Cross Post Warning

Somehow a post of mine got cross posted to another similar website without my knowledge or permission:

Assignment Errors - C Programming

It also looks like I am member there; I am not. I don't understand how this could have
happened. I emailed the Webmaster here.

I accidentally found it when I googled my nick today when this site was down. Others may
beware of this, that their posts here may be highjacked to another website as a cross post.

And for future reference, this is the only C programming board that I am a member of.
Thanks.

Lots of scumbags harvest posts off other boards when they start out so it looks like they actually have traffic. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Rags_to_Riches, I am happy that you were the first to reply. Because I noticed that you warned in another thread (compiler errors) of a crosspost.

I gave the link of my thread that was cross posted. How can you tell whether a member here
actually does a cross post, or whether it was done without their knowledge?

I suspect that most cross posts are done by new members here with a very low post count
of 1 or 2.

Thanks for your help! :-)

http://cboard.cprogramming.com/c-pro...n-numbers.html
How can i make a program that converts Arabic Numbers to Roman Numbers - C Programming

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How can you tell whether a member here
actually does a cross post, or whether it was done without their knowledge?

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He can't. It's just that we are aware of other, actually popular sites and people are too lame to be inconspicuous.

Duly noted and moved to General Discussions

Hey, thanks for reporting. I have removed the thread and I see that this are some users who makes such posts to increase the post count and then they can spam with links (We do not allow links until user has few posts) and as you said you are not the member of my forum so I banned the user and removed the thread.

Do let me know if you see some more such incidents and I will be more than happy to ban the IPs as well.

This would not happen if everyone used CBoard.

I don't think I buy it; I think MY explanation is the right one. I think you needed to look like you had content, so you harvested some from here with a bot. I could be wrong, but the duplicated posts I see are single posters over there. Doesn't jibe with your explanation.

The following threads are all duped over there.

http://cboard.cprogramming.com/c-pro...on-method.html
http://cboard.cprogramming.com/c-pro...uld-i-use.html
http://cboard.cprogramming.com/c-pro...condition.html
http://cboard.cprogramming.com/c-pro...ion-steps.html

It's a bot for sure.

Confusions regarding the GCC compilation steps - C Programming
Bit operations on different datatypes - C Programming
Access violation writing location 0x00000004. - C Programming
Need help for repetition method! - C Programming

1. Sequential post ID's
2. Sequential user ID's
3. All posted on 09-08-2010, 12:28 PM


CFanatic - View Profile: Salem
........ off

Hey! They have the candy enabled! :D

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Originally Posted by shabbirbhimani

I see that this are some users who makes such posts to increase the post count and then they can spam with links

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You have some dozy users if they make posts under different user names to increase their own post count.

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Originally Posted by Salem

It's a bot for sure.

Confusions regarding the GCC compilation steps - C Programming
Bit operations on different datatypes - C Programming
Access violation writing location 0x00000004. - C Programming
Need help for repetition method! - C Programming

1. Sequential post ID's
2. Sequential user ID's
3. All posted on 09-08-2010, 12:28 PM


CFanatic - View Profile: Salem
........ off

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Given the scope of this at hand, I wouldn't be surprised if our Webmaster has
his own account there too! (without his knowing it) :-D

We have never done any harvesting and I investigated the ips of those user and it looks like some bots from Russia.

We have a plugin where user is not allowed to post links before few posts and so I assume this is done for that reason.

We had similar issue on go4expert and we had to ban the ips of the server where we had such programs.

Looks like it is now this forum.

I have blocked most of those type of ips and do let me know ( By PM here or even by forum reporting feature my forum ) and I will be more than happy to take such things down.

Just how rubbish is your "security" that some random bot (not controlled by you) can register and post at will?

I looked at your registration page, and it needs both a valid email address AND a CAPTCHA phrase. I'm also guessing here that you also send a confirmation email with a link that must be clicked before allowing a post.

Here's a heuristic for you.
If something clicks on the registration page, "registers", "presses the confirm link" and presses "submit post" all within say 30 seconds, then assume it is a bot and deal with it. No actual human could manage all that in less than 90 seconds - probably longer (try it).

What about those links we've highlighted?
a) you haven't taken them down yet
b) what do the registration IP addresses and email addresses tell you?

What is your background joining rate for new members? I'm guessing that you never get anywhere near "4 in one minute", so that should be another red flag in your system.

Updating to a newer version of vbulletin wouldn't be a bad idea either.


Maybe one of your members has something to do with it.

http://cboard.cprogramming.com/cplus...-swapping.html
compare with
bitwise hack for swapping - C++ Programming
Now I wonder where the reply on your cloned thread came from :rolleyes:

They're not above copy/pasting answers from someone else without due credit as well.

lolz, I didn't know people could be so desperate as to steal posts from other forums (but not the answers), so they can reply to it themselves, because they're lonely on their board. Then they come over to where they stole from when caught, to try to diplomatically lie their way out of it. :p

:p

Forums like that are already doomed to failure of course. Can you imagine a forum where the host himself/herself is adept of stealing content from other sources? Such attitudes reveal a lot about many other aspects of someone's character. So, I can only imagine the quality of post moderation in that forum, for instance. Ultimately this would also impact the type of people interested in that forum.

Our gremlin there ins't even very intelligent about how he does these things. So this is probably another wannaby with misplaced dreams of grandeur that a web forum would somehow give him the virtual prestige he so desires. That feeling tends to sprout from too much roaming around IRC, web forums and others, where he secretly swoons to the power of moderators and administrators, and knowing he doesn't have the muscle and brains to climb his way the ladder on those places, decides the best way to boss someone is to start their own stupid little forum.

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Originally Posted by Salem

I looked at your registration page, and it needs both a valid email address AND a CAPTCHA phrase. I'm also guessing here that you also send a confirmation email with a link that must be clicked before allowing a post.

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We never had that and it is done as of now. This was suppose to be a dead forum for a long time. Started quote some time back and nothing much activity till now because we have few other forums where we work on.

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a) you haven't taken them down yet

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I have taken the one you said and do let me know and I am more than happy to do that.

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b) what do the registration IP addresses and email addresses tell you?

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Some bots.

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Updating to a newer version of vbulletin wouldn't be a bad idea either.

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We have moved to vb3.7 and I have not plans to make it to 4 as it is itself a piece of crap.

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Maybe one of your members has something to do with it.

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Yes and the reason is the competition. See the announcement and I am not willing to put the link here once again.

I am in a bad shape to explain things but only thing I can give is this was almost dead forum and so nothing much has happened apart from bot activity and if you see it do report and I am more than happy to bring it down.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by shabbirbhimani

I am in a bad shape to explain things but only thing I can give is this was almost dead forum and so nothing much has happened apart from bot activity and if you see it do report and I am more than happy to bring it down.

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''Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive''

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-Sir Walter Scott 1808