[WikiEN-l] Our friends the spammers

[Durova]

> On 20/11/2007, Durova <nadezhda.durova at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-dark-side-of-wikipedia
>
> > And I nominated Rand's biography for deletion...
> > I've left a comment over at the blog.  Now, anyone care to chip in with
> the
> > work at WP:COIN?
>
>
> I must say, I was most impressed by the creativity of the
> "spamfighter" who found his own sockpuppets ...
>

The use of trojan accounts for both internet abuse and abuse fighting has a
long and storied history.
Female account names and IRC nicks 18 years ago were a world-class hacker
honeypot method.
******
So I'm a hacker honeypot?

Seriously, if anyone doubts why I admin coach sleuths, or spend time at
COIN, or do outreach to the SEO world - I think that one blog explains the
reason.

A lot of these people underestimate the downside when they try back door
methods and overestimate their own skills at evading scrutiny.  Basically
they're risking their client list for a very small payout.  Wikipedia's
administrators aren't their real worry; the press is.  And their
competitors.  There are some sharky ways they could feed on each other;
these people haven't figured them out yet.  And heaven help me, I've charted
the scenarios.  Sooner or later someone else who's less nice than I am will
follow the same logical steps independently and eat their colleagues for
lunch.

I just want to reach the ones who are honest enough that they're reachable,
and save a lot of volunteer time by bringing them away from the dark side.

-Durova