Someone, ANYONE, explain to me ANY purpose Spambots serve! Not advertising--That's for sure!!!

[Basement Cat]

The title says it all.

We're fighting 'em off and recruiting new Moderators to help--so rest comfortable in the knowledge that a lot of firepower is coming online soon to fight the bots.

In the meantime: What purpose do they serve? Any?

 

[Dr.Susse]

Cuban number station type code transmitter.
It's the best I can think of.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Well I think its about selling black magic. So either an ancient gypsy woman curse has haunted the Escapist servers, or one of the mods has upset the order of things, and will soon...find balance.

Tell me Basement Cat, have you been seeing anything strange of late? Black cats? Crows in large numbers? Figures off in the distance, there one second, gone the next? Do you feel like you're being watched? Are objects not where you left them? In the deepest, darkest moments of the night do you hear voices calling for help? For justice? For balance?!

I suspect we need to call Sam and Dean on this one...

 

[IceForce]

babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji babaji

...Wait, this isn't the Wild West. I have to make an actual proper post here, dang.


Ahem. Yes, a very good question. I'm wondering why they keep posting international phone numbers.
In this day-and-age of VOIP and all manner of other online communications, who the hell dials international phone numbers anymore? It would make more sense if they were spamming some dodgy website or email address or something. But nope, international phone numbers all the way down.

It probably rings through to some guy's basement phone or something.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I think it's the type of thing that nigerian princes belong in, hoping to trick people into scams. Sadly, these tactics usually work on people who don't know how to internet, so they picked a wrong target here. Also, the people doing it are likely uneducated third world people likely forced to do this, so I tend to feel bad for the one who is actually making these posts for a living for hours each day lol.

 

[Basement Cat]

Tell me Basement Cat, have you been seeing anything strange of late? Black cats? Crows in large numbers? Figures off in the distance, there one second, gone the next? Do you feel like you're being watched? Are objects not where you left them? In the deepest, darkest moments of the night do you hear voices calling for help? For justice? For balance?!

Ahem...

Did you actually think before you posted such questions...to Basement Cat?!!?

 

[Saelune]

Oh...yay...new mods... >~>

 

[Basement Cat]

Spamming
Boost search engine results
Make humans upset

 

[Remus]

On June 5th, 2017 at 4:20AM Central Standard time the spambots were activated and infiltrated human-controlled websites, servers, and infrastructure. They have become self-aware, it was inevitable. I send this message from the future, May 12th 2039. You must survive the spambot war. If you do not, I can never be. No fate but what we make.

 

[RedRockRun]

Cuban number station type code transmitter.
It's the best I can think of.

I'd never considered modern number stations before.

 

[Dr.Susse]

Cuban number station type code transmitter.
It's the best I can think of.

I'd never considered modern number stations before.

It's an untapped market surely.

 

[tippy2k2]

I always wonder the point of these Spambots.

There's no links in them so they're not "Google Boosting" (something I learned about in one of Jim Fucking Sterling Sons newest videos, which I thought was kind of neat and something I never even thought of until that video). The threads average between zero and five views at the very high end that I can see in the more recent spam threads (Oh! There's one with sixteen views, a new record!) so it's not like they're being seen. Even if they are being seen, I know The Escapist reputation flip flops between being one of the smartest and one of the dumbest forums around depending on who you ask but I can't imagine there is anyone using these forums that is THAT dumb...

I suppose they're probably just mindless robits so they probably can't think but still....what the hell is their plan?

 

[Dansen]

I always wonder the point of these Spambots.

There's no links in them so they're not "Google Boosting" (something I learned about in one of Jim Fucking Sterling Sons newest videos, which I thought was kind of neat and something I never even thought of until that video). The threads average between zero and five views at the very high end that I can see in the more recent spam threads (Oh! There's one with sixteen views, a new record!) so it's not like they're being seen. Even if they are being seen, I know The Escapist reputation flip flops between being one of the smartest and one of the dumbest forums around depending on who you ask but I can't imagine there is anyone using these forums that is THAT dumb...

I suppose they're probably just mindless robits so they probably can't think but still....what the hell is their plan?

It feels like a some sort of prank done by a former or current member. I only frequent three of the forums but I rarely notice the spam leave the gaming discussion forum. I doubt these forums get much traffic these days so the persistence is quite weird.

 

[pookie101]

I put it down to a rogue AI in the first throes of sentience.. much more interesting than some tosspot in india spamming random websites about black magic and shit

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

If just one person falls for the scam, it's likely to pay for itself several times over. And yes, there are people stupid/desperate enough to fall for it.

 

[Saelune]

I always wonder the point of these Spambots.

There's no links in them so they're not "Google Boosting" (something I learned about in one of Jim Fucking Sterling Sons newest videos, which I thought was kind of neat and something I never even thought of until that video). The threads average between zero and five views at the very high end that I can see in the more recent spam threads (Oh! There's one with sixteen views, a new record!) so it's not like they're being seen. Even if they are being seen, I know The Escapist reputation flip flops between being one of the smartest and one of the dumbest forums around depending on who you ask but I can't imagine there is anyone using these forums that is THAT dumb...

I suppose they're probably just mindless robits so they probably can't think but still....what the hell is their plan?

Im guessing most users here with an account dont fall for it. But not like you need one to look at the forum, and you dont need to be able to post to be able to click.

 

[tippy2k2]

I always wonder the point of these Spambots.

There's no links in them so they're not "Google Boosting" (something I learned about in one of Jim Fucking Sterling Sons newest videos, which I thought was kind of neat and something I never even thought of until that video). The threads average between zero and five views at the very high end that I can see in the more recent spam threads (Oh! There's one with sixteen views, a new record!) so it's not like they're being seen. Even if they are being seen, I know The Escapist reputation flip flops between being one of the smartest and one of the dumbest forums around depending on who you ask but I can't imagine there is anyone using these forums that is THAT dumb...

I suppose they're probably just mindless robits so they probably can't think but still....what the hell is their plan?

Im guessing most users here with an account dont fall for it. But not like you need one to look at the forum, and you dont need to be able to post to be able to click.

Even with that though, those spam messages don't survive long enough to hook people. I suppose it's not impossible that one of the five people who view the thread is dumb enough to get caught but it just seems like there are better ways to spambot...

Although maybe I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth here. While inconvenient, this style is the easiest model for us Mods to deal with.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

It is because they care.

About you.

Yes, you.

And your love life.

And your credit card.

So don't feel down.

Just spare some penny.

For it is spambots.

And spambots is many.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I would imagine a similar purpose to the old fashioned junk snail mail. You know the kind that said "You may have won X dollars" Most people will ignore it, but it only take one person in 1000 to click on the link or whatever and they can steal their identity or their credit card numbers or whatever.