy, and never entered or commented or voted or anything... they started out named fairly innocent names that sounded real, but then apparently, the data entry person gave out of creativity and started just entering garbage. BUT, it's always the same garbage three times for each "person".
The first and last name are the same and then so is the username. For example:
Name: adendySpoda adendySpoda
Username: adendySpoda
Type: Registered User
Registered: Jul. 5th 2010
Contact: No confirmed e-mail address on file.
Yep! It started at least that far back as June 2010 (I gave up going back further) and is still going on today!
Each name is that same pattern. None have made any comments or votes... and it's one after another... same pattern... for thousands at a time, with a real sounding name occasionally.
//www.dpchallenge.com/profile.php?USER_ID=118900
//www.dpchallenge.com/profile.php?USER_ID=130202
Name: SelmSusly SelmSusly
Username: SelmSusly
Type: Registered User
Registered: Mar. 23rd 2011
Contact: No confirmed e-mail address on file.
//www.dpchallenge.com/profile.php?USER_ID=140000
Name: uswpomgbsn uswpomgbsn
Username: uswpomgbsn
Type: Registered User
Registered: Oct. 29th 2011
Contact: No confirmed e-mail address on file.
//www.dpchallenge.com/profile.php?USER_ID=150000
//www.dpchallenge.com/profile.php?USER_ID=158107 Through //www.dpchallenge.com/profile.php?USER_ID=158139 registered all today (it's only mid afternoon here now) Of those 32 new registrations only three are not in that same pattern of garbage space garbage as the name and garbagegarbage as the username.
As an example of the last full day's entries (yesterday), here are ALL 23 of the people who registered yesterday:
Starts off well with the first newbie:
Name: Andrew Sova (//www.dpchallenge.com/profile.php?USER_ID=158085 )
Username: Sovacaine
Name: telilomjify telilomjify
Username: telilomjify
Name: avatuntellatt avatuntellatt
Username: avatuntellatt
Name: Mohamad Fouani (this one breaks the mold a bit)
Username: mohamadjr
Name: UnimiHigenecy UnimiHigenecy
Username: UnimiHigenecy
Name: NicyOscibinny NicyOscibinny
Username: NicyOscibinny
Name: LitDionna LitDionna
Username: LitDionna
Name: Dean Harper
Username: DeanHarper (this one breaks the mold a bit, too)
Name: eegameey eegameey
Username: eegameey
Name: Nathan Capron
Username: ncapron (another mold breaker! LOL!)
Name: absecepeaxWap absecepeaxWap
Username: absecepeaxWap
Name: Oleg Schkoda
Username: oss117 (seems innocent enough)
Name: Wecytiette Wecytiette
Username: Wecytiette
Name: ClireDialry ClireDialry
Username: ClireDialry
Name: Jacob Klinger
Username: jacobklinger (might be real)
Name: nfpyslvawpf nfpyslvawpf
Username: nfpyslvawpf
Name: MacyJanedori MacyJanedori
Username: MacyJanedori
Name: nikitargkp nikitargkp
Username: nikitargkp
Name: Undoccada Undoccada
Username: Undoccada
Name: adveskaccetle adveskaccetle
Username: adveskaccetle
Name: heackenregera heackenregera
Username: heackenregera
Name: Immothetton Immothetton
Username: Immothetton
Name: coachpu coachpu (//www.dpchallenge.com/profile.php?USER_ID=158106)
Username: coachpu
What do you make of this??
Message edited by author 2013-01-21 15:35:05. |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 03:35:46 PM · #2 |
Originally posted by LydiaToo:
What do you make of this?? |
I don't know right now, but I've alerted other SC members to check this thread -- thanks. |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 03:36:09 PM · #3 |
Originally posted by LydiaToo:
What do you make of this?? |
Couple of things come to mind:
- there's no CAPTCHA in place.
- there's no monitoring of the systems that warn for specific abuse patterns (the same IP uploading lots of data and creating new accounts repeatedly).
- there's no mechanism in place to throttle users that follow those patterns; this will hopefully make them realize and make the process worthless. |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 03:37:41 PM · #4 |
| Interesting. But they took the username I was thinking of changing mine to.. coachpu! |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 03:44:01 PM · #5 |
It's obviously a bot with how long it's been happening and how many accounts have been created. What I can't figure out is why?
They don't appear to be utilizing any of the benefits of registering. There are no votes used for skewing results, and no forum posts for spam usage.
Very strange, and nice find! |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 03:48:51 PM · #6 |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 03:58:01 PM · #7 |
It's also interesting that one searches with either the username or with the first and last name on Photographer Profile, the "odd" ones do not come up.
The "normal" ones show up with either search.
|
|
|
|
01/21/2013 04:01:37 PM · #8 |
| Curiouser and curiouser... |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 04:05:35 PM · #9 |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 04:07:13 PM · #10 |
| It's quite obvious that someone is readying themselves for the next username challenge :) |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 04:13:38 PM · #11 |
Skynet or HAL 9000.
Either way, it's bad news for us meat puppets. |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 04:18:05 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by LydiaToo:
It's also interesting that one searches with either the username or with the first and last name on Photographer Profile, the "odd" ones do not come up.
The "normal" ones show up with either search. |
It appears that all the fake ones fail to follow the "authenticate your account via email" link. So none of them show up on the official list of users. |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 05:41:44 PM · #13 |
Originally posted by bhuge:
Originally posted by LydiaToo:
It's also interesting that one searches with either the username or with the first and last name on Photographer Profile, the "odd" ones do not come up.
The "normal" ones show up with either search. |
It appears that all the fake ones fail to follow the "authenticate your account via email" link. So none of them show up on the official list of users. |
Yeah! Authenticate THIS! |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 07:02:50 PM · #14 |
Sounds very much like spam bots. I've had to clear up thousands of these un-authenticated IDs from phpbb forums I run.
Interesting that they've gone to the trouble of modifying their bot to register to the DPC forum, they usually stick to the generic off-the-shelf forum software. |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 07:07:38 PM · #15 |
| The worst thing they are taking up all the good usernames. |
|
|
|
01/21/2013 10:11:31 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by MarkB:
The worst thing they are taking up all the good usernames. |
I think if anyone really wants to change their name to one claimed by a bot we'll still be able to re-assign it -- we'd just need to check whether it was a fake or real registrant first, so the process might take a little longer. |
|
|
|
01/22/2013 02:01:40 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by tanguera:
Originally posted by bhuge:
Originally posted by LydiaToo:
It's also interesting that one searches with either the username or with the first and last name on Photographer Profile, the "odd" ones do not come up.
The "normal" ones show up with either search. |
It appears that all the fake ones fail to follow the "authenticate your account via email" link. So none of them show up on the official list of users. |
Yeah! Authenticate THIS! |
Discriminating against the poor Bots just because they can't follow instructions.
Bots just wanna have fun.
Have you hugged a Bot today?
|
|
|
|
01/22/2013 02:18:22 PM · #18 |
Originally posted by Strikeslip:
Have you hugged a Bot today? |
 |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 08/11/2025 03:36:35 PM EDT.
