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Subject: Has your rosity email been lifted by spammers?


prodev ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 4:46 PM

Yep, RGUS is over here somewhere [I dont think he's one of those Aussie types :tt2: ]

Good thoughts on the forum only ebot idea... but this is my first ver post, and the first thread I've ever subscribed to. All my emails were coming from Fav artist and Marketplace notifications only.

It's Friday 09.44am here... on a cold wet winter day..... but all's not lost I off Fly Fishing this afternoon. Nothing like standing in a snow fed river...freezing your nads off...pondering the mean ing of Spam! :biggrin:


Hawkfyr ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 5:47 PM · edited Thu, 19 July 2007 at 5:55 PM

file_383354.gif

@Vince

 

"but i was sitting thinking here today...."

 

...and I read no further...too dangerous when Vince starts sitting...but ..."thinking" too?

Way too dangerous to proceed after reading that...

 

8 )~

 

Funny how, when a plausible explanation is put forth....how it is not challenged...but rather the way in which  it was presented.

 

Tom

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”


Hawkfyr ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 6:17 PM

Ted was out in the street looking at the ground.

 

Ed walks up and asks...

 

 

Ed: Whatcha doin Ted?

 

Ted: Lookin for a quarter I lost.

 

Ed: You lost it in the street?

 

Ted: No...I lost it in the ally.

 

Ed: Well...Why are you looking for it out here in the street?

 

Ted: The light is better out here...it's too dark in the ally.

Tom

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”


vikinglady ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 6:19 PM

passes out headache medicine to all involved 
   
Here is a glass of water to chase them down. holding out a tray of water glasses   
  
 
goes back to lurking



vince3 ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 6:37 PM

well that puts an interesting twist in there, because if this was your first forum post, but you were getting spam from recieving faves and marketplace (is that when one of your fave vendors uploads a new product?)  e-bots, then it makes it more surprising that more members haven't appeared in the threads about this, as an e-bot that is notifying members that a vendor has uploaded or an artist has uploaded something would be being directed towards more members than a particular forum thread ever would, as you only tend to see about 20 members in each thread at any time, but a popular vendor or artist would be maybe in the hundreds.

if that were the case then i think that that would indicate that it is not directly coming from renderosity, as it would affect all members that were being notified, but if all members that are being notified are not being affected by these scam spams, then that would indicate that it is being picked up somewhere along the route.

i would go as far as to say that you could illiminate renderosity's server and the first point at which all their outgoing traffic is re-routed, if either of those were affected then all notified members would get all the spam, so at a minimum it would have to be one of the next routers, which has already lost some of the outgoing e-bots, that would explain why some get it and some don't, the further down those routers you come the less people would get it and more wouldn't get it.

that's my opinion anyway.

good luck with the fishin'!! 

Dances told me that you down under lot are gonna want summer back soon, but to be fair it hasn'r really started working up here yet, just keeps raining, so we might not send it back to you guys for a while yet!

are you fishing for flies? or using flies to catch fish?


vince3 ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 6:45 PM

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! @ Tom

i was tempted to mention the duck earlier too!! wondered if you'd remember!!LOL

thankfully the horseshoe is back where it belongs now, unplugging that thing just kept making me win the lottery!!


Hawkfyr ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 6:48 PM · edited Thu, 19 July 2007 at 6:56 PM

Hi Vince...

 

Yeah...but you've got to consider that it is likely that only those with dedicated Rosity E-mails would even notice it.

 

For those who have an e-mail address that is common to several incoming and outgoing correspondences...they wouldn't notice it.

 

They would likely delete said spam like 99% of the rest of the world does...and not contemplate where from which it originated.

 

It really doesn't matter if the notification came from the marketplace,favorites,galleries,e-bots, Z-bots,...
...or even F-bombs.

 

The fact remains that a "Notification" was sent from Rosity to the recipient..and the recipients e-mail address was contained in that notification.(otherwise...how would it know where to go?)

 

Once it left Rosity's server...it's up for grabs..there is nothing Rosity, an ISP, or Host can do about that.

 

Tom

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”


Lyne ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 6:50 PM · edited Thu, 19 July 2007 at 6:50 PM

OH.. vince3 - thanks for clarifying... I am DYSLEXIC and do get things backwards, SORRY! You have some VERY good points - suggestions on how to follow threads and not get notices... I think -?- there is somewhere in our settings we can actually choose not to get notices?? I am still finding my way around the new things... I "found" my site mail only when I had a message and I also "lost" and then found the new log in link... so it's a process... 

Now I am going to go back and re-read your suggestions and see if I can change the way I use the site to both not get spam and really interact with the forums! :)

Lyne

PS I never ever open spam! :)

Life Requires Assembly and we all know how THAT goes!


Hawkfyr ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 6:51 PM

LMAO @Vince... Yeah..I figured only a few of us would "Get" the duck reference.

I'm glad you noticed it and got a chuckle out of it.

Uh...could you E-Mail me that horseshoe?

Tom

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”


Hawkfyr ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 7:04 PM · edited Thu, 19 July 2007 at 7:05 PM

@ Gill,

So out of one side of your mouth you say you mentioned my input, and gave it credibility...

 

...but out of the other side of your mouth..you say***"* leave this to the people that know what they're talking about please."**

 

So which is it?

 

And you imply that "I'm" 2-faced?

 

 

Tom

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”


vince3 ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 7:10 PM · edited Thu, 19 July 2007 at 7:12 PM

hi Lyne!

when you reply here in these forums, just below the box you are writing in, there is a "Notify me when someone replies" box, which is checked by default, so you can uncheck that and then you won't receive and e-bot when someone replies.

should point out that if you don't reply to a thread that you were part of, and uncheck that box, that each time you enter that thread without replying you will get an e-bot, what others do in that case is write the word "unsubscribing" as a reply and then uncheck the notify box, that way you can still follow the thread but will then not receive an e-bot about other replies.

you can unsubsribe to all notifications that you receive except for when somebody favourites you or one of your piccies, that doesn't seem to be an option, but maybe staff can help you with that if you wanted to lose that aswell.

Tom
 i have three spare horseshoes going so i shall get my Nigerian courier to send one to you, just ignore him when he asks what sex you are, and what are your bank details, as he is forever depositing his inheritence in people accounts, he's gonna end up broke soon.we do worry about him sometimes.


Hawkfyr ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 7:17 PM

file_383363.jpg

You woldn't happen to have a "Duck-Shoe" would you?

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”


Hawkfyr ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 8:02 PM

Hi Natolli...

 

"You are not the only one, Gill. Frankly, I am tired of talking civilly to someone that insists on being snide."

 

Oh Really?

 

"Next question?"

 

It's called "Tunnel Vision"...Once ones mind is set on something...nothing will change thier mind.

 

I'll repeat:

 

To those who Understand...no explanation is necessary.

 

To those who "Will" not understand...no explanation will suffice.

 

Some of you so badly want to find fault where it doesn't exist...and be a participant in the uncovering of that fault...but the fact remains, that an alternative explanation has been put forth...which leaves room for reasonable doubt. (More than reasonable IMHO)

 

"The light is better out here...it's too dark in the ally"

 

Tom

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”


3Dillusions ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 9:21 PM

Well Tom

I monitered my Gmail Account this morning for 10 minutes everytime I got a new EBOT I got a new spam, one for one every time.

I would look at the path those ebots travel and how it was set up to recieve and send in the first place.

Will check my gmail now to see if I get spam when I post this message, lol

Angela


3Dillusions ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 9:56 PM

Okay its not from Forums thats for sure, I have not even recieved notification of the above post nor this one, and no spam, the inbox and spam folder are empty, so its more than 20 minutes and nothing, I will wait and see if an ebot comes in and with it spam

But looks like the forums are not the path of the spam after all.

Angela


3Dillusions ( ) posted Thu, 19 July 2007 at 10:32 PM

Okay EBOT spam

Got a message saying someone had someone had commented on a 3D render in my Daz Studio Gallery, 3 minutes later one spam, another 3 minutes later another spam

So in the space of 6 minutes two spams.  Ebots definately.
Question for you Stacey are the ebots for gallery and newsletter on a different server or are they on the same one with all the email addresses?

This spam test has finished, dont know what else I can do, as I am in Australia and you guys are asleep it woudl be interesting to see if you could trace at the times I posted this message if you saw unusually behaviour for the ebots server.

Its 1.31 pm Friday Afternoon Australia time, Melbourne
Renderosity time  Thursday, July 19, 2007 10:28 PM CST

Angela


Natolii ( ) posted Fri, 20 July 2007 at 9:34 AM

I would say Ebots and Newletter.

I have received 3 types of e-mail from Renderosity.

  1. Ebots on Forum Notifications - Nothing Noticable there
  2. Newsletter - Noticed Spam along with the Newsletters
  3. Receipts - Nothing there

On Ebots from Gallery postings, I have very few people I watch and they have been posting elsewhere.

I will see if there is spam on the Vendor notifications though I get those mostly when motif resets his sales.

I looked over other possibilities as well. When you consider that not all e-mail that comes from Renderosity is affected, it makes me wonder who has the tunnel vision. If there was an outside Zombie, you would think that all notices would have spam attached. There are patterns emerging that are making me wonder if there is an infected/effected script somewhere.

As for there not being more people in this thread, only the vocal minority uses the forums.


Lyne ( ) posted Fri, 20 July 2007 at 11:38 PM

ah... well it's too complicated for me... guess I will just get used to going through all my e mail notices and checking all the spam and hitting the SPAM button.... I guess it is just a part of life now.  :(

Life Requires Assembly and we all know how THAT goes!


Acadia ( ) posted Sat, 21 July 2007 at 1:37 AM

Quote - I would say Ebots and Newletter.

I have received 3 types of e-mail from Renderosity.

  1. Ebots on Forum Notifications - Nothing Noticable there
  2. Newsletter - Noticed Spam along with the Newsletters
  3. Receipts - Nothing there

On Ebots from Gallery postings, I have very few people I watch and they have been posting elsewhere.

I will see if there is spam on the Vendor notifications though I get those mostly when motif resets his sales.

I looked over other possibilities as well. When you consider that not all e-mail that comes from Renderosity is affected, it makes me wonder who has the tunnel vision. If there was an outside Zombie, you would think that all notices would have spam attached. There are patterns emerging that are making me wonder if there is an infected/effected script somewhere.

As for there not being more people in this thread, only the vocal minority uses the forums.

The only ebots I get are:

1.  Newsletter
2.  Notification of gallery uploads from my favourite artists. However, I have all of the daily uploaders set to no ebots.

  1. market place purchase confirmations

I don't subscribe to forums or forum posts because Lord knows I'm live here,  LOL

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi



lemur01 ( ) posted Sat, 21 July 2007 at 1:47 AM

But a lot of us follow them with interest.


3Dillusions ( ) posted Sat, 21 July 2007 at 6:12 AM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6908064.stm

If everyone has time read this and then you will see how really hard it is to stop these guys plus their deviousness.  OMG is all I can say.

Angela


boobunny ( ) posted Sat, 21 July 2007 at 9:44 AM

OMG, 3Dillusions... that makes since.  I had to stop all but 4 ebots notices (closest friends), I couldn't handle them all for a while.  Needed a break.  And I didn't put 2 and 2 together, but the spam was cut into a forth of what I was getting when I had all the notices turned on!!!   I was wondering why.  Duh!!  lol


Hawkfyr ( ) posted Sat, 21 July 2007 at 10:04 AM

" There are patterns emerging that are making me wonder if there is an infected/effected script somewhere"

 

I think you are on to something there Natoli.

 

My guess would be that the script the harvester is using, filters specific "From" or "Subject" references included in the header, in the interest of either not being caught (Not harvesting an entire domain), or weeding out reduntant E-mail address.

 

Perhaps he/she filters only those "From" and/or "Subject *@renderosity.com lines in which he feels he'll gain the highest yield.

 

Awesome Investigating.

 

Tom

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”


CrimsonDesire ( ) posted Sat, 21 July 2007 at 6:13 PM

Just as an informational thingy I'm still not recieving any of the spam type e-mails described.  Also since it's been mentioned, I regularly recieve E-Mail notifications on Favorite Artists posting images on a daily bases and I have a fair amount of favorites at this point some of whome post multible images daily so it's a fair amount.  I also recieve the Rendo newsletter and stuffs.

Oh and I used the Marketplace fairly recently for the gift certificate thingy, and of course I've made two recent posts to this forum although I don't and haven't ever turned on notifications of people replying to them.

And I download a fair amount of Freebies from here, not as many as I used to but still maybe two or three every couple of days or so give or take.

Hope that helps a bit.  I'm a bit mystified as to where it all came from and why certain people are still recieving vast amounts while folks like me who used to recieve similar amounts now aren't recieving any, but I'm sure someone will explain it somehow, although I probably won't understands it (I'm terribly dense about such things).

Anyways good lucks again ^^


3Dillusions ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 1:51 AM

Hye CrimsonDesire, do you get Ebots for you work, to say someone has left a comment, I have not seen you mention that one?

I only notice I get spam when I get ebots telling me people have left me a message and rating on my renders?

Angela


CrimsonDesire ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 2:17 AM

Yes I do 3D, whenever I post a image which isn't all that often now a days but in fact I just posted one today and have recieved a number of notifications of replies without any spam coming in.

I'm honestly at a bit of a loss to explain it on my end.  I tried to think if I personally was doing anything different in terms of sites I was going to, corrispondance, security upgrades, etc. and also since this is not an exclusive one-user computer I asked around a bit as well but no one has been doing anything different that they can recall.

The only thing I can think of is that I'm not purchasing as much as I was for a few months, but only one of those purchases was a Renderosity product anyways so I don't think it's related and as I mentioned I used my freebie gift certificate the other day with no ill effect spam wise.

Sorry I can't be of more help....


3Dillusions ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 2:34 AM

Olay how about this one, do you use a home ISP email or a web based one like I do, I only use Gmail for Renderosity, as I refuse to use my home one and get email spam?
I purchace lots from Renderosity and Daz but from daz in my other Gmail account I get no spam its clean.

Angela


CrimsonDesire ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 2:53 AM

I think for this site it's the first one, the home one, and I use it for DAZ as well as a number of other 3D related sites,  in fact this particular one is probably used quite a bit for different site memberships by myself and others so it's been around the net a bit but call it fools luck or something the address rarely recieved much in the way of more then the occasional SPAM letter or two until all the Scam stuffs which suddenly ceased as mysteriously as they started.

One thing I can say with regard to Rendo stuff is that though I've recieved e-mails from different members at different times, I've always responded to them via on-site PM rather then sending an e-mail back to them.  And my e-mail is hidden on my profile.

But I do recieve a regular amount of daily e-mail from Rendo in the areas I've mentioned which hasn't changed either before, during, or after the scam e-mail spamming.

Hope that helps ^^


Acadia ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 3:02 AM · edited Sun, 22 July 2007 at 3:11 AM

Quote - Okay EBOT spam

Got a message saying someone had someone had commented on a 3D render in my Daz Studio Gallery, 3 minutes later one spam, another 3 minutes later another spam

So in the space of 6 minutes two spams.  Ebots definately.
Question for you Stacey are the ebots for gallery and newsletter on a different server or are they on the same one with all the email addresses?

This spam test has finished, dont know what else I can do, as I am in Australia and you guys are asleep it woudl be interesting to see if you could trace at the times I posted this message if you saw unusually behaviour for the ebots server.

Its 1.31 pm Friday Afternoon Australia time, Melbourne
Renderosity time  Thursday, July 19, 2007 10:28 PM CST

Angela

I made 2 separate purchased in the MP a few hours ago. I got 4 ebots from Renderosity confirming the orders and acknowledging payment received. I did not receive any spam.

I also got a notification yesterday that j-art had uploaded an image to his gallery.  No spam received.

As I stated previously, I do not get bots about forum posts.

The last newsletter I received from here was on the 19th and I didn't pay attention as to whether I got spam around that time or not. I'll pay closer attention when the next newsletter comes.

However, now that you have mentioned the spam corresponding with the ebots notifying you of comments to your gallery images, I can say that my spam was at an all time high while I was in the "Critique Group" and getting lots of notifications of comments made to my images. Looking back, my spam has decreased considerably since I left the critique group, plus the fact that I haven't uploaded any images in several weeks so  I haven't had a comment in my gallery for a while and I haven't received any spam either.

So maybe there is something to the gallery comments theory.

I'll pay closer attention the next time someone posts a comment in my gallery and let you know if I got spam along with the comment.  

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi



CrimsonDesire ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 3:44 AM

Just as a informational note to the gallery comments theory, I posted a image this morning.  It has recieved a total of fifteen comments and two favorites with e-mail notices being sent to me in each case throughout the day (along with the usual notifications of favorite artist uploads, etc).  I haven't recieved any spam related e-mails though as of the time of this posting.


Hawkfyr ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 7:47 AM

@ CrimsonDesire

 

At the risk of seeming nosey.

 

  1. What ISP are you using?

 

  1. Are you using AOL?

 

I ask this only in the interest of perhaps eliminating possibilities

 

Tom

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”


CrimsonDesire ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 8:20 AM

I don't mind Hawkfyr if it might help.  I'm using a U.S. company called Charter Communications for my ISP.  And no I'm not using AOL.  Hope that helps, maybe?  ^^


Hawkfyr ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 8:42 AM

All information helps when hammering out a problem.

 

The reason I ask about AOL is that they are notorious for "Protecting" thier subscribers, and block pretty much everything a subscriber reports as spam.

But since you do not use an AOL e-mail address.."eliminates" that as a possible reason "You" are getting no spam.

 

Lets review:

 

  1. Rosity is not harvesting the addresses,otherwise...everyone would be getting it.

 

  1. E-mail addresses are likely being harvested remotely

 

  1. It seems they are being harvested selectively according to which E-bots/Newsletters are being deployed

 

  1. It's happening almost instantaneously.

 

Thanks

 

Tom

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”


Hawkfyr ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 9:01 AM

"Critique Group"

 

Interesting...wasn't that group added after the switch over to the PHP platform?

 

I'd be curious to know if those receiving spam...are also members of the "Critique Group"

 

I'd also be curious to know if the spam started before or after the creation of that group?

 

Were there any other groups added after the switch to the PHP platform

 

If so...are those members also among those receiving spam?

 

 

For what it's worth...I try to draw my conclusions based on the facts presented...not speculation.

 

If it is "Proven" that Renderosity is "Knowingly" selling it's E-Mail address database...I'd be the first to disassociate myself with this site...But the evidence simply is not there...The fact that some members are not getting spam...only supports that evidence.

 

It's not Tunnel Vision...it's being open minded to the facts as they are presented.

 

Tom

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”


lemur01 ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 11:39 AM

For me, the spam started some time (couple of weeks? a month?) after joining the crit group.


CrimsonDesire ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 4:15 PM

For the sake of information I was never a part of the Critique Group.

On a personal note, I am following the course of the discussion (well what I can understand anyways, as I said I'm woefully ignorant about such things).  Although I'm certianly curious as to who might be responsible, how it's being done, and what not only the site as a whole, but what a individual member might be able to do to perevent future occurances (if there is in fact anything to be done).

I think, ultimatly, if I read what people have been saying correctly this is what most members seem to be concerned with as a priority, IE "How is this occuring? How does one stop it?"

At present the one definative fact not in contention is that everybody who'se mentioned incidents of this particular type of spam e-mail reception is quite obviously a member of this site.  That does not neccesarilly mean, however, that the site itself is fault either knowingly or unknowingly.

It should also, I think, be of note that if you look at the number of Renderosity members as a whole as opposed to the number who in this and other threads have actually reported incidents of this type of e-mail it's a fairly small relative number.  Does this mean that the vast majority is not recieving this type of e-mail spam? Does it mean that they are and have not made the association between it and this site and so have not felt it neccesary to report it?  Does it mean that they do believe there is a association but are for whatever reasons remaining unheard?

It's also intresting to note the different results when setting up new e-mail accounts exclusive to Rendo.  Some seem to be recieving the same type of spam almost instantly, while others reported recieving no spam e-mails of any kind.

Finally it's curious as to why this has stopped occuring for some members who had it happen previously, while others are still recieving the same type of e-mails.

I suppose what I'm trying to get it is that what is known decisivly and consistantly about the problem is very little, which in itself is a bit frightening I suppose.

At anyrate contininuing to follow this discussion with intrest and hoping for a good result.  ^^


Acadia ( ) posted Sun, 22 July 2007 at 11:23 PM · edited Sun, 22 July 2007 at 11:26 PM

Quote - For me, the spam started some time (couple of weeks? a month?) after joining the crit group.

The Critique Group started on March 21, 2007.  I joined right away.

At the time I was a co-ordinator and using an @renderosity.com email address.  As soon as I started to receive spam on that account I posted about it in the staff forums and that's when I was told it was due to changes in the mail server and that "everyone" receives spam. Unfortunately I do not remember the date I made that post so I don't know if it was before or after the Critique Group started.

I think I left the staff position towards the end of March and when I replaced my email address I initially used my junk mail hotmail account. But found that the ebots from here were overwhelming it. So I changed the email address to my @mts.net ISP one.

Here are a couple of posts I made on April 4th and April 7th when I initially started to get spam to that email account.

[ http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2692394

](http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2692394)http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2690339&page=16#message_2949669Upon a suggestion that I try gmail for the Critique Group, I dug out my gmail information and set up the account for POP3 and changed my email here to the gmail account.  That account was set up and used for a short time for personal things around the time google introduced gmail,  but never received spam because I didn't use it around the internet.  All of the emails that were in it when I stopped using it were still there, and there was no spam mail in it.  Not long after I used the @gmail.com address here, I started to get spam to that one too.

The bots that I had coming to me as part of the Critique Group were:

1.  Notifcations of people adding me to favourites
2,  Notifications of comments to my images

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi



Natolii ( ) posted Mon, 23 July 2007 at 8:18 AM

I am not part of the Critque Group. For me the worse spam started with the switch over to the new PHP platform. PHP is almost notorious as MSIE for Security holes, however, it's users tend to be better at finding and plugging them fast.

I do program a bit in PHP, html for the office I am working in. Simple stuff, but I've been doing simple coding since I was 8 yrs old on old Basic program on a TSR 80. My other 1/2 has been working in PERL. It's something I am familar in. I also look for patterns, and the questions Stacey was asking may not be deep enough (No offense).

I ain't looking to start conspiracy theories or havok. I want this to end, because I am tired of the scams. I ain't saying "Oh my god, Renderosity is selling us out" either.

What I want is Renderosity to be aware there is a possible security whole and take the patron's seriously.


Hawkfyr ( ) posted Mon, 23 July 2007 at 8:55 AM · edited Mon, 23 July 2007 at 8:58 AM

"What I want is Renderosity to be aware there is a possible security whole and take the patron's seriously."

** **

We are in agreement on that.

 

All Rosity has to go on are the "Facts" presented by the members experiencing this problem, and/or the possible scenarios that may be worth exploring.

 

It is not my intent to dismiss those experiencing problems...or that the problem doesn't exist at all...

The fact is...It does exist...and the only way to assist in a resolution, is to present facts, and possible scenarios that might result in the resolution.

 

Renderosity is well aware that the problem exist...and they seem to be investigating it based on member input, as well as programmers experience...

All my suggestions reflect is that the problem may exist outside of Renderosity's reach...and therefore...they may be unable to resolve it.

 

I apologies if my postings come across as abrasive. It is not my intent.

My intent was to explore an alternate scenario as to why this is happening.

(And goofing around with Vince3 I must confess)

 

Peace

 

Tom

“The fact that no one understands you…Doesn’t make you an artist.”


pearce ( ) posted Mon, 23 July 2007 at 4:27 PM

Suppose a would-be spammer grabbed a load of usernames, say from the who's online' page at different times, then attached them to various@xyz.com'-type appendages, and sent them out at random.  Would that explain any of this?  It would, only if members have their usernames as part of their email addresses.  So do any of the spam-victims here do that?

I don't, and don't ever get spam, though of course that proves nothing.

I do get ebots, the newsletter, notification of comments etc., but almost always uncheck the `Notify me..' option on forum posts.


gillbrooks ( ) posted Mon, 23 July 2007 at 5:16 PM

Quote - Suppose a would-be spammer grabbed a load of usernames, say from the who's online' page at different times, then attached them to various@xyz.com'-type appendages, and sent them out at random.  Would that explain any of this?  **It would, only if members have their usernames as part of their email addresses.  So do any of the spam-victims here do that?
**I don't, and don't ever get spam, though of course that proves nothing.

I do get ebots, the newsletter, notification of comments etc., but almost always uncheck the `Notify me..' option on forum posts.

 

Simple answer- NO. User name is nothing remotely similar to email address(es) used.

Gill

       


vince3 ( ) posted Mon, 23 July 2007 at 6:27 PM

i would guess the easiest way for this to be happening is that there is an "information stealing trojan" attached to one of the routers along the way, this trojan would sit there collecting the addresses of the e-mails passing through that router, then relay that info to the spammer, who then sends you a spam mail, an explanation for the secondary spam that follows could be that that spammer also sells the addresses he collects to another spammer, i would guess that the whole process is automatic aswell, that the spammer doesn't actually have to do anything, spam is probally automatically sent, when a set number of addresses have been harvested.

 


pearce ( ) posted Tue, 24 July 2007 at 5:54 AM

The insurmountable problem here, as I see it, is that nobody, admins or users, can have any idea of the proportion of Rendo users that actually is having this problem, compared to that which isn't.

Only a poll of all members (or a properly chosen representative sample) would give any indication of true statistics, and that would depend on all or most said members responding (optimistic, I think).


Natolii ( ) posted Tue, 24 July 2007 at 8:00 AM

I had a name that was my Screen Name...

However, Do you know the first three letter of my younger brother's first name (BTW I have 2) and do you know the first 4 letter of my first name?

You need to know that in order to even pull up my domain.

However, I did change my e-mail at the beginning of the month as a test. Different E-mail, same domain... Since I am the admin on the Web server, I can have upto 1000 different e-mail addresses and can change the domain as needed.

So that does make the theory of random mooks grabbing User Names and random domain extension rather unplausible.


Acadia ( ) posted Tue, 24 July 2007 at 9:28 AM

Ok, an update from me.

I received an email from Renderosity at 5:02am notifying me of an item on sale in my Wishlist.

At 7:26am I received a spam emai from Zulu Kamara  of the "West Afrcan Monitoring Institution" 

This email is the same typical theme (telling me that I have come into some money)  as the others I have been receiving to the accounts that I have only had entered here.

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi



Acadia ( ) posted Tue, 24 July 2007 at 9:33 AM

Quote - The insurmountable problem here, as I see it, is that nobody, admins or users, can have any idea of the proportion of Rendo users that actually is having this problem, compared to that which isn't.

Only a poll of all members (or a properly chosen representative sample) would give any indication of true statistics, and that would depend on all or most said members responding (optimistic, I think).

The thing with that is, unless they are using a dedicated email address they probably didn't realize.  Like me for example. I started out here using my hotmail account that I consider my junk email account because I use it all around the net if a site requires an email address. It gets loads of spam. I mean loads of it!  It wasn't until I replaced it with an @rendeosity, then my @mts.net and now my @gmail.com address that I realized that some of the spam was being generated from here somehow.

Again, when I asked about it when I noticed it to the @renderosity.com address I was told that it started when they did some changes to their mail servers in order to be able to generate larger mailings.

It seems to me that they need to go back to that point and "undo" whatever changes they did. Surely there are records as to when that change took place and exactly what changes it involved?

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi



TallPockets ( ) posted Wed, 25 July 2007 at 1:32 AM · edited Wed, 25 July 2007 at 1:35 AM

''I had a name that was my Screen Name... However, Do you know the first three letter of my younger brother's first name (BTW I have 2) and do you know the first 4 letter of my first name? You need to know that in order to even pull up my domain. However, I did change my e-mail at the beginning of the month as a test. Different E-mail, same domain... Since I am the admin on the Web server, I can have upto 1000 different e-mail addresses and can change the domain as needed. So that does make the theory of random mooks grabbing User Names and random domain extension rather unplausible.'' (Natolii above)

NATOLII: Hello. You make too much common sense. Please, stop it. WINK.

HAWKFYR: Hello, kind soul. I've always found you in the past to be an unusual voice of reason. Are you the tech expert on staff at this most wonderful site? If not, would you be? If you are not, I am amazed that the actual tech in charge here seems to rarely, if ever, find stated problems and the ones who do answer are anything but 'member' friendly. SIGH.

My best to you and yours, T.P.


Natolii ( ) posted Wed, 25 July 2007 at 8:19 AM · edited Wed, 25 July 2007 at 8:20 AM

And thus the "anger" at the situation. Andy's Initial comments with no retraction, no apology...

Stacey has done more to diffuse, even if they are having issues finding what is going on.

Edit: No SPam since Saturday, but then I want to see what happens when the Newsletter is released today/Tomorrow


Unicornst ( ) posted Wed, 25 July 2007 at 2:36 PM

Can we add a new type of spam to this? All of a sudden, I'm receiving scads of emails from greeting card sites along with the "usual" I can get rich garbage.


Acadia ( ) posted Wed, 25 July 2007 at 2:45 PM

Quote - Can we add a new type of spam to this? All of a sudden, I'm receiving scads of emails from greeting card sites along with the "usual" I can get rich garbage.

Ahhh those trusy "you have received a greeting card from XXXX" and you have no clue who that person is?  LOL  Yep.  Thinking back to a week or so ago I got a number of those myself. And thinking further, I also got several notifications of items on sale in my Wishlist around the same time.

Just an update from me again.

Today at  12:35 I pm I received notification that Addy has uploaded an image to her gallery. No spam as of yet. I'll keep an eye out for it though and post back if I get any.

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi



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