• Why is this group filled with Italian spam?

    From paul.s.m...@gmail.com@paul.s.macmillan@gmail.com to comp.sys.apple2 on Saturday, April 10, 2021 15:33:04
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    Seriously, I feel like this got really bad when google switched to the new UX. Hey forum moderators.... is there something we can do ? Its like 75% of the posts here are junk.
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From D Finnigan@dog_cow@macgui.com to comp.sys.apple2 on Saturday, April 10, 2021 22:47:08
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    paul.s.m...@gmail.com wrote:
    Seriously, I feel like this got really bad when google switched to the new UX. Hey forum moderators.... is there something we can do ? Its like 75%
    of
    the posts here are junk.


    Because human beings have a fundamental, biological drive to communicate. Unfortunately, the world is full of idiots who feel an urge to communicate their idiocy.

    :-/

    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Steve Nickolas@usotsuki@buric.co to comp.sys.apple2 on Saturday, April 10, 2021 20:48:34
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    On Sat, 10 Apr 2021, D Finnigan wrote:

    paul.s.m...@gmail.com wrote:
    Seriously, I feel like this got really bad when google switched to the new >> UX. Hey forum moderators.... is there something we can do ? Its like 75%
    of
    the posts here are junk.


    Because human beings have a fundamental, biological drive to communicate. Unfortunately, the world is full of idiots who feel an urge to communicate their idiocy.

    :-/

    I have to killfile on certain subject lines. I call it "The Italian
    Filter".

    -uso.
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From yabiteme@noneya@noneya.com to comp.sys.apple2 on Saturday, April 10, 2021 22:48:37
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    On Apr 10, 2021, Steve Nickolas wrote
    (in article<alpine.DEB.2.21.2104102048001.28031@sd-119843.dedibox.fr>):

    On Sat, 10 Apr 2021, D Finnigan wrote:

    paul.s.m...@gmail.com wrote:
    Seriously, I feel like this got really bad when google switched to the new
    UX. Hey forum moderators.... is there something we can do ? Its like 75% of
    the posts here are junk.

    Because human beings have a fundamental, biological drive to communicate. Unfortunately, the world is full of idiots who feel an urge to communicate their idiocy.

    -/

    I have to killfile on certain subject lines. I call it "The Italian
    Filter".

    -uso.

    What newsreader are you using, I just started using Hogwasher on the Mac.

    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Steve Nickolas@usotsuki@buric.co to comp.sys.apple2 on Sunday, April 11, 2021 05:41:37
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    On Sat, 10 Apr 2021, yabiteme wrote:

    On Apr 10, 2021, Steve Nickolas wrote
    (in article<alpine.DEB.2.21.2104102048001.28031@sd-119843.dedibox.fr>):

    I have to killfile on certain subject lines. I call it "The Italian
    Filter".

    -uso.

    What newsreader are you using, I just started using Hogwasher on the Mac.

    Alpine.

    -uso.
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Jeff Blakeney@CUTjeffrey_blakeney@yahoo.ca to comp.sys.apple2 on Sunday, April 11, 2021 08:32:01
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    On 2021-04-10 6:33 p.m., paul.s.m...@gmail.com wrote:
    Seriously, I feel like this got really bad when google switched to
    the new UX. Hey forum moderators.... is there something we can do ?
    Its like 75% of the posts here are junk.

    I have seen a several per week but I don't know if I would say 75%.

    We've also had this conversation in the past. Usenet does not have any
    form of moderation regardless of whether you read it on Google Groups or
    not.

    I couldn't say how it correlates to the change in Google's UX as I don't
    use Google Groups.
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From David Schmidt@schmidtd@my-deja.com to comp.sys.apple2 on Sunday, April 11, 2021 15:45:48
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    On 4/10/21 8:48 PM, Steve Nickolas wrote:
    On Sat, 10 Apr 2021, D Finnigan wrote:

    paul.s.m...@gmail.com wrote:
    Seriously, I feel like this got really bad when google switched to
    the new
    UX. Hey forum moderators.... is there something we can do ? Its like 75% >>> of
    the posts here are junk.


    Because human beings have a fundamental, biological drive to communicate.
    Unfortunately, the world is full of idiots who feel an urge to
    communicate
    their idiocy.

    :-/

    I have to killfile on certain subject lines.  I call it "The Italian Filter".

    Thanks for the reminder. I use Thunderbird; they call it
    "Tools->Message Filters." I created one called "Italian Spam," and
    picked keywords that looked trigger-ish. Action is to delete messages,
    et voila, they disappear from my view.

    Heh heh. "Moderators." That's funny.
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Richard Thiebaud@thiebauddick2@aol.com to comp.sys.apple2 on Sunday, April 11, 2021 17:17:55
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    On 4/11/21 3:45 PM, David Schmidt wrote:
    On 4/10/21 8:48 PM, Steve Nickolas wrote:
    On Sat, 10 Apr 2021, D Finnigan wrote:

    paul.s.m...@gmail.com wrote:
    Seriously, I feel like this got really bad when google switched to
    the new
    UX. Hey forum moderators.... is there something we can do ? Its like
    75%
    of
    the posts here are junk.


    Because human beings have a fundamental, biological drive to
    communicate.
    Unfortunately, the world is full of idiots who feel an urge to
    communicate
    their idiocy.

    :-/

    I have to killfile on certain subject lines.  I call it "The Italian
    Filter".

    Thanks for the reminder.  I use Thunderbird; they call it
    "Tools->Message Filters."  I created one called "Italian Spam," and
    picked keywords that looked trigger-ish.  Action is to delete messages,
    et voila, they disappear from my view.

    Heh heh.  "Moderators."  That's funny.
    What keywords did you use?
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Steve Nickolas@usotsuki@buric.co to comp.sys.apple2 on Sunday, April 11, 2021 18:50:12
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    This message is in MIME format. The first part should be readable text,
    while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools.

    --8323329-54491636-1618181325=:31759
    Content-Type: text/plain; CHARSET=ISO-8859-15; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE
    Content-ID: <alpine.DEB.2.21.2104111849021.31759@sd-119843.dedibox.fr>

    On Sun, 11 Apr 2021, Richard Thiebaud wrote:

    On 4/11/21 3:45 PM, David Schmidt wrote:
    On 4/10/21 8:48 PM, Steve Nickolas wrote:
    On Sat, 10 Apr 2021, D Finnigan wrote:
    =20
    paul.s.m...@gmail.com wrote:
    Seriously, I feel like this got really bad when google switched to th= e=20
    new
    UX. Hey forum moderators.... is there something we can do ? Its like = 75%
    of
    the posts here are junk.
    =20
    =20
    Because human beings have a fundamental, biological drive to communica= te.
    Unfortunately, the world is full of idiots who feel an urge to=20
    communicate
    their idiocy.
    =20
    :-/
    =20
    I have to killfile on certain subject lines.=A0 I call it "The Italian=
    =20
    Filter".
    =20
    Thanks for the reminder.=A0 I use Thunderbird; they call it "Tools->Mess= age=20
    Filters."=A0 I created one called "Italian Spam," and picked keywords th= at=20
    looked trigger-ish.=A0 Action is to delete messages, et voila, they disa= ppear=20
    from my view.
    =20
    Heh heh.=A0 "Moderators."=A0 That's funny.
    What keywords did you use?

    I use "ASSASSINO", "PEDOFILO", "PEDOFILI" and "FIGLIO DI PUTTANA" ("son of=
    =20
    a bitch", I think, judging by the similar phrases in Spanish and=20
    Portuguese) so far, adding terms as needed.

    -uso.
    --8323329-54491636-1618181325=:31759--
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Scott Alfter@scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us to comp.sys.apple2 on Monday, April 12, 2021 17:54:13
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    In article <s4uq83$q1h$1@dont-email.me>,
    Jeff Blakeney <CUTjeffrey_blakeney@yahoo.ca> wrote:
    We've also had this conversation in the past. Usenet does not have any
    form of moderation regardless of whether you read it on Google Groups or >not.

    A small number of groups are (or were) moderated. Posts to those groups are emailed to the moderator for approval; only the moderator is allowed to post directly to the group.

    It's been so long since I've subscribed to a moderated group that I can't
    think of one to name as an example. :-) Something tells me rec.arts.startrek.info might have been one. I think there was also a
    moderated group somewhere under rec.humor.*.

    comp.sys.apple2, of course, isn't one of those moderated groups.

    _/_
    / v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
    (IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
    \_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From David Schmidt@schmidtd@my-deja.com to comp.sys.apple2 on Monday, April 12, 2021 14:06:00
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    On 4/12/21 1:54 PM, Scott Alfter wrote:
    In article <s4uq83$q1h$1@dont-email.me>,
    [...]
    It's been so long since I've subscribed to a moderated group that I can't think of one to name as an example. :-) Something tells me rec.arts.startrek.info might have been one. I think there was also a moderated group somewhere under rec.humor.*.

    rec.humor.funny was/is moderated, vs. plain old rec.humor (haven't
    visited since the 90's)
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Jeff Blakeney@CUTjeffrey_blakeney@yahoo.ca to comp.sys.apple2 on Monday, April 12, 2021 22:26:12
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    On 2021-04-12 1:54 p.m., Scott Alfter wrote:
    A small number of groups are (or were) moderated. Posts to those groups are emailed to the moderator for approval; only the moderator is allowed to post directly to the group.

    It's been so long since I've subscribed to a moderated group that I can't think of one to name as an example. :-) Something tells me rec.arts.startrek.info might have been one. I think there was also a moderated group somewhere under rec.humor.*.

    Never heard of a moderated usenet newsgroup before (or I did but it was
    so long ago I forgot about it :) but I just did a quick Google search
    and sure enough, usenet does have support for it.

    I'm not sure I would ever want to write a usenet server knowing that it
    is the server's responsibility to e-mail the moderator address instead
    of just posting to the group.

    I haven't looked at the specifications of a usenet server but it seems
    like it wouldn't be too hard to get around the limitation of the
    moderator being the only one to allow posts. You can create a server
    that doesn't honour the "e-mail instead of post" thing and, if needed,
    fake the headers to look like it is coming from the moderator using the headers from messages already in the newsgroup.

    comp.sys.apple2, of course, isn't one of those moderated groups.

    Most usenet newsgroups aren't moderated.

    Also, as the original post was about getting rid of spam, even in a
    moderated group, if the moderators let something through by mistake,
    there isn't much that can be done to remove it. A delete request can be
    sent but it won't necessarily be done by all servers.
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From awanderin@awanderin@gmail.com to comp.sys.apple2 on Monday, April 12, 2021 21:33:37
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    Scott Alfter <scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us> writes:

    In article <s4uq83$q1h$1@dont-email.me>,
    Jeff Blakeney <CUTjeffrey_blakeney@yahoo.ca> wrote:
    We've also had this conversation in the past. Usenet does not have any >>form of moderation regardless of whether you read it on Google Groups or >>not.

    A small number of groups are (or were) moderated. Posts to those groups are emailed to the moderator for approval; only the moderator is allowed to post directly to the group.

    It's been so long since I've subscribed to a moderated group that I can't think of one to name as an example. :-) Something tells me rec.arts.startrek.info might have been one. I think there was also a moderated group somewhere under rec.humor.*.

    comp.sys.apple2, of course, isn't one of those moderated groups.

    _/_
    / v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
    (IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
    \_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

    comp.compilers is moderated. It's an interesting group if you are
    interested in writing compilers.

    --
    --
    Jerry awanderin at gmail dot com
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Tempest@reichert2084@gmail.com to comp.sys.apple2 on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 07:40:38
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    I'm just curious as to why this started all the sudden and why they're spamming an old computer group. I assume it's some bot that just blasts this out to all newsgroups, but it's still weird. I use Google Groups so I can report the message as spam and it wont show up again, but it doesn't seem to stop new ones from appearing. Too bad you can't block users as they all seem to be coming from the same three or four people.
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From D Finnigan@dog_cow@macgui.com to comp.sys.apple2 on Thursday, April 15, 2021 22:57:26
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    Tempest wrote:
    I'm just curious as to why this started all the sudden and why they're spamming an old computer group. I assume it's some bot that just blasts
    this out to all newsgroups, but it's still weird.

    Earlier this summer I was curious and spent some time investigating, but not too much time, because the way to win when you're on the receiving side of
    spam is to spend less time than the spammer. If you're spending more time fighting spam than the spammers are in sending the stuff, you're the loser.

    Anyway...

    I think it's less likely a bot and more likely some Italian retiree with too much time on his hands. I noticed that the messages only hit certain Big-8 hierarchies. If you're running a bot, why not hit every newsgroup in the
    Big-8? I also noticed that there's a handful of Google accounts. Likely the
    guy creates new accounts every so often as old ones are terminated. He
    likely also uses various proxies.

    The fact that this guy is posting to Usenet at all says quite a lot about
    his age, demographics, and interests.

    These spam posts were ending up at my Mac GUI Usenet archive so of course I added some keywords to my spam filter and his posts are no longer archived
    at all on Mac GUI.

    But there was a time when they were.... and I received perhaps half a dozen
    or so "take down" requests which purportedly came from an Italian law firm.
    So there are two sides to this story. On the receiving side of these Italian spams is some person who would prefer that these spams not be published at
    all! And this guy is using a Google search (I presume) to find web sites
    such as mine which were archiving these messages.

    Now I don't care whether his Italian law firm is legitimately representing
    this guy or not. The messages are off-topic in every newsgroup, serve no
    useful purpose to anyone, and I have no desire to pay my ISP for the server space to store this junk. So I've deleted all the messages without question.

    But like I said, the way to win the spam fighting battle is to be the person who spends the least amount of time at it.

    --
    ]DF$
    The New Apple II User's Guide:
    https://macgui.com/newa2guide/

    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Erik Struiksma@eriknoc@gmail.com to comp.sys.apple2 on Saturday, April 24, 2021 02:17:26
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    On Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 5:57:28 PM UTC-5, D Finnigan wrote:
    Tempest wrote:
    I'm just curious as to why this started all the sudden and why they're spamming an old computer group. I assume it's some bot that just blasts this out to all newsgroups, but it's still weird.
    Earlier this summer I was curious and spent some time investigating, but not too much time, because the way to win when you're on the receiving side of spam is to spend less time than the spammer. If you're spending more time fighting spam than the spammers are in sending the stuff, you're the loser.

    Anyway...

    I think it's less likely a bot and more likely some Italian retiree with too much time on his hands. I noticed that the messages only hit certain Big-8 hierarchies. If you're running a bot, why not hit every newsgroup in the Big-8? I also noticed that there's a handful of Google accounts. Likely the guy creates new accounts every so often as old ones are terminated. He likely also uses various proxies.

    The fact that this guy is posting to Usenet at all says quite a lot about his age, demographics, and interests.

    These spam posts were ending up at my Mac GUI Usenet archive so of course I added some keywords to my spam filter and his posts are no longer archived at all on Mac GUI.

    But there was a time when they were.... and I received perhaps half a dozen or so "take down" requests which purportedly came from an Italian law firm. So there are two sides to this story. On the receiving side of these Italian spams is some person who would prefer that these spams not be published at all! And this guy is using a Google search (I presume) to find web sites such as mine which were archiving these messages.

    Now I don't care whether his Italian law firm is legitimately representing this guy or not. The messages are off-topic in every newsgroup, serve no useful purpose to anyone, and I have no desire to pay my ISP for the server space to store this junk. So I've deleted all the messages without question.

    But like I said, the way to win the spam fighting battle is to be the person who spends the least amount of time at it.

    --
    ]DF$
    The New Apple II User's Guide:
    https://macgui.com/newa2guide/


    I've been reporting these to Google as spam. It removes them on my end. Not sure if it removes them for everyone else though. I haven't been in here for a week or 2 though. I'm gonna do another round of reporting right now.
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From Steven Hirsch@snhirsch@gmail.com to comp.sys.apple2 on Saturday, April 24, 2021 09:21:29
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    On 4/24/21 5:17 AM, Erik Struiksma wrote:


    I've been reporting these to Google as spam. It removes them on my end.
    Not sure if it removes them for everyone else though. I haven't been in
    here for a week or 2 though. I'm gonna do another round of reporting right now.


    Since I get my newsgroups from a non-Google NNTP server your efforts, while appreciated, have no impact. If you can trace back to this person's ISP you might have better luck taking on the sending end.
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From matthe...@gmail.com@matthewmpower@gmail.com to comp.sys.apple2 on Saturday, April 24, 2021 18:56:47
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    I don't know any way to combat this intrusion save for reporting as spam to Google. But I am pretty sure doing so only affects my personal account. Honestly, I worry that it will destroy this very excellent news group that I read often.
    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113
  • From spectrumdaddy@spectrumdaddy@nospam.com (Ewen) to comp.sys.apple2 on Sunday, April 25, 2021 08:05:10
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    matthe...@gmail.com <matthewmpower@gmail.com> wrote:

    I don't know any way to combat this intrusion save for reporting as spam
    to Google. But I am pretty sure doing so only affects my personal account. Honestly, I worry that it will destroy this very excellent news group that
    I read often.

    As Steven has said, not all people, including me, get their Useent news
    via Google. I get mine through Astraweb.

    Usenet is not a controlled system, and there are hundreds of access
    points to what is in effect a very large Bulletin Board. Google is only
    one of these access points. Messages entered into the group on one
    server, are automatically migrated to the same group on the others.

    As there are no moderators for this group, the only way to deal with
    thesen messages is to ignore them, or setup a filter on your newsreader
    to weed out any messages with some of the keywords in their subject
    lines.

    Cheers - Ewen
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  • From Scott Alfter@scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us to comp.sys.apple2 on Monday, April 26, 2021 21:46:52
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.apple2

    In article <63ef6caf-3098-45a3-939b-d2e35f87691an@googlegroups.com>,
    Erik Struiksma <eriknoc@gmail.com> wrote:
    I've been reporting these to Google as spam. It removes them on my end.
    Not sure if it removes them for everyone else though.

    Since Google doesn't run Usenet (nobody does...it's a decentralized network, like Bitcoin), the answer to that question would be "no."

    _/_
    / v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
    (IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
    \_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

    --- Synchronet 3.18b-Win32 NewsLink 1.113