The Boston Diaries

The ongoing saga of a programmer who doesn't live in Boston, nor does he even like Boston, but yet named his weblog/journal “The Boston Diaries.”

Go figure.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Spammers—can't live with them, can't take them out behind the shed with a sawed off double barrel shotgun …

I got my very first comment spam today, on my LiveJournal account (which has since been deleted):

XXXXXXXX gives users access to some of the best games and reviews online. No need to waste your time looking for your arcade fix. XXXXXXXX.com is the hub of online gaming. Flash, Java and Shockwave powered high-quality games, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! If you're not sure, you can choose trial!!! Vizit http://XXXXXXXXXXXX/

When I saw that it was authenticated through OpenID (see also: Wikipedia) my initial thoughts were: OpenID is dead. It's just too easy for spammers to set up self-authorizing hosts (or obtain “accounts” at AOL or even LiveJournal).

Perhaps I'm overreacting. Perhaps spammers are only targetting accounts with no (or very little) activity on them (I have the account to respond to friends who do use LiveJournal; my posting an entry once-per-year is mostly a joke). But I do expect to see more and more of this in the future.

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[The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades]

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Obligatory Feeds

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You have my permission to link freely to any entry here. Go ahead, I won't bite. I promise.

The dates are the permanent links to that day's entries (or entry, if there is only one entry). The titles are the permanent links to that entry only. The format for the links are simple: Start with the base link for this site: https://boston.conman.org/, then add the date you are interested in, say 2000/08/01, so that would make the final URL:

https://boston.conman.org/2000/08/01

You can also specify the entire month by leaving off the day portion. You can even select an arbitrary portion of time.

You may also note subtle shading of the links and that's intentional: the “closer” the link is (relative to the page) the “brighter” it appears. It's an experiment in using color shading to denote the distance a link is from here. If you don't notice it, don't worry; it's not all that important.

It is assumed that every brand name, slogan, corporate name, symbol, design element, et cetera mentioned in these pages is a protected and/or trademarked entity, the sole property of its owner(s), and acknowledgement of this status is implied.

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