fredk Report post Posted March 16, 2019 (edited) I keep a window open on 'all activity' so I can scroll thru to see whats going on in different areas. I've noticed that over the last couple of weeks about 4 dozen or more members have changed their Profile pictures. The changes seem to come in blocks, of 4 or 5 at a time, somes 3 and occasionally just 1 at a time Two things almost all these members have in common is a. They joined in 2014, usually late, ie October/November/December. With a couple of exceptions of members who joined more recently b. They all have zero [0] activity ~ that is zero postings A third common thing is that they seem not to have been on here since about the time they joined ~ but that cannot be taken as accurate as my profile says I've not been on here since March 23 2016! I find it very strange that so many inactive members have all decided to change their Profile picture at the same time, Or is there something else going on? Edit; I just did a count. Since 07:00 [my time] yesterday 41 members changed their Profile photo. All but 2 of those had 0 [zero] activity, one had 1 posting and one had 4. Almost all those 41 joined in 2014, a couple joined in '16' or '17 or early '18 Edited March 16, 2019 by fredk Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chrisash Report post Posted March 16, 2019 Maybe connected to Brexit Fred, Everything else seems to be blamed on it Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt S Report post Posted March 16, 2019 I wonder how many of their IPs would resolve to Russia or China. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikesc Report post Posted March 16, 2019 Or Macedonia.. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38168281 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fredk Report post Posted March 16, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Matt S said: I wonder how many of their IPs would resolve to Russia or China. Assuming that none of the original posters were from there I wonder if this site has been hacked into Since I originally posted another 9 profiles have been changed ~ all have the same attributes as listed above - thats 50 in just about 30 hours Edit: I just sent a PM to Johanna. This activity is too suspicious for my liking Edited March 16, 2019 by fredk Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikesc Report post Posted March 16, 2019 Some ( sleeper spammers ) work in large co-ordinated groups..you can rent such groups from various places all over the world..India and The Philippines, also Indonesia are favourite places..Black-Hat boards are full of "rent a spam network" services..A bit like "mechanical turk" from Amazon.. You can hire real people ( in teams or singly ) to defeat captchas for a cent or two per "gig".. Don't need to be hacked to have some dodgy profiles on sites with as many members as this one..membership count must be around 80K or higher by now.. Over half of Facebook is bots.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johanna Report post Posted March 16, 2019 Thanks for the alert. I'm on it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SilverForgeStudio Report post Posted March 16, 2019 Wonder if this has any connection to the thread Harry in Bermuda had with a "leatherworker" file of late trying to install... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bermudahwin Report post Posted March 16, 2019 Good memory SFS The mp3 file seems to have been okay, just not on my machine, with no sound card, therefore a block on mp3s. H Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johanna Report post Posted March 16, 2019 There is no leatherworker.mp3 I suspect some random file borrowed the name. We recently did some updates on the forum, and there are a number of clean up routines the system runs in the background afterwards when the forum isn't busy. What Fredk witnessed was the databases restoring themselves. They are being cleaned automatically of orphan pics and posts. This is just maintenance. You may notice a few anomalies over while the databases run their programs, but it will straighten itself out soon. Keep the comments and updates coming! I depend on you folks to alert me to problems before they get out of hand. LW has grown to huge chunk on the Internet, and I can't watch all of it at once. Members that care are the only way I can stay on top of it. Thank you! PS Mikesc- have not forgotten you. Getting some info so I can ask the right questions and give you the relevant info. Your assistance has been invaluable. >smooch< Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bermudahwin Report post Posted March 16, 2019 @Johanna Your hard work is very much appreciated, I enjoy LW net, and understand that the task of keeping it going is huge. Thank you, Johanna Harry Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikesc Report post Posted March 16, 2019 " Blushes".. You are more than welcome Johanna :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fredk Report post Posted March 16, 2019 Ah, good to know alls well that ends well in the state of Denmark but this is very midsummer madness. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
