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Post by northernfarmer on Sept 10, 2020 7:39:52 GMT -6
I sure see what you mean about that grain cart question and the photo used, very odd indeed as the photo is far too perfect for one thing but what he said doesn't add up very well. Like you others have said, it seems there are also members that appear to be from some time back and they are coming out of the woodwork, its certainly on the fishy side.
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Post by meskie on Sept 10, 2020 8:19:47 GMT -6
I counted this morning and there was 22 out of 35 threads started by new members on the new page.
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Post by Oatking on Sept 10, 2020 14:13:13 GMT -6
Farmers are quite a unique bunch and it is usually quite easy to spot a imposter farmer.
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Post by Lucas @ Wilger on Sept 10, 2020 14:40:29 GMT -6
Yeah. Weirder thing is that if you take a look at the IP addresses that they register from and use, sometimes they are way different as well, which would point to a VPN being used to change the location/country. Seems like all the 'questionable' posters come from nowhere, register (and add picture), have an 'odd' name, and registered minutes before their post was made. (Still have like secret mod status or something, so I can at least see whether an account uses a weird IP from a dif country that where they seem to be, use multiple IPs from around the world, or if there are exact IP addresses used between different account - e.g. if someone was using multiple accounts with different names, from the same computer/IP)
Another set seem like they are accounts from years (like SEVERAL years) old, that haven't been on the forums at all since that time, with 0 posts, and now started either liking other people's posts or posing new questions, or straight up resurrecting ancient threads with either a meaningless comment or reitteration of the problem, asking for help.
Apart from a few guys, I don't see much for responses from the initial threads either, even when someone has responded with a useful response.
Kinda fishy indeed.
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Post by kevlar on Sept 10, 2020 15:11:49 GMT -6
I almost wonder if there is like a call centre type of place that companies hire to go on these forums and do this to make them look busier than they are. There is big money to be made on forums with advertising and such, it might be a possibility. Companies used to (and still do I guess) hire telemarketing call centres, this would be no different really.
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Post by Lucas @ Wilger on Sept 10, 2020 15:34:26 GMT -6
Yup, its especially tough when a lot of guys I know don't have the best typing skills, so you wouldn't be able to tell their posts from an offshore telemarketer worker. lol
It seems like a lot of those international types with less english skills use a lot of periods and commas with spaces in the wrong spots. But again, there are probably a lot of older posters too that should be commended even getting logged into the forums. lol
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Post by northernfarmer on Sept 10, 2020 16:11:28 GMT -6
Lucas, is there a way of figuring out if a long time member who has not been active for years and then suddenly appears to have fallen out of the sky onto that forum and made a post, is instead someone in the background taking over these members profiles ?. It just seems too far fetched to be "normal" for multiple long time members but inactive for years to all pop out all at once. Reminds me of an old horror movie where corpses are rising out of the graves because the Martains have landed and are controlling the dead bodies to do their dirty work.
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Post by Lucas @ Wilger on Sept 10, 2020 16:15:58 GMT -6
Eh, not really. from what I can see from the back end, the IP history kind of stuff just started getting recorded when VerticalScope bought the site/etc, so not sure how far back it goes.
Not a ton of info, but sure as heck if you are showing that your location is Canada, and your account was registered in China and posting from China, you are starting to smell a little bit fishy. Don't think you can see anything through VPN though. Like when Chagit was on the site and that kind of stuff, I reckon he/she was just using a VPN. I couldn't do anything about that shenganigans though, as I only have mod actions on a few of the subforums, so I can only get rid of spammers/bots/instigators on the few forums.
All in all, I still do what I can to keep things clean, but kinda busy to play babysitter, especially for TCF. I still don't abuse anything there though.
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warreng
Full Member
Posts: 119 Likes: 8
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Post by warreng on Sept 10, 2020 16:18:11 GMT -6
which would point to a VPN being used to change the location/country. Seems like all the 'questionable' posters come from nowhere, register (and add picture), have an 'odd' name, and registered minutes before their post was made. (Still have like secret mod status or something, so I can at least see whether an account uses a weird IP from a dif country that where they seem to be, use multiple IPs from around the world, or if there are exact IP addresses used between different account - e.g. if someone was using multiple accounts with different names, from the same computer/IP) a suitable vpn would have multiple users with the same ip address, as data would be redirected from/to that particular computer, depending on the provider used ... most are not within north america, for example this ip address is 37.120.192.38 [it will show as in the netherlands], which is not my 'actual' or 'home' ip address ...
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Post by cptusa on Sept 10, 2020 18:05:53 GMT -6
Yeah, so like you guys say my profile over there says I'm "viewing content"... little hard to do when I can't do anything.
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Post by Lucas @ Wilger on Sept 11, 2020 8:39:51 GMT -6
which would point to a VPN being used to change the location/country. Seems like all the 'questionable' posters come from nowhere, register (and add picture), have an 'odd' name, and registered minutes before their post was made. (Still have like secret mod status or something, so I can at least see whether an account uses a weird IP from a dif country that where they seem to be, use multiple IPs from around the world, or if there are exact IP addresses used between different account - e.g. if someone was using multiple accounts with different names, from the same computer/IP) a suitable vpn would have multiple users with the same ip address, as data would be redirected from/to that particular computer, depending on the provider used ... most are not within north america, for example this ip address is 37.120.192.38 [it will show as in the netherlands], which is not my 'actual' or 'home' ip address ...
Yup, there are a few users that seem to use the same VPN service/server address, but most of those have a good mix of solid users and new users, so less likely that they were account-hopping.
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Post by stonevalley on Sept 11, 2020 14:54:32 GMT -6
It's unfortunate that there are so many new posters at one time on that forum. It makes me question every new post as to its sincerity, when really I should be assuming every post is genuine. Have to learn to be more trusting, I guess.
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Post by Beerwiser on Sept 11, 2020 16:08:03 GMT -6
Welcome over Stone valley. From the questions I have seen lately they are all bogus not to mention all the new users showing up all of a sudden. If they were real, they would ask here in my opinion.
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Post by meskie on Sept 11, 2020 16:15:28 GMT -6
It’s also the way the questions are worded.
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Post by stonevalley on Sept 11, 2020 17:23:37 GMT -6
Thanks beerweiser.... I hope that more come over here, or that the other forum gets its act together. Unfortunately this forum so far gets very little traffic, probably because it does not yet show up in Google results
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