Just thought that I’d rewrite this title (“Facebook’s spam program catches innocent users“) into something a bit more accurate. Executive summary: anti-fracking* activists – and more general environmental… types… – have been discovering that their regular posting and commenting patterns on Facebook has been winning them two week spam-bans from Facebook. Now, Facebook obviously doesn’t particularly want to give out its anti-spambot protocols, but you can pickup some clues from the (somewhat confused, in a hilarious sort of way) complaints. It turns out that if you go on Facebook and:
- comment multiple times a day on posts about one specific topic;
- post comments in rapid succession;
- never, ever post anything else;
- always include links (this was not said, but I’m betting that people were always posting the same links);
- and haunt one particular page;
…then you run a high risk that Facebook’s automated anti-spam software will judge that you’re a spambot, and give you a fifteen-day block in response. And do you know something? Facebook’s automated anti-spam software is correct. You are a spambot: you’re just a Luddite spambot who lacks the expertise to automate the process properly. And do you know what happens to spambots, at best? That’s right: they get tuned out.
So maybe some people should take Facebook’s subtle, if probably unintentional, hint.
Via Drudge.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
PS: There are many, many, Luddite spambots out there, by the way – all posting away on a variety of topics. And, yes, some of them are nominally on my side of the spectrum. I am thankful for my spam blockers.
*Hydraulic fracking is a method where fluid is injected into a deposit of oil or gas in order to increase extraction rates. It’s the current trendy cause among the radical Greenies, and I fully expect to get Luddite spambots earnestly telling me how horrible the whole thing is. Did I mention that I am thankful for my spam blockers?
Moe Lane
Dan Spencer
Dan McLaughlin
Jeff Emanuel
I think I got caught in the dragnet...
Aaron Gardner (Diary) Sunday, August 21st at 9:38AM EDT (link)Apparently I suck at Facebook.
conform and celebrate diversity….or else!!!
“We’d be much better off if We The People had desired small government enough to keep it.” acat
Follow @Aaron_RS
No, Aaron
izoneguy (Diary) Sunday, August 21st at 11:42AM EDT (link)Facebook just sucks
Those who had once simpered: “I don’t want to destroy the rich, I only want to seize a little of their surplus to help the poor, just a little, they’ll never miss it!” – then, later, had snapped: “The tycoons can stand being squeezed; they’ve amassed enough to last them for three generations” – then, later, had yelled: “Why should the people suffer while businessmen have reserves to last a year?” – now were screaming: “Why should we starve while some people have reserves to last a week?” – Atlas Shrugged
Aw comeon izone.
mbecker908 (Diary) Sunday, August 21st at 4:17PM EDT (link)Just because Facebook does happen to suck isn’t necessarily an indicator that Aaron doesn’t.
Bless their little pointed heads. nt
Steve Maley (Diary) Sunday, August 21st at 11:30AM EDT (link)‘
The blogger formerly known as ‘Vladimir’.
Yesterday I changed my relationship with Facebook.
kellymch (Diary) Sunday, August 21st at 11:45AM EDT (link)I have had a two and a half year love affair with Facebook. Now this coincided with my doctoral research and dissertation and spending hours upon hours in front of the computer but it had to come to an end.
Facebook has been amazing. I was able to reconnect with old friends, get to know people on another level, follow family and friends on their adventures, politic, laugh, and cry. I have loved every minute.
Yesterday morning, the first story I read about FB was the story of Gov. Brewer’s page being “accidentally” censored. WTH?
Then just a few minutes later, I read of the teacher in Lake Co, Florida who has been suspended for something he wrote on FB against gay marriage.
As a public school teacher who regularly writes inflammatory, right-wing rhetoric on my Facebook page, I panicked. I would have deactivated right then and there but there is a small group of doc students that I need right now.
Some people have told me that I should keep my Facebook and friends but just quit posting the inflammatory right-wing rhetoric. LOL. Not gonna happen.
Kelly
An alternate to Facebook for your group...
evilleramsfan Sunday, August 21st at 3:06PM EDT (link)Check out a site called Wiggio. It was made for and designed to cater to research and project groups. I have used it for parent groups, sports teams, and my kids have used it for research projects for their friends. You can find out about at wiggio.com
“First make sure you’re right, then go ahead.” – Davy Crockett
Also-
evilleramsfan Sunday, August 21st at 3:08PM EDT (link)It allows you to use file sharing on the site in case you are need to have different people work on different parts of a project. In addition, it supports chat within the group as well as video conferencing….
“First make sure you’re right, then go ahead.” – Davy Crockett
I too love FB and at one time tried to get away from it
trutexan Monday, August 22nd at 5:54AM EDT (link)and even went so far as to deactivate my account. Then along comes my grandson 3 states away and it’s over. There’s no way I’m going to miss pics of the little tyke because they were posted on FB.
So I locked down to Friends Only on everything. And I mean everything. The only way I can be friends with someone is if I either give them my email address or I initiate the bond. I can give people my actual name and they still can’t find me, and that suits me just fine. I don’t even go so far as to open anything up to Friends of Friends. And I never, ever play the little games or do the surveys they put out there. In the tiny fine print of the rules once you play it says, “you allow the app to use your personal info any way it sees fit.” which then changes your privacy settings. No thanks. So I stay away from Mafia Wars, Farmville, What someone said nice about me, etc.
I also toned down my right-winged rhetoric realizing that while I might lock my privacy settings down, FB is still privately owned yet on the public domain. So once I put it out there, it is no longer “private”. Their bots can look all they want and ban me if they like, just like RS. You can’t scream Freedom of Speech if you’re not paying the bill for the server time.
Ted Cruz (R) for Texas Senate.
Obama – Forward!
Proverbs 4:12-15
A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a forward mouth. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; Forwardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.
unsure
jonnymadison (Diary) Sunday, August 21st at 12:22PM EDT (link)It disturbs me that facebook is actively participating in censorship. facebook is an important medium of information and communication. liberal, conservative, whatever, its unsettling to know that your poitical voice could be silence if deemed “to important”.
I agree jonnymadison
kellymch (Diary) Sunday, August 21st at 12:29PM EDT (link)Zuckerburg is actively in Obama’s pocket, though. Check it out.
Exactly!
jonnymadison (Diary) Sunday, August 21st at 12:43PM EDT (link)Facebook is really creepy. There has always been a quest by some to control information, just look at the crap on tv, and facebook seems a little to eager to hang out with these “cool kids”.
Zuckerberg and Obama both Harvard boys.
momma Sunday, August 21st at 7:40PM EDT (link)Gee…what a coincidence. It being such a conservative, right-wing university, after all.
Why does that disturb you?
trutexan Monday, August 22nd at 6:02AM EDT (link)FB is privately owned. Zuckerberg could shut the whole thing down today if he wanted and nobody could say a thing. It’s not a publicly owned entity. Oh sure, some of the advertisers would be PO’d but he could quietly let all their contracts expire and turn the servers off and there’s not a thing anyone could do about it. As far as I’m concerned, he can censor if he wants too. That’s the cool thing about being an entrepreneur…and as a conservative, that principle should be respected an honored.
If you’re not paying for it, it isn’t yours. So while you might not like the idea he’s sensoring, you’re playing with his football and he can take it and go home if he likes, or change the rules any way he sees fit. You don’t like it, too bad. Make your own site and do your own thing then.
Ted Cruz (R) for Texas Senate.
Obama – Forward!
Proverbs 4:12-15
A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a forward mouth. He winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth with his fingers; Forwardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.
hey man, I agree with you
jonnymadison (Diary) Tuesday, August 23rd at 12:48AM EDT (link)it is zuckerwhatevers thing and he has a right to it, I am in no way advocating infringing on property rights, but a couple things about it disturb me.
1. The amount of people that rely on this medium of communication is large. they present this site as having open and free flow of communication. the precident has been set, and the ability to manipulate information people see exists.
2. The person that has this power is buddy buddy with obama.
That doesn’t set well with me.
I am not worried about zuckerdude shutting the thing down, I’m worried about him getting into cahoots with obama for nefarious reasons.
ther's an old Turkish proverb that goes (paraphrasing):
Tom Armstrong (Diary) Sunday, August 21st at 1:41PM EDT (link)Say a thing once, and you will be heard. Say it five times, and you will be listened to. Say it a thousand times, and you will be stoned to death…
There is also a (not-so-old) liberal proverb that goes:
rickbull Sunday, August 21st at 2:58PM EDT (link)Tell a lie often enough and it becomes the truth, no matter how egregious the lie.
Refusing to drink the liberal kool-aid for 34 of my 51 years,
RickBull
WE ARE THE 53% (who actually pay taxes).
Just so you know...
traversecityconservative (Diary) Sunday, August 21st at 9:53PM EDT (link)The articles lately all seem to talk about environmentalists. Who cares? And it’s not entirely accurate. What they were doing impacted my friends in the animal rescue community and put thousands of animals lives at risk. In fact, this is where I heard about the FB problem, at least a day before the media jumped on it.
For FB to censor or delete anything is ridiculous. People are friends or fans – or have joined a group. That’s a direct acceptance of any communication by them. Zuckerberg is a control freak and now that he’s in the pocket of Obama, he thinks he has unlimited power like the rest of them.
http://www.examiner.com/animal-action-in-national/facebook-spam-filters-take-aim-at-animal-advocacy-pages
Alternative to Facebook
theconservativelady Monday, August 22nd at 1:22AM EDT (link)There’s a site called “Freedom Torch” which is like Facebook for conservatives.