My thread got cornfielded

[Saint_Cad]

Last night 10/25 I asked a question in GQ about coolant. This morning I was told it was an invalid thread when I had it on my screen last night and tried to refresh it. I’ve only seen that when the Mods get the order - make it disappear. I got no note from the mods and it was very innocuous so assuming the hamsters ate it and it was not a mod action, I posted the same question as a new thread.

I’m starting this thread to find out what happened to my post and give space to anyone else that had the same thing happen to theirs.

[engineer_comp_geek]

It was my fault. I had to delete about 150 threads due to a spammer this morning and yours got accidentally clicked on while doing so. My apologies. The thread has been restored.

[TriPolar]

Maybe it got consumed unintentionally when they cleared out the multitude of spammish posts last night.

ETA: turned out to be that

[TheCuse]

There was a ton of spam in GQ last night/early a.m. Maybe it got zapped by mistake?

EDIT: oopss–posted at the same time as mod.

[Saint_Cad]

Thanks ecg for the answer.
But now I’m curious. Did the spammer start all those threads because if so … 150? Damn.

[Colibri]

@Saint_Cad

Thanks ecg for the answer.
But now I’m curious. Did the spammer start all those threads because if so … 150? Damn.

Yes, it was the same spammer, mostly under one username (but with a few under a different one).

Sometimes when cleaning up after a Spamstorm there may be some collateral damage. Some years ago, we had spammers that would copy existing thread titles but incompletely. I admit I got such an itchy trigger finger I occasionally deleted real threads with misspellings in the titles or nonsensical ones, but usually caught the mistake before banning the poster. So be careful to make sure your thread titles are clear.

[jz78817]

I didn’t think to look at the time stamps, did they actually wait out the minimum time between posts?

[Colibri]

@jz78817

I didn’t think to look at the time stamps, did they actually wait out the minimum time between posts?

He took more than four hours to post all those threads, from 1:56 to 6:10, only to have them deleted before anyone but insomniacs saw them. Not exactly a time-effective business model. There were some gaps of several minutes at the beginning, but once he got going he posted a new thread every minute for hours, all with different titles (sometimes by only a few words).

[Peter_Morris]

@engineer_comp_geek

It was my fault. I had to delete about 150 threads due to a spammer this morning and yours got accidentally clicked on while doing so.

That’s interesting. I thought thread deletion happened automatically when you ban a spammer. You mean you have to delete them manually one by one?

[Colibri]

@Peter_Morris

That’s interesting. I thought thread deletion happened automatically when you ban a spammer. You mean you have to delete them manually one by one?

You can only do that for up to 50 threads.

[Broomstick]

@Colibri

He took more than four hours to post all those threads, from 1:56 to 6:10, only to have them deleted before anyone but insomniacs saw them. Not exactly a time-effective business model. There were some gaps of several minutes at the beginning, but once he got going he posted a new thread every minute for hours, all with different titles (sometimes by only a few words).

There was a sort of interesting thematic thing going on with them, too. I was sort of impressed, in an annoyed way. A lot of effort, even if there was a lot of cut-n-paste going on. Of course, once you clued into the theme you could skip most of the threads just based on title, so if the object was to get you to click and read it was not a successful tactic.

(I’m up at 2-4 am a lot due to often being assigned a very early shift at work, hence I saw it.)

[Aspidistra]

Yeah, I saw them too, because time zone.

I guess if you had an eidetic memory, that phone number would be firmly embedded by now…

[kopek]

@Aspidistra

Yeah, I saw them too, because time zone.

I guess if you had an eidetic memory, that phone number would be firmly embedded by now…

Like 867-5309?

[TokyoBayer]

@Colibri

He took more than four hours to post all those threads, from 1:56 to 6:10, only to have them deleted before anyone but insomniacs saw them.

As suspected, International Dopers are nobodies.

[Colibri]

@TokyoBayer

As suspected, International Dopers are nobodies.

Well, then, did Indian Voodoo solve your love problems?

[Cartooniverse]

@Colibri

Yes, it was the same spammer, mostly under one username (but with a few under a different one).

Sometimes when cleaning up after a Spamstorm there may be some collateral damage. Some years ago, we had spammers that would copy existing thread titles but incompletely. I admit I got such an itchy trigger finger I occasionally deleted real threads with misspellings in the titles or nonsensical ones, but usually caught the mistake before banning the poster. So be careful to make sure your thread titles are clear.

–Shudder–

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