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What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

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Anybody know why we’re seeing a rash of new “members” lately who immediately begin posting illegal or unethical questions? tootsy, jamesstmasionverde (and his alter ego), graham6, etc. Did TR have a membership drive at Warez? Did sMorty get a MySpace page with automatic buddy listing?

Topic

Whoever they are, they are really annoying

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

What in the world makes them think that we appreciate illegal activities or profanity on this site? I just saw the newest discussion about cracking the boss’s password! Does that make them feel special or something?

Does this site have a terms of use policy? I can’t remember from when I joined but if they don’t, they should.

Maybe it’s just a test

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

What does everyone think? Is it a test of our ethics and morality? Who knows?

I would hazard to guess

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

that a lot of people are trying out new ways to obtain information. I mean seriously, the amount of spam that gets through our current email systems has risen 100%+ since 4 months ago.
last year there was an occasional spam let through, now I get 5-20 a day.

And that says nothing about my Yahoo and Comcast, and other accounts. I have always received a lot of spam from these, but it has increased a lot recently. This would suggest a new wave of wannabe a$$holes out there that just want to screw with everyone because they have no life or friends.
Just look at the popularity of the many sites that are all about meeting people, they have increased a lot too, because many of these fools look to their buddy list as being their good friends, instead of actually making friends!

I wonder if it’s just one or two

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

I wonder if it’s a couple of kids posing as different newbies trying to get a rise out of us? If this were July, I’d guess that it’s because school’s out.

For a while it’s fun to play along, but it does get old after a day or two.

BTW, what do you have against tootsy?? She seems to be nice enough to you. 🙂

Hey, stay away from my girlfriend!

In reply to I wonder if it’s just one or two

Assuming “she” really is a girl…

Can’t help it

In reply to Hey, stay away from my girlfriend!

Ever since I was a little shaver, I’ve been attracted to technophobe, married, foreign, female pig farmers. I guess it’s because I grew-up next door to a real sexy one.

Good question

In reply to I wonder if it’s just one or two

It could very well be just one or two people trying to tweak our noses. X-(

Well, at least they’re getting better.

In reply to Good question

If it is the same couple of guys, at least their typing, spelling, and grammar skills are improving. The last couple have actually been able construct a polite, coherent sentence. I complimented one today on being head and shoulders above the rest of his zit-faced peers.

Now that’s a line to use

In reply to Well, at least they’re getting better.

Congratulations. Your command of the English language elevates you head and shoulder above your zit-faced peers.

I’ll have to remember that.

As for where the little buggers are coming from, this is what happens when you start getting hits on Google…

TR Should Do Something

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

Because of people like that I am spending less time on this board, and more time on others.

They did do something

In reply to TR Should Do Something

they added a report as spam button. Then they look into it whenever it is reported.

Although I would like the report an A$$hole button, I am sure it wont be added.

Not with the text ‘A$$hole button’ but it should be added.

In reply to They did do something

It’s a free country, so why shouldn’t the owners of a web page have the option to boot undesirables?

I think it would look too undesireable for newcomers

In reply to Not with the text ‘A$$hole button’ but it should be added.

and wouldnt look proffessional enough if there was an REPORT A$$HOLE button!!!

But I still like the idea.

What about ‘troll’?

In reply to I think it would look too undesireable for newcomers

‘Flame-bait’? Other common ‘netiquette no-no’s?

A “Troll” button

In reply to What about ‘troll’?

That could work. I think that I would have to use that one.

I think though that some others may be right in the fact that it is only a few people trying to get attention. they even commonly try to defend each other poorly, which further suggests that they know each other.

howbout a “Castigate” button?

In reply to A “Troll” button

a present from us to them!

it would be like frequent flyer miles, the more they get hit (sorry everyone would only be able to use it once on each miscreant) the more time they are restricted from posting
eg: 30 Castigations = 30 mins of no posting

30 people complain to remove 30 min. access?

In reply to A “Troll” button

maybe going by days would help, but I personally do not like this idea. It is already too easy to create new accounts with different email addresses. Blocking 1 of them would not really do much, especially for such a short timeframe.

If someone is reported 30 times by validated members, and verified by TR staff, then it makes sense to block them completely, not for just a few minutes.

Edited to Add — How about a Castrate Button, if you screw up massively………..

Castigate? Perhaps “Castrate” would be more appropriate.

In reply to A “Troll” button

■

Castrate could work

In reply to A “Troll” button

But not on me. Cyanide? Viral payload? Killer surge? Just some ideas…

How to know what you’d [i]not[/i] enjoy[/i]?

In reply to A “Troll” button

Perhaps we should ask that of GG.

cnet has it

In reply to What about ‘troll’?

“report as offensive” button
maybe it was another site

Maybe a simple opinion poll.

In reply to cnet has it

No booting from TechRepublic, but we allow all users to classify others’ off-topic posts as ‘interesting’, ‘neutral’, or ‘5 minutes of my life I’ll never have back.’ Some might respond to a numerical ranking, diplayed on their Workspace, more than we do to a mere couple of posts from those irritated enough to state your opinions.

Poll idea – interesting & 5 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back.

In reply to cnet has it

No matter what rating I give, I’ll never get the time back!

Still, it’s an idea worth considering.

1.5 points for Absolutely.

No value.

In reply to cnet has it

Remember, the kind of cybertwits that inspired me to start this topic are trying to be offensive. Why reward them?

Neil suggested

In reply to They did do something

A “Punch the Crap out of Poster” button. That’s the one I want!

Lacking the physical means for such, how about subliminal conditioning?

In reply to Neil suggested

Gross violators would, via subliminal messages displayed on all screens viewed by them during their online sessions, be so conditioned as to voluntarily hold themselves up for public ridicule.

I think that has been covered

In reply to Lacking the physical means for such, how about subliminal conditioning?

Near as I can tell they already enjoy public ridicule.

Public flogging? Maybe not so much.

Public ridicule on [i]our[/i] terms, not theirs.

In reply to I think that has been covered

That’s a distinction with a very important difference.

They say “You’re an idiot for being wrong.” They think that they’ve been clever.

We make them say “I’m an idiot for having been so wrong.” They are mortified to witness their confession.

I like that

In reply to Neil suggested

even if it only is a virtual beating.

They might provide an ‘inappropriate’ button.

In reply to They did do something

If we’re smart, we might even request the option to classify ‘inappropriate’ numerically, with, say, ‘irrelevant’ or ‘boring’ being not very severe, and ‘abusive’ or ‘threatening’ resulting in immediate revocation of membership and reporting to legal authorities.

Umm, that might backfire.

In reply to They might provide an ‘inappropriate’ button.

Irrelevant, boring, and abusive, perhaps even threatening, are all words that certain others would us to describe us.

All clearly need to be judged within the context of the discussion. But who determines the context? The originator? In the case of a reply, the person to whom the reply is addressed?

It might. I don’t care that much about my membership in TR anyway.

In reply to Umm, that might backfire.

The management could filter frivolous complaints, or use a weighting system that eliminates complaints by just one or a small minority of members. Or, innocence could be assumed until a certain user has enough complaints against him to warrant review by the management, and only members who exceed that threshold would be reviewed. Ultimately, the management will make the rules anyway.

It might; and, there are few whose opinion of me is of great import.

In reply to It might. I don’t care that much about my membership in TR anyway.

I was merely pointing out that there are those here who are predisposed to holding all that does not comport well with their opinions to be irrelevant, etc., and that the proponents of such are hostile, to the extent that overzealous usage of such a system should not be discounted.

In that event, TR management would have little choice but to ignore or discontinue it.

Good point. I posted too hastily.

In reply to It might; and, there are few whose opinion of me is of great import.

Which also tends to support your position in this matter.

2 points to deepsand, 0.5 at best, for Absolutely.

🙂

Important info

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

I see TR as a source of important tech info, and I’m sure others see it too. But I think the new members who join and post requests for hacking passwords and bypassing admin limits on the same day are pushing the envelope. Tr is not alone, many sites are deluged by spam and outright advertisements daily. This really keeps the moderators on their toes, and some have even figured out when moderators take a day off and really go all out. The web is loaded with many who cruise around looking for someone to upset, they see this as their entertainment, but sometimes it really gets others goat and the flames soon follow. I usually ignore these types of requests when the joined date reaveals they are new. As a field service engineer that services everything from PC’s to assembly line robots, I have run into just about every type, but seldom will users ask for help working around safeguards for system security. Many managers ask me to help them increase their protection and how to do it without affecting the users who are legit. I guess that’s the main role of security, observe and protect assets without being visable.

Thanks for the info.

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

I figured the staff wasn’t completely unaware of it, but I knew you guys don’t usually interfere with member interaction. I’m enjoying cyber-flogging a couple of them, but I really should break myself of the habit. “You keep feeding a stray cat and he’ll keep hanging around.” Maybe we need an informal member code of (un)ethics.

Sometimes…

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

I really have to wonder about ‘Google’. ?:| I know that the service (to us all) has done good as a service. But, now it is an avanue for the lazy lackers, crackers, and slackers.
Thanks for the response. -d

A sad sign of the times ?:|

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

I seems that this is a part of a greater social trend. Unfortunatly one that has our society sliding rapidly down.
Oh-my.!. MAX is Right. :0 -d
added; one good point of the ‘Global Warming’ trend. Once those poor old Polar Bears pack up and move South, (The logic of why the would want to do that escapes me.) They will have to eat all of our ‘Trolls’. :^0 -d

Is needs help to crack MS file

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

Does anyperson out there no how to crack ms file sol.exe? This file is live on my PC and causes making payments to BILL GATES.

Who can hack it so MS pays me?

Crack SOL.EXE

In reply to Is needs help to crack MS file

bEat game.when cardS bounce around, click on SPADE of 4 three times for Christmas egg.showS video of Paris Hilton and Pikachu.

open it up in notepad

In reply to Is needs help to crack MS file

change the 3rd >@# set of strings to <<< and it is all set. lol

not goods

In reply to open it up in notepad

i did these both and it not works.

U need B contact MacroHard

In reply to not goods

Right-click Starting button, chose “e-Mail Bill”. compete forms also be sending credit of card number, date, secure code on back. 8 to six weeks to deliverable. Rebates to dealer.

Offer not in conjunction?

In reply to U need B contact MacroHard

:^0

Can you tell what they searched for?

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

And, can you tell [i]us[/i] what they searched for? It would be interesting to know how people ‘chance’ upon techrepublic.

Not Easy To Break It Out

In reply to Can you tell what they searched for?

We can’t really tell what searches are bringing in the newcomers. Referrals are up across the board. Searches on cracking/hacking have always been popular.

Hits coming from Organic or Sponsored listings?

In reply to Not Easy To Break It Out

I’ve tried any number of searches using term that might be of interest to crackers, and have yet to see TR show up in either the organic or sponsored listings.

Is TR doing any advertising on Google using either Content Match or Selected Sites?

No, we aren’t doing any advertising

In reply to Hits coming from Organic or Sponsored listings?

No we aren’t doing any advertising. And, if we were, we wouldn’t be trying to attract those kind of users.

The Google referrals we get are on long tail kind of queries that have multiple terms or specific questions.

Re. “multiple terms”

In reply to No, we aren’t doing any advertising

Care to share some of the most prevalent ones with us?

As for ads, even if you were not seeking to attract a particular class of people, it would be very difficult to prevent them from seeing your ads.

It’s just because of Vista.

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

The word is out: Microsoft’s latest will be less vulnerable than the last 10 years of easy target OSes. Script kiddies are trolling for real jobs, the only way they know how.

We need to ignore them

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

It’s easier said than done, but their posts will go away quickly if we refrain from posting to them.

I’m guilty of feeding the trolls. I recently posted an answer to a “Hay guy’s” question knowing it was a troll, but hoping that giving them a straight answer might make the kids go away. I’m stupid for doing it because I really should know that it just tickles them more. I’ll be more careful in the future.

Join me and take the pledge: “No more feeding newbie trolls”

In reply to We need to ignore them

If anybody catches me feeding another one (except graham6, that’s become personal), please apply what in the northeastern U.S. is known as “dope smack” or what we in the South call a “b!tch slap”.

In reply to Join me and take the pledge: “No more feeding newbie trolls”

I so pledge.

I hope I don’t end up with a flat spot on the back of my skull.

(not even tootsy????)

Ok then

In reply to Join me and take the pledge: “No more feeding newbie trolls”

The old killing them with kindness thing with Tootsy….

Remember the star trek episode where the alien fed off the destructive anger of the crew? Thats what these trolls do – the bigger the reaction, the more they enjoy it.

Of course, I will admit some guilt myself. If you catch me feeding trolls again, feel free to b!tch slap Palmetto.

James

monitor wipes alert!!!!!!! You missed the alert!!!!! –NT

In reply to Ok then

NT

Good plan.

In reply to Ok then

So, I can continue to get my petty fun from feeding trolls AND b!itch slap palmetto, too? Cool.

Now wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute!

In reply to Good plan.

My head’s beginning to hurt.

Yeah, I know. If your head looked like this, it would hurt too.

You are so considerate

In reply to Now wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute!

You not only give an easy opening, you just go ahead and supply the insult making it so much easier for the rest of us. Who wants to be bothered thinking up rude remarks?

Will Do!

In reply to Ok then

If I see you feeding, I will have to bitch slap Palmetto!

Same goes for me, if I feed them, please bitch slap Palmetto in return.

how about

In reply to Join me and take the pledge: “No more feeding newbie trolls”

I just use my trusty baseball bat with the roll of pennies taped to it to knock some “sense” into ya?

edited for typo

“Shoot me again!”

In reply to how about

“I love the smell of cordite and burnt feathers!

“I’m a fiddler crab! Why don’t you shoot me? It’s fiddler crab season!

“I’m a dirty skunk! Shoot me! It’s dirty skunk season!”

naw

In reply to “Shoot me again!”

I’m doing a coupleof weeks of graveyards, so I’m off to bed.

for the chronologically challenged, that means I’m working 8 am to 4 pm, in GMT [ England Time ]

Or we can just send you

In reply to Join me and take the pledge: “No more feeding newbie trolls”

to the IDIOT page!

Ok, I pledge

In reply to Join me and take the pledge: “No more feeding newbie trolls”

to try to not feed the Trolls around here. But if I do, please Bitch Slap Palmetto

Usin’ da button

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

I’m starting to use the report as spam button. I ‘m sorry to say that I used it on the Whatcha and Hat guy’s threads. It did look like you were enjoying it, but it really does have to go.

I’m not sure what the process is for the PTB to kill these things, but several that were up but reported by GG this morning are gone now, so they’re fairly responsive.

Seems to have died down.

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

I assume the twit and his buddies went to some warez site, shot their mouths off like they did here, urinated off some folks with less scruples than the TR crowd, and got their systems hacked.

One can always hope.

Yeah, playing Tarzan can be dangerous, especially …

In reply to What’s with all the new cracker wannabe’s around here?

when done in the company of great apes.

[Author]

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