The 21st Century Guestbook and the Sphinn Sphamm Challenge

made for sphinnpageoneresultsArticle posted 2008-07-14 by Edward Lewis, aka pageoneresults™
SEO Consultants Directory System Administrator
Orange, California | United States

Webmaster RadioSphinn Sphamm on the Radio

2008-07-17 at 11:35 PDT - Thank you Jim Hedger from Metamend and Dave Davies from Beanstalk for having me on the show this morning, that was very interesting, my first radio interview too. I still have butterflies in me stomach. Wink


Jim and Dave Talking Sphinn Sphamm with Edward Lewis

0-22 SphinnsSphamming the Sphinn Network

In 2008 June, I decided to step down from my Moderator responsibilities at WebmasterWorld after seven (07) years and 10,000+ posts. One of the reasons for "turning in the keys" as they say was that I'm ready to hit the circuit and see what's happening out there.

One of my first stops was Sphinn. I joined Sphinn on 2007-07-13 shortly after their official launch date. I just recently became more interested in the Sphinn community as I've always held a great respect for Danny Sullivan and his team. Now that I'm free from the Moderator title, I'm going to be telling people like it is, whether they like it or not. I will become the "Simon Cowell of SEO". Don't worry, I'll be nice.

I really like the whole Sphinn concept, the brand, etc. I'd like to see that community succeed further than it has. Unfortunately at their current pace, I think they are doing more harm to themselves, their community members (the real Sphinners) and the social networking landscape in general. Sphinn provide the outlet for Sphamming. It's called What's New and is a 21st Century Guestbook in Social Media guise. It functions in a similar fashion to a Guestbook of the 90s and provides a great resource for Sphammers.

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Sphinn Sphamm Table of Contents

  1. Sphinn Sphamm
  2. Sphinn Submit Sphamm
  3. Latest Comments Challenges
  4. Screenshots of pageoneresults says...
  5. Google Alerts and Latest Comments
  6. A Phoorsome
  7. Desphunn by pageoneresults
  8. What's New + Latest Comments = Smmart Sphammer
  9. Is that Russiann?
  10. 20080714T00:01 - Good Mornning Sphinn!
  11. The Tripple Play
  12. Sphinn Record Holder
  13. Sphinn Staff Action Taken

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Sphinn Sphamm

That's what I and quite a few others are now calling it. These are topics that are posted that have little to no value to the overall Sphinn community, both human and non-human alike. Much of it is not really spam in the true sense of the word. No, these Sphammers are real Spamateurs and they've found the perfect target, a 21st Century Guestbook under the guise of a What's New page.

Oh, and get this, some of the Sphamm is being posted and pushed by Sphinners with tenure, I put one of the Top Sphinn Sphammers on the carpet today. I'm not 100% proud of it but you know what, they truly deserved it. Here's a turkey from Turkey who racked up over 2,642 Sphinns and posted 113 Submits since 2008 January 02. The "Topics Submitted" or "Submits" were of little to no value and the Sphinns appeared to be random in nature to obviously increase Sphinn Count.

This person caught my attention after I Desphunn about 25 Sphamm Submits in the early morning hours on 2008-07-13 which is the best day to Sphamm Sphinn, I call it Sunnday Sphamm. This person (merkal2008) actually came in and Sphunn most, if not all, of the Submits that I had just Desphunn and classified as Sphinn Sphamm in my Desphunn comments. I decided to check this person's profile and what do I find? Sphinn Sphamm to the nth degree.

Sphinner Stats for merkal2008
Joined: 2008-01-02
Topics Submitted: 113
Comments Made: 2
Topics Gone Hot: 0
Sphinns Cast: 2642

Forgive me for my perception of the above but, I would find those numbers a bit unusual and would have investigated long ago. How could one person submit 113 topics, make 2 comments, have 0 topics go hot, and have 2,642 Sphinns without being noticed? Is it possible that Sphinn is understaffed and cannot handle the influx of Sphamm? I would like to think not, those guys/gals are typically on their game, what's up with that?

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Sphinn Submit Sphamm

But wait! There's more! Not only is the What's New area a challenge, just take a peek at what is getting indexed under the Sphinn domain (Brannd) these days. The following .txt file contains a sampling of Google indexed pages from the Sphinn domain covering the period 2008-07-10 to 2008-07-13.

Beware: You will find adult terms within the attached .txt file. Sphinn is being Sphammed through other methods that I don't think they are fully aware of. If they were, I'm sure they would have addressed this particular issue a long time ago. How would you like to have all this stuff indexed under your domain? What would the effect of this be? Check out those payperperv references, that's some pretty nasty stuff if you ask me.

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Latest Comments Challenges

Hmmm, I find that Latest Comments area to be a primary target for some phunn. Sphinn, please accept my apologies for Sphamming your Latest Comments list. I was wanting to see just how long it took for someone to notice my phunn activities. I'd say a few hours passed before a Sphinn Moderator made mention of it. Hehehe, they thought I was Sphamming Sphinn with my Brannd, imagine that? pageoneresults Sphamming?

I do believe if, and that is a "big if", I had an evil side, I could have done a bit of damage to the What's New and the Latest Comments areas at the same time. You know, "kill two birds with one stone", "a 241 special", "double whammy", etc. This was also part of another experiment which I'll detail in another topic covering a recently approved Google Patent.

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Latest Comments Sphamming - Screenshots of pageoneresults says...

Latest Comments Screenshot 1

I've started my Latest Comments experiment. Let me reply to a few interesting Sphinn topics and test the waters. I think I'll use the pageoneresults says... Brannding method. Here goes, 2 down and 3 to go...

Latest Comments Screenshot 2

I am now about an hour into this. It is getting interesting as I'm also Stalking the Stalkers, Sphammers, etc. And yes, I am providing what I feel is quality feedback on the few interesting topics that I found during my Sphamm Hunnt. At this point, I have 4 down and 1 to go...

Latest Comments Screenshot 3

I've reached my goal of 5 pageoneresults says... appearing in the Latest Comments list, I thinnk my Brannding exercise has had the intended effect as it was mentioned by one of the Sphinn Staff in the Top Sphinn Sphammers topic. My goal was to populate that Latest Comments list with my Brannd in this instance. It surely could have been the opposite approach, but not from me.

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Google Alerts and Latest Comments

During the above scenario, I was also interested to see how Google reacted to all this activity. My Google Alerts confirmed my suspicions shortly after beginning. Here are three examples covering the period 2008-07-12 to 2008-07-14.

1. Google Alert for Latest Comments on 2008-07-12

Google Alert 1 20080712

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2. Google Alert for Latest Comments on 2008-07-13

Google Alert 2 20080713

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3. Google Alert for Latest Comments on 2008-07-14

Google Alert 3 20080714

In addition to the above, a neat little side effect took place with Google and indexing of Latest Comments. Hmmm, maybe this will feed the Sphammers sickness a bit more, eh?

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A Phoorsome

2008-07-13 - This occurred in one browsing session of the What's New list. Note the Posted By: labels which indicate how long ago the topics were submitted. First one was fairly fresh at 13 minutes ago. Then we have another at 14 minutes ago. Then we have two that have been live for more than 90 minutes. This is a small sampling. There were actually 15 of these on the What's New list at one time. See following list for all of my Desphinn activity during this time period. I was actually having a bit of phunn in the process.

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Desphunn by pageoneresults

These 25 Desphinns occurred on 2008-07-13 in an almost back to back sequence for quite a few of them. The What's New list was quite a mess at 0500 in the morning, what I now refer to as Sunnday Sphamm.

  1. Story: Automatedlistbuilderz-Automated List Builder/ Automated List Builder Review
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  2. Story: info bikes - Your resource for bikes,
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  3. Story: Digital Office Products
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  4. Story: The BAQ Blog: Internet Freedom Under Fire
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  5. Story: Proven! Russian Dating is Still Excellent Money Maker
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  6. Story: Internal links - Benefits of Internal Linking
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "However, Sphinn would prefer you only do this if you've added something unique to the general news topic, such as an extended opinion or further clarification."
  7. Story: #4 out of 156,000,000
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - This is as bad as Guestbook Spam was back in the 90s.
  8. Story: Rugeley Web - Rugeley
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  9. Story: OzBoxLive Radio #034 - Microsoft Game Studios
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  10. Story: India Tour
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  11. Story: English teaching jobs in China, Japan and South Korea
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  12. Story: Virtual Villagers 3
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  13. Story: Dark skies, not only a website name
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  14. Story: The Angels of Mons Revisited
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  15. Story: Fungus May Lead to Effective Cancer Drug
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  16. Story: Internet marketing | Internet marketing strategies | Affiliate programs
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  17. Story: Meditation - Staying Awake
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  18. Story: Russian scientist decodes Nostradamus prophesies
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  19. Story: Best of Search For Blogging
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - A quick peek at this persons profile and you'll see what they are up to. merkal2008
  20. Story: Kids Obesity May Lead to Epidemic of Adult Diabetes
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  21. Story: Affiliate Marketing: What's So Good About It?
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  22. Story: Battle to Save Cambodian Dolphin
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  23. Story: Yoga's Trip to America
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  24. Story: Percentage of Americans with Diabetes Is on the Rise
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."
  25. Story: STRIKER GRANDMASTER
    Reason for Desphinn: Sphinn Sphamm - "News submissions must be related to search, social media, search marketing and internet marketing per our categories or subcategories."

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What's New + Latest Comments = Smmart Sphammer

Now here's a Smmart Sphammer. Hit the What's New list with your .info bike store. Then come back and follow up with a comment linking to the .info bike store again complete with anchor text. A 241 special. I'm sure I'll find this in the Google cache here shortly as I continue to put my findings together for the understaffed Sphinn team.

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Is that Russiann?

What does this say? If there is a Guestbook to be Sphammed, these guys would surely find it. I could be totally off base and this could be a breaking Russiann Internet marketing story, please correct me if I'm wrong.

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20080714T00:01 - Good Mornning Sphinn!

Ah, things are getting back to normal. The clock has struck midnight here PDT and the early morning Sphinners are up and doing their thing. First they clean up the What's New list by using the Report as Spam feature. This requires three unique clicks from Sphinners to nuke a post. Apparently when the weekends come around, there are not enough Sphinners about (03 required) to keep the Sphammers from having a phield day at Sphinn.

Come Sunnday night though, that What's New list is going to get cleaned and in pristine condition for the early Monnday morning rush. There won't be any Sphamm by this time as it will most likely have been purged by the 825 Sphinners to make room for their Submits.

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The Tripple Play

Okay, here we go, the sun has arisen somewhere. I see rupalik is busy filling the What's New list with sequential soft Sphamm. I believe rupalik logged five (05) Submits during this Tripple Play.

A Rupalik Tripple

Okay, time for me to give it a break for now. The time is now 02:00 on 2008-07-14. I'm going to check in again after some rest and breakfast. We'll see how that What's New list looks first thing on a Monnday morning from the West Coast (PST).

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Sphinn Record Holder

Wow, now here's a person that averages 36 Sphinns per day and is the current Sphinn record holder by far...

Sphinner Stats for bhartzer
Joined: 2007-07-13
Topics Submitted: 98
Comments Made: 122
Topics Gone Hot: 33
Sphinns Cast: 13078

And I thought my life was lacking in the social area being a recluse and all. That is a lot of reading to do before generating 36 Sphinns (36 quality votes) per day. Unless of course they are visiting those same one and two paragraph Made for Sphinn websites that I'm finding much of the time? Nah, this can't be the bhartzer I am familiar with, or is it? Someone must have hijacked their Sphinn profile, that can be the only logical explanation.

2008-07-17 - After further research, it has been discovered that the bhartzer profile has been running a SphinnBot that got a little out of hand. I tripped it up by doing something the bot was not expecting. It was too phunny when it did happen. Stupid bot! See Excel spreadsheet for documented SphinnBot activity.

Sphinn Staff Action Taken

As of 2008-07-17, absolutely zero action has been taken visibly on the two SphinnBots discovered. I confirmed this by viewing the profiles for the two usernames in question and both are live and kicking. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I get banned (This account has been terminated.) for getting intimately involved for seven (07) days in an industry that I have a true passion for. I made hundreds of comments, mostly positive, some a bit critical, and I'd like to feel that I was responsible for making quite a few topics go Hot. I monitored that What's New list, trying to find the Signal and then making comments and Sphinning them so they would keep the Sphamm separated and not in groups that fill your viewport on first visit to the What's New area. And now this...

pageoneresults (This account has been terminated.)

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Sphinn Links | Made for Sphinn | The Sphinn Exposé | Sphinn Upcoming | Teenage Phornn | Sphinn Phunnies | Sphinn Phornn | "5 Easy SEO Tips" | The nofollow Attribute | Sphinner Reputations | Network Relationships | Auto Voting at Sphinn | AutoPligg | Sphinn Latest Comments | Sunnday Sphamm 2008-07-20 | Tuuesday Sphamm 2008-07-22 | Phrriday Sphamm 2008-08-01 | Sunnday Sphamm 2008-08-03 | Sphinn Sphamm - 21st Century Guestbook | The Desphunn Zone | Account Terminated | The Sphinn Zone - Who's Talking?

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Last modified: 2008-09-25T07:25:47-0700

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