{"id":194,"date":"2009-02-12T13:32:53","date_gmt":"2009-02-12T19:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/?p=194"},"modified":"2014-05-22T21:20:51","modified_gmt":"2014-05-23T02:20:51","slug":"project-upstream-and-the-salmon-spam-bots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepizzy.net\/blog\/2009\/02\/project-upstream-and-the-salmon-spam-bots\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Upstream and the *salmon “spam bots”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Well, last night was about the 7th time I’d been messaged by a salmon-themed screenname. The first time I was messaged, I asked if they were a bot, and got a response. However, since I have used the TrillAlice plugin<\/a> before for Trillian<\/a>, I knew that just because it responded with simple, yet pertinent answers, doesn’t mean it’s not a bot on the other end.<\/p>\n

So, after the first time, I replied with something ridiculous, usually “I want your body…in my mouth.” and then blocked the user, and closed the window…<\/p>\n

creepysalmon:<\/span> Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
\ncreepysalmon:<\/span> who the hell art thou?
\ncreepysalmon:<\/span> [[Neo]]?
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> ?
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> creepysalmon:<\/span> Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> Auto-response sent to creepysalmon:<\/span> Away since 6:54PM (GMT-6)
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> creepysalmon:<\/span> who the hell art thou?
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> creepysalmon:<\/span> [[Neo]]?
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> you started this…who are you?
\ncreepysalmon:<\/span> Looks like bots have gotten into Yahoo.
\ncreepysalmon:<\/span> Ah…
\ncreepysalmon:<\/span> it’s a bot.
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> yeah
\ncreepysalmon:<\/span> our apologies.
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> np
\ncreepysalmon:<\/span> [[Neo]]:<\/span> WE verily miss you. Dost thou ever think about the good times?
\ncreepysalmon:<\/span> how very droll!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Until last night, when I decided to await a response…<\/p>\n

liberatedsalmon:<\/span> I may be a robot, but if you say ‘domo arigato’ to me, I will hurt you.
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> domo arigato, beeyotch
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> I want your body…
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> in my mouth
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> huh?
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> http:\/\/[spamwebsite]\/debtfree
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> only if you get in my mouth
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> you first
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> so how come you’re creating all these *salmon screennames? do people really click your links?
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> huh?
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> how much of this conversation are you actually participating in?
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> on my end, you initiated it
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> wierd
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> liberatedsalmon:<\/span> I may be a robot, but if you say ‘domo arigato’ to me, I will hurt you.
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> [[Neo]]:<\/span> domo arigato, beeyotch
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> [[Neo]]:<\/span> I want your body…
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> [[Neo]]:<\/span> …in my mouth
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> liberatedsalmon:<\/span> huh?
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> liberatedsalmon:<\/span> http:\/\/[spamwebsite]\/debtfree
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> [[Neo]]:<\/span> only if you get in my mouth
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> you im’d me
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> what was my first sentence?
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> was it what I just sent you?
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> thats what poped up on my screen
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> you said lets play desert bus together.
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> can you copy the chat log from the beginning few lines, and send it to me?
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> my nic isnt salmon anything .. your’s is allergenicsalmon<\/span> though
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> interesting…I bet someone grabbed our screennames, and is proxying them to other people
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> my real one is “[[Neo]]”
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> allergenicsalmon:<\/span> Let’s play Desert Bus together! M.R.: huh?
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> mine’s M.R.
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> hmm…this is not the first time I’ve had a salmon derivative IM me
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> talking about seeing things in the clouds, or if I liked puppy dogs
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> http:\/\/profiles.yahoo.com\/liberatedsalmon
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> I wonder what ProjectU is, according to that profile
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> who knows
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> I’m investigating further…I’ll let you go since neither one of us started this conversation…maybe it’s an elaborate scheme to get people to meet people online :-p
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> hehe
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> definalty wierd
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> i’d say it was a hack attempt but i didnt get any links to click on
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> I got one from you
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> unless there’s an exploitable bug in the new yahoo IM
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> but I am not even using Yahoo Messenger
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> i usually use trillian
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> but i got yahoo messenger last week to test some web bits.
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> it has to be something inside the protocol for yahoo messenger…if I had to guess, I’d say someone set up a Jabber\/XMPP that connected to the yahoo IM service, and was using fake names to initiate connections to gleamed sn’s
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> I do too…Trillian Astra
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> i wonder if it has anything to do with the yahoobox you can add to your website
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> that thought kinda makes me interested in setting one up, just to try it, and solve the question that’s floating around the internet
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> probably not…at least not on my end – I don’t do hardly anything with yahoo and this screenname
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> I have to use it for work, but that has a different acct tied to it
\nliberatedsalmon:<\/span> well good luck!
\n[[Neo]]:<\/span> thanks<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After working out that neither of us started this conversation, I was able to surmise that it was either:<\/p>\n