[info]valady in [info]07refugees

Paranoia run rampant or... ???

Have you recently had Russian LJ'ers friending you? I've noticed that the last 3 of 5 new people who have friended me are Russian. Now I have no problem with someone friending me Russian or whatever else, but looking over their profiles there are NO common interest. The journals are all in Russian so I can't read them. Am I being paranoid or does this reek of something????
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Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 at 01:15 pm | | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

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[info]denyce

Huh, don't know about the paranoia, but I had someone who was Russian friend me then defriend after I didn't friend them back--like you mentioned everything was in Russian so I didn't see the point *shrugs*
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 12:23 pm (UTC) | | Reply

[info]kabal42

This made me go check the very random addition I had a few days back. Same thing there. Only in Russian and no common interests. (Though a few could have been had I thought to add them *S*)

Also, this person had friended 143 people and only 11 had friended back. Of the people friended I saw 4 that I have on my flist as well. All Potterfans and all from my neck of the waters (Northern Europe - more precise Scandinavia and Germany).

This is terribly odd!
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 12:54 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]valady

I've seen a few names on those list that I recognize from HPFandom as well as one or two from MY Flist. Yes, it is very odd and becoming too much of a coincidence.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 01:33 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]clare_dragonfly

OT

Oh my god your icon.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 08:39 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]kabal42

Re: OT

I could say the same :-) (Especially because I have that Blue Fairy icon :-D )
Posted on Jul. 27th, 2008 03:38 am (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]rachel_martin64


Yes, this happened to me over on LJ. A person who posts only in Cyrillic friended my journal, then de-friended me. It was very odd.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 01:26 pm (UTC) | | Reply

[info]aristoboule

I had to use the icon!

I have a few Russian friends friended here, and one too a look for me at the random Russians friending me on LJ -- she thought it might be some sort of serial added/spammer of sorts. But yes, it has gotten more tailored, as far as friending your friends and having matching interests.

So, my solution has been this: friend them back, but with [info]sexytime_borat for the lulz, and comment with some randomly copied Russian text out of their journal. Or talk about Kazakhstan, either/or. ;D
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 01:29 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]valady

Re: I had to use the icon!

I haven't had any Russians friend me on here. Now though I have 3 on LJ all made their journals in June of this year and only one recently added HP to interest (one has NO interests listed).
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 01:38 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]firefly124

I've had that happen a few times, both on IJ and LJ. That hasn't bothered me, though the random spam comments that I've been getting (in both English and Russian, mainly on IJ) are starting to drive me up a wall.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 01:32 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]valady

I haven't had any comments made yet but I don't post often on LJ and even when I do it's usualy f-locked.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 01:39 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]jackandahat

You too? I had an open post because it was about the LJ Pepsi thing, and it's been linked to somewhere, and I was getting three or four comments a day, random spam.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 02:14 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]firefly124

One of my fic posts from last year was getting lots of spam comments, so I set it to no comments. Now they hit whatever my most recent comment happens to be. Only here on IJ though.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 03:34 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]hphaeton

Are those spam comments anonymous? I wonder, because my comment options are very restricted. I only allow registered users to comment and I save their IP address, too.

On LJ it's even more restricted, only my friends can post comments on my journal. And since I don't friend anyone back since I left...
Posted on Jul. 27th, 2008 04:53 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]firefly124

I don't want to lock commenting down too hard, though. The furthest I'm willing to go is to have anonymous or non-friend comments screened, which, of course, doesn't actually stop them leaving the comments, just means they won't show up unless I unscreen instead of delete them.
Posted on Jul. 27th, 2008 06:10 am (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]kitsune_wolf

I was getting that on one post. Since no one else had commented on that post, I deleated it and reposted it back dated so it all looked the same but had a diffrent URL.

It fixed the problem for me.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 03:06 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]firefly124

I shut off comments to it. Now I'm getting the comments to whatever my most recent IJ post is pretty much daily. I delete them and mark them as spam, for all the good that appears to do.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 03:38 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]ladybahiya

Are you a fanfic writer, by chance? Some of my friends and I are having the same problem, and I think it has something to do with LJ/6A and fanfic writers. It's quite possible we're being spied on/targeted for something sinister.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 01:40 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]valady

Yes, I write fanfiction (HP to be exact). I suspected that perhaps LJ/SUP was sneaking around trying to find the 'dirt' on fandom. Fortunately all my fic is archived elsewhere and here on IJ. I also flocked my LJ last year with only Happy Bday greeting on public postings.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 01:45 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]ladybahiya

That's what I did as well, plus I used one of those online translation sites and added a notice to my friends only post in Russian that I no longer post fics on my LJ and I wasn't friending blank journals at this time.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 02:33 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]kabal42

Good idea.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 03:25 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]kabal42

I am. And the other people from my flist are either writers or artists.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 01:55 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]hphaeton

Happened to me, too. Mind you, it's not a surge but just two people, but:

a) I can't read their journals
b) I haven't friended them back and they still list me as a friend, even though I haven't posted in a year and all three unlocked entries deal with me leaving LJ.

Why are they still there?
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 02:25 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]valady

I have 3 a new one just added me today.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 02:33 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]moriath

My situation is exactly the same. Two new people, completely Russian journals, and I haven't posted to LJ in over a year, and the unlocked posts all say that I'm over here now!
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 05:19 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]hphaeton

Makes me wonder, really.

I'd have no problem if they followed over to IJ and once in a while left a comment in English, even if they kept posting in Russion only in their journals.

But friending my LJ is totally useless.
Posted on Jul. 27th, 2008 04:47 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]valady

That's what I find strange about the whole thing... I haven't posted much on LJ in months. As I said I don't if I'm just being paranoid or what.
Posted on Jul. 27th, 2008 12:13 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]scorpio

very odd, indeed. i did have a problem with one spammer, but it wasn't in russian. i reported the account and it was suspended. that said, i dont write fanfic. i do participate in a few fanish communities though. the spammer had friend over a hundred people. i couldnt see any parallels between the accounts and i didnt recognize any friends.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 02:42 pm (UTC) | | Reply

[info]fionnulaharp

I had one friend me -- I didn't friend them back, and I've made it a policy to make all posts friends only, even memes. Looks like he or she has disappeared now.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 03:23 pm (UTC) | | Reply

[info]elmyraemilie

I have only one word in my LJ interests list--"freedom." Back a ways, I had a couple drive-by comments, but since I wasn't posting in my LJ, they had to comment on an older post, and I marked them as spam. Never had any further problems, and never had any mystery friends, either.

Perhaps it's what's on the interest list on your LJ that draws these "new friends."
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 04:44 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]kabal42

My interests there only say "fandom, freedom of speech" - so I think it's via other flisters. Everything is locked on my journal except for the Friends only post, which says I'm not there. As does my userinfo.

But fandom people keep adding it, too *S* I wonder why sometimes, even though it is flattering.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 05:43 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]randomsome1

I didn't get one in Russian, but I got one with such strange English that it may as well have been.

Both times they commented with near-gibberish on my anti-Lj posts.

I know you can leave lj-toys markers in posts. What's the possibility this is a post-&-traffic tracking deal?
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 06:54 pm (UTC) | | Reply

[info]scarydorable

Add another to the "me, too" list. I've been noticing it a lot more lately.
Posted on Jul. 26th, 2008 06:59 pm (UTC) | | Reply

[info]tribal_tiger

wow. even i have one.

no common interests. i haven't posted in months, at least.

this person belongs to the group "ru_add_me"
same with all yours?
Posted on Jul. 27th, 2008 03:47 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]valady

Nope haven't seen ru_add_me on any of their lists.
Posted on Jul. 27th, 2008 12:16 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]avialle

Same happened to me . . . I did friend them back, but I'm going to probably defriend them as I find a sneaking suspicion this is some kind of game if you all are having the same thing happen. I find it pretty pointless considering I can't read their posts as well . . .
Posted on Jul. 27th, 2008 09:24 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]valady

I asked a friend who speaks/reads Russian to take a look at the journals in questions and let me know what they say. Haven't heard back from her yet though. I tried putting several postings on one through Babelfish but it made no sense at all.

I don't know if this is some kind of game, trolls or moles.
Posted on Jul. 27th, 2008 12:21 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]avialle

Yeah, I can't figure it out either. I had another Russian person add me yesterday and this time I didn't friend back. One of the first ones already defriended me so that was good . . . So that brings it to a total of 3 now. They all belong to the same three comms I've noticed which is definitely suspicious.
Posted on Jul. 28th, 2008 07:21 am (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]shalanar

Huh...I've had two friend me, and I don't even write fanfic (I've dabbled a bit, but nothing serious, and not in years).

The first one, I didn't think anything of (though I did ban_set them), but the one today, I checked their profile, and they've friended a lot of my friends who also don't really write fanfic, but are friends with a lot of fanfic writers. Oddly, none of those people were friended.

Eh, I ban_set them, and my LJ is completely FO. It is weird though...
Posted on Jul. 28th, 2008 02:37 pm (UTC) | | Reply

[info]ryhasso

The same happened to me. I was wondering why anyone would friend a journal which hasn't been updated for months. Their journal was in Russian, and I had no time to even try and translate the info page. But then they un-friended me and I stopped thinking about it.
Now, however, I don't know. It definitely looks odd.
Posted on Jul. 29th, 2008 04:46 am (UTC) | | Reply

[info]elwing_alcyone

*Raises hand* Two so far. I figured they were just random frienders. I wasn't worried till I read this post...
Posted on Jul. 30th, 2008 08:38 am (UTC) | | Reply

[info]andreth_47

Here via metafandom

This has been happening to my LJ for months now. Repeatedly being friended by Russian-language people, (whom I don't friend back, because I don't read Russian), who then un-friend a few weeks later.

It's bizarre as hell.
Posted on Oct. 2nd, 2008 04:45 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]valady

Re: Here via metafandom

Still happening to me, but not as often though there are two who still have me friended.
Posted on Oct. 2nd, 2008 04:52 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]andreth_47

Known Issue

My google-fu has yielded the following:

http://nympholept.livejournal.com/tag/russian+bots

It's a known issue, about which LJ is doing...well, not much. *shrugs*
Posted on Oct. 2nd, 2008 04:59 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]valady

Re: Known Issue

Not surprised!
Posted on Oct. 2nd, 2008 05:08 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply

[info]nympholept.livejournal.com

You're not paranoid.
Well, you may be, but you're also right.

Those russians are bots.
Livejournal Abuse will now suspend them if you report them.

More information:
http://nympholept.livejournal.com/tag/russian+bots

Please spread the word about what to do about them.
Posted on Oct. 8th, 2008 04:39 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]valady

Thanks. I've been made aware of this problem and hope LJ finds some way to stop it. It gets tiring reporting this nonsense.
Posted on Oct. 8th, 2008 04:56 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Reply