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Thread: Has anyone else noticed this
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09-10-2012, 11:10 AM #1Junior Guru Wannabe
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Has anyone else noticed this
In the shared hosting section, there appears to be an automated robot timed to make periodical replies to users posting in that section.
The username is "tonygol". Even though from what I've seen, this "ghost" user has made hundreds, if not thousands of posts in reply to offers in that section, his posting record still reads "0".
The same response is generated over and over again:
Interested in your shared hosting deal.
Can you please list the geographical location of the server, which data center and the c-class ip ?
This leads me to my question:
Why is WebHostingTalk conducting such practices?
Is this a way to mislead people into thinking a lot more people look for offers in that section than actually do, thus enticing them towards purchasing a premium membership?
Your thoughts please.
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09-10-2012, 11:14 AM #2Web Hosting Master
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Can you provide a link? Have you reported any of these posts with the mods? Strange to think this would come from WHT itself, what makes you think it were?
Last edited by Michaelz; 09-10-2012 at 11:14 AM. Reason: typo
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09-10-2012, 11:22 AM #3WHT Addict
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09-10-2012, 11:22 AM #4Junior Guru Wannabe
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Here's the first link posted on 09/06/12 at: 7.47pm.
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1189234
Here's another one posted on 09/05/12 at: 11.41pm.
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1189162
Here's another one posted on 09/05/12 at: 12.23am
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1188604
Each post is the exact same question and the users posts remain at 0.
This automated "tonygol" profile literally goes back thousands of posts.
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09-10-2012, 11:22 AM #5Temporarily Suspended
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Had him reply to at least one of our threads. Answered him. Weird to see someone replying to a lot of threads like that.
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09-10-2012, 11:26 AM #6Junior Guru Wannabe
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09-10-2012, 11:26 AM #7Managed VPS Experts
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Just search the first line of his replies and you will get many results. I think it's SPAM personally.
- Daniel
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09-10-2012, 11:27 AM #8Junior Guru Wannabe
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09-10-2012, 11:28 AM #9Web Hosting Master
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Hello,
I highly doubt it is a robot, there is only 1 bot on this forum (and it is clearly identified as the WHT welcome bot).
As far as the post count, there are sections where posts do not count towards your post count, the offers section is one of them.
I also fail to see how this would somehow pertains to a ploy to get people to buy a premium membership.
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09-10-2012, 11:39 AM #10Web Hosting Industry Expert
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Is it WHT? No. Is it a bot? Possibly - but not one owned/operated by iNet. Should you report it? Sure.
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09-10-2012, 11:39 AM #11Junior Guru Wannabe
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09-10-2012, 11:43 AM #12Retired Moderator
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I think that's a bit of a crazy assumption
I'm pretty sure it's not a bot. It appears to be somebody looking for perhaps a number of different accounts across varying IP ranges and locations, or just pinging a number of IP's before making a choice on a host.
Neither is anything new, it's just a little odd to reply to so many offer threads.
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09-10-2012, 11:46 AM #13Junior Guru Wannabe
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09-10-2012, 11:47 AM #14Web Hosting Master
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This type of posting reminds me of those hundreds of "looking for a new host" OPs that have the same style username and content.
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09-10-2012, 11:48 AM #15Web Hosting Master
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And you claim that based on what?
The member has 22 posts and registered a month ago. His post count is 0 because he is replying only in advertisement forums. Posts don't count in ad forums.
And before accusing WHT of "conducting such practices" maybe you should provide some more proof of your accusations?█ Fraud Record - Stop Fraud Clients, Report Abusive Customers.
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09-10-2012, 11:48 AM #16Web Hosting Master
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09-10-2012, 11:59 AM #17Junior Guru Wannabe
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09-10-2012, 12:35 PM #18WHT Addict
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It's actually not uncommon for forum administrators/owners to create "staged" usernames and posts to encourage discussion (or pay for another individual to do so..), and I've had owners of large communities admit this to me and sniffed out a few instances myself on other boards. Usually, this is done at a forum community's birth to help it grow.. though, of course, it can certainly be done during maturity as well.
That said, based on this situation alone, there isn't really any solid evidence that WHT is involved in such practices. Yes, "tonygol" is an odd one, but robot posters do some pretty crazy things.. check that - robot AND regular, human posters do some pretty crazy things.
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09-10-2012, 12:45 PM #19Retired Moderator
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09-10-2012, 01:21 PM #20Dennis Johnson
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09-10-2012, 01:23 PM #21Dennis Johnson
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But, to answer your questions ---
Why is WebHostingTalk conducting such practices?
Is this a way to mislead people into thinking a lot more people look for offers in that section than actually do, thus enticing them towards purchasing a premium membership?There is no best host. There is only the host that's best for you.
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09-10-2012, 01:24 PM #22Web Hosting Master
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09-10-2012, 09:54 PM #23WHT Addict
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09-10-2012, 10:01 PM #24Junior Guru
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I'm highly confused at why someone would immediately leap to the conclusion that any poster is a bot and that the forum you're posting on is trying to scam and then post on that same forum said theory. Isn't that a little self-defeating?
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09-10-2012, 11:53 PM #25Web Hosting Master
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It is difficult to say, I do suspect there are some bots operating on WHT, or those with intelligence of a bot, and this could possibly be one. Summarizing algorithms and code to emulate chat are freely available.
However, on that same argument, a lot of hosts that reply to reviews with "Thanks for the review", reply to "i need hosting at [non-US] location]" with "will [US location] work?", or *any* request for host recommendation with a further clarification could be mistaken for bots, but clearly not bots and at least this posters pollution is limited to the ad forums.
I think WHT just needs to knock pointless fluff on the head and bots (if we ever confirm existence) will be taken care (warned/banned), although I have feeling the powers that be (investors) still judge total posts (whilst individual users post count isnt affected by ad-forum I believe the code doesnt touch total posts) and so forth as metric for valuating the site so there is a conflict there.MattF - Since the start..
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